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  • May
    22
    20 13

    The Grand Bargain

    Last week, my team and I sat down over bagels, donuts and coffee (I actually had a couple extra cinnamon fritters, but who’s counting?) to watch the Google I/O conference stream. Now you’ve probably read some of the tech coverage from the conference already, and I don’t need to amplify all their stuff because hey, I work for Bing. But what Google I/O really made clear to us was, under all the technophilia, Google’s main focus is on monetizing its users’ data. They will be paying more attention to your location, analyzing your photos and turning them into animated gifs and they’d like some credit for their innovations while rarely mentioning that all this personal data collection gives them more opportunities to show you ads. What’s different this time is people are beginning to realize what the Google consumer “bargain” really means and are having a conversation about it. Analysts like Jeremiah Owyang of Altimeter Group called it when he advised Google customers to “ know you are the product .” Mobile as an ad platform for Google is getting more granular – and the flip side of that is they know more about... Read More Last week, my team and I sat down over bagels, donuts and coffee (I actually had a couple extra cinnamon fritters, but who’s counting?) to watch the Google I/O conference stream. Now you’ve probably read some of the tech coverage from the conference already, and I don’t need to amplify all their stuff because hey, I work for Bing. But what Google I/O really made clear to us was, under all the technophilia, Google’s main focus is on monetizing its users’ data. They will be paying more attention to your location, analyzing your photos and turning them into animated... Read More
  • May
    22
    20 13

    Let Bing Guide You Off the Beaten Path...

    Dreaming about the beach, the mountains, or your favorite shopping spot? That only means one thing—it’s time to make summer travel plans with Bing Travel . This year, we’ve decided to join the astounding 93% of you (according to a recent Bing survey) who are open to trying something new and shake up our summer travel plans by going off the beaten path. Interested in trying a new vacation spot? Jamaica is currently the most searched beach destination for 2013, so if you want to join us in checking Bob Marley’s birthplace off of your travel bucket list, we have all the tools to not only get you there, but save you time and money as well. Now it’s time to book a flight. Bing’s Price Predictor provides five possible recommendations when looking at flights, ranging from “Buy Now” or “Wait,” including a confidence level and expected price increase or decrease over the next seven days. Why spend more today when you know you can save tomorrow? In need of a new place to stay? The Hotel Rate Indicator analyzes historical rate data from thousands of hotels to help determine whether the current price is a good deal, or not a deal... Read More Dreaming about the beach, the mountains, or your favorite shopping spot? That only means one thing—it’s time to make summer travel plans with Bing Travel . This year, we’ve decided to join the astounding 93% of you (according to a recent Bing survey) who are open to trying something new and shake up our summer travel plans by going off the beaten path. Interested in trying a new vacation spot? Jamaica is currently the most searched beach destination for 2013, so if you want to join us in checking Bob Marley’s birthplace off of your travel bucket list, we have all the... Read More
  • May
    22
    20 13

    Image Overlays with Bing Maps (JavaScript...

    There are a lot of different types of data that can be overlaid on top of Bing Maps. In this post, we are going to look at how to overlay images on top of the Bing Maps V7 AJAX and Windows Store JavaScript controls. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of great use cases for overlaying images on top of the map. Some of the more common use cases include: floor plans , satellite imagery of hurricanes or other natural disasters, historic maps , and other maps , There are two main approaches for overlaying images on Bing Maps. The first approach is to turn the image into map tiles ahead of time and serve them up to the application as a custom tile layer. This has been a common approach for many and have accomplished this by using a tool called MapCruncher . This approach does require hosting the tiles on a server, which can be slow going due to the number of tile loads. This approach is ideal for when you want to overlay a high resolution image with a large file size. The second approach is to overlay the image directly on the map and lock it to a specific bounding box, scaling and positioning it accordingly as the map moves. With the Bing Maps Silverlight control we are able to overlay... Read More There are a lot of different types of data that can be overlaid on top of Bing Maps. In this post, we are going to look at how to overlay images on top of the Bing Maps V7 AJAX and Windows Store JavaScript controls. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of great use cases for overlaying images on top of the map. Some of the more common use cases include: floor plans , satellite imagery of hurricanes or other natural disasters, historic maps , and other maps , There are two main approaches for overlaying images on Bing Maps. The first approach is to turn the image into map tiles ahead of time... Read More
  • May
    20
    20 13

    Travel Expert and Founder of Vagabondish...

    Summer is right around the corner, and that means it’s time to hit the road! Summer travel plans can be hard to book, with overbooked flights , steep prices and crowded hotels . Join travel expert and founder of the travel website Vagabondish , Mike Richard, to get tips and tricks for booking summer travel without breaking the bank! Whether backpacking, camping, or luxury hotels is your style, we have tips to make planning that much easier, so you can spend more time dreaming up your next vacation! Mike is a Rhode Island native and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, hiking and seeing the world. His advice, how-to tips and tall tales from around the world are a go to resources for travelers of all kinds. To participate in the chat follow @Bing and @vagabondish on Wednesday, May 22 from 12-1 pm PT and include the hashtag #BingIt in your tweets. -The Bing Team @Bing Read More Summer is right around the corner, and that means it’s time to hit the road! Summer travel plans can be hard to book, with overbooked flights , steep prices and crowded hotels . Join travel expert and founder of the travel website Vagabondish , Mike Richard, to get tips and tricks for booking summer travel without breaking the bank! Whether backpacking, camping, or luxury hotels is your style, we have tips to make planning that much easier, so you can spend more time dreaming up your next vacation! Mike is a Rhode Island native and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking... Read More
  • May
    16
    20 13

    6 Hours of SEO, Social, Crawling and Authority...

    We’ve had thousands of people view these webinars, but if you haven’t seen them yet, here they are again. During the fall and winter, we put together a series of 6 webinars. Each is about an hour long, and captures the webinar presentation, as well as the live Q&A we did during each session. Each webinar was free and open to anyone to join, which is a format we’ll obviously keep in the future. If there are topics you’d like covered in future webinars, let me know and we’ll see what can be done to get them produced. Drop your ideas in the comments below . We covered a wide range of topics in over 6 hours of programming: SEO 101 Started here with an overview of what to focus on, what to invest and why it matters. For most folks, its standard stuff, but for those new to the space, it’s a useful review. Crawling Basics In this session we talked more in depth about how we crawl, why we crawl and what we’re looking for. We gave tips on creating a site that search engines want to crawl, too. Bing Webmaster Tools Overview This webinar was designed to help folks learn more about the tools, how to use them and uncover useful... Read More We’ve had thousands of people view these webinars, but if you haven’t seen them yet, here they are again. During the fall and winter, we put together a series of 6 webinars. Each is about an hour long, and captures the webinar presentation, as well as the live Q&A we did during each session. Each webinar was free and open to anyone to join, which is a format we’ll obviously keep in the future. If there are topics you’d like covered in future webinars, let me know and we’ll see what can be done to get them produced. Drop your ideas in the comments below . ... Read More
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  • May
    15
    20 13

    Boldly Go Where No Homepage Has Gone Before

    On the Bing homepage, our mission over the past 5 years has been to help you explore the world around you, to seek out new views and new angles. For the Star Trek Into Darkness release, we’re boldly going where no homepage has gone before. Visit Bing today and enter one of our secret phrases in the search box to be transported to the Final Frontier. To see all of the fun things we have going on around Star Trek, check out our yesterday’s post . More importantly get out and go see the movie! Read More On the Bing homepage, our mission over the past 5 years has been to help you explore the world around you, to seek out new views and new angles. For the Star Trek Into Darkness release, we’re boldly going where no homepage has gone before. Visit Bing today and enter one of our secret phrases in the search box to be transported to the Final Frontier. To see all of the fun things we have going on around Star Trek, check out our yesterday’s post . More importantly get out and go see the movie! Read More
  • May
    14
    20 13

    Bing and Paramount Pictures Bring Star...

    In anticipation of the upcoming release of Star Trek Into Darkness we have teamed with Paramount Pictures to help you get it in the Starfleet Spirit. On May 16 th , the next installment of Star Trek hits theaters and we’ve been hard at work on a set of fun Bing features to celebrate your inner-Trekker. Speak Klingon/ : Just in time for your next dinner party or interplanetary skirmish, we’re releasing Klingon to Bing Translator. Now in a few simple clicks you can translate text from English to Klingon (and vice versa!) Available via the web here and also as an update to Bing Translator for Windows Phone 8 . You can read more about the feature from the Microsoft Translation Team here (Klingon version here. ) Understand a Tribble from a Romulan : Regardless of whether you’re new to the Star Trek universe or fresh from a convention, we’ve got you covered. Go ahead, ask us your favorite Star Trek question like “ who said live long and prosper?” You’ll see us serve up some fun results that will help you know Bones from Sulu . Check out the features on Bing and hit theatres on the 16 th . - The Bing Team Read More In anticipation of the upcoming release of Star Trek Into Darkness we have teamed with Paramount Pictures to help you get it in the Starfleet Spirit. On May 16 th , the next installment of Star Trek hits theaters and we’ve been hard at work on a set of fun Bing features to celebrate your inner-Trekker. Speak Klingon/ : Just in time for your next dinner party or interplanetary skirmish, we’re releasing Klingon to Bing Translator. Now in a few simple clicks you can translate text from English to Klingon (and vice versa!) Available via the web here and also as an update to Bing... Read More
  • May
    13
    20 13

    Understand More with People Autosuggest

    A few weeks ago we invited you to experience updates to Snapshot – the center column that shows you answers at a glance. With Snapshot, we’re able to provide a richer set of search results that help you understand the world around you and take action. Since people searches are the second most searched for category, after navigational queries, and represent roughly 10 percent of all searches on Bing, we’re constantly looking for ways to make it easier for you to find the person you’re looking for. Today, we are releasing a faster way to find people right from the search box. Now if you’re searching for a celebrity, politician, athlete or even a colleague with a publicly available LinkedIn profile, Bing provides a snapshot of information about that person below the search bar. For example, if you’re searching for Michelle Williams, we’ll ask you if you’re looking for Michelle Williams the actress or Michelle Williams the Destiny’s Child singer. In the milliseconds between keystrokes, Bing lets you narrow down your search by clicking on the correct person. If Bing has information on a person, we let you know by displaying it... Read More A few weeks ago we invited you to experience updates to Snapshot – the center column that shows you answers at a glance. With Snapshot, we’re able to provide a richer set of search results that help you understand the world around you and take action. Since people searches are the second most searched for category, after navigational queries, and represent roughly 10 percent of all searches on Bing, we’re constantly looking for ways to make it easier for you to find the person you’re looking for. Today, we are releasing a faster way to find people right from the search... Read More