I cons come, and icons go. And in today's sped-up, high-tech world, some come and go pretty fast. Last month we were told that Sony plans to euthanize its groundbreaking robotic dog Aibo, who at not quite 7 years old is still a pup in shelf-life terms.

Now we learn of the pending forced retirement of Jeeves, the ageless valet whom the Internet search engine Ask Jeeves.com borrowed from the late British comic novelist P.G. Wodehouse 10 years ago and who has served as the popular Web site's mascot ever since. Instead of Asking Jeeves, users will now be advised simply to Ask. (We've got a query for Ask: Isn't that a bit, you know, blunt?)

It's a sad time for fans of the virtual valet. Jeeves put a human face on the often impersonal World Wide Web. He was fun, setting his site apart from every other search engine except for that quirky world-beater Google. He provided mild entertainment not long ago by getting a makeover, shedding a few kilograms and trading his dorky, old-fashioned striped jacket for a svelte black number. He has even appeared as a giant balloon in Macy's famous Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, which is more than you can say for Google's letters. He was always smiling, never boring.