Bing

Microsoft launches Bing 'Visual Search'

You see that headline? "Visual Search" is in quotation marks because Monday's announcement at the TechCrunch 50 conference about Bing's new search feature is a bit of a canard.

What Microsoft is launching is very cool, mind you. It's just not, strictly speaking, a search feature. At least not a general one.

The new feature shows you pretty Silverlight-powered fly-in thumbnail images for only 50 specific search results (it will be expanded in the future), such as "Digital cameras," "New cars," "MLB players," and "Top songs." As … Read more

Bing 2.0 could be around the corner

Microsoft is getting ready to launch the next iteration of Bing, according to some wayward tweets.

Mary-Jo Foley at our sister site ZDNet spotted a few eager Twitter users spilling the beans on Bing 2.0 following Microsoft's annual company meeting, where employees were apparently given a preview of some new features that will be rolled out over the coming weeks. Some attendees had the changes coming next week, while others thought it would be more of a gradual rollout, but expect changes to Bing shortly.

What might be coming? One attendee said "imagine seeing maps plus pics … Read more

Justice Department further probing Bing-Yahoo deal

The U.S. Department of Justice has furthered its investigation into the proposed search engine deal between Microsoft and Yahoo by asking both companies to provide more information.

The two companies received an additional request for information earlier this week as expected, Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans told CNET News. He said he couldn't reveal the specifics of the request, citing it as a confidential inquiry from the Justice Department. But he said Microsoft is in the process of providing the requested information.

Yahoo spokesman Adam Grossberg also confirmed to CNET News the Justice Department's request. He couldn't … Read more

Microsoft: We haven't bought 'pornography'

Microsoft has responded swiftly to suggestions that its Bing search engine seems to throw up ads alongside the keyword "pornography".

In a post Thursday, I outlined some of the suspicions that surrounded the appearance of ads for Bing next to searches for fleshy entertainment.

A Microsoft representative declared in an e-mail: "Microsoft has not purchased the keyword 'pornography,' and this term has never been in our AdWords account."

This will serve as a considerable relief to many upstanding citizens.

The company representative continued: "It is our policy on the Bing marketing team that we do … Read more

Is Microsoft's Bing cementing its porn credentials?

I tend to believe that life's pleasures should be experienced with real human beings, relatively sober, and free of excessive chemical content.

However, I understand there are those who make use of search engines to fuel their various needs, including those of pornographic succour.

Which brings me to Bing.

There seems to be some agreement among the cognoscenti that Microsoft's fine search engine offers optimal results for those who are seeking the filmic freshness of the flesh. Blocking such freshness can also be a difficult maneuver.

You see, Bing has excellent video search properties. And you might be … Read more

Search: Google rules, Europeans do it more

Internet search continues to skyrocket around the world with Google's dominance unchecked.

ComScore came out with worldwide search market share numbers Monday, which revealed that Internet searches increased by 41 percent to 113 billion in just the month of July. Slightly more than two-thirds of all those searches were done with Google, which also saw the number of searches done with through engine increase 58 percent compared with last year.

Yahoo is a distant second with 8.9 billion searches in July, while China's Baidu ranked third with 8 billion searches. Both of those sites posted slow growth … Read more

Microsoft's Bing decides on bribery

The new Bing Dynasty desperately wants you to love it.

And it understands you so well in these times of penury and desperation that it knows you have certain vulnerabilities that might be worth exploring: the vulnerabilities that lurk in the area around your pocket.

Therefore Microsoft has launched its first-ever TV ad for Cashback, a nifty system that gives you a little money when you buy something vital--such as sneakers or a camera--through a Bing search.

It does seem like splendidly commercial bribery. However, I do wish that the ad might have been a little less prosaic and a … Read more

Report: Wolfram Alpha to offer API for data feeds

Wolfram Alpha, the "computational knowledge engine" developed by Mathematica, will soon allow its dynamic search results to be queried and mashed up in a variety of new ways.

According to the Guardian, Wolfram will be opening its curated data to be queried via an application programming interface, or API. Currently, you can view results in a browser, export them as a PDF, or "play" them using a Mathematica plug-in. The ability to use the data on other sites and for other means, such as computations in spreadsheets, is appealing, if not earth-shattering.

Wolfram's launch fanfare … Read more

Microsoft's agency sued over Bing TV advertising

I have never watched NBC's "The Philanthropist." (I have embedded a small excerpt, to offer you a little excitement.)

However, the show seems to be the battleground for a less than altruistic lawsuit against Microsoft Bing's ad agency, JWT and its holding company, WPP.

According to AdAge, the plaintiff, a Delaware-based company specializing in "program-integrated advertising" called Denizen, is claiming that it was in discussions with WPP as long ago as 2002.

These talks seem to have gone on for more than four years and Denizen claims it had a confidentiality agreement in place.… Read more