bing

Streaming video has exploded in the home theater.

Only a few years ago there was only Netflix, but now Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, and Vudu all offer top-notch streaming video services. The variety is great, but it forces streaming video fans to keep a mental catalog of where their favorite shows and movies are available. When I rereviewed the Apple TV, I almost rented "The Trip" for $5 before I realized it was available for free on Netflix.… Read more

Just like us old-fashioned human beings, Apple's Siri is bright enough to know how to find information when it can't answer a question on its own.

When you ask Siri a question that it can't answer or if you tell it specifically to search the Web, the voice-based assistant uses Google as its default source. But Siri is also capable of tapping into the smarts of Bing and Yahoo, according to an article in Search Engine Land.

Noted yesterday by search engine guru Danny Sullivan, iPhone 4S users can tell Siri to use a specific search engine … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer isn't one to mince words, and he certainly offered many candid opinions while speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit this evening.

Here's a rundown of Ballmer's thoughts on a number of topics involving Microsoft and its competitors:

Bing Bing still has a small slice of the search market share pie, but Ballmer stood strong that Bing has seen a nice rise in the last few years.

"We went from the number three player to the number two player," Ballmer said happily, attributing part of that rise to the search … Read more

Those of you who'd like to read Facebook pages written in a foreign language now have a way to translate posts and comments into your native tongue.

Using the translation tools of Microsoft's Bing, the social-networking site is now offering an inline tool that will translate posts made on public Facebook pages into the language indicated in your profile.

As described by the company, public pages written in a different language will display a "Translate" link next to each post or comment. Clicking on that link converts the post into your own language. Clicking on the &… Read more

Bing is now trying to direct you toward specific actions with a new search feature appropriately dubbed Action Buttons.

Designed to appear among certain types of search results, the Action Buttons can link you to pages where you can complete a specific task. For example, searching for airline flights may pop up a result for an airline with Action Buttons that you can click on to book a flight, view a flight status, and check in with the airline. Searching for hotel rooms may display different hotels with links to find their locations and reserve a room.

The goal, as … Read more

The next big battle in mobile could be over who will dominate the untapped local search and advertising markets.

Google, the Internet giant of giants, has been adding local marketing to its core suite of services for the last few years. It's launched a local daily-deal effort with Google Offers. And it's been pushing its local search and location-based services on its Android smartphones and tablets as a way to capture more of the local advertising market for some time. But its announcement last week that it is buying local restaurant guide Zagat will add yet another layer … Read more

Recognizing that it's no longer the only search engine in town, Google recently shed some light on how it keeps tweaking its algorithms to improve its search results.

Last year, Google made more than 500 improvements to its search algorithms. In a blog published yesterday, Google Fellow Amit Singhal explained how each new change may be based on a clever idea. But if it doesn't pass the company's rigorous testing, it doesn't get added to the mix.

A video posted with the blog and displayed below tapped into comments from Google engineers, each offering their thoughts … Read more

Microsoft's Bing is hanging onto its 14.4 percent of the search engine market, according to new data out yesterday from ComScore.

Looking at ComScore's U.S. search engine rankings for July, Bing stayed flat, Google lost just 0.4 of a percentage point, and Yahoo climbed slightly by 0.2 points. Overall, Google still led the way with an overwhelming 65.1 percent market share, leaving Yahoo in second place with 16.1 percent.

Drilling down to the actual number of searches conducted in the U.S. last month, Google took home 11.2 billion in total, … Read more

Microsoft should consider selling Bing, says a Reuters opinion piece that's gained attention in the last day or so, after being published last Friday.

Though the search engine has grown in market share and popularity since its debut in 2009, it's still a money-losing proposition and a distraction for its parent, claims Reuters columnist Robert Cyran. Despite the flush of cash that Microsoft has poured into Bing, the search's engine's online services division lost $2.6 billion in the company's latest fiscal year, he says.

Microsoft believes Bing provides a boost to some of its … Read more