Bing

Software
March 22, 2013
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Microsoft Bing Improved Voice

Microsoft working to bring improved voice recognition to its mobile Bing app [video]

By on March 22, 2013 at 9:15 PM.

Microsoft working to bring improved voice recognition to its mobile Bing app [video]

Microsoft (MSFT) may be a bit behind Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) when it comes to creating a voice-enabled personal assistant for its mobile devices, but it seems the company does have plans to add better speech recognition capabilities to its Bing mobile app in the near future. MSFTKitchen has posted a video demonstration of a new prototype for voice recognition software on Windows Phone devices that’s intended to show how Microsoft has worked to reduce latency and word recognition errors while improving phones’ ability to accurately hear you in crowded, noisy areas. Unfortunately the demonstrators made no mention of when this software would roll out to Windows Phone users but MSFTKitchen speculates it could come as part of the Windows Blue software update coming later this year. A full video of the demonstration is posted below. More →

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Internet
February 11, 2013
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Bill Gates Bing

Gates says Bing is a ‘better product at this point’ than Google

By on February 11, 2013 at 2:56 PM.

Gates says Bing is a ‘better product at this point’ than Google

Don’t tell Bill Gates that he has to use Google (GOOG). During an “Ask Me Anything” session at Reddit, the Microsoft (MSFT) cofounder praised his company’s Bing search engine as a superior alternative to Google, calling it “the better product at this point.” Gates acknowledged he was biased in favor of his own company’s products but still encouraged Reddit users to give it a chance since “the work to make Bing better has been amazing.” Gates’ praise of Bing came in response to one Reddit user who sarcastically asked, “Do you guys really use Bing? I mean seriously…” Another Reddit user chimed in to defend the Microsoft search engine by claiming that Bing is “now better than Google for porn.” ComScore’s most recent search engine rankings show that 69.1% of searches were powered by Google in December 2012 while just 25.6% of searches were powered by Bing.

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Internet
November 28, 2012
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Microsofts Anti-Google Ads

Microsoft takes aim at Google with new ‘Scroogled’ ad campaign [video]

By on November 28, 2012 at 1:25 PM.

Microsoft takes aim at Google with new ‘Scroogled’ ad campaign [video]

Over the past few months, Microsoft (MSFT) has launched a number of anti-Google (GOOG) advertising campaigns to help move users away from Google’s services. The Redmond, Washington-based company’s latest campaign, called “Scroogled,” targets Google’s “unfair pay-to-rank shopping practices.” Microsoft notes that merchants must pay Google to be included in its Shopping service and is asking users to try Bing instead, which it claims will not ”switch to a pay-to-rank” method of listing products. More →

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Internet
November 21, 2012
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Google Search Market Share

Google’s U.S. search market share closes in on 70%

By on November 21, 2012 at 4:51 PM.

Google’s U.S. search market share closes in on 70%

It looks as if Microsoft’s (MSFT) efforts to dethrone Google (GOOG) as the search engine king have failed. The Internet giant’s search market share hit record highs in the month of October, accounting for 66.9% of all searches conducted in the United States. Microsoft’s efforts may have been ineffective at toppling Google thus far, but the company’s advertising campaign has helped it steal market share from other search engines. According to comScore’s most recent numbers, Bing also had a record month with a 16% share of the market. The total number of searches conducted in October increased 8% to 17.6 billion, with Google accounting for 11.8 billion compared to Microsoft’s 2.8 billion. Rounding out the top five search engines were Yahoo (YHOO), Ask (IACI) and AOL (AOL) with 12.2%, 3.2% and 1.8% shares of the market, respectively. It is worth noting, however, that the research firm does not account for mobile searches.

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Business
November 9, 2012
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Windows 8 Bing

Bing and Windows 8 are helping Microsoft’s brand image

By on November 9, 2012 at 4:27 PM.

Bing and Windows 8 are helping Microsoft’s brand image

Don’t look now but Microsoft (MSFT), the company that cornered the market with word processing and spreadsheets, has finally become cool. According to research from YouGov, the software giant’s Bing search engine and new Windows products are making a big impression on consumers as the market research firm found that consumer perception of both Windows and Bing are at a two-year high. In fact, since right around the time when Microsoft began its massive Windows 8 and Bing advertising campaigns in mid-October, the company’s perception has risen from 17 points to 25 on YouGov’s BrandIndex Buzz scale. The brand’s perception levels were even higher among tablet owners, increasing from 23 to 33 in the same period, while Bing managed to move up 6 points for a perception rating of 16.

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Internet
September 25, 2012
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Google chairman interested in wooing Yahoo away from Microsoft

By on September 25, 2012 at 9:00 PM.

Google chairman interested in wooing Yahoo away from Microsoft

Google-Yahoo Partnership

Yahoo’s (YHOO) decision to go with Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bing as its underlying search technology hasn’t exactly upended the search engine market, and now Google (GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt has publicly stated that he’s interested in breaking up the marriage between the two companies. Forbes reports that while speaking at an event to promote the Nexus 7 tablet in Japan on Monday, Schmidt said that he would love to have Yahoo switch to Google as its official search partner, years after the two companies called off talks to partner for search over fears that the government would file an antitrust suit against them. The idea of a Google-Yahoo partnership is particularly intriguing since former Google executive Marissa Mayer took over as Yahoo’s chief executive earlier this year. More →

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Internet
September 12, 2012
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Microsoft admits that its campaign to turn ‘Bing’ into a verb has been a massive flop

By on September 12, 2012 at 7:45 PM.

Microsoft admits that its campaign to turn ‘Bing’ into a verb has been a massive flop

Microsoft Bing Marketing

In an ideal world, Microsoft (MSFT) would like to have the word “Bing” become synonymous with online search instead of “Google” (GOOG). But we can’t always get what we want in life, and Fast Company reports that Microsoft has acknowledged that its efforts to turn Bing into a verb have been spectacular failures. In fact, Microsoft’s attempt to match Google’s search branding power have gone so poorly that even its own employees have given up using Bing as a verb in casual conversations. More →

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Internet
August 30, 2012
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Bing gets even more social, allows you to search through your friends’ Facebook photos

By on August 30, 2012 at 10:55 PM.

Bing gets even more social, allows you to search through your friends’ Facebook photos

Bing Facebook Integration

Microsoft (MSFT) on Thursday announced a new update to its Bing search engine that will bring deeper Facebook (FB) integration to the service. The company’s new “Friends’ Photos” feature allows users to quickly search through and locate photos belonging to their Facebook friends. “On Bing, your Facebook privacy settings are always respected,” said Ian Lin, a senior program manager for Bing. “Your Facebook friends will only be able to see the photos you have made viewable, and you will only see photos your friends have made viewable, and your photos will never be shared with the public.” This isn’t Microsoft’s first attempt at socializing its search product. The company invested in Facebook and it currently provides results on Bing based on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networks. More →

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CES
January 9, 2012
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Live from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s CES 2012 keynote

By on January 9, 2012 at 8:53 PM.

Live from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s CES 2012 keynote

It’s the end of an era. Microsoft announced last month that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote will be the company’s last for the foreseeable future. The show definitely won’t be the same without Microsoft’s chief executive officer Steve Ballmer kicking things off with his unique brand of charisma, but all good things must come to an end. According to reports, Microsoft won’t have anything big to announce at this year’s keynote. Instead, Ballmer will recap the strong year Microsoft had in 2011 and discuss the company’s core consumer-facing products moving into 2012 including Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and more. Mr. Ballmer always puts on a show, however, and we’re sure he’ll toss in a few surprises to keep things interesting. The keynote kicks off at 9:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Pacific, so hit the break to follow all the action — and Ballmeresque yelling — as it unfolds. More →

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Retail
September 23, 2011
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Microsoft launches Bing Deals website

By on September 23, 2011 at 8:45 PM.

Microsoft launches Bing Deals website

Microsoft announced and launched a new deals website on Friday tied to its growing Bing suite of services. Bing Deals is a shopping site that compiles specials from GroupOn, Target, LivingSocial, Nordstrom and others. “Instead of building another program, we’re harnessing deals from major providers and retailers,” said Bing senior director Lisa Gurry. Microsoft’s Bing Deals offers more than 200,000 specials across the United States and, as a deal aggregator, it should eliminate the need to sign up for email alerts from multiple coupon-based services. Just like competing options, Microsoft will offer daily specials that will be accessible from its desktop website located at http://bing.com/deals and from mobile devices.

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Business
September 21, 2011
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Microsoft has lost $5.5 billion on Bing since launch

By on September 21, 2011 at 9:20 PM.

Microsoft has lost $5.5 billion on Bing since launch

Microsoft has lost $5.5 billion, an average drain of $1 billion per quarter, on Bing since it introduced the search engine in 2009, CNNMoney reported on Wednesday. Despite the losses, Microsoft’s Bing reached a 30% share of the U.S. search engine market in April of this year, slowly narrowing the gap with Google, although comScore’s figures pin the search engine’s share at just 14.7%. Despite the constant drain, Microsoft still has a plan for Bing. During the company’s financial analyst meeting in California recently, Microsoft’s president of online services Qi Lu said his company hopes to use Bing to “reorganize the web” to “change the game fundamentally” instead of taking on Google in a head-to-head dogfight. Read on for more. More →

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mobile
August 18, 2011
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Microsoft outs Windows Phone 'We're in' location sharing app

By on August 18, 2011 at 9:45 PM.

Microsoft outs Windows Phone 'We're in' location sharing app

Microsoft’s Bing team took the wraps off of a new location-sharing application for Windows Phone on Thursday called “We’re in.” The application is similar to foursquare and Latitude in some respects, and yet still very different. The idea is simple: you can create an invitation that will allow your friends to share their location for a specified amount of time. Say, for example, you want to share your location and see where four of your friends are, for one hour, while you all head towards a local restaurant. You can create a quick event with “We’re in” and then send it to those friends. Once they accept, their pictures and locations will appear on Bing Maps. If you hit traffic or the train is late, you and your friends can update your status as you make your way to the restaurant. Unlike Latitude, which some people avoid for fear of location privacy issues, you can always leave the party. Better yet, when the allotted time is up, your location is automatically turned off. The application is available in the Zune Marketplace now and Microsoft says it plans on delivering it to other platforms soon, too. More →

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Software
July 5, 2011
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Microsoft to power English search results on Baidu

By on July 5, 2011 at 11:45 PM.

Microsoft to power English search results on Baidu

Microsoft has struck a deal to provide English search results in Baidu, China’s most popular search engine. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft anticipates that the Bing-labeled English search results will help expand its Bing brand in China. Baidu also hopes that the partnership will help its efforts to expand its search engine to the global market. Chinese users typically use Google for English search results, however, the Chinese government has blocked that search engine — and other Google services, such as the newly launched Google+ — from time to time. Baidu will begin implementing Bing results later this year, although neither company provided an exact date as to when that functionality would be added.

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