Bing Bing Celebrates This Year’s MTV Movie Awards</h1> <article> <h1>Bing Bing Celebrates This Year’s MTV Movie Awards</h1> <p>2012-05-22T17:00:00Z</p> <p> </p> <p>One of the year’s most hotly anticipated award shows, the MTV Movie Awards, will air on June 3 at 9/8C on MTV. In celebration of all things irreverent at the MTV Movie Awards, Bing is presenting several behind-the-scenes stories of people doing amazing things to make movies magical. </p> <p>Inspired by the Movie of the Year nominees, the first of three Bing stories features fictional character Chase Larson, who leads a super-hero training class for aspiring super heroes. Whether searching for super hero style, leading training sessions, or inspiring the next generation of super heroes, Chase has an incredible story to share. You can see his story on MTV tonight or at the following <a href="http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/771449/chase-larson-super-hero-training.jhtml">link</a>. Tweet @Bing your favorite #superhero or favorite #superhero movie. </p> <p>You may notice a cameo appearance of the latest new social features on Bing, which bring together the best search with the best people from your social networks to help you spend less time searching and more time doing. You can try these features out now at bing.com/new. </p> <p>Join the fun by joining Bing to help choose the Movie of the Year award winner. Go to <a href="http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/771449/chase-larson-super-hero-training.jhtml">MovieAwards.MTV.com</a> to vote. And stay tuned for more Bing stories in celebration of the 2012 MTV Movie Awards.</p> <p> </p> <p>- The Bing Team</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Xbox’s Major Nelson Joins this Week’s #BingIt</h1> <p>2012-05-21T18:36:00Z</p> <h4> </h4> <p>Xbox’s Major Nelson will be joining this week’s #BingIt chat where we’ll be talking all things Xbox, including Bing on Xbox voice search and how you can earn <a href="http://www.discoverbing.com/rewards/web/gaming?form=MRWHPG&publ=COMMS&crea=TEXT_MRWHPG_MJN_TWT_PTY_1x1">Microsoft points for Xbox 360</a> with Bing. In addition, we’ll also be talking about our recent release of <a href="http://www.bing.com/new">Bing.com/new</a> – a new experience that brings the best of search together with relevant content from your Facebook friends and experts across Twitter.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/7485.clip_5F00_image002_5F00_4B34A978.jpg"></a></p> <p>Larry’s renowned blog "<a href="http://majornelson.com/">Xbox Live's Major Nelson</a>" provides an "inside" look at operations on the Xbox team. Larry will be on hand to answer all of your questions. <b>Join us on Wednesday, May 23</b><b> </b><b>from 12-1pm PST. </b>To participate, follow @Bing and @MajorNelson and tweet out your questions and commentary with the hashtag #BingIt. As an added bonus, we’ll be giving away the Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Kinect Star Wars” Bundle and a 12 month subscription to Xbox Live.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/2318.clip_5F00_image004_5F00_31607349.jpg"></a></p> <p>The #BingIt Team</p> <p> </p> <ul> <li>· Kari Dilloo - @karidilloo</li> <li>· Ted Roduner - @roduner</li> <li>· Tanya Wang - @wangtanya</li> </ul><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Twitter Sweeps: @Bing + Fun. at The Bing Lounge</h1> <p>2012-05-21T16:00:00Z</p> <p>Tonight (and always), we are young. Fun. the band will be performing live at the Bing Lounge in Portland, Oregon on May 29<sup>th</sup> and we’ll be giving away an exclusive trip to one lucky Twitter follower and guest to attend this epic show. </p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/6747.clip_5F00_image002_5F00_2739732D.jpg"></a></p> <p>On May 21-22<sup>nd</sup>, we will ask our followers to retweet specific tweets from the @Bing handle to be entered into the sweepstakes (one entry per handle). We will randomly select one lucky winner from the followers who retweet the @Bing handle sweepstakes tweets during the following time period: </p> <p>9 AM PT on May 21, 2012 – 5 PM PT on May 22, 2012</p> <p>Now let’s have some fun, literally! Be sure to retweet the sweeps and start spreading the word so that we can carry on the momentum.</p> <p>It’s open to US residents 21+. For details on how the sweepstakes works, read the official rules <a href="http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/thedetails/archive/2012/05/21/quot-trip-to-see-fun-at-the-bing-lounge-quot-official-rules.aspx">here</a>. </p> <p>Best of luck,</p> <p>The Bing Team</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Our Latest Release: Your Questions Answered</h1> <p>2012-05-18T18:39:00Z</p> <p>Earlier this week, Robert Dietz and Nate Buggia joined Laura Foy in the Channel 9 studios to discuss all things related to the release of Bing.com/New.. Nate and Robert provide an overview of the changes and answer questions that you have posted regarding the release.</p> <p>Check it out</p> <p></p> <p>- The Bing Team</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Start Doing More Now: Try the New Bing Today</h1> <p>2012-05-15T22:00:00Z</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/search/archive/2012/05/10/spend-less-time-searching-more-time-doing-introducing-the-new-bing.aspx">Last week</a> at the Search Summit in San Francisco, we showcased a brand new way to search that is designed to help you interact with friends and take action without compromising the core search experience. Starting today, people in the United States can give it a try at <a href="http://www.bing.com/new">www.bing.com/new</a>. </p> <p>Since most of you weren’t able to attend the summit, Qi Lu, Harry Shum and I shot a short video where we discuss the design decisions and technical underpinnings behind this release. </p> <p> <div style='width: 640px; height: 360px'> <param name="source" value="http://img.microsoft.com/showcase/silverlight/player/1/player.xap" /> <param name="enableHtmlAccess" value="true" /> <param name="background" value="#FF000000" /> <param name="allowHtmlPopupwindow" value="true" /> <param name="minRuntimeVersion" value="4.0.50401.0" /> <param name="autoUpgrade" value="true" /> <param name="initParams" value="Culture=en-US,Uuid=225aa6fb-32f0-428b-b0f7-9ddeb822abd9,Autoplay=false,MarketingOverlayText=Visit this video's website,ShowMarketingOverlay=true,MiscControls=FullScreen;Detached,ShowMenu=True,Tabs=Embed;Download;Email;Share,VideoUrl=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/videos/videodetail.aspx?uuid=225aa6fb-32f0-428b-b0f7-9ddeb822abd9" /> <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=149156" style="text-decoration: none;" onmousedown="javascript:new Image().src = 'http://m.webtrends.com/dcsygm2gb10000kf9xm7kfvub_9p1t/dcs.gif?dcsdat=' + new Date().getTime() + '&dcssip=www.microsoft.com&dcsuri=' + window.location.href + '&WT.tz=-8&WT.bh=16&WT.ul=en-US&WT.cd=32&WT.jo=Yes&WT.ti=&WT.js=Yes&WT.jv=1.5&WT.fi=Yes&WT.fv=10.0&WT.sli=Not%20Installed&WT.slv=Version%20Unavailable&WT.dl=1&WT.seg_1=Not%20Logged%20In&WT.vt_f_a=2&WT.vt_f=2&WT.vt_nvr1=2&WT.vt_nvr2=2&WT.vt_nvr3=2&WT.vt_nvr4=2&vp_site=Embedded&wtEvtSrc=' + window.location.href + '&vp_sli=Embedded'"> </a> <div style='margin-top: -80px; text-align: center;'> <a style='text-align: center; color: #0060a6; text-decoration: none; font-size: 80%; font-family: "Segoe UI",Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;' href='http://content1.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/us/CMG_US/CMG_Microsoft/9a5b9a9d-32db-43c0-99ed-5b108a294669.wmv'> Watch as WMV</a> </div> <noscript> <div> </div> </noscript> </object> <script type="text/javascript">document.write("<script type='text/javascript' src='" + (window.location.protocol) + "//c.microsoft.com/ms.js'" + "><\/script>");</script> </div> </p> <p>As we discussed last week, Bing now integrates search and people in our social networks through a dedicated social “sidebar.” With sidebar, Bing brings together the best of the web, with what experts and your friends know, giving you the confidence to act. This new way to search lets you share, discover, and interact with friends like you do in real life. If you’re on the go, you’ll notice we’ve optimized the layout and placement of the social results on the mobile device for smaller screen sizes and for touch input, so the user experience will be different than what people see on a PC.</p> <p>As you search, Bing suggests friends on Facebook who might know about the topic you're searching for based on what they “like”, their Facebook profile information, and photos they've shared. </p> <p>For example, if you’re searching for diving spots in Hawaii, you might see a friend who lived in Hawaii, your sister who shared photos from her honeymoon in Hawaii, and a buddy who “likes” a restaurant in Hawaii. You can then ask them for recommendations right from Bing. </p> <p>You may not always see friends you expect to show up for a number of reasons. Bing uses public Facebook information and content you’ve given Bing permission to use, such as friends' photos on Facebook. We won’t match friends based on other Facebook content such as status updates or check-ins. Bing also respects you and your friends' privacy settings so you won't see friends who have opted out of Facebook instant personalization or blocked the Bing app. </p> <p>We’re just getting started bringing friends into your search experience and will continue getting better over time<b>. </b>Like everything with Bing, we’re constantly working to improve the product so let us know if you have feedback.</p> <p>- Derrick Connell, Vice President, Bing</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Bing is for Doing: Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham</h1> <p>2012-05-11T18:00:00Z</p> <h4> </h4> <p>Last night marked the season finale of the CW’s Vampire Diaries starring Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham. Don’t want to wait until next season to see more of these two? Check out another side of these versatile and inspiring entertainers.</p> <p>After the Gulf Coast Oil spill, Ian created the Ian Somerhalder Foundation and started a movement, empowering thousands of people to help restore the natural balance to the ocean and beaches after the oil spill. Watch below to hear more from Ian about the work he is doing off-screen.</p> <div id="Player1Container"></div> <p> <script src="http://img.widgets.video.s-msn.com/js/embed.js" type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script> </p> <p>Whether flexing her superpowers on Vampire Diaries, or making the whole club bounce with her music, Kat is always on the move. See how she manages to do it all while staying connected with her fans. </p> <div id="Player2Container"></div> <p> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://img.widgets.video.s-msn.com/js/embed.js"></script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"></script> </p> <p>Can’t get enough of Kat and her music? Check out her latest video- Put Your Graffiti on Me.</p> <div id="Player3Container"></div> <p> <script src="http://img.widgets.video.s-msn.com/js/embed.js" type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script> </p> <p>- Karin Muskopf, Bing</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Nokia Lumia 900 & Xbox 360 Winners, Plus New Bing Rewards Sweepstakes</h1> <p>2012-05-11T16:30:00Z</p> <p> </p> <p>We are pleased to announce the winners, pending official confirmation, of five Nokia Lumia 900s and the Xbox 360® prize pack offered in our April Bing Rewards sweepstakes. Two new sweeps have begun and end on May 31. Keep reading for details on the great prizes we’re offering and how to enter, but first congratulations to our latest winning Bing Rewards members!</p> <ul> <li>The five lucky winners picked in the Nokia Lumia 900 sweepstakes were: Chris M. of Caribou, ME; George E. of Queen Creek, AZ; Linden S. of Marietta, GA; Terry P. of Heyburn, ID: and, Brian P. of St. George, UT. Enjoy your new, amazingly fast Windows Phones!</li> <li>Perry L. of McDonaugh, GA was drawn as the winner of the Xbox 360 Prize Pack with Tiger Woods 13. Have fun with the awesome Kinect™ integration.</li> </ul> <p>The two new sweepstakes* for Bing Rewards members have kicked off and will end May 31, 2012. The prizes include:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/000300000035"><strong>Xbox 360 Prize Pack & Kinect</strong><strong> Star Wars</strong></a>. Ready to unleash your inner Jedi? The lucky winner will become the proud new owner of the highly anticipated Xbox 360® Limited Edition Kinect™ Star Wars™ Bundle, which includes a custom R2-D2-themed Xbox 360 console, white Kinect Sensor and a C-3PO-themed wireless controller.</li> <li><a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/000300000033"><strong>500 Amazon.com Gift Card - 5 Winners</strong></a>. Win one of five $500 Amazon.com Gift Cards** that can be used toward Books, Electronics, Music, and more. The Amazon.com website is the place to find and discover almost anything you want to buy online at a great price.</li> </ul> <p> <a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/6825.clip_5F00_image001_5F00_0EE19A3F.jpg"></a> <a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/5543.clip_5F00_image002_5F00_263450C3.jpg"></a></p> <p>To enter, visit <a name="_MailEndCompose"></a><a href="http://www.bingrewards.com/?publ=COMMS_WEBREWARDS&crea=TEXT_MRWHPG_Sweepstakes_Apr-12_Sign-Up_1x1">http://www.bingrewards.com</a> and please follow the instructions to create a Bing Rewards account or simply visit our redemption center <a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/win">here</a>. You can find the sweepstakes Official Rules <a href="http://akamai.eprizecdn.net/microsoft/bing/mayrules.pdf">here</a>. Good luck!</p> <p>You can follow <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?source=webclient&text=@bingrewards+%23Sweepstakes">@BingRewards on Twitter</a> for the latest program news, extra ways to get rewarded and exclusive offers. </p> <p>Alex Danskin</p> <p>Marketing Communication Manager, Bing</p> <p><i>* No purchase necessary. Open only to Legal residents of the 50 US +D.C. 13 +.Ends 5/31/2012 at 11:59 a.m. PST</i></p> <p><i>**Amazon.com is not a sponsor of this promotion. Except as required by law, GCs cannot be transferred for value or redeemed for cash. GCs may be used only for purchases of eligible goods on Amazon.com or certain of its affiliated websites. For complete terms and conditions, see www.amazon.com/gc-legal. GCs are issued by ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a Washington corporation. ©,®,™ Amazon.com Inc. and/or its affiliates, 2012.</i></p> <div id="_mcePaste" class="mcePaste" data-mce-bogus="1" style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 320px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;"></div><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Introducing the New Bing: Spend Less Time Searching, More Time Doing</h1> <p>2012-05-10T17:00:00Z</p> <h4></h4> <h4></h4> <h4></h4> <h4></h4> <h4></h4> <table border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h4><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></h4> <h4><span style="font-weight: normal;">In 2009, we launched Bing with a simple proposition: people should expect more from a search engine. </span></h4> <p>Our aim has always been to help you do more with search, and over the past three years we have made exciting strides to realize that vision. Today we are taking a big step forward as we begin rolling out what is the most significant update to Bing since we launched three years ago. Over the coming weeks, we will be introducing a brand new way to search designed to help you take action and interact with friends and experts without compromising the core search experience. </p> <p>First a little background. The search industry was built on keywords, links and labels – static nouns pointing to pages. This approach is great for finding sites but search is about more than simply finding information, it’s also about taking action. Whether it’s booking a flight, reading an article or buying a new pair of shoes, 68% of people tell us they expect to get something <i>done</i> when they type into a search box. </p> <p>Now it’s possible to do more than find pages with search. You are able to share nearly everything you do, including where you are and who you are, in real-time. From rich multimedia content to real-time streams to social conversations to applications that let you take action in the real world, digital connections are created that present the opportunity to do something. This presents an unprecedented opportunity to rethink how search should work. Suddenly an index of documents that does not embrace these changes is insufficient.</p> <p>At the same time, research tells us that 90% of people consult with a friend or expert before making a decision –whether it’s something as simple as which train will take you uptown or who is the best dentist in Boulder, other people are often the <i>most</i> trusted source of information. We value input from our friends and opinions from experts but at the same time want comprehensive, relevant and unbiased results. Recent attempts at social search haven’t unlocked the full potential of tapping our social networks. And the reason is pretty simple - social in search hasn’t mirrored how people do things in real life.</p> <p>The fact is, search hasn’t kept pace. People have become as important as pages and search needs to evolve to embrace these changes. The challenge has been to figure out how to integrate the information you care about with the people who can be most helpful to you in getting stuff done.</p> <p><strong>Welcome to the New Bing</strong></p> <p>The new Bing introduces a brand new information architecture with a three column design that focuses on bringing you information from the web to help you take action and interact with friends and experts without compromising the core search experience.</p> <div id="Player1Container"></div> <p> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://img.widgets.video.s-msn.com/js/embed.js"></script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"></script> </p> <p>Let’s take a closer look:</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/0676.image_5F00_13782696.png"></a></p> <p><strong>Core Web Results:</strong> Relevant, comprehensive and trustworthy.<i></i></p> <p>The bedrock of modern search remains core algorithmic relevance. With the latest updates, we are delivering the results you expect. Beautiful, relevant, results are the first thing you see. Instead of cluttering your results with social updates, we’re honoring the purity of the core web results making it easier to focus on the links you need to get things done.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/1348.Bing_2D00_dubley_5F00_4C0A2EAA.jpg"></a> </p> <p align="center"><strong><br /></strong></p> <p>From the outset, we knew that serving relevant results that were equal to or better than the other guy was table stakes. To track our progress, we conducted tests thatremoved any trace of Google and Bing branding. When we did this study in January of last year 34% people preferred Bing, while 38% preferred Google. The same unbranded study now shows that Bing Search results now have a much wider lead over Google’s. When shown unbranded search results 43% prefer Bing results while only 28% prefer Google results. What this means is that in 3 years we’ve made some real progress in core relevance and search quality, and while search is becoming so much more than just web results, having a rock solid foundation is important for the future of Bing and search more generally. </p> <p><strong>Snapshot:</strong> Get it done faster<i>.</i></p> <p>Snapshot is the center column on the Bing search results page, nestled between the web results on the left and the new sidebar on the right. Snapshot brings relevant information and services related to your search to you right on the main results page including maps, restaurant reservations and reviews so you can take action. We’ve run thousands of experiments to determine the types of tasks most frequently attempted in Bing, and in snapshot we help you take certain actions when we determine that the intent of your search matches these tasks. To help you do more and do it faster, we continue working with industry leading companies like OpenTable, FanSnap and others integrating them right into the middle collumn. With snapshot, Bing does the heavy lifting by organizing useful information so you can act more quickly.</p> <p align="center"><strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Sidebar: </strong>Social search done right.<strong></strong></p> <p>Getting things done often involves others, in fact 90% of those asked said they prefer to listen to their friends when making decisions. Whether it’s making a purchase, deciding on a vacation destination, choosing a great restaurant, or figuring out which movie to see this weekend, the new Bing focuses on bringing friends, experts and enthusiasts into your search experience through a dedicated social “sidebar.” With sidebar, Bing brings together the best of the web, with what experts and your friends know, giving you the confidence to act. This new way to search lets people share, discover, and interact with friends like they do in real life.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Always present, never intrusive. </strong>The sidebar will appear as part of every query, but it will remain off to the right, allowing searchers to decide when and how to interact with it. We’ve moved most of the social content out of the main search pane and put it in a dedicated place where people can always expect to find it.</li> <li><strong>Ask Friends: </strong>You can post a question to get help from your Facebook friends as you search. You can “tag” friends Bing suggests might know about the topic. In a few simple clicks you can share your search and your friends can reply to your question on either Facebook or Bing.</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/3817.image_5F00_6B943C5B.png"></a></p> <ul> <li><strong>Friends Who Might Know: </strong>Once you authorize Bing, sidebar helps you post a question to get help from your Facebook friends as you search. Bing suggests friends on Facebook who might know about the topic – based on what they “like”, their Facebook profile information, or photos they have shared – so you can easily ask them about relevant experiences and opinions and go quickly from searching to doing. For example, if you’re searching for diving spots in Costa Rica, with the new Bing, you may discover that one of your Facebook friends knows a great spot, based on photos from their last trip to Costa Rica that they shared on Facebook. Or you might find a friend who lives in Costa Rica based on his or her Facebook profile. You and your friends can only see information you could already see about each other on Facebook.</li> <li><strong>People Who Know: </strong>Beyond friends, Bing can help you find people who are influential about the topic you’re searching, based on what they’ve publically blogged or tweeted about. In a glance you will see top experts and enthusiasts from leading networks like Twitter, Foursquare, Quora, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Blogger to quickly check out what they have to say about the topic you’re searching for. You can follow them, ask them a question or see what they have shared in the past.</li> <li><strong>Activity feed. </strong>From the activity feed in the sidebar, you can see, posts and queries you and your friends have chosen to share from Bing. You can help answer friends’ questions, “like” something interesting they have shared. Because these activities show up in both Bing (activity feed) and Facebook, you can comment on them from either place. <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/2844.sidebar_2D00_2_5F00_50BB309B.jpg"></a></p> </li> </ul> <p><span style="text-align: left;">Check out this video to see the new Bing in action:</span></p> <p> </p> <div id="Player2Container"></div> <p> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://img.widgets.video.s-msn.com/js/embed.js"></script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"></script> </p> <p style="padding-left: 30px; "> </p> <p>In the coming weeks, you will be able to experience the new Bing on mobile devices (m.bing.com.) We’ve optimized the layout and placement of the social results on the mobile device for smaller screen sizes and for touch input optimized for people on the go.</p> <p>Finally, we have implemented technologies that provide relevant results while maximizing protection for your data and your privacy. When using Bing and signed into Facebook, Bing will only surface content your friends could access by viewing your Facebook profile directly.</p> <p>In the coming days we will be releasing this to users in the United States. If you would like to be one of the first people to experience the new Bing, visit <a href="http://www.bing.com/new">www.bing.com/new</a>, to receive an email notification when it’s available. To read more about this release from the people who built it, check out this article on <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/2012/may12/05-10Bing.aspx">Microsoft Newscenter.</a></p> <p> </p> <p>- Derrick Connell, Corporate Vice President, Bing and Dr. Harry Shum, Corporate Vice President, Bing R&D</p> <p> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Viva la Human Revolution</h1> <p>2012-05-08T15:00:00Z</p> <p>At Bing we are always looking for ways to do a better job building a product that can help you do more, achieve more, and feel more confident about your outcomes. As we sit and dream up the next big set of things we can build to help in this quest, something has kept nagging at us. Namely that too many of the things we see being built today in our industry put the <i>technology</i> first. All too often people have to learn new terms, new interaction models, and entirely new user experiences just to do something as simple as watch a DVD on their home TV. Even for me, I was sitting at my desk hunting for another USB drive and I emptied my pockets. Besides my 4 screens, I had 5 phones, 3 laptops, and an old Xbox controller someone left in my office – I am literally a geek surrounded by tech. But the most meaningful thing to me was the scanned drawing my daughter did on my laptop and it really reminded me of the humanity of the tech should be there in front of us.</p> <p>As technology becomes more integral to our lives and our participation in society, we thought it would be interesting to go back to basics. We questioned the design philosophy of things, wondering if rethinking technical product development to be more people-centric could be an idea worth promoting. </p> <p>So that’s what we’re doing. In conjunction with Big Think we are developing the<a href="http://bigthink.com/series/43661"> Humanizing Technology </a>series. It’s designed to do three core things:</p> <p>1) Engage some of our favorite minds in thinking about how technology can be brought to serve us, rather than the other way around. Some of my favorite people like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Peter Diamandis, and Jane McGonigal tackle the question of how technology can be more human-centric.</p> <p>2) Host a “Virtual Expo” featuring companies, academics and technologies that are building things to align with psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, including: </p> <ul> <li>Safety and Security</li> <li>Human Relationships</li> <li>Personal Growth </li> </ul> <p>In addition, we have a panel of rockstar judges including Jaron Lanier, Peter Diamandis, and Sonia Arrison who will help decide which of the technologies best exemplify this shift towards a more human-centric technical world. While we’ve chosen many companies and people who are doing interesting work in each of these areas, <i>but we also invite you to tell us who you think is pioneering the humanization of technology.</i></p> <p>3) Enable people to experience these technologies, thinkers, and visionaries first hand at a “Humanities Fair” live in NYC the weekend of June 15-17.</p> <p>I hope you all can enjoy learning about the innovations that these pioneering institutions are building to turn technology into something that serves us and not the other way around. </p> <p>Stefan Weitz</p> <p>Director, Bing</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Kat Graham Star of The CW’s Vampire Diaries Joins #BingIt</h1> <p>2012-05-07T17:00:00Z</p> <h4> </h4> <p>Just ahead of the season finale, Kat Graham one of the star s of the CW’s supernatural smash Vampire Diaries will be joining us this Wednesday. Kat will field live questions about the show, her career and how the season might end.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/1351.clip_5F00_image002_5F00_58DA0CD3.jpg"></a></p> <p>Learn firsthand, about the amazing things that Kat is off and on the screen.</p> <ul> <li>Join us Wednesday, May 9<sup>th</sup> from 12-1 p.m. PT to tweet directly with Kat (@katgraham)</li> </ul> <p>To participate, follow @Bing, @katgraham and tweet out your questions and commentary with the hashtag #BingIt. As an added bonus, we’ll be giving away two $50 gift cards at each of the chats.</p> <p>- The #BingIt Team</p> <ul> <li>Kari Dilloo - @karidilloo</li> <li>Ted Roduner - @roduner</li> </ul><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Bing Gets a New Look</h1> <p>2012-05-02T13:00:00Z</p> <h4></h4> <h4></h4> <h4></h4> <h4><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bing is getting a new look. Starting today you will notice a fresh, de-cluttered experience designed to help you find the results you want faster. Over the past few months, we’ve run dozens of experiments to determine how you read our pages to deliver the link you’re looking for. Based on that feedback, we’ve tuned the site to make the entire page easier to scan, removing unnecessary distractions, and making the overall experience more predictable and useful. This refreshed design helps you do more with search—and gives us a canvas for bringing future innovation to you.</span></h4> <p>The results themselves are cleaner. Removing the “left rail” and minimizing the header raises the level of consistency and predictability while making it easier to scan the page and quickly find the information you want. Increasing the space between lines improves readability and optimizes the page for touch devices. Putting all our result annotations and social data in one consistent spot makes the page easier to use and understand. </p> <p>The new experience is more than skin-deep. You will also notice faster page-load times and improved relevance under the hood. After all, our goal is to help people spend less time searching and more time doing. And changing how we look is the next big step in doing just that.</p> <p><strong>New</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/1348.Bing_2D00_dubley_5F00_4C0A2EAA.jpg"></a></p> <p><strong>Old</strong> </p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/5822.image_5F00_thumb1_5F00_5E3AD1D0.png"></a> </p> <p>We’re not finished. Today, we’re also testing out some new ideas for the homepage, including a larger version of the popular daily image. If you happen upon the homepage changes, please let us know what you <a href="https://feedback.discoverbing.com/">think</a>. </p> <p>Sally Salas </p> <p>Principal Group Program Manager</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Twitter Sweeps: @Bing + Death Cab for Cutie at The Bing Lounge</h1> <p>2012-04-30T16:30:00Z</p> <p>Attention, music fans! Alt rock group Death Cab for Cutie, will be giving a live performance at the Bing Lounge in Portland, Oregon on May 11. To share the love, we’ll be giving an exclusive meet and greet to one lucky Twitter follower and a guest to attend the group’s highly anticipated show.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/8726.deathcabforcutie_5F00_70FA27C9.jpg"></a></p> <p>On April 30<sup>th</sup>, we will ask followers to retweet specific tweets from the @Bing handle to be entered into the sweepstakes (one entry per handle). We will randomly select one lucky winner from the eligible followers who retweet the @Bing handle sweepstakes tweets during the following time period: </p> <ul> <li>10 AM PT on April 30, 2012- 5 PM PT on May 1, 2012</li> </ul> <p>Good luck & let’s get rockin’! Be sure to retweet the sweeps and start spreading the word so that we can get the party going!</p> <p>Open to US Residents 21+ only, for details on how the sweepstakes works, read the official rules <a href="http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/thedetails/archive/2012/04/30/microsoft-bing-quot-trip-to-see-death-cab-for-cutie-at-the-bing-lounge-quot-sweepstakes-official-rules-no-purchase-necessary.aspx">here</a>.</p> <p>Cheers,</p> <p>The Bing Team</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Bing Desktop Brings Beauty and Convenience to Windows 7</h1> <p>2012-04-24T16:00:00Z</p> <p>From the beginning, Bing has been a place for exploration. The Bing homepage images aspire to spark your curiosity giving you something to talk about and connect with. Over the years, many of you have requested a simple way to enjoy these images as your Windows desktop background. With today’s release of Bing Desktop, we’re introducing an easy way to do just that.</p> <p>Bing Desktop marries the beauty of Bing’s daily homepage with a quick and convenient search interface so you don’t have to open your browser to start a search session. Every day, your Windows Desktop Background will automatically refresh to a high resolution version of the day’s home page, drawn from the images we use around the world.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/0576.clip_5F00_image002_5F00_4A795791.jpg"></a></p> <p>Bing Desktop provides a fast and simple route to get search results. To start searching, simply click on the Bing taskbar icon and the search bar will automatically appear at the center of your screen. Type what you’re looking for and the search results will appear in your default browser. You’re off and running in a matter of keystrokes. When you’re not using the search box, it goes to the background so you won’t lose precious screen space.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/6180.clip_5F00_image004_5F00_79E7C65D.jpg"></a></p> <p>If you prefer, you can dock the search box to the top of screen and it will slide up out of view until you hover and click at top of screen. Just use the settings icon to pin to top of screen. We’d love your feedback on this experimental user experience.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/3757.clip_5F00_image006_5F00_6D79A334.jpg"></a></p> <p>You can <a href="http://www.bing.com/explore/desktop">download Bing Desktop</a> right now. Like our homepage, you can find out more about the image by simply hovering over the <a href="http://www.bing.com/community/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-41-77-metablogapi/0317.clip_5F00_image008_5F00_254BE758.jpg"></a> icon in the search interface. Bing Desktop works on Windows 7 for US English. We hope to expand to additional markets in the near future. For image licensing reasons, we’re showing images that we use globally, so there are some days where it won’t match the home page image you see on Bing.com in the US, but it will always be a crisp, engaging way to start your day.</p> <p>Bing Desktop is the result of a strong collaboration between Microsoft’s China Innovation Group in Beijing, China, who originated the idea based on user feedback, and our core client development team in Bellevue, WA. Please let us know what you think of Bing Desktop in the comments below or on Twitter (@Bing.)</p> <p>- Tony Chor, Bing Clients Team and Yong Rui, China Innovation Group</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Win a Nokia Lumia 900 & Xbox 360 prize pack from Bing Rewards</h1> <p>2012-04-17T17:00:00Z</p> <p>Bing Rewards has launched two new sweepstakes for a Nokia Lumia 900 and a Xbox 360® that will run through May 1st. Continue reading for details on these great prizes and how to enter, but first congratulations to our latest winners! We are pleased to announce, pending official confirmation, the following winners for the three Bing Rewards sweepstakes that ended on April 2nd:</p> <ul> <li>The five lucky winners picked in the $500 Target GiftCard sweepstake were: Matthew H. of Roswell, NM; David T. of Somerset, KY; Ryan L. of Omaha, NE; Connor D. of Redmond, WA: and, Connie L. of Santa Clara, CA. Congratulations! </li> <li>Nicholas C. of Marlboro, NJ was drawn as the winner of the Xbox 360 Prize Pack with Mass Effect 3. Have fun with the awesome Kinect™ integration.</li> </ul> <p>Our two new sweepstakes* have kicked off and will end May 1, 2012 at 11.59 a.m. ET. The prizes include:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/000300000030"><strong>Nokia Lumia 900 - 5 Winners</strong></a>. The amazingly fast Lumia 900 has a crisp 4.3-inch display screen and is the first Nokia Windows Phone with 4G LTE connectivity. This beautifully designed phone also comes with cutting-edge apps such as Xbox Live and ESPN Sports Hub. We’re also including $200 cash toward a new contract with AT&T.</li> <li><a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/000300000032"><strong>Xbox 360 Prize Pack & Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13</strong></a>. One lucky participant will take home an Xbox 360 console with Kinect, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, and a 12 month Xbox 360 LIVE® Gold membership. Tiger Woods 13 is the franchise’s first version to work with Kinect, which means the game just got a whole lot better.</li> </ul> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/000300000030"></a><a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/000300000032"></a></p> <p>To enter, visit<a name="_MailEndCompose"></a> <a href="http://www.discoverbing.com/rewards/web">www.discoverbing.com/rewards/web</a> and please follow the instructions to create a Bing Rewards account or simply visit our redemption center <a href="http://www.bing.com/rewards/redeem/win">here</a>. You can find the sweepstakes Official Rules <a href="http://akamai.eprizecdn.net/microsoft/bing/aprilrules.pdf">here</a>. Good luck!</p> <p>Start following <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?source=webclient&text=@bingrewards+%23Sweepstakes">@BingRewards on Twitter</a> for the latest program news, opportunities to win and exclusive offers. If you have an idea for a Bing Rewards sweepstake prize you’d like to see in the future, we want to hear it!</p> <p>- Alex Danskin, Marketing Communication Manager, Bing</p> <p><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">* No purchase necessary. Open only to Legal residents of the 50 US +D.C. 13 +.</span></i></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Bing Bing Bar 7.1 Rolling Out: Connect with Facebook Chat, Listen to Slacker Radio, Get Relevant News and Search Faster</h1> <p>2012-04-17T16:00:00Z</p> <p>We’re constantly looking for ways to make Bing Bar more useful. The primary way we do this is based on how you are using the product- which features are used most, which aren’t being used. You’ve told us that you love the clean look, convenience, and quick performance of Bing Bar. You also told us that the app buttons we delivered in Bing Bar 7.0 and subsequent releases were valuable and useful. </p> <p>Today we are excited to release Bing Bar 7.1. This new release, based on your feedback, provides richer access to your social connections, new entertainment options, and updated versions of the most popular Bing Bar apps.</p> <p>Below is a snapshot of the new features and benefits shipping with Bing Bar 7.1, which new users can download at the <a href=" http://toolbar.discoverbing.com/en-US">Bing Bar page </a>on Discover Bing. If you’re already a user of Bing Bar 7.0, you’ll get the upgrade automatically delivered to you over the next few months. Can’t wait? You can always upgrade manually via the <a href="http://toolbar.discoverbing.com/toolbar/?form=MDBMAR&publ=DBING&crea=TEXT_MDBMAR_Bing_PR_Blog_1x1">link</a> on Discover Bing.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Facebook Chat: </strong>Have you ever wanted to reach out and chat with one of your Facebook friends, but don’t have Facebook open in the browser? Now you can chat with your friends from wherever you are on the web. This complements the MSN Messenger app that we delivered earlier this year.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <ul> <li><strong>Slacker Radio: </strong>Listen to music, sports, news, comedy and more without interrupting your web browsing. Slacker has the most personalized content of any radio service.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <ul> <li><strong>Fresh News App:</strong> We’ve made the Bing Bar news app more visual and expanded news sources so you can focus on the topics that matter most to you. When news breaks, you’ll get an immediate notification right from the Bing Bar.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <ul> <li><strong>Search Suggestions:</strong> You often trigger a search from a web page you’re browsing. To make it even easier, the Bing Bar provides suggested search terms as you browse. We’ve expanded the sites and methods of suggesting searches, making it even easier to search via the Bing Bar.</li> </ul> <ul> </ul> <p>Note that not all features are available in all markets, but we’re working to expand our app offerings on a global basis. There are countless other improvements throughout Bing Bar 7.1 regarding notifications, configurability, and performance. We love hearing from you so keep the feedback coming, and look out for new apps in the coming months.</p> <p>- John Licata, Bing Bar Team</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> </main></body></html>