Google is sending one of its lesser-known tools called Compare to the slaughterhouse. We don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of it before — in the email sent to the service’s partners and posted by Search Engine Land , the big G said it “hasn’t driven the success [Google] hoped for.” Compare gives you a way to view several offers from car insurance, mortgage lending and credit card companies in the US and the UK. You only have to type in some info, such as your car’s make and model, to make it work. It’s still up and running if you want to try it out , but don’t expect too much. The tech giant has initiated the shutdown process today, and it will be completely offline by March 23rd. One of the difficulties Google encountered, according to The Wall Street Journal , is that auto insurance typically requires state-by-state approval. The publication also noted that Google failed to convince some big insurers and lenders to be part of Compare, leading to limited choices and people seeking answers elsewhere. Google didn’t reveal whether it plans to pursue the niche again in the future — Compare itself is the new version of Google Advisor — and only said that it’s focusing on AdWords for now. Here’s the full email to partners posted by Search Engine Land : Dear Partner, Beginning on February 23, 2016, we will start ramping down the Google Compare product, which is currently live in both the US and UK. We plan to terminate the service as of March 23, 2016. As you know, Google Compare (formerly Google Advisor in the U.S.) has been a specialized, standalone service that enables consumers to get quotes from a number of providers for financial products such as car and travel insurance, credit cards and mortgages. Despite people turning to Google for financial services information, the Google Compare service itself hasn’t driven the success we hoped for. We greatly appreciate your partnership and understand that this decision will be disappointing to some. But after a lot of careful consideration, we’ve decided that focusing more intently on AdWords and future innovations will enable us to provide fresh, comprehensive answers to Google users, and to provide our financial services partners with the best return on investment. We’re grateful for all the feedback that you have provided over the course of this product’s development, and we are looking forward to partnering with you to achieve greater success in the future. We will work with you during this transition and beyond. Please reach out to your Google representative if you have any questions and to discuss the next steps. The Google Compare Team Via: The Wall Street Journal Source: Search Engine Land
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Google is shutting down its car insurance comparison service
An anonymous reader writes: The German Interior Ministry has approved for investigative use a spying Trojan developed by the German Federal Criminal Police (a so-called “federal Trojan”). In fact, it could end up being used as early as this week. The police will have to get a court order to use the spyware, and prove that the suspect is involved in a crime threatening citizens’ “life, limb or liberty”. The malware has been developed in-house, and has been available since autumn 2015. It is supposed to be used only for so-called telecommunication surveillance at the source, i.e. to read emails, chats and wiretap phone calls made by the target via his or her computer or smartphone, and not to access files, steal passwords, or set up video or audio surveillance via the device. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
