Bing Watch . . . Just Bing It!

Bing releases three apps, Weather, Finance, and Maps, to power the Windows 8 Consumer Preview that was officially launched in Barcelona on the Leap Day

Three weeks after the initial announcement on February 8, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is now set free for download on the Leap Day via Microsoft site.  According to Windows team blog post, in order to run the new operating system, each PC must meet these criteria: 1 GHz chip or faster, 1 GB memory RAM for 32-bit or 2 GB memory RAM for 64-bit computers.  PCs also must have free space of 16 GB to 20 GB, DirectX 9 graphics, and colorful screen of 1024 x 768 resolutions.

To support the Windows 8 launch event, Bing team also released three apps, including Weather, Finance, and Maps.  The Bing Weather app provides info on the latest weather conditions by hourly, daily, weekly, and maximum 10-day forecasts.  The Bing Finance app offers info on Wall Street stock market conditions as users can check each stock exchange value thru a live tile view.  The Bing Maps app helps users to find locations, directions, traffic alerts, and other interesting local activities. These apps are free for download at Windows Store.

(Images: Bing apps for Windows 8, Weather, Finance, and Maps)

BiNokia Maps: the one-year-old partnership between Bing and Nokia has finally delivered a unified map with combined style and design

One year ago Bing’s parent announced a global strategic partnership to build the next generation smartphone ecosystem with Finland-based Nokia phone maker during the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.  Today, at the same conference, Nokia and the Bing Maps team (plus Windows Phone team) delivered their first project which combined style and design into a unified map.

During the past one year Bing Maps designers have been working closely with Nokia Maps team and the Windows Phone team to merge both parties map elements, as the Bing blog post stated, the team’s goal is to “create a more beautiful and functional map.”

Nokia’s website showed two types of maps, an older version and newest version which depicting the contrast and usability between the two types. 

(Images by Nokia: top, an older style maps; bottom, a newer style maps)

@Bing Twitter handle gains about 4,000 new followers after the Oscars contest, as the Bing team gave away twenty-five prizes of a one year free movie rental from Redbox

As the Oscars night to celebrate the 84th Academy Awards has wrapped up with winners and losers. The @Bing Twitter handle also won some new followers. 

There will be twenty-five winners of a one year free movie rental from Redbox.  The Oscars Day contest was started at 7:00 AM and ended at 2:00 PM Pacific Time. 

Before the start of the Oscars contest, @Bing Twitter has over 182,000 followers.  By the end of the contest, @Bing Twitter has over 186,000 followers.  The total gain of new followers is equal to about 4,000 Twitter followers.

@Bing BEFORE the Oscars

@Bing AFTER the Oscars

(Images: @Bing)

Bing + Redbox Oscars Contest: to celebrate the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, February 26, the Doing Engine users will have twenty-five chances to win a one year of free movie rental from Redbox as long as they follow @Bing Twitter handle

This Sunday, February 26, Bing team will give away twenty-five prizes to the Doing Engine users as each will have a chance to win a one year of free movie rental from Redbox.  The Doing Engine team will send out questions via @Bing Twitter handle.  In order to win, each participant must reply the tweet by completing a statement “I think #MoviesWereBestWhen…..” 

According to Bing team blog post, the team will also share news and clips of past memorable Oscars moments. 

Contest will start from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM Pacific Time.  Only users who live in America can join the contest.  @Bing now has over 180,000 followers.

Images right: Redbox; bottom: @Bing

Bing’s sister MSN adds “Content Options” and a new “Skype” tab on top navigation bar to create more visibilities of the VOIP communication system to MSN users

One week after launching MSN NOW, Bing’s sister website added “Content Options” which allows users to interchange several favorites tabs on top bar of the MSN homepage.  Users can add or remove contents including News, Entertainment, and Sports editions from the top bar.

Another surprise is MSN also added a new tab “Skype” on the top navigation bar.  The addition of the new tab on MSN’s top bar will create more visibilities to market the VOIP communication system to MSN users.

(Image: MSN Homepage)

Taking advantage of its partnership with the world’s largest social networking Facebook, the Doing Engine lunched a new feature called “Bing Linked Pages” for users in America

With the help of Facebook, Bing added a new feature called “Bing Linked Pages” today for users in America.  The new feature will give users who have a Facebook account to control what their friends can find and see when they conducting search on Bing. 

After login into a Facebook account, users can control which pages and websites that matched their profiles.  Users can control their online activities on Bing by linking their Facebook with particular pages to help friends find them easily. 

As Facebook recently launched Timeline, the new feature also allows users to linking web pages that related to them and their friends.  Also, at the same time web pages that linked between friends will be posted into timelines.

(Image: Bing Linked Pages)

I wanna be like Bing: Russian search engine Yandex enhances its social signals by partnering with Twitter

In a partnership similar to the one Twitter has with Bing to improve social signals for the Doing Engine, Russian search engine Yandex signed an agreement with the Silicon Valley’s social short-messaging and micro-blogging site.  Twitter will let its public tweets to be propagated into Yandex and show real-time tweets in the Russian largest search engine results.

With the increasing use of real-time social data to enhance search results, the latest partnership is almost a copycat of Bing’s effort to add more social signals into the Doing Engine.  While combo Bing and Yahoo has about one-third of search engine market share in America, Yandex controls about two-third of search engine market share in Russia today.  Twitter broadcasts over 250 million tweets per day with over 100 million active users.  While Bing’s parent sent a check in an amount of $25 to $30 million annually to Twitter Company, there is no public data showing the amount paid by the Russian search engine.

The partnership will be benefiting both companies as Yandex will also help to attract more users to Twitter and vise-versa Twitter will bring more web traffic to Yandex. Yandex’s users can now access Twitter’s public tweets and combine with search results via twitter.yandex.ru.

Top right image: "(I Wanna) Be Like Mike" a single album

Bing’s parent introduces a new logo for Windows 8 operating system which depicts Metro style design for PCs, tablets, and phones

Just ahead of the upcoming release of Windows 8 operating system "Consumer Preview" version on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, at Mobile World Congress, Bing’s parent introduces a new logo for the next generation OS.  As Windows 8 operating system will mainly be using Metro style design principles, the new logo also depicts the Metro characteristics.  According to a blog post by Microsoft’s Sam Moreau, the new logo was designed by a team from Pentagram with the help of Microsoft people from marketing department and other departments.

(Image: Windows 8 new logo)

All in one portal, search, news, local and social networking: Bing’s sister MSN adds more social signals into its portal by aggregating breaking news stories and hot topics from Facebook, Twitter, and other sources to compete with mainstream media

Bing’s sister MSN portal launched a new social aggregator called msnNOW.  In order to compete with the mainstream media, the sub-portal site aggregates breaking news stories and hot topics from Facebook, Twitter, Bing, and BreakingNews.com and highlights the most current trends in real-time.  With its in-house editors and team of experts, msnNOW will provide more insights on web’s hottest stories and topics.

The concept of all in one portal will also help to increase more visitors to Microsoft’s Internet properties.  New users will add more web traffics and will be benefiting to Bing, the Doing Engine which is now the number two search engine in America. 

According to Microsoft press release, MSN portal captured a large share of global visitors on monthly basis.  Bing’s sister MSN now has about 520 million visitors per month.  MSN portal also serves 48 markets and translates into 27 world’s languages.

(Image: msnNOW)

Bing Rewards team offers a new monthly sweepstakes, as members will have a chance to win a home entertainment system or a $500 gift card from REI, submissions will end on February 29, 2012

Bing Rewards team is giving away several interesting prizes for the month of February.  The biggest prize is a home entertainment system that includes an Xbox game console, Kinect motion controller, a 50-inc plasma TV with speakers system (this could be worth about $2,500).  Members must redeem 40 credits for 1 entry for the system, or 80 credits for 10 entries.

Other interesting prizes for February’s sweepstakes include three $500 gift cards and a one-year Hulu Plus access.  Members will have three chances to win a $500 gift card from REI, the outdoor activities store.  Members must redeem 30 credits for 1 entry for the gift card, or 60 credits for 10 entries.

Bing Rewards team is also running a new type of sweepstakes starting today until March 11, and gives away 100,000 Bing Rewards credits.  Members must follow the team’s Twitter account @BingRewards to get updates. 

(Images: left, Bing Rewards; right, facebook.com/bing; bottom, Twitter.com)

TV commercial featuring a celebrity and pop music endorsement propelled the “Doing Engine” to grab some eyeballs during the second most watched Grammy telecast that was aired on Sunday night, February 12, 2012

Starting the new year of 2012, the “Doing Engine” launched a series of ads featuring celebrity, pop music, and sport icons. The former decision engine team is now highlighting Bing as a “Doing Engine.” One of those ads featuring double-Grammy nominee Wiz Khalifa was showed during the 54th annual Grammy Awards.

This year’s event was the second most watched Grammy telecast that was aired on Sunday night, February 12, 2012. Citing Nielsen's preliminary ratings, billboard.com reported that Sunday's CBS broadcast was viewed by over 39 million people. The “Doing Engine” appears to grab a ton of eyeballs during this year’s event.

GreenLight, a Corbis’s division that handles media, licensing, copyrights for talent, released their findings of the world's biggest TV music event. According to GreenLight, marketers have increased the use of entertainment content during the 2012 telecast over 2011. In a press release one day after the event, David Reeder, vice president of GreenLight noted that "In an attempt to break out of the shadow of its corporate 'parent', Microsoft, Bing taps into the very hip style of Wiz Khalifa to demonstrate it is not your parents' search engine. More than just borrowing his music, Bing goes the slice of life route, letting Wiz tell us his story of growing from young upstart to established artist - much in the same way that Bing has quickly managed to grab meaningful market share after just a few short years in market."

(Video: Bing is for Doing, with Wiz Khalifa, click here to watch via YouTube)

Doing Well Engine: Bing increased to 15.2% share of searches in January 2012 in America, Google also went up to 66.2% share, while Yahoo dropped to 14.1% share

Bing continued to slow-but-stable gaining search engine share in January 2012 in America.  According to the latest web traffic data provided by comScore, the Doing Engine increased to 15.2% share of searches, compared to December 2011 which was at 15.1% (or an increase of 0.1% share).

Bing’s rival Google also went up in January and captured 66.2% share, compared to 65.9% share in December (or an increase of 0.3% share).

Bing’s partner Yahoo dropped to 14.1% share in January, compared to 14.5% share in December (or a drop of 0.4% share).

The Search Alliance combo totaled 29.3% share in January, compared to 29.6% share in December (or a drop of 0.3% share).

(Table: comScore)

See you again in Barcelona: Bing’s parent to launch Windows 8 operating system "Consumer Preview" version on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, at Mobile World Congress

Bing’s parent is set to launch the "Consumer Preview" version of Windows 8 operating system on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, at Mobile World Congress.  Tech watchers believe that Barcelona is suitable place for the announcement as Windows 8 OS is very close resemblance to Windows Phone 8 mobile OS. 

Two years ago, Windows Phone 7 mobile OS was also announced at the same mobile conference by CEO Steve Ballmer.  Last year at the same conference, Nokia made headline news as the Finland-based company announced a long-term partnership with Microsoft to utilize Windows Phone OS on all new smartphones.

The brand new Windows 8 operating system was introduced during the first day of June, 2011, at the D9 Conference which took place at an executive golf course resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California by Windows and Windows Live Engineering President Steven Sinofsky.  Later in mid-September 2011, developers from around the world were able to check out the Windows 8 in Anaheim, California, during Build conference.  Then, just few weeks before last year's Christmas, a bunch of developers met in San Francisco on December 6, 2011, as Microsoft people showed them Windows Store and urged them to develop Metro style apps (with 80% rev share).

The Consumer Preview “beta version” of Windows 8 will likely to include the popular Metro style applications.  The new OS will be benefiting Bing’s users as they can develop Metro style apps and start selling them thru the new Windows Store, while users from around the world can download "paid" or "free" games and applications from the Store.

(Image: Microsoft)

Bing’s search partner announces management shake-up which could jeopardize the future of the Search Alliance: chairman and three Yahoo’s board members will not stand for re-election

Just one week into the new year of 2012, Bing’s search alliance partner hired former PayPal president Scott Thompson as its new CEO.  Then, three weeks ago Yahoo’s co-founder Jerry Yang quitted his job from the board and severed his ties with the search engine pioneer.   The Stanford University alumni later said that he wanted to pursue other business interests.

Today, Tuesday February 7, 2012, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and three old-timers of the company are quitting their jobs.  Bostock announced the management shake-up in a letter to shareholders as he wrote ". . .  Mr. Joshi, Mr. Kern, Mr. Wilson and I [Bostock] have volunteered not to stand for re-election at the next shareholders' meeting."

The latest management shake-up for the Silicon Valley-based company could jeopardize the future of Search Alliance as Bing and Yahoo had signed a 10-year global agreement in July 2009.  The new team of leadership could also threaten its current negotiations with several big pockets investors who are interested to buy Yahoo Asian assets.  Those assets include Yahoo Japan and Alibaba.com web auction site in China.

Bing’s partner Wolfram|Alpha to add “Pro” option for users around the world on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, as subscriptions per month for all type of users at $4.99 (except for students at $2.99)

Bing’s partner Wolfram|Alpha will add more features on to the “knowledge engine” platform this Wednesday, February 8, 2012.  The new option will be called “Wolfram|Alpha Pro.” 

Citing Stephen Wolfram, the knowledge engine's founder, zdnet.com reported that the "Pro" option will include features such as:

• Users can create interactive output using computable document format (CDF)
• More support on graphics formats include 3D geometry
• More personalized output of images by adding title, re-size zoom-in-out, and changing color
• Users can download raw data

(Image: Wolfram|Alpha homepage)

Stronger social signals: Bing team is working hard to provide more social signals by integrating data from Facebook and Twitter to compete with Google+ new feature “Search Plus Your World” (SPYW)

Bing has been keeping a low profile to avoid retaliation while Google+ launched a new feature which is known as “Search Plus Your World” (SPYW) in the second week of January 2012.  Bing added social signals into its search results almost 1 ½ years ago by integrating data from Facebook and Twitter.  The world’s largest search engine mines its own dataset to power Google+ search results with SPYW, while the big pockets Bing’s parent must pay Facebook and Twitter to get those social data.  With a ton of money, everything is possible for Bing, as the “Doing Engine” is now the only search engine in the planet that has exclusive deals to access all type of social data from both Facebook and Twitter.

Early today, Liz Gannes of All Things D published an article as she interviewed Bing Director Stefan Weitz.  Based on the interview, it appears that Bing team is working really hard to add stronger social signals into the “Doing Engine” soon. 

While the progress has been slow as Weitz said in the article “…we are taking this pretty slow, and there’s a pretty good reason for that,” Bing team sees a significant impact into the division’s bottom line.  Citing Stefan Weitz, in fact by incorporating social signal into search results has helped Bing the get more users to click on links including pay-per-click ads, as Gannes wrote “…the click-through rate goes up substantially.”