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'Superpoke' To Be No More, Thanks To Google

angry tapir writes "Apparently the age of 'superpoking' social network friends and throwing sheep at them is coming to a close. Google plans to shut down the social applications developed by Slide, a company it acquired a year ago for US$182 million. Slide products include SuperPoke, and photo management and decorating tools like Slideshow and FunPix. Slide's applications like Slideshow were very popular on MySpace during its heyday, and found success on other social networking sites, including Facebook, where the sheep-throwing feature of SuperPoke caught on, entertaining and annoying many."

16 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Goal here seems clear by JoshuaZ · · Score: 3

    SuperPoke is a Facebook application. Why have an application that is tied in with a competitor's product? G+ is obviously a lot more important to Google than SuperPoke is, so SuperPoke is going to die.

    1. Re:Goal here seems clear by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      SuperPoke is a Facebook application.

      Wait, "SuperPoke" is an application?

      It appears Facebook is even shittier than I remember.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Get the torches! And pitchforks! by jalefkowit · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yup, SuperPoke is on its way out. And the Pokers are piiiiiiiiiiissed.

    1. Re:Get the torches! And pitchforks! by Ihmhi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Something you guys need to understand - some of these people who play loads of Facebook games put the same kind of emotional investment into them as more "tradtional" hardcore gamers do.

      Remember the shitstorm when Modern Warfare 2 wasn't going to have dedicated servers? Or when Starcraft 2 wasn't going to have offline mode or LAN play (currently being repeated for Diablo 3)? It's no different; many of us are just blind to their emotional investment because it's not the games we play or even the type of games we play.

      Something changes in the next Zynga or Popcap game and the hardcore gaming crowd goes "lol, casuals". But Duke Nukem has the Calladooty-style 2 weapon limit and a lot of us are mad beyond belief.

    2. Re:Get the torches! And pitchforks! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      Politicians in the USA learned long ago not to underestimate the influence of a load of women with time on their hands...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  3. Re: annoying apps by macraig · · Score: 2, Informative

    Does this mean Google+ won't be filled with extremely annoying "applications"?

    Given that in other news Google has confessed that G+ is really an identity clearinghouse and not a socializing gadget, that's exactly what it means.

  4. Make up your minds! by SilverHatHacker · · Score: 2

    First they're pitching G+ as an identity service, then they're killing the SuperPoke! Which is it? Are you evil are not, Google?

    --
    Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
  5. Re:I'm curious why they acquired Slide.. by larry+bagina · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Acquire company that helps out a competitor
    2. Shut it down
    3. ???
    4. Evil!

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  6. Re:Superpoke? by Cryacin · · Score: 2

    When I was a kid, going out for a coke a smoke and a poke meant something completely different.

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
  7. Well then. by lostmongoose · · Score: 2

    Using the logic of the comments presented in tfa, we can sue every time an MMO shuts down if we paid for items in it?

  8. No more tossing sheep..... by Inzite · · Score: 2

    .....and good riddance. Who ever used the sheeptossing feature, anyway? What a joke.

    Take me back to the good old IRC days please. It's been a while since I smacked someone around with a large trout.

    1. Re:No more tossing sheep..... by evought · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the heck is this sheep-tossing thing anyway? We raise sheep, and if there is an alternative market for our product...

      For that matter, we raise Shetlands, which are fairly small sheep: easier to throw and potentially concealable (need a big coat). Also, they have fine wool, so they might not chafe as much when concealed...

  9. Superpoke to be killed? What about Superpeek? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I mean, G+'s and facebook's obsession with getting our personal data qualifies as a "superpeek"...

  10. Re:I have the Superpoke Pets app on my iPhone. by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    "Oh and what's with tech companies spending boat loads of money and then dropping the products? Is this a new fad?

    Microsoft - Kin
    HP - WebOS/TouchPad
    Google - Slide

    Really, none of them could think a year ahead?

    "

    Stock prices have taken a brutal beating this month thanks to the debt ceiling debate and huge pressure is on for companies to cut their expenses to raise their stock price. In finance 101, the goal of a company is always to increase its share price to make daytraders happy. It is never to make money.

    This has been the trend for the last 15 years actually. The goal is always to think short term and cut as much expenses as you can. Also by going on a buying spree you raise the stock price as well.

    Now Google is hiting its revenue ceiling as Baudu won in China, and their are maximized in the US and Europe so in order to keep its insane $300/share price it needs to cut costs by selling its assets and cutting expenses. In the case of HP, the CEO is retarded as he thinks HP can magically become SAP (his former employer) by just buying companies and rebranding them as HP service ones. Google is doing what it can to help the CEO keep his job.

    Apple is the only one with brains left, but if push comes to shove and they maximize their revenue with the IPAD/IPhone/Macs they too will sell their assets and drop markets and lay off employees too.

  11. Re:What does this mean for Google+? by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

    Uhhh...how EXACTLY is buying a company that provided value to a competitor and shutting it down NOT considered evil? I just gotta admire the sheer batshit blind religious zealotry of the FOSSies here on /. because that level of denial takes real dedication!

    If you replaced the name Google in TFA with Apple or MSFT they would be breaking out the torches and screaming for antitrust investigations, but because "It is teh Google and they love teh FOSSies, and teh ain't teh evils! They said so!" they could blow up competitor's buildings and the Baghdad Bobs would be out in force to explain how we just "don't get it".

    Of course along with the denial in TFA they have to juggle denial for the whole "Android is free for OEMs" crack a few months ago, with its implied 'But not for you silly user!", along with the little matter of Google avoiding GPL V3 like it is kryptonite, or the fact that "do no evil" actually belongs right next to "Windows 7 was MY idea!" and "Think different" in the BS marketing hall of fame, but what they hey, as long as "they love teh FOSSies!" right?

    Frankly I just do not get it. Its a company people, it doesn't "love you" or frankly give a flying fuck if you live or die. Its not for or against anything except itself. And if you think that it would even take a New York minute for them to choose between royally fucking the FOSSies or making another buttload o' cash? Well I have some really nice swampland in AR you might be interested in.

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  12. Re:I'm curious why they acquired Slide.. by Xtravar · · Score: 2

    Getting rid of crappy facebook applications is actually doing the opposite of evil. Google is doing Good here. Thanks Google!

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    Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.