Microsoft Bing

50 Tips & Tricks for Researching with Bing

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:22:00 +0000

By L. Fabry

Microsoft’s own studies have found that the act of searching is nearly as habitual as brushing your teeth or tapping your leg. Those who thought the search engine war was over got a new chapter in the series when Bing launched earlier this year. Those who want to try, or have already used this new device, will enjoy the 50 tips, tricks, reviews, and more listed below.

Basics of Bing

These sites are ideal for those still getting started with Bing.
1. Bing Tour Page: Visit here to take an easy and quick tour of Bing. Get tipss for travel, shopping, local, and more. You can even make Bing your default browser with the flip of a virtual switch.
2. Product Guide: This guide outlines the design goals and provides interactive, step-by-step instructions for how to use the new features in everyday tasks such as checking the weather forecast, tracking a package, or planning your next vacation. You can also get sections on the decision engine features, results, search expertise, and how to simplify tasks.
3. Videos: This series of videos show you the basics and latest on Bing from the experts at Microsoft. There are videos on the design and features of the search engine. You can also get a video tour of the product.
4. Search Challenge: Want to see how Bing compares to Google? Then take this challenge for a side by side comparison of the two. You can choose from popular search topics for the challenge or enter your very own.
5. Bing 101: This easy guide is ideal for those just beginning to use Bing. You can get tips for finding news feeds, music, videos, and more. There are also tricks for customized and advanced searches.
6. Bing Mobile Usage Guide & Search Tutorial: Amit Bhawani brings you the latest tech updates and shows you how to use Bing on your mobile device. He does a few searches with it and shows you how to do the same easily and with pictures. You can also get other useful tips for using Bing.

Best Uses for Bing

Now that you’re ready to start searching with Bing, visit the below sites for the best customized results.
7. Bing Video: One of the newest innovations in video search, Bing brings something new to your research. In addition to the usual results page, it actually allows you to preview a video without clicking on it. Simply scroll your mouse over the video you wish to see and get instant playback.
8. Bing Images: Instead of a sterile page of image results from Google or others, Bing does something entirely different. It displays results as a fun collage and gives you information just by scrolling over the image. Bing also gives suggestions on how to narrow your search.
9. Bing Travel: One of the more impressive features of Bing, a travel search allows you to compare multiple sites at once. They include Expedia, Hotwire, AA.com, Priceline, and BookingBuddy. The site also has useful articles and hot deals listed right on the page.
10. Bing Translator: This is a free online language translation service for text and web pages. Simply type or paste your text on the left and it can even auto detect the language. Choose from English, Spanish, French, and other languages, hit translate, and get the text in the language of your choice instantly.
11. Bing Maps: Visit here to do map searches like never before. You can start with something as simple as directions or move onto adding and creating your own online collection of maps. You can even explore popular places and get reviews on it.
12. Bing Shopping: The home page is constantly updated with the latest searched items and featured products. Be sure to check out the cash back features that allow you to search, shop, and save. There is also a virtual tour.
13. Bing xRank: Learn which searches are the most popular by using this feature. You can search by biggest mover of the day, celebrity, musician, politician, and blogger. They also have the top ten searches available for viewing.
14. Bing Local: With the help of yellowpages.com, Bing can help you locate a number of items in your area. You can choose from categories such as arts, automotive, education, dining, government, and more.
15. Biying: Those doing research in Mandarin Chinese will enjoy this new Bing site, launched on June 1, 2009. Because “Bing” has several meanings in this language, Microsoft changed it to “Biying,” meaning “must respond” or “answer.” Some of the features available on the English version are not yet available on this one.

Best Basic Bing Tricks

Go beyond basic searches with the help of these technology experts and their guides.
16. Microsoft Bing: 7 Quick ‘n’ Dirty Tricks: Definitely quick, but not quite dirty, Gizmodo gives you seven neat Bing tricks. They include getting phone numbers and wallpapers much faster than with Google. You can also get a review for Bing linked to in the first paragraph.
17. Bing Tricks and Tips Extended Edition: Web Talk had already put out an article on Bing, then found some more useful tips. Read about all ten here. You can also get links on how to filter explicit sites with Bing and much more.
18. 5 Cool Things to do With Bing: Million Clues is a technology guide for the digital citizen. They show you five easy ways to use Bing to its fullest. You can also get many other related tips and tricks for other technologies.
19. Bing Tips & Tricks: Amit Agarwal is a technology columnist for a national newspaper. He gives six interesting and easy to follow tips, including how to save and email searches. You can also get other useful how to articles.
Best Advanced Bing Tricks
Those ready for something a little more challenging with Bing will enjoy the below tips.
20. 5 Advanced Bing Tips: Now that you know the basics of Bing, try something a little more advanced. Ghacks often writes about how to take advantage of the latest in technology and shows you how to customize and utilize this search engine. Get tips for removing the background image, getting an IP address, do a search completely in RSS, and more.
21. How to Use the Bing Webmaster Tools: Sascha Kimmel has been blogging about the web experience since 1996. In this entry, you are shown how to use the webmaster tools of Bing. Get tips and tricks for keywords, backlinks, crawl issues, and more.
22. Bing Wallpapers and Ringtones: If you love Bing, then grab a few of these wallpapers for your PC at no charge. There are also three Bing influenced ringtones available as an MP3 to preview or download to your mobile device.
23. Webmaster Tools: Want to make sure your website or blog is listed on Bing? Then visit here to enter your web address and optional sitemap address. You can also give them your email just in case they encounter a problem with your site.

Best Blogs for Bing

Below are the best in technology blogs and their posts on Bing, including many different topics.
24. Webmaster Blog: From the makers of Bing comes this expert blog. It can show you the latest in search engine developments. You can also get information on how to post or remove URL’s from Bing.
25. The Microsoft Blog: Nick Eaton is a reporter for Microsoft and a blogger for Seattlepi. Get the latest in Microsoft news, along with updates and tips for Bing. A recent post was on explicit.bing.net.
26. Travel Blog: Those researching travel or vacations on Bing will want to give this blog a read. It provides information on traveling smarter and debates on the most timely travel topics. A recent entry examined the behavior of teenagers during travel.
27. Maps Blog: See which destinations are the latest to take part in Bing maps by reading this blog. Destinations often leave useful information when visiting them. Recent entries were by Starwood Hotels and Eddie Bauer.
28. Lifehacker: A quick search for Bing turns up interesting results on Lifehacker. You can get reviews, the newest features, and answers to common Bing questions. There is also a ton of other technology related information on this site.
29. Digitizor: This site is a guide to everything technology related and has useful entries on Bing. Learn the basics, get advanced help, and more by reading this site. They also have many other “how to” articles for other technologies.
30. Channel 9: This site also contains stories and information on Bing. You can also listen to a podcast or read a review of the product. There are also many other computer and technology resources on the site.

Best Reviews for Bing

Still not sure if Bing is for you? Neither were these tech experts. Read their reviews to see what worked, what didn’t, and what is best for you.
31. Bing, But No Boom: The experts at “Wired” magazine were given a test drive of Bing. Read about what they liked and get their recommendation. You can also get many other reviews and helpful information from this site.
32. Laurent Duveau: He is a Silverlight developer and technology expert. Read about why he likes Bing and even a few tips on how to use it. You can also get tips and tricks for other technologies.
33. Hands On With Microsoft’s Bing Search: The experts at “PC” magazine did a thorough review of Bing and shared their opinions. There are sections on interface, travel, shopping, and more. You can even get a slideshow, which walks you through Bing.
34. Hold Up The Bing Bandwagon: Gord Hotchkiss is the president of a search engine marketing firm. He reviews Bing and compares to some of the other more popular search engines. Gord even gives recommendations to Microsoft on how to improve their product.
35. Hands On: Microsoft Bing Review: TechRadar in the United Kingdom got a look at Bing and wrote a review about it. They enjoyed its ability to search impressively for images and videos, with the ability to play them without leaving Bing. However, they were unimpressed with some of its more basic searches.
36. Why Bing Sucks: Top 5 Reasons: Taranfx constantly blogs on the latest in technology. They recently previewed Bing and compared to Google for several days. See what worked, the five things that didn’t, and read the over 52 comments from readers with similar experience.
37. State of the Search: Are you interested in investing on which search engine will come out on top? Then read this review by Search Engine Land to see their predictions. This lengthy post analyzes Bing, Google, and even Yahoo, along with their futures. You can also get many useful links.

Best Downloads for Bing

Visit the below to easily add Bing to Firefox, or even to get downloads directly from Microsoft.
38. Downloads: Direct from Microsoft, you can choose from an array of various downloads. Get a product guide, MSN Toolbar with Bing, Internet Explorer 8, and others. You can even get Bing for your mobile devices.
39. Bing Add On: Got Firefox and want to search Bing without going to the home page? Then get this add on as a download complete with search suggestions. You can also read the user reviews to see if it right for you.
40. Bing & Google: Still can’t decide between Bing and Google? Then get this Firefox add on to do searches on both instantly. Results are displayed side by side.

Best Bing Downloads for Internet Explorer 8

Because both are from Microsoft, there are many impressive add ons to maximize both Bing and IE8.
41. Bing Add On: With a simple click, you can add Bing to Internet Explorer. It currently has a five star rating based on 20 reviews.
42. Weather from Bing: Instantly get the forecast for your city with this Bing add on. Simply enter the name, scroll over the tab once installed, and get instant weather information. For use only within the United States.
43. Bing Translator: If you are constantly visiting pages in different languages, this add on is for you. A pop up browser will easily translate any text on any page without having to navigate away from anything.
44. Bing Maps: Hate opening a new window to get a map? Then get this add on to quickly map any address inside Internet Explorer without starting a new search.
45. Shop and Save: The accelerator gives you instant information on the product you are looking for. You can get prices, cash back offers, and lots of help for stretching those dollars. You can even get reviews for the product before you buy.
46. Finance from Bing: Those interested in the latest financial news will love this add on. Simply type the ticker symbol into the browser and Bing displays rich stock information. You can even subscribe to this information as a Web Slice.
47. Bing Image Search: Does your research include looking for and through multiple images? Then try this add on to get a Bing image search tied in directly to Internet Explorer 8.
48. Traffic from Bing: Check traffic for just about any city in the United States with this add on. Simply type in your city and Bing will display a “Traffic for BLANK” tab. Scroll your mouse over to get a real time traffic map.
49. Define with Bing: Have a trusty dictionary by your desk or favorite online site? It might be time to put those away after getting this add on. Bing will define words, and even phrases, through this add on.
50. Bing Maps for Outlook: This service obtains online location, mapping, and routing information to help you plan your appointments and meeting requests. There is only one review so far and those who are cautious may want to wait before adding this.

Anyone who still has qualms about switching to Bing but are frustrated with their current search method will feel differently after checking out these 50 tips and tricks.

Bing has cost Microsoft $5.5 billion since launch

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:14:00 +0000

When Microsoft first introduced the Bing search engine it was surprisingly good. People liked the way you could change the background of the homepage, it started generating traffic within days of launch, and looked to offer up some serious competition for Google.
But it looks as though Bing has been nothing but a major draw on Microsoft’s cash reserves since its launch in 2009. In just two short years Bing has cost Microsoft $5.5 billion. In return, it has gained a 14.7% share of the search market, half of which has come from the Microsoft-Yahoo! search deal.
Microsoft is quite experienced at entering a market late, spending a lot of money, and pushing its way into a strong position. You only have to look at its gaming business and the Xbox 360 in particular to see that first hand. But the worrying thing with regards to Bing is Microsoft’s market share grab has had no impact on its main competitor.

When Bing launched, Google Search had a 65% share of the market. Now, that share has dropped only slightly to 64.8%. In other words, while Bing is taking market share from other smaller players and partners, Google remains very strong and profitable in the search space.
Microsoft’s answer to turning billions of lost revenue into a profitable search business is to attempt to change how people search. Rather than the keyword searches we all rely on today, Microsoft wants natural language and questions asked instead. Although no specific examples were given, Microsoft also wants Bing to be more than just search, and with that will come revenue.
With Google continuing to look untouchable at the top of the search tree, Microsoft has a lot of work to do and probably billions more to invest if it intends to gain an equal footing with its rival. You also can’t discount Google’s role in all of this, and its continuing push to innovate both in and around search.

Bing vs. Google: The Web Search Wars Heat Up

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:42:00 +0000

The search engine wars are back as Bing goes head-to-head with Google. With Microsoft's Bing jumping into second place in market share and assuming control of Yahoo's back-end search, the stage is set for a Google-Bing showdown.

In an attempt to throw aside preconceived notions, I've compared the most prominent search sections for Bing and Google, hoping that one of the engines would stand out as the winner. I invite you to do the same as you go through the list. (You'll find the full range of Bing's specialized search options on its Explore page. Google also has a page listing its services, both search and nonsearch.)

Basic Web Search

Here's the best way to think of Google vs. Bing in search: Google is laser-focused on its search results sending you to, hopefully, the most relevant Web pages, and it allows you to narrow results by date and location. It also indents results from the same Website for easy scanning. It's a powerful engine for delivering the best links, but it stays away from delivering its own information, such as explanations of people or things, directly in its search results.

Search results from Bing and Google are often similar.Bing is the opposite. Search for a company by name, and Bing gives you the stock price and customer service number. Search for "attractions in Chicago, IL," and you get a list of things to see there. Hover over a link, and you get an option to view some relevant text from the page. Sometimes, Bing even links to related search results, such as "Diabetes Symptoms" when you only search for "Diabetes."
Strictly in terms of the traditional "10 blue links," Google and Bing are fairly similar. (To see this for yourself, do a blind search and try to tell which engine is which.) I sometimes get better results from Google -- particularly when trying to recall a specific page from a specific site -- but the bigger difference between the sites is how they sort and deliver information. My vote goes to the engine with a no-nonsense ability to serve up good links.
Winner: Google

Images

Google's image search enlarges thumbnails as you roll over them, making it more helpful.Bing and Google bring many of the same options to image search, such as "similar images," "more sizes," related searches and style options. Although Google includes some slightly obtrusive image ads, it offers a better interface than Bing, enlarging thumbnails as you scroll over them while showing the text that matches your search, and framing the image neatly when you click on it.

[Editor's Note: A previous version of this comparison inadvertently implied that Google first introduced cascading image search views. It was the author's intent to state that Google led the way in image search generally, though not with these specific features. As noted by some astute readers, it was Microsoft's Bing that first introduced these views, though we prefer Google's implementation.]
Winner: Google

Videos

As with images, Bing and Google offer similar customization options in video search, such as length, quality, and source, although Google has some extra options for closed captioning and recent uploads. Still, Bing excels overall here, with a grid of thumbnails that's a lot easier to navigate than Google's claustrophobic strip.
Winner: Bing

Eye Tracking Bing vs. Google: A Second Look

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Introduction

Last year saw significant changes in the war between Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Google. Bing struck first when it began powering Yahoo!’s searches, thus accounting for nearly 25% of searches in the United States. Google then unveiled Google Instant, a new feature which predicts search terms before the user has even finished typing. However, even with these changes the search results pages remain much the same as does their requisite effectiveness at gaining and retaining attention.
The Original Study

When Microsoft launched Bing in 2009, User Centric conducted an eye tracking study to compare the amount and distribution of attention on Bing and Google search results pages. The most noteworthy difference between the two engines in this initial study was the amount of visual attention attracted by the sponsored links to the right of the organic results: 42% of participants looked at these links on Bing, while only 25% looked on Google. As expected, almost everyone (90% of participants) looked at the sponsored links above the organic search results in both engines. While information on the amount of attention on sponsored results may not be especially interesting to an everyday user, this information is vital to advertisers. Other findings included the relative disuse of Bing’s flyout feature as well as the greater attention received by Bing’s “related searches” over Google’s.
Evening the Playing Field

All participants in the original study were experienced Google users who had never used Bing, as Bing had come out only a couple of days prior to the study. Thus, the uncovered differences in attention between the two search engines could have been due to either interface differences or participants’ unequal familiarity levels with the two engines.
In this research, User Centric revisited the questions posed in the first examination about the amount and distribution of attention on search results pages. However, to obtain a clearer picture of how the engines compared, only experienced users of both Google and Bing were invited to the study.

Method

Twenty-four Internet users between the ages of 18 and 54 participated in the study. Participants conducted an average of 48 online searches per week using both Bing and Google, with at least five searches per engine. Participants’ eye movements were recorded with the Tobii T60 eye tracker integrated in a 17-inch monitor.
During the study, each participant was asked to conduct eight searches: four using Google (without Google Instant) and four using Bing. Prior to each search, participants were provided with a reason for their search (via a scenario) and the exact search term they should enter. The search terms were identical to those used in User Centric’s original Google vs. Bing study, conducted in July 2009. Two of the searches were informational (“healthy food” and “landscaping”) and two were transactional (“engagement ring” and “last minute vacations”). To minimize order effects, the order of the search terms and the order of the engines were counterbalanced across participants.
Five areas of the search results interface were of interest: (1) sponsored results at the top, (2) sponsored results to the right of the organic search results, (3) organic search results, (4) left pane, and (5) on-hover flyouts (on Bing only).

The eye movement measures analyzed include the percentage of participants who looked at each of the areas of interest (i.e., hit rate) and the time these participants spent looking at these areas (i.e., gaze time). All differences reported in the Findings section are statistically significant at alpha level 0.1.
Findings

Google’s Top Sponsored Results Get More Attention than Bing’s

Approximately 90% of participants looked at the sponsored results above the organic results in each search task. This number was comparable between the two engines and did not differ from what was found in the original study. Unlike in the original study, however, participants spent more time looking at the top sponsored results area on Google (2.8 seconds per search task, on average) than on Bing (1.9 seconds). Google’s top sponsored results also received more gaze time per result – 0.9 seconds compared to 0.7 seconds that Bing’s sponsored results received.
More gaze time on Google’s sponsored results was likely due to the fact that, for the search terms used in this study, Google typically produced more information per link than Bing. The top sponsored results on Google tended to have two lines of descriptive text as compared to one on Bing, as well as the Google Checkout button next to some of the links. The additional information may be the reason participants spent more time in the top sponsored results.

No Difference in Attention on Sponsored Results on the Right

As expected, fewer participants looked at the sponsored results on the right side of the page – only 28% of participants looked at these results on Google and 21% on Bing. This numerical difference between the two percentages was not statistically significant.
While the hit rate on Google’s right sponsored results in the previous study (25%) was comparable to the hit rate in this study (28%), Bing’s hit rate was notably higher in the previous study (42% compared to 21%). Because the participants in the original study were unfamiliar with the Bing interface, it is reasonable to assume that “orienting behavior” was responsible for the right side attracting the attention of more participants than in the second study, in which experienced Bing users participated.

The search engines also did not significantly differ in terms of the total time participants spent looking at these results (4.4 seconds on Google and 3.0 seconds on Bing) or the time per result (0.16 seconds on Google and 0.11 seconds on Bing).

Users Spend More Time Viewing Google’s Organic Search Results

In both studies, 100% of participants looked at the organic search results in each search. In the original study, participants spent on average between 7.1 and 7.3 seconds looking at the organic results, and their gaze time did not differ between the two search engines. This finding, however, was not corroborated by the new data. In this study, the average time spent on organic results was much longer on Google (14.7 seconds) than it was on Bing (10.7 seconds). One possible interpretation is that Google search results had lower perceived relevancy and participants were having a more difficult time finding the information they were looking for on Google than on Bing.

Bing’s Left Pane Looked at Longer than Google’s

Since the original study was conducted in 2009, Google has added the left pane to its search results page. According to the findings of this study, the left pane on both Bing and Google was viewed by 17% - 18% of participants during each search, though participants spent more time looking on the left on Bing (2.9 seconds) than on Google (1.2 seconds). This was likely due to the fact that Bing’s left pane contained information more pertinent to the original search term, including a list of related searches, while Google’s left pane featured Google filters (e.g., Images, Videos, and News) and other links that were not relevant to the tasks in the study.

Flyouts on Bing Still Unnoticed and Underutilized

Bing’s on-hover flyouts were found to be similarly ineffective in this follow-up study as they were in the original study. Even though most participants in the original study triggered at least one flyout, almost all of these triggers were accidental (i.e., the participants’ gaze was directed elsewhere at the time the flyout was activated) and only a quarter of participants who were exposed to flyouts ever looked at one.
Flyouts appeared less frequently seen in the second study. Only a quarter of the study participants activated at least one flyout and all of them did it unintentionally. In addition, the activated flyouts failed to attract the attention of any of the participants.
Asked directly about flyouts at the end of the study, only 25% of participants reported ever using them, and 67% said they had never seen one prior to the study. A year and a half after Bing’s launch, two-thirds of participants with considerable experience using it did not even know about Bing’s most unique feature at the time.
Interestingly, Google has recently implemented similar functionality, Instant Preview, but activated with a click. These flyouts may be easier to notice due the color and larger size, but this is an area that will have to be further investigated.
Conclusion

Overall, Bing and Google were comparable in terms of participants’ hit rate on the different areas of the search results interface. Regardless of the search engine, visual attention was mainly focused on the middle column of the page, with all participants looking at the organic search results and almost all at the top sponsored results. The right and left panes attracted considerably less attention. Only about a quarter of the participants looked at the sponsored results to the right, and very few looked at the left pane which contained filters, related searchers, search history and other links.
The differences between the two engines emerged in the time participants spent looking at the different areas. Google’s top sponsored results received more gaze time than Bing’s. Other differences included Google receiving more gaze time on organic results and Bing on the left pane.

Advertising is all about maximizing attention. The results of this study suggest that advertisers should place their ads above the organic search results, where the hit rate was more than three times higher and gaze time more than five times longer than on the sponsored links on the right. When deciding between Bing and Google, advertisers should keep in mind that, ad placement among the top sponsored results on Google attracted 22% more attention than an equivalent placement on Bing.

As Google and Bing evolve, the amount of visual attention on their interfaces will ultimately shift as well. User Centric will continue to monitor the balance of power between the two dominant search engines and investigate any significant changes.
This research was managed by Aga Bojko, Associate Director. To access additional eye tracking articles and learn more about User Centric's eye tracking services, visit www.UserCentric.com/eyetracking.

Questions about the study? Contact Pamela Stoffregen-Gay at 630.320.3900.

Microsoft, RIM make strange bedfellows

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:40:00 +0000

Microsoft, RIM make strange bedfellows

Matt Hartley, Financial Post · May 4, 2011 | Last Updated: May 4, 2011 3:07 AM ET

ORLANDO, FLA . Research In Motion Ltd.'s new strategy could best be described as "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Of the hundreds of firsttime attendees at RIM's annual BlackBerry World conference here Tuesday, none made a bigger splash than Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer.

The leader of the world's largest software company made a surprise appearance during RIM co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis' keynote to announce a deepening of the strategic partnership between the two unlikely allies.

Under terms of the new agreement, RIM will make Microsoft's Bing search engine and mapping technologies standard issue on all BlackBerry devices, a decision that sees the two former rivals further solidify their relationship in an effort to counter the growing influence of common rivals Google Inc. and Apple Inc.

"This goes way beyond a search box," Mr. Ballmer said during his appearance, adding that Microsoft's services would be "deeply integrated" into RIM's devices.

For RIM, the announcement is the latest in a string of recent realignments in the company's strategy.

That strategy will see Research In Motion begin to integrate its services with those of its rivals in an effort to reestablish its dominance in the smartphone industry.

Over the past two months, RIM has unveiled plans to allow Android applications to run on the new BlackBerry PlayBook, and on Monday took the wraps off a new service designed to enable its business clients to use BlackBerry technology to secure and manage non-BlackBerry devices, namely Apple's iPhones and Google Android devices, which are becoming more popular with RIM's core business user base.

The deal gives Microsoft the ability to increase mobile traffic to its Bing search engine on the strength of RIM's 60 million Blackberry users, freezing out rival Google in the process. Google is the default search engine on Apple's iPhone and most Android devices.

In March, Microsoft and RIM announced a joint venture known as BlackBerry Office 365, a cloud-based version of RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) that inte-grates with Microsoft's coming Office 365 service.

While neither company would say whether any money would change hands as a result of the Bing on BlackBerry agreement, analysts cautiously declared it a win for both.

"The move better positions both RIM and Microsoft against Google, and should deliver a tighter mapping and search experience on BlackBerrys," RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said in a note to clients on Tuesday.

Before the launch of the iPhone in 2007, which kicked off Apple's ascendency in the smartphone world, such a partnership between RIM and Microsoft, two companies that fought for control over the enterprise smartphone market, would have seemed unlikely, if not impossible.

Although the two companies still compete for smartphone customers -Microsoft rebooted its mobile strategy with the Windows Phone 7 platform in November -they appear to have opted for a strategy that borrows from the old adage that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"This relationship is about creating a more robust ecosystem quickly," said Kevin Restivo, Toronto-based senior mobile analyst with market research firm IDC.

"RIM and Microsoft seem like strange bedfellows on the surface, but both companies have pressing wireless needs that need to be filled quickly."

Microsoft’s Bing Vs Google: Head To Head Search Results

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Microsoft’s Bing Vs Google: Head To Head Search Results

Let’s just get it out of the way: no, Bing is not a “Google Killer.” It’s also safe to say that Microsoft doesn’t see it that way either. My understanding of what Microsoft believes it has in Bing is a much more competitive product than Live Search. I entirely agree.

Over the course of the next two or three weeks there will be countless articles and blog posts discussing Bing and whether or not it can dethrone Google. Microsoft has told me that the company sees Bing as a start (or restart) and that improvements will continue to roll out over time. One can be skeptical of that position or not. Regardless, Bing is a big advancement for Microsoft’s search efforts.

I’ve been using Bing (Kumo) off and on over that past couple of weeks. I’ve used it side by side with Google and by itself. In some cases I’ve been self-consciously testing and comparing results. At other times, I’ve simply used it to find information or navigate to desired sites.

Let me say that this post is not intended to be a detailed discussion of Bing’s “anatomy” and features. Danny and others will delve into those areas and may express different opinions and conclusions than I do here. As an aside, there are range of features that I like quite a bit; among them the “table of contents” that often appears in the upper left column (see graphic below) and the easily accessible search history, which will likely be further developed in interesting ways. (A Silverlight-enhanced version of search history adds more utility and even makes it social.)

My overall assessment is very positive. Kumo, now Bing, has performed well and I’ve been satisfied with the results. There haven’t been any significant deficiencies or missing links (so to speak). While there have been a few occasions where I’ve found Google results to be better, the substantial gap that existed between Google and Live Search is largely gone with Bing.

Microsoft has integrated the Powerset technology to varying degrees and made numerous algorithmic improvements on the “back end” that are largely opaque to me. More obvious are the interface upgrades and changes. While many people are accustomed — even habituated — to the Google UI, I appreciated the often richer visual presentation and generally “cleaner” organization of Bing SERPs.

So now you’re probably thinking will I start using Bing instead of Google?

To be candid I don’t see myself giving up Google, especially given the default Firefox browser integration. But I can also honestly say that while I almost never used Live Search except to write about it, I will indeed use Bing. Unfortunately you won’t be able to try it for yourself until next week when it goes live.

I cannot predict how you or others will react or whether Microsoft’s reportedly massive ad campaign for Bing will drive adoption. Advertising can generate awareness or curiosity but that’s about it. The bottom line is whether people find the results and their presentation to be compelling enough to actually use Bing.

So to provide a more concrete sense of Bing in advance of the launch, I conducted a range of basic searches that one might do in a given week and captured screens from both Google and Bing to offer a visual side-by-side comparison. The following are the queries that I used:

•Bing (couldn’t resist)
•Sonia Sotomayor
•George Clooney
•Hotels, New York
•Playoffs (NBA)
•Prius
•Up (the movie)
•United Airlines
•Best sushi los angeles
And away we go . . .

http://searchengineland.com/microsofts-bing-vs-google-head-to-head-search-results-20006

Microsoft and News Corp in discussions over Bing News

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:41:00 +0000

The Financial Times is reporting that Microsoft and News Corp has held discussions over a plan that would see Rupert Murdoch "de-index" his websites from Google.

Murdoch originally hinted at plans to charge for online content at sites such as The Sun, The Times or the Wall Street Journal. Earlier this month the media giant said he may block his sites from Google's index entirely.

According to the Financial Times, "Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google's search engine." The FT sources an anonymous publisher who claims "this is all about Microsoft hurting Google's margins" and believes the plan "puts enormous value on content if search engines are prepared to pay us to index with them".

The FT report comes a week after TechCrunch reported that Microsoft's Peter Bale, Executive Producer of MSN UK, held talks with representatives of newspaper publishers. According to TechCrunch "Microsoft plans to launch an assault on Google's flank, by cosying up to major content providers, especially newspapers, that feel hard done by Google News. It plans to use Bing as a way to entice them out of the Google eco-system, into one where, increasingly, the content of major newspapers could well be found more often on Bing than on Google."

If the plans are genuine and Microsoft is in secret talks with publishers then this could create a reason for many to switch from Google's news service to Microsoft's Bing News. If the deals extend beyond just news, offering publishers top spots in searches, then the effects are undeniably big..

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/11/23/microsoft-and-news-corp-in-discussions-over-bing-news

Microsoft Bing News Search

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Microsoft Bing News Search

August 27, 2009

Amongst all of the excitement about Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, one element of the new service that hasn’t received a huge amount of coverage is its news search function. Bing News Search offers a similar service to Google News, so I’ve it added toour News Aggregators category. Since its launch the site has maintained a market share of around 2% in the News Aggregator market and, as you can see from the table below, last week Bing News Search ranked ninth in the category..

Last week just over three quarters of Bing News Search’s traffic came from other Microsoft properties, particularly MSN UK and the main Bing search page. Like Google News (but unlike Yahoo! News), Microsoft’s new service consists of links to third party news providers rather than its own content. In order to compare the different news sources that each services ‘prefers’, the tables below list the top 10 News and Media websites receiving UK Internet traffic from Bing News Search and Google News UK.

Based on these two tables it seems that Google News UK ‘prefers’ UK newspaper websites, while Bing News Search sends more of its traffic to TV and overseas news sites (e.g. Fox News, Times of India). The sites also have quite different audience profiles. The table below details the Experian Mosaic segmentation for both sites, and you can see that Bing News Search is stronger amongst less wealthy and more conservative readers (e.g. Blue Collar Enterprise, Municipal Dependency and Twilight Subsistence), while Google News is preferred by wealthier and more liberal groups (e.g. Urban Intelligence, Symbols of Success and Suburban Comfort).

Microsoft’s Bing gains another 1 percent of U.S. search

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:54:00 +0000

LONDON –

Microsoft increased its share of the U.S. Internet search market by another 1 percentage point in July. taking its combined share with new search partner Yahoo to 20.36 percent, according to data released on Monday. nternet data firm StatCounter said Microsoft’s new Bing search engine had 9.41 percent of the U.S. market in July, up from 8.23 percent in June. Google’s share slipped to 77.54 percent from 78.48 percent. Microsoft and Yahoo announced a 10-year Web search deal last week to challenge Google. They plan to use Bing to power search queries on Yahoo’s sites, with Yahoo’s sales force taking responsibility for selling premium search ads to big buyers for both companies. StatCounter said on Monday: “Bing continues to make slow but steady progress but the combined Yahoo figures suggest that the deal announced last week will have to demonstrate major future synergies if it is to make any dent in Google’s dominance.” StatCounter said Google’s share of the global search market slipped in July to 89.23 percent from 89.80 percent in June.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Cowell)

Microsoft’s Bing kicks Google’s behind

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:03:00 +0000

At the surface, Microsoft’s Bing may look like Google, but once you dig in a bit you notice a lot of nice little enhancements that make a huge diference.
I’ve only been using Bing for the last 2 hours and I’ve already decided it is my new favorite search engine. The search results look very similar to google’s, but Microsoft’s added a ton of little useful features. My favorite is the left sidebar with search history and related results. I also really like the pop-out details you get whenever you hover over any search result. The site is very ease to use, but obviously has a lot of deep complexity in its design; a lot of “spit and polish”. Small things you may not even notice, like how the image search’s counter (IMAGES;”>1-16 of 1,510,000 results) will update as you scroll – pretty nice little feature that I’ll miss if I ever go back to search images on Google.

If you agree that Bing is useful, you may get frustrated if you are a Mac user because you can not update your Safari search bar to default to Bing. Luckily, I found a helpful little utility and how-to that remedies the situation.

I know there may be a temptation to argue the quality of the results – that somehow google’s search algorithms are somehow better and more sophisticated. First, good luck with that discussion, the results I am receiving are just as good as I get from google for my “real world” use . Second, who really cares? There are countless studies from Forrester and Gartner that prove people value ease of use more than they value content. Bing has the “ease of use” thing down. It’s pretty ironic because Google beat out Mapqwest’s user experience years ago with Google Maps, but they failed to innovate in search UX and now have been leapfrogged by Microsoft.

It is obvious to me that Microsoft has a renewed focus on user experience. Thy are investing heavily in us (the end user) and that investment is truly paying off.

(http://anthonyfranco.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/microsofts-bing-kicks-googles-behind/)

Microsoft's Bing is Now Mobile, Too

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:44:00 +0000

After launching Bing just a few days ago, Microsoft also just released a mobile version of its new search engine. Bing mobile generally works as well as Bing does on the desktop. It's a capable search engine, and Microsoft's focus on turning Bing into a 'decision engine' is even more apparent here than in the full browser version. This means, for example, that Bing Mobile will try to figure out if you are more likely to be interested in seeing recent news reports about a search term, or if you want to see a map.
Works Well - But Not Always
Generally, this works surprisingly well, and the ability to set your location often gives you good local results. At the same time, however, some searches that worked perfectly well on the main Bing site only gave horrificly bad results on the mobile site. A search for "Portland to Newark," for example, will give you results from Farecast on the main Bing site. The mobile version brought up a list of local businesses with the word 'Portland' in their name around Newark, NJ. Of course, Bing only launched a few days ago, so we expect Microsoft to fine-tune these results over time.
For the last few days, I've had Bing as my default search engine in Firefox. After using it for a while, and after adding a few Greasemonkey scripts to enhance its functionality, Bing has really shown that it is a very useful search engine. It is very hard to break the Google habit, however, and if I hadn't set Bing as the default search, I would have probably been heading over to Google instead.

Microsoft's Bing search wins share from Google

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0000

LONDON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's new Bing search engine gained U.S. market share in its first month in operation but still trails dominant rival Google Inc, according to data released on Wednesday.
Bing, launched on June 3 but available to some users a few days earlier, took 8.23 percent of U.S. Web searches in June, up from 7.81 percent for Microsoft search just prior to its rollout and 7.21 percent in April, said Internet data firm StatCounter.
Google lost share slightly, dipping to 78.48 percent from 78.72 percent before Bing. Yahoo Inc, the perennial No. 2 in the market, rose to 11.04 percent from 10.99 percent.
Bing's share peaked in the first week of June at 9.21 percent, falling away in the middle two weeks before coming back at 8.45 percent in the last week of June.
The results may give heart to Microsoft, which is investing heavily in its loss-making online services business and is refusing to cede the market to Google.
"At first sight, a 1 percent increase in market share does not appear to be a huge return on the investment Microsoft has made in Bing but the underlying trend appears positive," StatCounter Chief Executive Adohan Cullen said in a statement.a
The world's largest software company may yet strike an online search partnership with Yahoo to make itself a credible competitor, but talk of such a deal has quietened down.
StatCounter, based in Dublin, says its data are based on 4 billion pageloads per month monitored through a network of websites. Other data research firms such as comScore are not expected to release figures on Bing's share until mid-July.
(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Georgina Prodhan; editing by Simon Jessop)

Mixed reviews of Bing, Microsoft's new search engine

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:09:00 +0000

Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, has finally launched in the UK, albeit in Beta, ahead of the official roll-out on June 3. We round up a selection of the most insightful reviews of the service hoping to take on Google.

There are a few pretty good things about Bing, mostly from a usability perspective. Firstly it offers more information at the hands of users without being too cluttered. Secondly, Bing adds different iterations of keyword phrases to make searching easier. I like that a lot as the way we search is becoming relatively specific. If you're looking for an iPhone for example it makes it easy to find iPhone apps and iPhone games.

Bing also lets you see some content before you actually click-through. It's like Ask.com but a little less annoying. I hate pop-up features usually but this looks pretty useful. One of the good things is that they have a team of 60 engineers building it for Britain and it looks a lot fresher than Live Search (Bing's predecessor).”

Andy Mihalop, head of search, i-level, Revolution magazine

“When I saw it it was very much from a consumer perspective and was really impressive. It's different from the typical search journey you get on Google as the search engine refines the search as you go. This will make people find results quicker as Google Suggest is not as intuitive. From that perspective it's a step forward.”

Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor, TechCrunch

“My thoughts on Bing: I like it. And I’d consider using it as my search engine. But like many people I’m used to Google and I know how to find the things I’m looking for. Bing returns very different results for a lot of queries, which is great. But it also means spending time learning how to use Bing to get what you need out of it. I’ll spend that time because it’s my job. But for most people, they’ll stick to what they know, and that’s Google….

I’ll sum up with this - whether Microsoft ultimately succeeds or not in “winning” the search war, the competition is very good for the rest of the Internet. Google needs to be pushed to try innovating new things.”

Negative reviews:

PC Advisor

“Bing’s new look focuses on a lefthand navigation menu called the Explorer Pane. This extra column of content includes Quick Tabs that break searches down into Web Groups relevant to your search.

Our take: The Explorer Pane can be extremely useful, which may make the trade-off of cluttering up the search results page worthwhile. But in our initial tests, Quick Tabs often steered me to Microsoft services such as Bing Shopping, Bing Travel, MSN Autos, and Bing health information.

It may be that those Bing sites offer the best content, but we get suspicious of any search engine that habitually gives its own links precedence over others.”

Ryan Singel, San Francisco-based blogger and contributor to Wired.com

“We discovered Bing does much more than search for relevant links. It retrieves and processes data, and renders it smartly. That makes finding a great restaurant or an airline ticket, a snap.

But the service is far from perfect. Beautiful data mash-ups coexist side-by-side with perplexing interface choices that make it hard to find the best features. Meanwhile, actual search results were inaccurate in some cases, and disappointing overall in the local search category, one of the areas Microsoft hopes to make its biggest splash.”

Plugged.in

“Bing: What hasn’t worked well so far?

xRank – a technology that keeps track of notable people and puts them in order for you.

MS counts Live Search web searches for movie stars, musicians, and other famous people and then compiles its findings into an insightful ranking formula that tells you who the world is searching for most. The result is a cultural snapshot of who’s hot and who’s not!

xRank works well for US focused queries, but not otherwise (maybe, global launch of this feature should have been held, unless MS had collected substantial data)

While it’s too early to say Bing is better than Google or not, it surely will eat into other’s pie.”

By Emma Barnett, Technology and Digital Media Correspondent
Published: 12:58PM BST 01 Jun 2009

Microsoft’s ‘Bing’ Search Engine Debuts, But It’s No Google

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Microsoft’s revamped search offering — known as “Bing” — has gone live. In fact, Bing is now the default Live.com homepage.

We know what you’re thinking: Does the world need another confusingly-branded search engine? But horrible name and questionable graphics aside (Hot air balloons? Seriously?) Bing actually isn’t that bad of a search engine.

The problem is that Bing doesn’t really offer any compelling advantage over Google.

Bing is fast, offers a minimalist results page (which looks just like Google’s results, but with a bit more filtering/subsearch options in the left-hand sidebar), and acceptable, though not stellar, results. There’s not much more to it.

In general, Bing’s results were a bit outdated compared to similar searches preformed on Google, and Bing often lacks the helpful inner-page links that Google offers for large, popular websites.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been trumpeting Bing as a better solution for shopping searches, trip planning, health care queries and finding a local business.

From our testing, while Bing is able to deliver acceptable results for most of those use cases, there is again, nothing major that sets it apart from Google.

There are some niceties. Like, when you’re searching for shopping results, Bing carries over Live.com’s cashback offers. The links now say, ‘Bing Cashback,” but are otherwise the same. Also, search results are accompanied by the standard short page descriptions we’ve come to expect, but if that’s not enough information for you, hover your mouse over the search result. You’ll see a small box pop up that provides even more in-depth info. The nice thing is that Bing gives you a preview of the content of the page itself, rather than just relying on the meta description. It’s not entirely new, but it’s a helpful feature.

Another place Bing offers you something you won’t find on Google is within video searches. Bing lets you watch short previews of videos (including results from Hulu). To see it in action just search for an episode of your favorite show using Bing Videos and then hover the mouse over any of the video thumbnails to watch a short clip. Beware though, the clips will auto-play and don’t always stop when you roll off them, which could make for some potentially awkward moments depending on what sort of video you’re searching for.

While Bing is definitely Microsoft’s most impressive search engine to date, it still lacks anything game-changing enough to make us switch away from Google...

Microsoft’s Bing Vs Google: Head To Head Search Results

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Let’s just get it out of the way: no, Bing is not a “Google Killer.” It’s also safe to say that Microsoft doesn’t see it that way either. My understanding of what Microsoft believes it has in Bing is a much more competitive product than Live Search. I entirely agree.

Over the course of the next two or three weeks there will be countless articles and blog posts discussing Bing and whether or not it can dethrone Google. Microsoft has told me that the company sees Bing as a start (or restart) and that improvements will continue to roll out over time. One can be skeptical of that position or not. Regardless, Bing is a big advancement for Microsoft’s search efforts.
I’ve been using Bing (Kumo) off and on over that past couple of weeks. I’ve used it side by side with Google and by itself. In some cases I’ve been self-consciously testing and comparing results. At other times, I’ve simply used it to find information or navigate to desired sites.

Let me say that this post is not intended to be a detailed discussion of Bing’s “anatomy” and features. Danny and others will delve into those areas and may express different opinions and conclusions than I do here. As an aside, there are range of features that I like quite a bit; among them the “table of contents” that often appears in the upper left column (see graphic below) and the easily accessible search history, which will likely be further developed in interesting ways. (A Silverlight-enhanced version of search history adds more utility and even makes it social.)
My overall assessment is very positive. Kumo, now Bing, has performed well and I’ve been satisfied with the results. There haven’t been any significant deficiencies or missing links (so to speak). While there have been a few occasions where I’ve found Google results to be better, the substantial gap that existed between Google and Live Search is largely gone with Bing.

Microsoft has integrated the Powerset technology to varying degrees and made numerous algorithmic improvements on the “back end” that are largely opaque to me. More obvious are the interface upgrades and changes. While many people are accustomed — even habituated — to the Google UI, I appreciated the often richer visual presentation and generally “cleaner” organization of Bing SERPs.

So now you’re probably thinking will I start using Bing instead of Google?

To be candid I don’t see myself giving up Google, especially given the default Firefox browser integration. But I can also honestly say that while I almost never used Live Search except to write about it, I will indeed use Bing. Unfortunately you won’t be able to try it for yourself until next week when it goes live.

I cannot predict how you or others will react or whether Microsoft’s reportedly massive ad campaign for Bing will drive adoption. Advertising can generate awareness or curiosity but that’s about it. The bottom line is whether people find the results and their presentation to be compelling enough to actually use Bing.

So to provide a more concrete sense of Bing in advance of the launch, I conducted a range of basic searches that one might do in a given week and captured screens from both Google and Bing to offer a visual side-by-side comparison. The following are the queries that I used:

* Bing (couldn’t resist)
* Sonia Sotomayor
* George Clooney
* Hotels, New York
* Playoffs (NBA)
* Prius
* Up (the movie)
* United Airlines
* Best sushi los angeles

shared by:
http://searchengineland.com/microsofts-bing-vs-google-head-to-head-search-results-20006

Microsoft Unveils Bing Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:13:00 +0000

Bing Travel helps consumers make smart travel decisions with flight and hotel search, airfare price predictions, travel news and community, travel deals, and more

REDMOND, Wash. — June 4, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced consumer availability of a new search destination for travelers — Bing Travel — which will help consumers make smart travel decisions through a variety of innovative tools and features. Bing Travel is part of Bing, Microsoft’s new Decision Engine and consumer brand announced on May 28, designed to help people overcome search overload and make faster, more informed decisions when searching online. Bing Travel combines many of the airfare and hotel tools from Microsoft’s 2008 acquisition of Farecast with rich news and editorial content from MSN Travel. Bing Travel is available for travelers today at http://www.bing.com/travel.

According to a recent survey by Bing Travel, 52 percent of potential travelers search three or more sites before booking their airfare. Forty-two percent of travelers spend between one and four weeks weighing their travel options, and 17 percent spend more than one month. Bing Travel aims to dramatically reduce the amount of time consumers spend searching for travel information by presenting comprehensive results in one place, and to help consumers make more informed decisions with tools such as Price Predictor and Rate Indicator.

“Bing Travel has a simple goal: help people make smarter, more informed decisions regarding travel,” said Hugh Crean, general manager of Bing Travel. “Travelers face plenty of challenges — from airport security and luggage restrictions to finding their hotel in an unknown city or trying to speak a foreign language. Researching and booking travel should be simple and easy, and now Bing Travel is here to help.”

Microsoft research shows that 45 percent of people use a search engine to select a flight or hotel. Bing Travel provides new, innovative travel answers within the Bing search experience. Starting today, people searching on Bing for hotels in a given city with a search such as “Vegas hotels” will get Bing Travel Instant Answers included directly in search results, featuring the Rate Indicator, which helps people choose the right hotel.

Some of Bing Travel’s key features include the following:

•	Price Predictor. Bing Travel uses Farecast technology to analyze more than 175 billion airfare observations and predict whether the price of a flight is going up or down. It offers people a recommendation of “Buy Now” or “Wait,” including a confidence level and expected price increase or decrease over the next seven days.
•	Rate Indicator. How does someone know if the rate for a hotel is a deal or not? The Rate Indicator analyzes historical rate data from thousands of hotels to determine whether the current price is a good deal, or not a deal at all. People can view a city map with details for each hotel, color coded by Rate Indicator data.
•	Travel Deals. Bing Travel features up-to-the-minute flight and hotel deals for nearly 40 cities around the world. When people choose their origin city, Bing Travel will show the best airfare and hotel deals it has and will even show them why particular flights are considered deals. For example, people will see that flights to certain destinations may be a record low, or more than $150 less than the average for a particular route. People can be sure that all Travel Deals are based strictly on science, not marketing.
•	Comparison Flight & Hotel Search. Bing Travel makes it fast and easy for consumers to get flight and hotel results and pricing for thousands of destinations worldwide. Finding the right flight or hotel is made simple with tools that allow people to refine results: nonstop flights only, specific airlines, hotels within a mile of an address, and many more. After selecting the hotel or flight, Bing Travel makes booking directly with suppliers or agencies seamless.
•	Fare Alerts. Most airfare price drops last less than 48 hours, so people need to be ready to jump when a fare falls. Fare Alerts will notify people if the fares for their trips drop, allowing them to catch lower fares.
•	Original travel editorial content. The new Bing Travel combines editorial content from MSN Travel and Farecast to create an in-house team of experts who write daily articles, features, slide shows and blog posts to inspire and educate travelers on destinations, travel news, tips and tricks. Bing Travel also features exclusive editorial content from some of the world’s biggest names in travel, including Peter Greenberg and Pauline Frommer. Bing Travel also licenses content from leading publications such as Travel + Leisure, Budget Travel Inc. and The Wall Street Journal.

Bing Travel Summer Forecast Update

Bing Travel launches at a time when consumers can find significant deals on travel. The “Fareologists” at Bing Travel report that this summer — June through August — airfare is down 23 percent over this time last year, and similarly premium domestic U.S. hotel rates are down 16 percent on average, and as much as 33 percent in some cities. A recent survey by Bing Travel revealed that 55 percent of Americans plan to take a summer trip. Of those planning to skip a vacation this summer, 59 percent cited the recession or money woes as their chief reason.

“We know that a summer vacation isn’t an option for everyone this year, but for those with even a modest travel budget, it will go a long way this year,” said Joel Grus, Bing Travel Fareologist. “We also encourage people to shift how they think about a summer vacation. Instead of flying to Mexico or Hawaii, consider taking advantage of incredibly low hotel rates in a city nearby. Anyone who is creative, flexible and a little savvy can find a trip to fit almost any budget.”

About Bing Travel

Bing Travel launched in June 2009 to help consumers make smart travel decisions. In addition to comprehensive flight and hotel search, Bing Travel leverages Farecast technology to provide airfare Price Predictors and hotel Rate Indicators. The Farecast technology was recognized as the 2008 Webby Award Travel category winner, named Condé Nast Traveler’s “Best Site for Knowing When to Book” in 2008, named one of Travel + Leisure’s Top 25 Travel Websites in 2007, awarded Budget Travel’s 2007 Extra Mile Award, named one of PC World’s 20 Most Innovative Products for 2006, listed in “Best of What’s New 2006” by Popular Science, named one of Time Magazine’s “50 Coolest Websites” in 2006, and named one of the “Best Trip Planning Tools” by BusinessWeek readers in 2006. Visit Bing Travel at http://bing.com/travel or follow the Bing Travel Fareologists on Twitter at http://twitter.com/fareologist.

About Bing

Bing is designed to help people overcome search overload and make faster, more informed decisions when searching online. No longer satisfied with the status quo of search, Microsoft designed Bing as a Decision Engine to provide people with intelligent search tools to help them simplify tasks and make more informed decisions, from simple decisions such as choosing the fastest route to get home to more complex ones such as researching a product purchase or planning a trip. Bing is available at http://bing.com.

shared by: Microsoft

Microsoft’s New Search at Bing.com Helps People Make Better Decisions

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:27:00 +0000

Technorati Profile

Decision Engine goes beyond search to help customers deal with information overload

REDMOND, Wash. — May 28, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled Bing, a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions. Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.

The result of this new approach is an important beginning for a new and more powerful kind of search service, which Microsoft is calling a Decision Engine, designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. The new service, located at http://www.Bing.com, will begin to roll out over the coming days and will be fully deployed worldwide on Wednesday, June 3.

The explosive growth of online content has continued unabated, and Bing was developed as a tool to help people more easily navigate through the information overload that has come to characterize many of today’s search experiences. Results from a custom comScore Inc. study across core search engines show that as many as 30 percent of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result. The data also showed that approximately two-thirds of the remaining searches required a refinement or requery on the search results page.

“Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”

History of Bing

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:49:00 +0000

MSN Search
MSN Search homepage in 2006

MSN Search was a search engine by Microsoft that comprised a search engine, index, and web crawler. MSN Search first launched in the fall of 1998 and used search results from Inktomi. In early 1999, MSN Search launched a version which displayed listings from Looksmart blended with results from Inktomi except for a short time in 1999 when results from AltaVista were used instead. Since then Microsoft upgraded MSN Search to provide its own Microsoft-built search engine results (list of web addresses with samples of content that meet a user's query), the index of which is updated weekly or even daily. The upgrade started as a beta program in November 2004 (based on several years of research), and came out of beta in February 2005. Image search was powered by a third party, Picsearch. The service also started providing its search results to other search engine portals in an effort to better compete in the market.

Windows Live Search
Windows Live Search homepage

The first public beta of Windows Live Search was unveiled on March 8, 2006, with the final release on September 11, 2006 replacing MSN Search. The new search engine offered users the ability to search for specific types of information using search tabs that include Web, news, images, music, desktop, local, and Microsoft Encarta. Windows Live Search aimed to make its over 2.5 billion worldwide queries each month "more useful by providing consumers with improved access to information and more precise answers to their questions." A configuration menu is available to change the default search engine in Internet Explorer.

In the roll-over from MSN Search to Windows Live Search, Microsoft stopped using Picsearch as their image search provider and started performing their own image search, fueled by their own internal image search algorithms.

Live Search
Live Search homepage

On March 21, 2007, it was announced that Microsoft would separate its search developments from the Windows Live services family, rebranding the service to Live Search. Live Search was integrated into the Live Search and Ad Platform headed by Satya Nadella, part of Microsoft's Platform and Systems division. As part of this change, Live Search was consolidated with Microsoft adCenter.

A series of reorganisations and consolidations of Microsoft's search offerings was made under the Live Search branding. On May 23, 2008, Microsoft announced the discontinuation of Live Search Books and Live Search Academic and integrated all academic and book search results into regular search, and as a result this also included the closure of Live Search Books Publisher Program. Soon after, Windows Live Expo was discontinued on July 31, 2008. Live Search Macros, a service which allowed users to create their own custom search engines or use macros created by other users, was also discontinued shortly after. On May 15, 2009, Live Product Upload, a service which allowed merchants to upload products information onto Live Search Products, was discontinued. The final reorganisation came as Live Search QnA was rebranded as MSN QnA on February 18, 2009, however, it was subsequently discontinued on May 21, 2009.

Microsoft recognised that there would be a brand issue as long as the word "Live" remained in the brand.[11] As an effort to create a new identity for Microsoft's search services, Live Search was officially replaced by Bing on June 3, 2009

What is Bing

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Bing (formerly Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search), codenamed Kumo, is a web search engine and is currently the second largest search engine on the web at 16%, after its competitor Google at 60%, according to the web analytics firm StatCounter and CNBC.[1] Unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 28, 2009 at the All Things D conference in San Diego, Bing is a replacement for Live Search; it went fully online on June 3, 2009.[2]

Notable changes include the addition of search suggestions as you type and related searches (called "Explorer pane" on the left side of search results), based on semantic technology from PowerSet[3] which Microsoft purchased in 2008.[4] Bing also includes the ability to Save & Share search histories via Windows Live SkyDrive, Facebook, and e-mail.

Introducing Microsoft Bing

noreply@blogger.com (Husnain Rasheed) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:36:00 +0000

You probably didn’t wake up today expecting an entirely new search experience.

But – Bing! – here it is.

So, why a new search engine? Why the new name? Why now?

Well, because even though search is a pretty amazing thing, the current state of search engines has some equally amazing statistics.

So far in 2009, there are four and a half websites created EVERY SECOND as the web continues to expand. While more searchable information is cool, nearly half of all searches don’t result in the answer that people are seeking.

At the same time, the way the world searches is changing. You want more than just information. You want knowledge that leads to action.

The truth is you’ve evolved. It’s time search caught up.

So we had an idea. Start over. And we did.

We took a new approach to go beyond search to build what we call a decision engine. With a powerful set of intuitive tools on top of a world class search service, Bing will help you make smarter, faster decisions. We included features that deliver the best results, presented in a more organized way to simplify key tasks and help you make important decisions faster.

And features like cashback, where we actually give you money back on great products, and Price Predictor, which actually tells you when to buy an airline ticket in order to help get you the best price – help you make smarter decisions, and put money back in your pocket.

We sincerely hope that the next time you need to make an important decision, you’ll Bing and decide.

Thank you,
Bing Team, Microsoft