Are you ready for the “new Bing”? Microsoft is updating their search engine and the upgrades include a revamped design with three panels, an increased amount of social information and a snapshot feature that lets you preview the results. The sidebar is especially interesting, as it directly interfaces with Facebook and allows users to ask their friends questions about a given search query.
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Bing Reinvents Social Search and Discovery (Mashable)
Bing has been reinvented, offering enhanced search results that tap into the power of social media. Microsoft has done this by pulling people out of search results and putting them in their place: A right-hand social column that will eventually include Facebook, Twitter, Google+ Quora and LinkedIn integration, as well as people who may know something about your most recent Bing query. AllFacebook The new Bing will gradually be rolled out to users, and those interested in getting it earlier can sign up. The search engine makes its suggestions based on information in friends’ Facebook profiles, their likes and photos they have shared. The New York Times Strengthening the ties between Bing and Facebook is a sign of how Microsoft and Facebook are working together to provide a counterbalance to their common adversary, Google. While Google is by far the dominant player in the Internet search business, it also competes with Microsoft in productivity applications and with Facebook through its Google+ social network. The Wall Street Journal Microsoft’s share of U.S. Web search was 15.3 percent in March, according to comScore, while Google had a 66.4 percent share. Combined with Yahoo!, for which Bing also powers search, Microsoft had a combined 29 percent market share. Forbes In 2007, Microsoft spent $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, which goes public next week. And the two nabbed headlines in October 2010 by announcing their plan to team up on social search. Read more
Microsoft’s Bing might be coming up the ranks as it continues month after month gradually wearing down Google’s control over search traffic.
Microsoft is often viewed as developing software solely for its own ecosystem. However, one of the many exceptions to this view is its app development for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android. In fact, its Bing app for iOS and Android is ahead of what is available for Microsoft’s own Windows Phone platform (although there is a simple workaround for this apparent oversight). Microsoft’s Bing for iPad has been a favorite search and news tool for me since its release. Microsoft released Bing for iPhone and Android this week that uses HTML5 within the app to provide a more uniform app experience across mobile platforms.
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I’ve been using Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) on my primary voice phone for about 2 weeks now. Both small and large changes to the platform continue to impress me. The integrated Bing app was one that received a major update. Microsoft’s Bing Community blog explains what wsa added in this blog item.
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Microsoft introduced a new social location tool called “We’re In” for Windows Phone under its Bing brand today.
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Microsoft’s Bing (shopping) Mall Maps have made their way from the desktop to smartphones with HTML5 capable web browsers. This means that Android phones, iPhone, iPad and some BlackBerry phones work with this new feature. Ironically, Microsoft’s own Windows Phone 7 does not have an HTML5 browser and does not work with this feature.
Mall Maps and Map Search come to Bing for Mobile (Bing Community)
Unfortunately, the instruction in Microsoft’s blog is incorrect. Do NOT point your web browser at m.bing.com to try this feature. You should, instead, point your mobile browser at maps.bing.com to search for one of the 400 shopping malls that have been mapped. None of the shopping malls in my area are mapped. And, one of the larger malls near Microsoft itself (Bellevue Square) is not mapped either. So, unless you are fortunate enough to live near one of the 400 malls, search for “pacific place seattle” (the site mentioned in Microsoft’s blog) to test the feature out.
Microsoft updated the surprisingly good Bing for iPad app this week. The big new feature is a search lasso that lets you initiate a new search based on selecting a search phrase using a lasso gesture that greatly reduces the usual search sequence of steps on an iPad.
Bing for iPad Update: Searching Without a Search Box
One surprising missing element, however, is the social component present in searches when using Bing in a web browser (including Safari mobile on the iPad). This social component lets you login using Facebook Connect to push search results “liked” by your Facebook friends up to the first page of results. The Bing iPad does not provide any way to authenticate with Facebook or even Microsoft’s own Windows Live. That said, Bing for iPad is a very good search tool and has earned a place with the icons on the first window of my iPad.
With half a billion apps mounting in Apple store, finding the right app is a real challenge. Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, brings an app discovery solution to easily search for Apple iPhone apps. Bing introduced a new app for iPhone that provides search capability and recommends other relevant iPhone apps.
iPhone (left). Windows Phone 7 (right).
