Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Bing – A new search engine from Microsoft

Posted: 29 May 2009 03:23 AM PDT

Heard enough hype about new search engines? Recently, I wrote about Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine, and previously I wrote about Cuil, the definitely-not Google killer.

So now we have another new search engine to unveil, this time from Microsoft. But doesn't Microsoft already have a search engine called Live Search? Yes they do, but they'll be killing that off in the next few days.

Bing is the hope and prayers of all Microsoft employees, especially Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. According to Microsoft, it's a "decision engine" that will help you make decisions about travel, health, and shopping.

First thing to note is that Bing is not going to give you results for normal search queries like Google. So what is Bing do that will make you want to use it? Bing's main advancement is in semantic search.

For example, if you search for an xBox game, not only will you get a list of normal blue link results, but you'll also get a list of related searches, which includes things like walkthroughs, news, errors, etc.

If you search for "Samsung LCD TVs", you'll get what is called a Guided Search, which means you'll have options like looking at Reviews, Manuals, Repair, Images, Videos, etc that are directly related to the item you are searching.

Source: TechCrunch

The results are customized depending on what type of search you are performing: travel, health, shopping, news, sports, etc. For example, if you search for "Target", the large retailer, you'll see a list of on the left that includes Locations, Jobs, Coupons, etc.

Pretty neat eh! So what if you are searching for a new digital camera? Bing does a lot better job than Google does on this type of query. It gives you reviews, prices, images, and lets your sort by all kinds of stuff like camera size, affordability, speed, photo quality, etc.

Ever use Kayak.com for travelling? Well, Bing basically does all of that. It lets you find the best prices, the best times to fly, and lets you filter search results by airline, price, dates, and lots more.

Other nice features of Bing include the fact you can hover over a search result and get a preview of the text without having to actually click through to the page. Also, if there is a search that brings up a reference tab, you can click on it and it will bring up a Wikipedia article on that topic.

Overall, Bing will not be a game-changer, but it's definitely a big step forward for Microsoft. Let's see what happens as the battle ensues.

Copyright © 2007
Online Tech Tips.
Aseem Kishore (digitalfingerprint: a59a56dce36427d83e23b501579944fcakmk1980 (74.125.112.136) )

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Bing – A new search engine from Microsoft