dead

After all the time fighting for survival, Joost today breathed its last. Well that isn’t all, the leftovers, which include the privately held assets of Joost have been acquired by Adconion Media Group. Adconion is the largest global audience and content network and it has taken care of not letting out the terms and conditions of the deal. All is done for now, at least there will be no more news coming in from Joost, unless of course it decides to rise from the dead again. In the words of its co-founder, Janus Friis:

Over the past few months we have been actively exploring strategic options for Joost, and have concluded that the sale of certain of its assets to Adconion is in the best interests of Joost. Adconion has a strong technological platform and a compelling business model, and we believe that both businesses will benefit as a result of this acquisition.

• Zembly falls in Darkness as Sun Microsystems pulls the plug (0)
• Yahoo! Gallery follows Geocities and Yahoo! 360, shutting down on July 14 (0)
• Yahoo chokes itself once again, shuts down Bix (0)
• Vidoop breaths its last, employees get computers as memorials (0)
• Tr.im is done with URL Shortening, I never thought I would have to report this (2)

After acquiring it in 2007, Google has finally decided to pull the plug on Grand Central. Grand Central was or rather it is now Google Voice and Google had done quite a lot to improve it over time but it apparently fills in no purpose. The accounts were already shifted to Google Voice earlier. Since we all have Google Voice to go with, it won’t really matter if Grand Central exists or not, does it?

• SMS and Email finally integrate for Google Voice (0)
• Google Voice wont let you make longer calls. Calls drop after 15 minutes (0)
• BlackBerry and Android Phones to get Google Voice apps (2)
• Zembly falls in Darkness as Sun Microsystems pulls the plug (0)
• YouTube revamps page, makes sure Search is more than just prominent (0)

The bold vision of Sun Microsystems all of a sudden just lost it all and therefore the sun will set on it. I am talking about Zembly; the project it launched a year or two back and was set to provide an app development platform that would help bring forward innovative ideas. But I guess those were just boastful words and it failed the expectations big time and users have been notified that it will suspending the service on November 30th. Well, luckily I am not sad since I was never a part of it or got carried away by all the air Sun gave to it. This adds another to the Web-cemetery.

• Yahoo! Gallery follows Geocities and Yahoo! 360, shutting down on July 14 (0)
• Yahoo chokes itself once again, shuts down Bix (0)
• Vidoop breaths its last, employees get computers as memorials (0)
• Tr.im is done with URL Shortening, I never thought I would have to report this (2)
• Totlol: The YouTube for Kids breaths its last (1)

I dislike it when companies change names every now and then. Why? Are they superstitious that a particular name is cursed or something? DotBlu made me ask all this, once again, as it has done so for the third time all the way from BlueBet to DotBlu and now to TownHog. What’s interesting here is that the service had given up on all hopes and was confirmed deadlast month but not anymore as it rises from the dead branded as TownHog. The working changes as it make a shift from being a betting platform. TownHog works simply as it features a deal in almost every city on a daily basis and you can recruit buyers from numerous social networks like Facebook and Twitter or even using the email. Sounds fun enough and we hope that this is the last time it goes about changing the name or ending up in a grave.

• DotBlu gives it up, heads to the cemetery (1)
• YouSTFU! That’s all I need to say… (0)
• Yahoo! Gallery follows Geocities and Yahoo! 360, shutting down on July 14 (0)
• Yahoo chokes itself once again, shuts down Bix (0)
• Wordoid lets you make Words out of Words (1)

Image via Wikipedia

And on the news today, romance and chivalry have been found by the side of the road, kicked to death by a group who mistook them for Barbara Cartland. The funeral is Friday.

Today’s blog entry idea comes from my Facebook friends Susan, Myra and Annamarie who want to know if romance is dead.

Susan writes (and I hope she doesn’t mind me quoting):

Why is it that Valentines day seems to be the only time we can show how romantic we can be,one day in a year.I'm not saying everyone is like that but it does seem that romance is dying,who writes a love letter? poetry? ok I do,lol.But it's being replaced with flirty text messages etc.Is it not cool to be romantic? Guys only buy flowers to say sorry for something or to impress on a first date,why not just buy a bunch of flowers for her just to put a smile on her face?

I have to say I totally agree with Susan on that point. Romancedoes seem to be dead.

Michael Jackson has been with me, musically, my whole life. As a child, I listened to his songs on the radio and watched as he transformed into the "King of Pop". I remember every media-covered event of his life and career, good or bad. His life was a legacy of firsts and his music will undoubtedly live on forever. To some, Michael Jackson will be the greatest musician they've ever heard. Today, Tweetdeck made that familiar little chirping noise to indicate that an update was posted from an account I follow. It was @CNNbrk, announcing that Michael Jackson had just been rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest. I retweeted the news with a link to the story. Shortly after, people began to speculate and the word had already begun buzzing about the news. Then TMZ announced his death (I'm told they announced it before he actually died). Then other sources slowly began to confirm his death until it was finally confirmed moments ago by an L.A. county coroner. Here's the timeline of reports from @CNNbrk:

- Pop icon Michael Jackson has been rushed to L.A. hospital in cardiac arrest, according to CNN affiliate KTLA.
- Entertainer Michael Jackson was taken to a hospital CNN affiliate KTLA reported, citing a Los Angeles Fire Department official.
- Entertainer Michael Jackson was taken to UCLA Medical Center, a Los Angeles Fire Department official said.

See that picture above? That's Cady. She died at age 10 in a car accident. A mad scientist by the name of Dr. Panayiotis Zavos infused her DNA into a cow's egg to study human cloning.

Dr Zavos (Isn't that a creepy mad scientist name?) assures the public that the human/cow hybrid model is for study only, not for world domination or anything. He says that he would never implant anything but human to human tissue, even though Cady's mother would allow it. But a documentary filmmaker who witnessed his work says that Zavos has implanted 11 other cloned 100% human embryos into four women who are prepared to give birth to the first human clone. The procedure is a criminal offense in Britain and illegal in many other countries.

None of those pregnancies were a success. He carried out the work in a secret laboratory, probably located in the Middle East.

In 2004 he claimed to have implanted the first human cloned embryo into a woman. You can read more about Dr. Giggles over at The Independent. Supposedly there's a Discovery Channel special airing tonight, though we haven't heard anything.