{"id":1295,"date":"2020-12-10T04:20:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T04:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/?p=1295"},"modified":"2020-12-10T04:20:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T04:20:55","slug":"googles-biggest-fails-and-forgotten-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/2020\/12\/10\/googles-biggest-fails-and-forgotten-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Biggest Fails and Forgotten Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-images.sftcdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/google-fail.jpg\" alt=\"Google\u2019s Biggest Fails and Forgotten Projects\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google<\/strong>&nbsp;is one of the world\u2019s largest, most powerful companies. Based in Mountain View, the \u201cbig G\u201d is the king of&nbsp;<strong>internet searches,<\/strong>&nbsp;the one who decides which pages deserve to be at the top of your search results and which ones you should ignore. Similarly, its&nbsp;<strong>Android<\/strong>&nbsp;operating system is second to none. However, there are no perfect companies, and while many of Google\u2019s products have been hits, it also has a&nbsp;<strong>long list of flops<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605450884\/logotipo_google_pw7erw.jpg\" alt=\"Logotipo de Google\" class=\"wp-image-207595\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.connatix.com\/d20e94ed-37a1-45f8-9fd1-3daaa2e3f7b2\/2.png\" alt=\"\">00:0104:29<video muted=\"\" poster=\"https:\/\/img.connatix.com\/d2bd3732-6154-45fb-9522-3ff9330607cd\/1_th.jpg?crop=788:443,smart&amp;width=788&amp;height=443&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop\"><\/video><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.connatix.com\/d2bd3732-6154-45fb-9522-3ff9330607cd\/1_th.jpg?crop=788:443,smart&amp;width=788&amp;height=443&amp;format=jpeg&amp;quality=60&amp;fit=crop\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember&nbsp;<strong>Google Glass<\/strong>, the revolutionary glasses that were going to change the world, or at least in theory? Did you ever figure out the real purpose of&nbsp;<strong>Google+<\/strong>? What about&nbsp;<strong>Orkut?&nbsp;<\/strong>Neither did we. Not everything Google touches turns to gold, and the company actually has quite a collection of&nbsp;<strong>failed products<\/strong>&nbsp;that it decided to kill, putting them out of their misery. Would you like to learn about some of its greatest fails?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In today\u2019s article, we\u2019re going to share a roundup of what we consider to be&nbsp;<strong>Google\u2019s biggest flops<\/strong>. While some of these products might have succeeded, others are so bizarre or useless that we honestly don\u2019t know how they ever saw the light of day. Are you ready to take a stroll through the \u201cGoogle Graveyard\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Google Glass<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605640010\/google_glass_omu5d8.jpg\" alt=\"Google Glass Explorer\" class=\"wp-image-207596\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2013<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2015<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google Glass<\/strong>, or just Glass for short, was one of Google\u2019s most hyped projects. Those glasses were announced as a&nbsp;<strong>revolution<\/strong>&nbsp;that would change the world as we knew it. But after all the fuss, they&nbsp;<strong>quietly faded away<\/strong>. In fact, few people ended up owning this extremely pricey Google accessory. And we say extremely pricey because a single pair cost a whopping&nbsp;<strong>1,500 dollars<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For that price, you\u2019re probably wondering what Google Glass did, exactly. This&nbsp;<strong>futuristic visor<\/strong>&nbsp;could open&nbsp;<strong>apps and messages and connect to the internet<\/strong>&nbsp;with simple voice commands, with images appearing on a virtual display in front of you. Also, it would overlay all kinds of information about the real world. Did Google Glass change the world? Nope. But we all fondly remember those glasses, which looked like a visor straight out of<em>&nbsp;Dragon Ball<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Google Answers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605640784\/Google_Answers_bh1vut.jpg\" alt=\"Google Answers\" class=\"wp-image-207597\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2002<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2006<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding the information you\u2019re searching for is right up Google\u2019s ally. But\u2026 what happens when you can\u2019t find a website to answer to that burning question of yours? The solution to this problem was&nbsp;<strong>Google Answers<\/strong>, a platform created to&nbsp;<strong>answer any question<\/strong>, no matter how silly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The way that Google Answers worked was simple. You just had to visit the website and&nbsp;<strong>ask the question<\/strong>&nbsp;that was keeping you up at night. For example: \u201cHow many T-Rexes does it take to change a lightbulb?\u201d Then you had to&nbsp;<strong>state the price you were willing to pay<\/strong>&nbsp;for an expert paleontologist-electrician to answer your question. In a way, it was an online knowledge market. Not surprisingly, the company pulled the plug on Google Answers after four fruitless years due to a<strong>&nbsp;lack of users<\/strong>\u2026 because everyone knows you can find the answer to any question online if you look hard enough!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Google Web Accelerator<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605641473\/Google_Web_Accelerator_laekxq.jpg\" alt=\"Google Web Accelerator\" class=\"wp-image-207598\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2005<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2008<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As the old saying goes, \u201ctime is of the essence,\u201d and the internet hasn\u2019t always been the fast network we know today. With this in mind, Google launched the ultimate product for your online searches:&nbsp;<strong>Google Accelerator.<\/strong>&nbsp;By adding this feature to your browser, at least in theory,&nbsp;<strong>your websites would load much faster<\/strong>. That way you would have extra time to invest in whatever you wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first glance, Google Accelerator seemed to have the potential to become the Big G\u2019s star product. However, Google Accelerator didn\u2019t work as well as it should have, and&nbsp;<strong>it was full of bugs<\/strong>&nbsp;that made browsing a real headache. The most memorable one was a bug that<strong>&nbsp;prevented YouTube videos from playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Google Buzz<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605642343\/google_buzz_y3y4ss.jpg\" alt=\"Google Buzz\" class=\"wp-image-207599\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2010<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2011<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Does anyone remember&nbsp;<strong>Google Buzz<\/strong>?&nbsp;This experiment was one of Google\u2019s most disastrous forays into<strong>&nbsp;social media<\/strong>&nbsp;(don\u2019t worry, Google+, we\u2019ll talk about you later). In fact, Buzz&nbsp;<strong>only survived a year<\/strong>&nbsp;before they decided to send it to \u201cGoogle Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buzz was a&nbsp;<strong>strange hybrid, a cross between a social network and a messaging service<\/strong>&nbsp;inside the Gmail interface. It allowed you to share status updates, photos, videos, etc. with your contacts. Buzz\u2019s biggest problem was that Google launched this product without Gmail users\u2019 consent, forcing them to participate in a weird social network just for using its email. Ultimately, Buzz was hit with a lawsuit for&nbsp;<strong>violating the privacy of its users<\/strong>, which led to the product\u2019s demise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. Google Lively<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605642991\/google_lively_clgzag.jpg\" alt=\"Google Lively\" class=\"wp-image-207600\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2008<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2008<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t worry if you have no memory of&nbsp;<strong>Google Lively<\/strong>, it\u2019s completely normal. This Google product was only operational for&nbsp;<strong>six months&nbsp;<\/strong>until the company decided to put it out of its misery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google Lively was the company\u2019s stab at creating a&nbsp;<strong>virtual environment&nbsp;<\/strong>where you could meet up with your friends and live a parallel life. In fact, it was Google\u2019s answer to the success that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/second-life.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Second Life<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;was having at the time. You could create an avatar and chat to your heart\u2019s content in the Google universe. But after&nbsp;<strong>the project never took off,<\/strong>&nbsp;Google decided to quit while it was ahead, so poor Google Lively was (ironically) quite short-lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>6. Orkut<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605643573\/logo_orkut_zsdtta.jpg\" alt=\"Logotipo de Orkut\" class=\"wp-image-207601\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2004<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2014<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Orkut<\/strong>&nbsp;was Google\u2019s first foray into the world of&nbsp;<strong>social media<\/strong>. It aspired to be a platform where you could find old friends and make new ones easily. Depending on where you live, the name might not ring a bell, but Orkut was quite popular in countries like India and Brazil. However, in the rest of the world, Orkut never got off the ground. The reason: internationally,&nbsp;<strong>Facebook<\/strong>&nbsp;was already the center of attention, making Orkut pointless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>7. Google+<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605704863\/google_plus_exx9xx.jpg\" alt=\"Logo de Google+ \" class=\"wp-image-207603\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2011<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2019<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>After Orkut\u2019s gradual failure as a social network, the Big G decided to take the bull by the horns and create a new product to compete with Facebook:&nbsp;<strong>Google+.<\/strong>&nbsp;However, Google+ was launched at a bad time, right after&nbsp;<strong>Buzz<\/strong>&nbsp;(2010), so many users couldn\u2019t tell the difference between the two platforms or understand its purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google+ was a<strong>&nbsp;social network that never really took off.<\/strong>&nbsp;In fact, it had few users because most people preferred&nbsp;<strong>Facebook.<\/strong>&nbsp;And so Google+ hung around for years while Google tried to get users actively or passively involved in it. In 2019, this social network was killed off, once again ending Google\u2019s dreams of becoming the king of social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>8. Google Wave<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605705419\/Google_Wave_xtje20.jpg\" alt=\"Google Wave\" class=\"wp-image-207604\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2009<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2012<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google Wave<\/strong>&nbsp;was an ambitious Google project created by the developers of its successful Maps. Considered an&nbsp;<strong>evolution of Gmail<\/strong>, it allowed users to receive email, chat with other users, share all kinds of files and collaborate on tasks in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Wave initially seemed destined for success, its fate was quite the opposite. Its arrival only&nbsp;<strong>confused Gmail users<\/strong>, who never really understood the point of Wave. Finally, Google was forced to shut down the project, basically because&nbsp;<strong>nobody was using it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>9. Google Video<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605706102\/google_video_anjqvv.jpg\" alt=\"Google Video\" class=\"wp-image-207605\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2005<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2009<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With the rise of&nbsp;<strong>YouTube<\/strong>&nbsp;in 2005, Google attempted to compete with the video-streaming giant by launching&nbsp;<strong>Google Video<\/strong>. This platform allowed users to upload their own video clips to Google\u2019s servers and easily share them with other users or websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After an unsuccessful first year,&nbsp;<strong>Google Video never got off the ground<\/strong>&nbsp;since most internet users preferred YouTube. Then Google decided to not wait any longer and&nbsp;<strong>bought YouTube<\/strong>&nbsp;for a whopping 1.65 billion dollars. This made Google Video completely unnecessary in the long run, and the company decided to axe the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>10. Jaiku<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605706539\/jaiku_iobsyc.jpg\" alt=\"Jaiku\" class=\"wp-image-207606\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2007<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2012<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You probably don\u2019t remember&nbsp;<strong>Jaiku,<\/strong>&nbsp;a Finnish&nbsp;<strong>microblogging platform<\/strong>&nbsp;that resembled Twitter. Google thought it would be the perfect way to (finally) succeed in the social media sector and compete with the company with the blue bird logo. But the purchase was a real disaster, and Google had to abandon the project due to a&nbsp;<strong>lack of users<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">11. Google Health<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/image\/upload\/v1605725110\/google_health_p6pqnu.jpg\" alt=\"Google Health\" class=\"wp-image-207607\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Born in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2008<\/li><li><strong>Died in:<\/strong>&nbsp;2012<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google Health<\/strong>&nbsp;was an ambitious project born after the boom in internet searches related to medical topics. This platform allowed users to<strong>&nbsp;create their own medical records<\/strong>&nbsp;that were periodically updated. The idea was to centralize the patient\u2019s medical information so it could be shared quickly and effectively with health centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Google Health never really took off, and&nbsp;<strong>the service had few users<\/strong>. Google never provided a real reason for killing Health, but some link it to the Google Buzz privacy scandal, which led much of the public to mistrust Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>And many more\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Does our list seem short to you? Well, it\u2019s actually just a small selection of Google\u2019s long list of fiascos. If you\u2019re curious to learn about all of Google\u2019s failed projects, we recommend checking out the excellent website&nbsp;<strong>Killed By Google<\/strong>. It lists each and every one of the products that Google has decided to axe after failing to meet its expectations. You can visit it by clicking&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/killedbygoogle.com\/\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google&nbsp;is one of the world\u2019s largest, most powerful companies. Based in Mountain View, the \u201cbig G\u201d is the king of&nbsp;internet searches,&nbsp;the one who decides which pages deserve to be at the top of your search results and which ones you should ignore. Similarly, its&nbsp;Android&nbsp;operating system is second to none. However, there are no perfect companies, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14428,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gallery","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1296,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions\/1296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/azhari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}