Yes, I read that article too. Their plans for extending the Knowledge Vault project are part of the reason they killed Google Authorship after making such a big deal of its importance. More here...
http://searchengineland.com/goodbye-...horship-201975
Some of the comments regarding it not providing enough value to users, and how the space it required in valuable mobile real estate affected their decision, are also valuable in that they provide additional insights about the importance Big G places on those things for our own sites.
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