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Google Web Security, a malware protection and policy enforcement tool that Google added with the Postini acquisition in 2007, is also a goner. Google said it has integrated much of the product's functionality into existing Google products, including safe browsing in Chrome. While new sales of Google Web Security will halt, Google said it will continue to support existing users.
And while Google will continue to focus heavily on social search and other social tools, it is deep-sixing Aardvark, a social networking search company Google acquired in February 2010 for an estimated $50 million. "While Aardvark will be closing, we'll continue to work on tools that enable people to connect and discover richer knowledge about the world," Eustace wrote.
And Google Fast Flip, an offering launched in 2009 that let users flip through bundled and aggregated news stories and related content on the Web or a mobile device, will be laid to rest. Wrote Eustace: "For the past two years, in collaboration with publishers, the Fast Flip experiment has fueled a new approach to faster, richer content display on the Web. This approach will live on in our other display and delivery tools."
Along with those products, Google also plans to cut the Google Maps API for Flash; Google Image Labeler, a "game to help people explore and label images on the Web"; Google Sidewiki, a collaborative Web product; and Subscribed Links, which enabled developers to create specialized search results. Meanwhile, Google Notebook, a play that let users combine clipped URLs from the Web and free-form notes into documents, will be killed in coming months, and all Notebook data will be automatically exported to Google Docs.
According to Eustace, the cutting of products won't halt Google's continued innovation or development of new offerings.
"We've never been afraid to try big, bold things, and that won't change. We’ll continue to take risks on interesting new technologies with a lot of potential," he wrote.
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