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Microsoft makes Bing image search more social with one-click sharing to Pinterest
Companies know how important it is to make their products as friendly as can be with third-party social websites, and Microsoft, for one, has done a pretty fantastic job at making sure the team behind Bing's doing exactly that. To wit, the Surface maker is, as of today, also starting to cater to the Pinterest crowd, announcing that it's now allowing users of the recently redesigned site to share Bing image search findings via a simple click -- assuming you're logged in, naturally. The new sharing feature might seem like a rather minor one on paper, but for avid Pinners, it'll certainly come in handy as they can keep their precious boards stocked up with a little less effort. And, well, you know what that means: more cats.
Bing Desktop now integrates better with Facebook, adds more customization options
It's been awhile since Microsoft made the Bing Desktop application compatible with more versions of Windows, but today the company's giving current (and potential) users more reasons to enjoy it. Most notably, Bing now lets social folks peek Facebook's News Feed and friends' photos from within the application, leaving out the need to launch a browser in a separate window. Furthermore, Microsoft also added the ability to search via the Windows Taskbar and some handy customization features, such as keyboard shortcuts and more wallpaper options with the help of Bing's renowned homepage images. Those in the US, UK, Australia, China, Canada, France, Germany, India and Japan can check out the revamped Bing Desktop now, though it's worth mentioning that the presence of a few of the new tidbits will vary depending on the country you're in and the Windows version you're running. Either way, you'll find the download at the source link below.
Bing search lets you tag Facebook friends, forces them to Google 'Bing'
Microsoft has already made its "decision" engine get all buddy-buddy with Facebook and Twitter, but now it's taking the integration one step further. You'll now actually be able to tag your friends in searches. Why, pray tell, would you need to do such a thing? Perhaps you've got a buddy who grew up in Paris and need suggestions for where to eat while you're visiting. Or maybe you've spotted an awesome hiking trail and want others to tag along. Just enter the question in the Bing side bar then tag the appropriate people. The search will show up on your timeline and others can pitch in. Of course, you could always just ask these same people via Facebook message, text or (gasp!) in person. But why would you want to simplify matters? Check out the source for more info and the video after the break.
Bing Maps piles on 215TB of new Bird's Eye imagery, proves it's a small world after all
Did you think Microsoft was done with Bing Maps updates after it threw a whopping 165TB of satellite imagery at virtual explorers? You've got another thing coming. The mapping crew in Redmond has thrown another 215TB of data over the fence, this time targeting its Bird's Eye views. Most of the attention is on Australia, Europe, New Zealand and Tokyo, although Microsoft has seen fit to sharpen up some of its US visuals in the process. All told, there's over 88,800 square miles covered by the new and updated aerial shots -- enough to make sure that we'll never have trouble finding Cinderella Castle at Tokyo Disneyland.
Bing Venue Maps gets global-sized update, makes Euros' shopping trips easier
In case you thought all those 165TB of satellite shots would slow down the Bing Maps updates -- think again. And while this one might not be as loaded as the aforementioned goods, the latest refresh to Redmond's mapping service is likely to make at least a few shopaholic Europeans very happy. To make things short, Microsoft -- in partnership with Nokia -- is taking Bing Venue Maps over to the Vieux Continent, boosting the total number of mall-friendly maps to over 2,700, and making it more than 30 countries in which the offering's now live. For those unfamiliar with Venue Maps, the service allows you to find stores, bathrooms and even ATMs located within a good amount of shopping malls across North America, Europe and Asia. Even better, you can see if your favorite spot is one of them at the source link below, where you'll find the full list of venues supported.
Bing gets big remake with Snapshot, social sidebar, dig at Google (video)
Microsoft's determination to ratchet up the search engine wars just got clearer with a major rethink of Bing that includes a few potshots at Google. While the search results themselves are still prominent, there's now a Snapshot area in the middle that aggregates the common tasks linked to your search, such as booking a hotel room. Bing hasn't avoided the siren's call of putting social networking into search results, putting in both search hits as well as the option of asking friends, but has tucked the results into a social sidebar at the far right. Not surprisingly, Microsoft has already declared it a far better alternative to Google+ in-line results, which it sees "cluttering your results with social updates." You'll currently have to use a desktop web browser to see all the new Bingness, although Microsoft is promising a mobile-friendly update within weeks.
Microsoft adds new feature to Bing, wants you to stay Linked (video)
Looks like Microsoft isn't done flipping the switch on fresh bits within its beloved search engine. The new feature, dubbed Linked Pages, can "decide how you look to your first crush" by allowing you to select which results are actually related to you. If you're bent on making it easier for people to stalk you, then all you need to do is pop in your Facebook credentials and allow the Bing app to do its magic once it's accessed your account. The Redmond folks say you'll be able to link anything from a blog, personal site, organizations or your friends (just make sure to ask first). Unfortunately those of you outside of the States looking to Bing yourself are out of luck for now. In the meantime, head past the break to check out a full-on tutorial courtesy of The Bing Team.
Bing almost catches up with Yahoo! in latest ComScore US figures
Bing already claimed its title as the world's second favorite search engine, but in the US it has continued to lag in third place behind Yahoo!. The gap is closing rapidly, however, with ComScore's latest stats revealing a 15.0 percent share for Redmond versus Yahoo!'s 15.1 percent. What's more, those figures don't reflect mobile search, which must surely be a growth area for Bing as Windows Phone gathers American followers. Meanwhile, Ask Network remains static in fourth place and AOL (Engadget's parent company) comes a distant fifth -- although it did show a little growth spurt between October and November, taking 1.6 percent of the 17.8 billion recorded searches and pretending not to notice Google way up there on top. Full ranking after the break.
Bing to bring full-featured client to Android 'within next six weeks'
Microsoft's Bing and Google's Android aren't exactly complete strangers (hello, Moto), but now the company is saying it'll bring a full-featured client to the platform sometime within the next six weeks. Not much is known, but according to PC World (via Yahoo! News), it'll at least include desktop-parity with features such as web, image, and news search (in addition to maps, of course). ¿Está tu Nexus One listo para los links?
Bing Entertainment integrates Zune Marketplace purchases, improves Microsoft's media swagger
Bing, Microsoft's "decision engine," is wading into the entertainment realm today with the revelation that searches for music, lyrics, games, TV shows, and movies will get a new special sauce treatment from here on out. You'll now be able to play 100 basic games right in your search results, along with full-length streaming of songs (first time only, 30 seconds thereafter) from a 5 million-strong catalog. The latter is augmented with "one-click" purchases from the Zune Marketplace (directly through the web, no need to launch the app), Amazon, or iTunes music libraries. Movie tickets are promised to be similarly easy to buy, though the biggest new feature might well be the Bing.com/entertainment page, which acts as a portal into your media consumption with a selection of the most popular content in each category. It doesn't look terribly different from the iTunes storefront, but given its partnership with Apple's digital music shop, we doubt Bing's Entertainment section is perceived as much of a threat -- not yet, anyway. As to that other search giant, Google's been said to already be putting together a music store of its own. Man, all this integration and interconnectedness -- just where will it end?%Gallery-96092%
Apple releases Safari 5 with Safari Reader, Extensions and Bing search (updated)
Apple has just outed a press release for Safari 5, which curiously didn't get a mention during the company's WWDC10 keynote, but should be ready to download any minute now. Safari Reader is making its debut, as we'd heard it might, alongside a claimed 30 percent performance improvement over Safari 4 and -- mirroring the iPhone 4 -- Bing as one of the preloaded search engine options. Google and Yahoo are still around, don't freak out. Apple is also adding in Extensions (think Firefox's Add-Ons) to the browser, allowing devs to use HTML5, CSS and JavaScript to pretty up the browsing experience. The Reader feature intrigues us most, as it auto-detects articles within webpages and pulls them out for an unencumbered text-only view. The idea sounds great, but we'll naturally need to see how well it works in practice. Apple's been doing a bit of benchmarking too and boasts that Safari 5 runs JavaScript a whole three percent faster than Chrome 5.0 and over twice as fast as Firefox 3.6. Internet Explorer is presumably still working on finishing that test. P.S. We're hearing the current release might be for devs only, hence the lack of a public download. Update: Okay, now it's available for public consumption. Update 2: We've been playing with Safari 5 for a few moments and here's what we've noticed: Reader is pretty gorgeous -- think Instapaper on the fly. It's hard to tell when it'll kick in and show the Reader button in the toolbar, though -- it works on Engadget posts, but not in Wikipedia articles. Yes, Netflix is broken. It seems like it's doing a browser detect and failing with the new build number, so we'd guess it'll be fixed soon. It's much faster at everything from launch to rendering times. We haven't clocked it yet, but it's noticeably snappier on our quad-core i7 iMac. We're dying to try out some Extensions and see how they work, but we haven't seen any yet. Same with the new HTML5 features -- hit us up if you see anything! Bing Search integration is... Bing search integration. What else is there to say?
Daimler's Smart Drive kit for iPhone gives you big buttons, a dent in your wallet
If you're one of the trendy hipsters driving a Smart Fortwo, here's another way of pimping up your ride: Daimler has announced a Q2 2010 launch for its Smart Drive kit for the iPhone. As pictured above, the kit consists of a cradle for handsfree communication plus charging, and an app that "combines all the features needed on the road" by the means of "extra-large buttons and extra-large letters." You'll get access to your usual music library (plus Internet radio), contacts, phone functions and map by Daimler (points-of-interest data from Microsoft Bing). There's also the handy "Assist" feature that can automatically mark your parking location when undocked, and can provide GPS coordinates to the Smart hotline for roadside assistance. What's more, Daimler's currently working on a camera for this kit that can identify speed limit signs, and can then warn you if you're speeding. Want it? You'll need to fork out a dear €240 ($326) for the cradle (which may or may not be necessary), then a one-off €9.99 ($14) for the app, and finally the optional annual €49.99 ($68) for on-board European and US maps plus live traffic data. We'll reconsider if the app can also start our car. [Thanks, Jason]
