Bing Watch . . . Just Bing It!

In collaboration with InKnowledge’s expertise in open-source, the decision engine added Bing Maps SDK for developers of Google Android mobile operating system

In the latest collaboration with InKnowledge, Bing is trying to grab some search market share from developers of Google Android mobile operating system.

As one of Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), by utilizing Bing Maps AJAX V7, InKnowledge has developed several features include touch screen map controls.  In this collaboration, InKnowledge released set of codes in the format of software development kit (SDK) to help non-Java developers (click here to download SDK). 

Aside with SDK, the London-based company also supplemented with libraries for easy access to Bing Spatial Data Services and Bing Maps REST services.

(Screenshot: codeplex.com)

Google adds +1 (“Plus One”) in search results and search ads to compete with Bing and Facebook “Like” buttons as social layer with recommendations

Giant search engine Google just added new feature into its search results and search ads as social search layer is so trendy today.   Just about one month ago, Bing integrated shared Facebook’s activity into the decision engine search results.  The latest Google new feature is dubbed as +1 (“Plus One”).  According to Google website, the +1 (Plus One) button has meanings such as "this is pretty cool" or "you should check this out." 

The latest Google feature is only available for users in America with a Google login ID.  For now, users who conducting search in English will see the +1 button next to search results and search ads.

According to Google blog, the main goal of the new +1 button is to improve search results with recommendations from friends which usually shared on Twitter, Flickr, and other sites [Facebook].  By utilizing +1 button, users can help other users to find the best answers when they conducting web search.

(Screenshot: Google +1)

MSN: “awaiting new URL from Bing team” . . . for how long?

 

MSN presents several interesting articles on top of its homepage on a daily basis.   One of the popular articles appears on MSN homepage on Tuesday March 29 is about traffic issue in Los Angeles with a title “Search: Where Is Traffic the Nastiest?”    Somehow Bing’s sister site doesn’t look so professional today.  One of MSN’s web designers forgot to delete “(awaiting new URL from Bing team)” as the article has been published.

The MSN article read: “Everyone hates traffic jams, but some people suggest we pay a “Travel Time Tax.” The typical urban commuter with a 30 minute commute wastes 22 hours a year stuck in traffic.  Check traffic cams in your area and get the latest on gas prices. Don’t feel like driving? Calculate your fare for a cab. (awaiting new URL from Bing team)”

URLs:

(1) http://specials.msn.com/A-List/News/Worst-Traffic-Cities.aspx?cp-documentid=28131258&imageindex=1&cp-searchtext=Worst%20Traffic%20Cities&FORM=MSNIIT

(2) http://specials.msn.com/A-List/News/Worst-Traffic-Cities.aspx?cp-documentid=28131258&imageindex=1&gt1=36010

 

In order to help local governments to tackle traffic issues such as in Los Angeles, Bing added maps for creating local transit routes in late December last year.

(Screenshot: MSN)

Bing and National Geographic partnership shows one of the most beautiful active volcanoes in the world's most populous island, Java, Indonesia

In today’s homepage, the decision engine shows a picture of an active volcano in Java Island in Indonesia.  Java Island has over 140 million people and is the home of several active volcanoes includes Merapi, Krakatoa, Semeru, and Bromo.  The latest Bing’s homepage shows an active volcano in East Java near the city of Bandung which is well known by local people as Tangkuban Perahu (meaning: "upturning of a boat").   This stunning image was a great job done by Jessy Eykendorp of National Geographic photographer.

Back in mid-December 2010, Bing announced a partnership with National Geographic to bring more stunning images to the decision engine homepage.  All feedbacks to Bing team look very positive as the partnership will bring several images from National Geographic each month.

 
(Image: Bing‘s homepage showing an active volcano in Java Island, Indonesia, Monday, March 28, 2011)

Bing News section adds real time social data streaming from netizens via Twitter to help the decision engine users to compare and finding reliable sources

Authoritative news from traditional outlets is not always a reliable source of news, so the decision engine adds real time social data from general public (netizens) into Bing News.  The real-time updates from netizens (Internet citizens) were inserted into Bing News on the right bottom of the site via Twitter.  By linking Twitter updates, the latest feature could help the decision engine users to compare and finding reliable sources.  If readers do not like to see more updates, they can click “pause” to stop the data streaming.

With the addition of Twitter updates, the decision engine users can skim the latest headlines on Bing News.  Those include Twitter hot news topics, breaking news, and top tweets.  It is easier to find what and who are tweeting on certain topics.

 
(Screenshot: Bing News on “NCAA basketball”)

Bing’s parent gains several spots in term of brand value, while Google jumps to number one most valuable brand in the world in 2011

Bing’s parent Microsoft jumped from number five in 2010 to number two in 2011 as one of the most valuable brand in the world.  The software giant has a brand value of $42.8 billion in 2011, compared to last year at $33.6 billion. 

Bing’s rival, the giant search engine Google, has increased its value to $44.3 billion in 2011, compared to one year ago at $36.2 billion.  Google is now the number one company.

According to the latest data released by the BrandFinance Global 500, of the top-20 companies, there are 13 companies which have their headquarters in America.  The others are located in Britain, Germany, Japan, and Spain.

 
(Screenshot: Top-20 BrandFinance 500 companies via brandirectory.com)

Bing for Mobile adds more features with HTML5-enhanced version and catered for smartphone running on Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems, while Windows Phone 7 users must wait for few more months

Bing for Mobile team just announced that the decision engine for mobile users (m.bing.com) can now access more features with HTML5-enhanced version.  New mobile features include slicker image search, transit directions in real-time, more organized shopping search, easier to find iPhone apps, and others.

The latest HTML5-enhanced version of the decision engine will only run on smartphone powered by Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems.  For Windows Phone 7 users, they must wait until at least October 2011 when new hardware will be available in the market from the partnership between Bing’s parent and Nokia.

(Screenshot: Bing for Mobile)

The battle of web traffic data: two teams of lawyers from world’s top online measurement companies are working really hard to defend their intellectual property rights

Just about one week after Nielsen filed claim of comScore has violated its patent rights, the Wall Street’s popular measurement company filed a counter suit against Nielsen on Tuesday (March 22), reported reuters.com. 

Both online measurement companies are popular for tracking website visitors and those data are widely used by technology analysts and search engine providers include Google and Bing.  However, comScore datasets are regularly used by Wall Street’s analysts to determine the growth of Internet companies worldwide.  Online advertisers and publishers usually used website visitors to determine advertising rates and pay-per-click keywords price.  

Ratio 3:1 for Mountain View versus Redmond as the most desired workplaces: more young professionals want to work for the giant search Google than Bing’s parent company Microsoft

Citing the latest survey data conducted by a consulting firm Universum, wsj.com reported that about 25% of respondents wanted to work for Google, while there were only about 8% wanted to go to Microsoft.  The ratio is 3:1.  Overall, Google is the number one of the most desired company to work for, while Microsoft is number seven.

The survey was conducted thru sample of 10,306 young professionals with a college degree and with work experience between 1 to 8 years.

The state of California (incl. Silicon Valley) took number one and number two rankings.  The state of Washington got number five and number seven places.

This year at number two of the most desired company is the giant mobile device company Apple (the maker of popular devices include iPod, iPhone, and iPad).   Apple main office is located in Cupertino California where Steve Jobs went to high school. Other tech companies in the top-20 include Amazon.  The largest ecommerce company is located near to Bing’s headquarter in Seattle.

Google headquarter is located in Mountain View, California, with close proximity to San Francisco, and two large universities include Stanford and UC Berkeley.  Google’s location was picked as both founders were Stanford alumni.   Redmond, Washington, is where Bing’s parent headquarter is located.  Seattle area is the place where founder Bill Gates called as his hometown.   Click here to apply for a job at Google and click here to apply for a job at Bing.

 
(Screenshot: wsj.com with data from Universum)

Bing and Facebook partnership can lay golden eggs thru United States Patent No. 7,890,501 which was approved on February 15, 2011

In order to fight with giant search Google, the recent social search patent approval on February 15 by the United States Patent office could easily making the biggest day for Bing decision engine partnership with Facebook social media network. Patent No. 7,890,501 may be the most important asset for social search today. As Bing is the default internal search engine for Facebook, both the decision engine and social network have found a goose laying a golden egg on a daily basis.

The patent has a subject line read “Visual tags for search results generated from social network information” and with an abstract read “Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, are generated in response to a query, and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image.”

Today’s Internet users spent over 25% of their time in Facebook which has over 600 million users worldwide (and new signups are coming in every second). As users login into their Facebook accounts and they are also less likely to go out to conduct search thru other search providers (incl. Google). Facebook users could find answers from friends and their suggestions such as “Like” could be more meaningful and more satisfied than conventional search engine. The latest patent will give Facebook ability to provide answers based on popularity of search results within a group of friends.

(Logo: United States Patent and Trademark Office)

Bing introduces a new section for top city attractions by compiling data from partners include TripAdvisor, WCities, and others. It’s all in one place but not just one click away

The decision engine compiles the latest data from its partners include TripAdvisor, WCities, and others, and integrates them into one place to help users to make better decision quickly. The new feature looks very cool with the latest info from Bing’s partners but it is not just one click away.

For example, if a user type-in keywords search in lower-case “hollywood walk of fame” into Bing search box. Then, it will redirect to a new page showing a sub-header “Attractions” and keyword search changed to upper-case “Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles” as users will see a more detailed page with info include reviews, events, videos, and photos.

(Top image: type-in keyword search into Bing search box; bottom image: a redirected page with details)

Bing’s parent is selected as a first-time recipient of WME award (or, World's Most Ethical Companies) while Google is not in this year’s list of top 110 global companies

Bing’s parent is honored with an award as the World’s Most Ethical Companies this week in New York.  Among companies in “Computer Software” category, there are five winners include Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Symantec Corporation, and Teradata Corporation.  Of 3,000 entries, ethisphere.com team selected a total of 110 companies for the award.  This year's list includes 42 companies from other advanced nations (i.e., Japan, Germany, etc.).   While Bing’s parent is in this year’s list, not so with the giant search Google.

According ethisphere.com website, scoring system for selecting finalists of the World's Most Ethical Companies (WME) was generated by a team of legal representatives, university professors, lawmakers, and organization leaders.  To be selected, a company must submit an application and then, the ethisphere.com team will crunch the data by using survey questionnaire.

(Screenshot: ethisphere.com)

Not ready for prime time: the decision engine’s graphic designer has not changed their landing pages to support Internet Explorer 9 enhanced with Bing and MSN

While over 40 million users had downloaded the Beta version of Internet Explorer 9, apparently Bing's graphic designer has not changed the landing page images from Internet Explorer 8 to Internet Explorer 9.  All clicks from Bing homepage and team blog have been redirected to Internet Explorer 8 lander (see a screenshot).

See these three redirected URLs from Microsoft properties:

(a) From Bing team blog: http://ie9.discoverbing.com/index_noie8.html

(b) From Bing homepage: http://ie9.discoverbing.com/index_noie8.html?form=pgbar2&publ=BINGCOM&crea=TEXT_MFEHPG_IE9_BHPMar15_BeautifulWeb_1x1

(c) From MSN homepage top banner: http://ie9.discoverbing.com/index_noie8.html?form=MFEHPG&publ=MSN&crea=STND_MFEHPG_MSNinprod_tickler_br0304_1x1

Internet Explorer 9 is the fastest browser running on Windows OS (i.e., Windows 7).   The new browser was officially launched on Monday night at around 9:00pm Pacific Time.   Click here to download IE9 at beautyoftheweb.com.

According to Bing team blog, the enhanced version of Internet Explorer 9 will work seamlessly with the decision engine.  By installed the enhanced version, Bing will be the default search engine while MSN will be the top homepage for news and current events.

 
(Screenshot: Internet Explorer 8 lander)

Bye-bye Zune: Bing’s parent plans to “Zune-set” music and video player and shifts its focus to Windows Phone 7 operating system and the new partnership with Nokia to produce the next generation gadgets

Citing unconfirmed source, bloomberg.com reported that Bing’s parent is planning to sunset its so-so music and video player Zune.   This gadget was first introduced in 2006 and will soon enter into a dead pool list which is almost similar to last summer’s sudden shutdown of Kin phone device.  Since the launch of Windows Phone 7 operating system in late October 2010 and last month’s partnership with Nokia, Zune music and video player is no longer the crown princess in the giant software company.  Tech analysts, bloggers, and industry watchers believe that Nokia and Windows Phone 7 will introduce several new gadgets sometime before Christmas season shopping this year.

February’s search data supports CEO Ballmer’s claim as Bing increased to 13.6% share of user intent search market while the search alliance with Yahoo captured 29.7% share, and Google dropped to 65.4% share in America

The world leading web analytic company comScore just released the latest data for America search marketplace. comScore search data is widely used by Wall Street analysts as the Internet benchmarks. Bing hit another high mark in February 2011 as the decision engine captured 13.6% share of user intent search, compared to 13.1% share in January (an increase of 0.5%). 

The giant search engine Google continued to lose its grip in America search marketplace.  Google dropped to 65.4% share of user intent search in February, compared to 65.6% share in January (a drop of 0.2%). 

Yahoo share of America search remained at a stable level.  Yahoo’s share was unchanged for the past two months in a row, averaging 16.1% share of user intent search in America.

The search alliance combo Bing and Yahoo now captured a total of 29.7% share of user intent search in America.   This was a very close to 30% share.  The February's search share percentage supported CEO Ballmer’s claim this week, as Bing’s big boss was a keynote speaker at the annual IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates energy conference in Houston, Texas.

(Table: comScore)

Bing scores one extra point, the search alliance with Yahoo also hits a new record high, while Google continues to slide in term of search market share in America

Hitwise the web analytic company just released February 2011 search market share in America.  Bing gained one extra point and hit all time high at 13.39% share in February, compared to 12.81% share in January 2011.

The search alliance with Yahoo also gained one extra point to 28.48% share in February, compared to 27.44% share in January.

The search giant Google dropped to 66.69% share in February, compared to 67.95% share in January 2011.

(Chart: Hitwise)

Finding the ideal mate for the decision engine after getting in bed with Kayak travel, and other potential targets include thefind.com, yipit.com, and zocdoc.com

An interesting article written by Jay Bhatti of businessinsider.com discussing several potential partnerships for Bing after the decision engine latest collaboration with Kayak travel site.  In reviewing several top vertical search engines,  Bhatti believes that Bing will soon expand its partnerships into Shopping, Local, and Health markets.

According to Bhatti, the top vertical search engine for Shopping is a website called TheFind.com.   This website aggregates shopping search with more than 450 million product offers and links into more than 500,000 stores worldwide.

As the decision engine launched Bing Deals using Dealmap service last week, the next target for Local search engine is a website dubbed as yipit.com.  This website aggregates deals and coupons from many stores.  The technique used by yipit.com is almost similar to other popular sites, such as Groupon and LivingSocial. 

The last target will be in Health related websites.  One of the top recommended website by Bhatti is zocdoc.com.  This website provides local info about medical centers with list of doctors and dentists.   The website also allows patient to search for health insurance coverage and helps patient to make a doctor appointment.

No more peeking inside the beautiful Bing's HTML5-based site using the best browser (Internet Explorer 9)

Early this week tech bloggers and communities have praised the new and beautiful Bing's HTML5-based site.  The peek-a-boo site was first revealed by people at WinRumors.  Later, the same people declared that Bing team has closed out the peeping hole.  This was due to a scheduled launch of the new Internet Explorer 9 next week.  With the new HTML5 technology, Bing will also include instant search results similar to Google search feature. 

The new Internet Explorer 9 was designed with some HTML5-based coding which let web developers to create beautiful streaming and animated sites.   Click here to download Internet Explorer 9.

(Screenshot: Internet Explorer 9)

Over 25 million Angry Birds mobile gaming players in America can utilize Bing to find clues and decide to advance to the next level by watching four episodes animated video

After a very successful integration between the decision engine and Rovio’s Angry Birds game for celebrating last month’s Valentine’s Day, Bing team is now working closely with Angry Birds’ maker to help its fans to find clues and then pick a level and advance to the next level of the popular mobile game. 

According to Bing blog, the partnership with Rovio will include the production of four episodes of video series with animated characters from Angry Birds.   Each video series will also include clues and tips by utilizing the decision engine functionalities such as Bing Image Search, Bing Maps, and Bing Shopping. 

As per the Bing team blog, there are currently over 25 million Angry Birds users in America with mostly accessed the game app via Apple mobile devices (i.e., iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) and Google Android mobile devices (i.e., Samsung Galaxy S phones and tablets).

Click here to watch Bing and Angry Birds video series via YouTube.

 

(Image: Bing video)

Bing adds a new travel search partner in KAYAK and crunches more powerful flight data (incl. cheap flights, cheap tickets, cheap hotels, and cheap travel deals) to helping the decision engine travelers in America

Bing Travel added a new arsenal into its system with a new technology partner in KAYAK.  The combo Bing Travel and KAYAK will provide travel search results in America including cheap flights, cheap tickets, cheap hotels, and cheap travel deals.  Data will be collected from multiple cities, airports and airlines.  All these powerful flight data will help the decision engine users to plan and book travel from one place.

According to Bing team, the latest addition of KAYAK travel data will be combined with Bing Travel functionality including Price Predictor, seasonal rate indicator, and other search tools to helping the decision engine travelers to make better and faster travel decisions.

Say hi to Bing Deals! The decision engine partners with Dealmap to aggregate deals from Groupon and Living Social to help American users to find the best deals in one place

In order to find all the best deals in one place, American users will only need to visit Bing Deals via desktop or mobile devices.   The decision engine partners with Dealmap to aggregate all type of deals from more than 14,000 cities in America.  At the moment, Bing team said the cumulative offers totaled about 200,000 deals. 

According to Bing team, to see the latest deals, iPhone and Android users (didn’t mention Windows Phone 7) must go to m.bing.com.  The decision engine mobile homepage has just added a new section dubbed as ‘deals.’   Users will see all type of deals from Groupon and Living Social after clicking on the ‘deals’ link.

To find deals via desktop, users just need to type in the name of place, restaurant, store, into Bing search box.  Bing Deals will display a small tiny ‘green deal icon’ near the business address.

 
(Screenshot: Bing team)

Los Angeles Confidential Magazine Cover Star and Oscar partygoers love souvenir pictures but not all Bing's 91,500 Twitter followers

While rain was pouring down into the City of Angels since Friday and continued to Saturday morning weekend, another big Hollywood-style party was held in Marina Del Ray (a small port city about 10 minutes from Los Angeles International Airport) on Saturday night February 26.   The event was sponsored by Bing to celebrate Jesse Eisenberg recent cover star with Los Angeles Confidential magazine and pre-Oscar for his role in a movie about Facebook founders "The Social Network."

Several bloggers and tech news outlets (incl. computerworld.com) reported Bing Twitter account had sent out a bunch of Twitpic tweets and links to souvenir pictures from Jesse Eisenberg’s party.  Those photos almost resembled Los Angeles Confidential magazine cover.  Partygoers would love to see those photos but not all Bing's 91,500 Twitter followers.

On Monday (Feb 28) afternoon, Bing team reacted quickly and immediately sent a message to its 91,500 followers and read “We apologize for all the Twitpic tweets coming from our account. Definitely not deliberate. We are currently working to resolve the issue.”

(Left picture by Bing Twitter account and right photo by Jesse Eisenberg at a party to celebrate LA Confidential Magazine Celebrates Cover Star)

It's a Bing world: the decision engine surpasses Yahoo in term of global search engine market share in February 2011 while Google continued to drop globally

The decision engine captured 4.37% global search engine market share in February compared to Yahoo at 3.93% share, reported web research company StatCounter Global Stats. 

For the first time since the launch of Bing in June 2009, Google search market share dropped below 90%.  The giant search has 89.94% share of the global search engine market in February.

Citing StatCounter’s CEO Aodhan Cullen in the research company's post and noted "It is significant that Bing overtook Yahoo! globally for the first time on a monthly basis but it remains a tough battle to claw back Google's market share."

(Logo: StatCounter Global Stats)