Search Blog

Bringing the Best of Web Video to You at Bing Videos

Bing — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:13:00 GMT

Turn off the lights (literally), share with your friends and kick back…you are about to see the latest Bing videos experience.

Starting today and rolling out over the next few days Bing videos will provide a new unified online video destination that delivers a comprehensive, organized, and high-quality video experience. This change will combine the powerful search experience of Bing, with the expertise of MSN video all into one destination.

With the New Bing Video you can now access videos from across the web, MSN’s array of high-quality videos, and videos from sites such as Hulu, ABC, and Youtube. Bing videos viewing options are nearly endless.

Check out the cool new home page which makes it easy to search and browse for the videos you want to see.

With over 900+ T.V. shows in Bing Videos, I can’t wait to catch up on my favorite shows, discover new favorites and watch right from my laptop. We’ve gone deeper with organization, making it easy to find your favorite episode, even from last season!

And now with the new viewing experience, the ability to share videos and the dim the lights feature, watching videos online will be even better.

We hope these updates will make your online video viewing and search experience even easier and more enjoyable. Make Bing videos your one stop shop to find and watch all the online video content you want.

Kristin Meldahl - Bing

Other post of interest:

MSN Editorial Gets Behind Bing Video

Bing maps is Looking Good

Bing — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Today you may have noticed there are a few updates to Bing Maps. We have highlighted just a few below. For the complete details on all the updates to Bing maps, check out Chris Pendleton’s post on the Bing maps blog.

Draggable Routes:

You are now able to generate a route, and change it, simply by grabbing and dragging it to where you want the route to go. To use draggable routes, click the directions link in the welcome pane or the car icon near the bottom of the welcome pane. Enter a start and end, generate a route, then grab anywhere on the route to move the route line. The route will regenerate for you.

New Navigation:

There is now a subset of features on the button bar along the bottom of the welcome pane.

“Welcome” loads the welcome pane
“Car” loads driving directions
“Star” loads My Places, formerly called Collections
“Envelop” loads the ability to share the map with someone via email, copy a URI or embed the map into a web page
“Printer” is for printing
“Traffic light” will load the traffic overlay

Don’t forget to keep checking back here for more updates that are coming to Bing this week.

Kristin Meldahl – Bing

Other posts of interest:

Bing Maps Gets An Overhaul…And Some New Features

Get Your L.A. Style on With Ryan Seacrest

Bing — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:01:00 GMT

As I mentioned on Friday there was some rumblings in the hallways about a contest that would start this week. Well…today is the day. The Bing cashback contest is officially live and you can now win a chance to do L.A. in style—with $10,000 in your pocket, a Hollywood makeover, a round-trip flight, hotel and serious E! studio time with Ryan Seacrest! This could not have come at a better time…some fun in the sun is just what the doctor ordered.

For more details on how to enter and the contest rules go here.

Kristin Meldahl - Bing

Other post of interest:

Everyone Could Use Some Extra Cash and A Free Trip!

It’s Friday and Stefan is Back! And so is Free T-shirt Friday

Bing — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:25:00 GMT

Stefan is back! Which means Friday’s With Stefan can resume and another Free T-Shirt Friday theme for you all to search for. To make up for our absence last week we are adding a free copy of Windows 7 to the winners for this week’s FTF#. So check out the video and tweet us @bing #FTF and we will pick the winners.

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Happy Friday all!

Kristin Meldahl

Everyone Could Use Some Extra Cash and A Free Trip!

Bing — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:25:00 GMT

As my suntan fades more and more each day and as people’s Facebook status updates are saying that they are heading to Hawaii…Mexico…and I sit here in this dreary weather pondering when I might see the sun again…I have a new found hope!

Today I heard in the hallways that there is an exciting contest that is going to be announced next week that includes; Free CASH, a trip to a very sunny destination, a movie star like makeover, as well as some face time with “The Face of Entertainment” himself…Wahoo!...There is a light and I can’t wait! Can’t give away too many details but I can say it is worth checking back next week to find out more! Make sure you follow Bing cashback on Twitter and Facebook for the latest.

Here’s to looking forward to some rays, cool hard cash, a fabulous makeover and some one on one time with one of your TV idols.

Kristin Meldahl - Bing

MSN and Bing - a Match Made in Redmond

Bing — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:40:00 GMT

The Hallways here are all a flutter as we celebrate with our MSN teammates. Today marks another milestone in the history of the MSN Homepage.

With a new, streamlined and less cluttered appearance you will be able to navigate more quickly to the information and services you use on a daily basis like online videos, local information, news, entertainment, sports, money, lifestyle and of course your familiar Bing search experience built in.

You will see Bing’s integration throughout the MSN experience in key areas including shopping, travel, local, and as a way of highlighting hot topics, trends or people. Detailed local information is offered on the new MSN Local Edition, which is the only local online source that smartly combines Bing search and your real-time community news, which is grouped by ZIP code.

But wait. There’s more. With the new MSN homepage, you will now be able to stay up to date with all your friends and social networks like Windows Live, Facebook and Twitter right from the homepage.

The new MSN homepage preview will begin rolling out tomorrow (November 4, 2009) and become widely available to over 100 million U.S. customers early 2010.

We encourage you all to try it out and let the MSN team know what you think. As always your feedback is important to all of us.

Congrats to the MSN team. The new MSN has never looked so good.

Kristin Meldahl and the Bing Team

Other posts of interest:

The New MSN Homepage Unveiled

Staying Healthy With MSN and Bing

Bing Maps on the New MSN Homepage

Mobile Madness Round 2… Then and Now

Bing — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:25:00 GMT

The availability of Windows phones earlier this month was a great kick off to mobile madness and a good excuse to give some sneak peeks of our new Bing™ for mobile app. We have been hard at work trying to bring Bing to all sorts of mobile devices, to provide customers with an amazing search experience wherever they are. As we are feeling nostalgic for some reason today, we thought a little trip down memory lane was in order.

It all began in 2007 (well 2005 if you want to go back to betas but for the sake of time, let’s start in 2007). It was the year of No Country for Old Men and the Indianapolis Colts winning the Super Bowl. It was also the year we shipped a new, integrated mobile search experience on the Windows Mobile platform, and began adding some cool features to the Windows Mobile search experience including real-time traffic, maps and directions, movie times, gas prices and even voice search (which we think is wicked cool). We also shipped a version for BlackBerry devices equipped with location awareness functionality to enhance searches.

We know, you are wondering “what have you done for me lately?” Well, last week we unveiled the new and improved Bing for mobile browser, give it a try at m.bing.com from your web-enabled device. Today, we’re happy to share that the Bing for mobile application is available on the brand new Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2, and is now rolling out to Verizon BlackBerry Storm 1 users. Simply go to the Bing icon on your device to use the app. Here’s a look at what you’ll see.

Bing for mobile was designed to help mobile users make decisions and get where you need to be quickly and easily when you are on the go and the new app takes that to the next level. A few updates you’ll notice:

Map Your Way with quick access to maps, driving directions and traffic information. And with an improved auto-locate feature, you can find where you are and where you are going.
Quick Answers with a customizable mobile homepage you can save your favorite searches making it easier to get the information you want quickly.
Act Locally and quickly find information on local businesses including nearby restaurants or a local movie theatre with the latest showtimes.
Type Less, Search More with the voice search feature. Speak your search query into your phone and Bing does the rest.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Justin Jed, Bing for mobile

Other post of interest:

Bing for mobile now live at m.bing.com

Where Do The Zombies Gather on This All Hallows Eve

Bing — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:39:00 GMT

There is a crisp bite in the air, a light drizzle coming down and fog covering the ground on this All Hallows Eve, and we’re starting to get scared. With Halloween upon us we suspect you have begun to gather your fellow vampires, witches, goblins, and if you dare zombies for this frightful occasion. We over here at Bing have gathered a few zombies together to inspire some last minute costumes ideas, in our newest visual search experience (still in beta) - feel free to explore and refine to find the perfect Halloween inspiration.

What does tomorrow hold for you? Some tricks or treats? A Halloween party or two? Maybe a trip to a haunted house or maybe even a haunted mansion? Wherever the day and night takes you, we hope it is ghoulish, creepy and the most of all fun!

Happy Halloween!

Kristin Meldahl – Bing

Other posts of interest:

Haunted hotels: Discover a room with a boo

Bug Killer – A Channel 9 Halloween special

It’s a Full Moon for Bing Today

Ghost? Bumble bee? No? Ok, This Year it is a Vampire!

Bing for mobile now live at m.bing.com

Bing — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:25:00 GMT

Today we released an update to the Bing for mobile browser at m.bing.com. In addition to being a great resource for local searches, quick answers, and maps, we have some new features to tell you about:

NFL feature – type a team or player and see upcoming games, stats, and scores. While the game is on, you can get real-time updates on the plays. (U.S. only)

Flight status – enter the airline and flight number and get the latest departure and landing times.

Bing for touch devices

Great news for you touch phone owners in the U.S.: we have a new version of Bing just for high-resolution touch devices. We optimized for touch navigation to make the most of your phone, and added a great new Movies feature. Search for Movies in your city, and you’ll see the movies playing nearby, showtimes, overviews, and even trailers and video clips.

You can get to this version by going to m.bing.com with your iPhone, Zune HD, T-Mobile G1, Verizon Imagio, or Samsung Omnia. We’ll be adding support for new devices over the next couple of months.

Try Bing today at m.bing.com

Give the updated Bing a try now by visiting m.bing.com with your mobile phone. It’s available in 31 countries for just about any phone with an internet connection. For more information about Bing for mobile products, visit our website at www.bing.com/mobile.

Justin Jed – Bing mobile

Other posts of interest:

Use Your Voice to Text, Call and Search with Bing

Bing at TechFlash Seattle – Women in Tech

Bing — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:00 GMT

Last night at the TechFlash: Women In Tech event we were able to meet some great women in the tech industry. Bing was there in full effect giving away all sorts of Bing goods and chit chatting in the hallways.

After a jammed packed social hour of eating, drinking and mingling we all headed into the main room where a panel of very talented and insightful women continued the discussion. Shahla Aly, vice president at Microsoft kicked it off talking about the declining number of women in the tech industry and what we as a community can do to help spark interest in the younger generation. She highlighted some of the work Microsoft does with high school girls through a program called Digigirlz and really called on us to help change the declining trend of women in tech. The panel of women then discussed the importance of mentoring and sponsorships for those of us already in the tech to help sustain the current employment numbers as well as the need to early education for young girls in middle school and high school.

It was a great event to recognize the 100 top women in tech (waaahooo Betsy!) and to discuss some of the issues surrounding being a woman in the technology industry.

I am looking forward to the next event already!!

Kristin Meldahl – A woman in tech :)

If you are interested in the next TechFlash events:

PSBJ’s Women of Influence Awards on Nov. 19, 2009; register here.
TechFlash Holiday Party & Birthday Bash on Dec. 9, 2009; register here.

Bing Goes the Students at Keith Valley Middle School

Bing — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Every now and then you see something so awesome you have to share it. The blog almost writes itself. We just have to spell check it and post it.

You may remember the Bing Jingle contest. You may even remember the winning entry and its impact on the Internet as we know it. Okay maybe that is a bit of hyperbole but it was pretty funny. Well it’s gone viral. Again.

Our story begins in the Keith Valley Middle School in Pennsylvania. This is a super cool school where recently three teachers -- Diane Heitzenrater, Stacy Rotchford, and Valerie Fasy -- were recognized as “Innovative Teachers of 2009” and received a trip to California to a conference where they happened to run into Jim Jin from the Microsoft Office team.

Jim and the teachers teamed up to integrate Microsoft tools into their lesson plans to promote technology infused learning, through projects like the Virtual Art Room, Social Studies and Ancient Egypt and even to pick the new school mascot. All 1,200 Keith Valley Middle School students were shown how to use Office Live workspace and other Microsoft products including Bing.

We know, this is a cool story about Office. But wait, there’s more. During the discovery and explanation of the products they were shown a clip of Jonathan Mann’s winning video from the Bing Jingle contest. Fate? Serendipity? Adam Smith’s “invisible hand?” All possible. We may never know. But the results were nevertheless amazing.

This video, well, struck a chord, with the Keith Valley students and began to spread like wildfire. Everywhere the teachers turned the kids were doing what they called the “Bing dance”. At breaks, at lunch time and even during class with impromptu “Bing dance” offs. Was this the modern day analog to the Wyld Stallyns? Were peace and tranquility on the horizon? Probably not. But the school decided to embrace the student’s enthusiasm for this Bing jig. Stacy, the school’s cheerleading instructor spent 12 days teaching the sixth graders the “Bing dance” with the grand finale being an all-school assembly where the school’s new mascot was announced (they are now the Keith Valley Kat’s).

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Who knew that this Bing Jingle contest would cause such a stir in the first place? Now it’s catching the hearts and minds of sixth graders in Pennsylvania.

Our hats are off to the Kat’s of Keith Valley and we would like to thank them for this amazing video. We laughed. We cried. It became a part of us. We hope you like it too.

Kristin Meldahl- Bing

Other posts of interest:

The Bing Jingle Winner is…

Check out the Binging Jingles (so far)

Bing on the Jingles

It’s a Full Moon for Bing Today

Bing — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:56:00 GMT

With New Moon coming out soon, Halloween around the corner and the release of the new Bing TV commercial it seems like everywhere you turn these days there are pale, strikingly good looking people with fangs...yes we are talking about vampires.

Our Latest Bing advertisement is the first in a series of new commercials where we highlight specific ways Bing can help simplify your life and help you make decisions faster. If you haven’t caught the Bing commercials on TV you can view them on Bing’s Youtube Channel. Oh – and you may notice that the featured homepage image in the latest Bing TV spot came from Jeremy Somers the Bing photo contest winner.

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What do you think? Are there specific aspects of Bing you would like to see in a Bing commercial? Let us know!

Kristin Meldahl – Bing

Other post of interest:

The Eye of the Storm – Jeremy Somers

Bing Does Hollywood in 140 Characters.

Bing — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:07:00 GMT

San Francisco last week, LA next. Bing is headed to sunny So Cal for some flash & glam at Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference at the famed Kodak Theatre.

This conference has its own twist on the regular business conference about twitter - each speaker is expected to be a character with their own story, and even the panels are really a conversation of melding and competing stories. The first 140 Characters conference explored “the effects of twitter on: Celebrity, “The Media”, Advertising and (maybe) Politics.” Over time the scope expanded to include Sports, Music, The Arts, Sciences and with this one, will have an entertainment focus (after all they are in Los Angeles).

Speakers at this event are a mix of tech personalities, business wonks, and pure celebrity. Along with Robert Scoble, Loic Le Meur, Dave Winer, Icanhazcheeseburger you’ve got executives from Virgin America, venture capital firms, non-profits, an ENTIRE panel about poker, and media folks like Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park speaking alone or in panels for no longer than 20 minutes.

Our own Betsy Aoki (@baoki) is one of the special “characters” at this event – she’ll be telling the backstage view of Bing’s launch earlier this year on twitter, with a lot of sleep deprivation thrown in. Catch her talk on Day 2 (Wed 10/28) at 1:30pm!

If you’re attending, be sure to stop by the Bing Internet Lounge where attendees can indulge in social media in a tranquil setting (aka nice couches). From the said spot, do feel free to proclaim your love for Bing in 140 characters or less. No, really, it’s okay.

Aya Zook, Product Manager

Stefan Who Stares at George Clooney and Free T-Shirt Friday

Bing — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:14:00 GMT

This week for Free T-Shirt Friday we are going all Hollywood on you. We have partnered with Gen Arts and have a set of tickets to give away to the movie screening of The Men Who Stare at Goats in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Miami. We also have one set of tickets to give away to the movie screening of Dare in Los Angeles. This week’s winner will still be sent their Bing t-shirts but we will also be picking one winner in each city to be given a set of tickets to attend these movie screenings.

In this week’s video we cover off on some questions regarding Bing Twitter search as well as announce the latest #FTF theme.

Episode #4:

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To play you need to reply with you answers to us on Twitter #FTF @bing . You also need to add into your reply if you are located in one of the above cities so we can make sure to pick a winner in each city to give these tickets to.

See you at the movies!

Stefan – Bing

Other posts of interest:

Friday’s With Stefan and Another Free T-Shirt Friday

Free T-Shirt Friday Round Two Winners

Friday’s With Stefan and Free T-shirt Friday

The Winners of Free T-shirt Friday and Some Clarification

Bing-sights With Stefan and Free T-Shirt Friday (#FTF)

Kicking off Free T-Shirt Friday (rules and regulations)

The Savings on Bing cashback are “Endless”

Bing — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:41:00 GMT

Bing cashback is now offering cashback from another one of your favorite merchants: Endless.com. You can get 30% cashback for a limited time on everything on Endless using Bing cashback.

Looking to buy some hot new boots for the winter or want a great deal on that handbag for the holidays? Head over now to Bing.com!

To get the savings, you simply search for “Endless shoes” and look for the Bing cashback coin.

After you click on the Endless link, you can make your purchase directly on their site and qualify for Bing cashback.

The Bing cashback team is excited to welcome Endless to our growing family of prominent merchants. We hope that this makes your Bing shopping experience even more rewarding. And to make redeeming your rewards even easier you can now get your cashback credited to your Amazon Payment account!

Happy Shopping!

Raju Malhotra – Director, Bing

Other posts of interest:

Bing cashback 101

Ghost? Bumble bee? No? Ok, This Year it is a Vampire!