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Bing’s Homepage Gets Windows Phone Like Live Tiles

July 21, 2011 | By Pradeep

After all, the long awaited HTML5 powered Bing may come soon. Bing always tests some new features and tweaks to get feedback from the users. The latest is the new home page, the new homepage now looks dark with search categories provided at the top rather than below Bing logo. Another cool feature of this new home page is the Windows Phone (also Windows 8 Desktop) like live tile at the bottom of the page. The live tiles features information such as weather, search trends, top images,etc,. Not just Windows Phones, Windows 8 and Xbox were gone metro at Microsoft, Bing too have joined the group. According to my sources, Microsoft is also working on Bing for Windows based tablets based on the learning’s from Bing for iPad app.

Update: Microsoft’s Bing team is looking forward for feedback from you people regarding this new design. Comment your views below to improve Bing experience.

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T-Mobile UK still thinks Windows Phone is Windows Mobile

July 4, 2011 | By Joel Swaby

We’ve all done it, skimped facts, used generalisations as fillers to create the illusion that we had in fact been paying attention, but there’s precious few who can claim such a faux-pas for a corporate giant who has set aside upwards of $400 million to advertise their latest and greatest operating system, struggling against biases from uneducated sales staff and desperate to shake off a less than auspicious legacy.

Nonetheless, T-Mobile’s UK website, despite having had a whole eight months and fourteen days to look at the press release, is still calling Microsoft’s shiny new operating system “Windows Mobile”. While one could forgive the less eagle-eyed web editor referring to the OS as Windows Phone 7 Series at the worst, the description they give informs us (rather dimly, I might add) that the picture we see of a phone clearly running Windows Phone 7 is actually Windows Mobile. “Developed by Microsoft®” it says, not forgetting that ever corporate registered logo, “it’s designed to be like desktop versions of Windows.” Excuse me? “You can also download and buy software from Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.” Er, no thanks.

Seriously, I so wanted not to read into this too much and blame it on an outdated section of the site, since the link they provide correctly directs prospective customers to their Windows Phone section. But why the graphic of Windows Phone 7? Surely in the search for that graphic, some accurate descriptor was offered that involved the number 7? Why tie an outdated (maybe even reviled to some) operating system to a product that has been designed from the ground up to be something unique and groundbreaking and that has tried so hard to break every link to its predecessor? Everything about WP7 screams “don’t call me Windows Mobile”.

In Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has created a product that its customers feel passionate about. We create ads for them, even going as far as setting up websites to let the folks in Redmond know about weaknesses in their sales chain. Telecoms, more than customers, should be ensuring that their clients do well; Orange has, sitting down with Microsoft to give us UK customers more than £70 worth of apps for an entire month free of charge. T-Mobile and Orange share a corporate bed which I assume enables them to be privy to each other’s business deals, or, at the very least, access to their product information.

Microsoft are trying hard to penetrate a market that have been force-fed a poor standard in mobile software. Being the worst mobile provider (in my personal experience) of the Big 3 here in the UK, T-Mobile really needs to get their act together, if not for partner due-diligence, then at least for consumer clarity. Am I making a mountain out of a “Mobile” here? A quick Google/Bing search isn’t asking too much, is it? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

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Free WhatIs will answer all your questions

July 1, 2011 | By frasera

Got a question and don’t want to spend time typing it into to Bing or Google? Just ask “WhatIs” which supports verbal and typed questions and then will speak and display the answer. Want to know “WhatIs” the time in New York or the distance from London to Paris or the average of 3 numbers, just ask “WhatIs”!

WhatIs advanced speech to text engine allows you to verbally ask a question and it will give you the best guess answer via a text to speech engine back to you.

WhatIs is free and can be found in Marketplace here.

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Mango Bing video review

June 21, 2011 | By Surur

WPCentral have uploaded this detailed review of the new Bing features in Mango. While none of the features are by themselves unique, the integration of all the features two steps away from the lock screen very much is, and will make sure these features will see much more use than on any other platform.

Read WPCentral’s full Mango review here.

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Another look at Steve Ballmer at Blackberry World 2011

May 6, 2011 | By Surur

Above we have another, fuller video of Steve Ballmer at Blackberry World, where their Bing partnership was announced.

In the video he makes it clear that it is about extending their cloud services and access enterprise customers.

Do our readers feel Microsoft’s partnership threatens Windows Phone 7 uptake? Let us know below.

Via WPCentral.com

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Bing on Blackberry demoed (video)

May 3, 2011 | By Surur

Pocketberry have managed to grab a video of Bing integration being demoed on a Blackberry Torch.

The video shows how Bing Maps and Search are integrated on the Blackberry lock screen, and also shows that the Bing app remains more or less true to the Metro UI.

The app also has features missing from the Windows phone 7 app, including venue maps, street side mapping and also photo search. Apparently future updates due in December for Blackberry OS will even allow photosynth creation.

Presumable (and hopefully) much of this will also come to Windows Phone 7 eventually but it may be another case where Windows phone 7 competitors get Microsoft services well before its own OS does.

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Microsoft partner with RIM: Blackberries now to come with Bing Maps, MS to promote Blackberry : Updated with press release

May 3, 2011 | By Surur

bingmapsblackberry

Bing Maps on Blackberry

At Blackberry World Microsoft has just announced a partnership between the company and Research In Motion.

The deal would extend initially to having Bing Maps pre-installed on all Blackberries and Bing Search would be the default search engine, but will also include further cooperation, including Microsoft promoting Blackberry Enterprise Server to their clients and offering the Blackberry platform in addition to Windows Phone 7.

Bing Search and Bing Maps will also be the default clients on the Blackberry Playbook tablet

The deal was announced by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who told attendees at Blackberry World that Microsoft would invest "uniquely" in BlackBerry services, according to Business Insider.

Microsoft also promised further integration of Bing into the core Blackberry OS would occur around Christmas.

The move could be seen as Microsoft showing lack of confidence in Windows Phone 7, but also alternatively it could be seen as Microsoft being opportunistic and taking advantage of companies who see Google’s Android is their biggest threat at the moment and are looking for search and mapping alternatives. This motivation has prompted Nokia to adopt Windows Phone 7 in February this year.

Bing became one of the available search options on the iPhone in January 2010.

Update: See the official press release after the break:

Continue reading →

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Will Bing in Mango have Picture and Shazam-like music search?

April 23, 2011 | By Surur

imagesearch Besides Search Extras we have not heard much about what’s new in Bing in the next version of Windows Phone 7.

However eagle-eyed reader Yonas managed to catch this video by Ars Technica which was meant to show Search Extras, but which also reveal the presence of 3 new icons on the normally taskbar-less Bing home page.

The microphone is pretty easy to decipher – clearly like now this is for voice search.

The other two icons are a bit more enigmatic. My personal theory is that the eye icon is for a Google Goggles-like camera-based search, where a user could search just by taking a photo of something. The second one, the music note, may be a Shazam-like music search based on microphone input.

Do our readers have any better suggestions? Let us know below.

Thanks Yonas for the tip.

Update: LiveSide notes Microsoft does have an image search feature called Bing Vision (on the iPhone of course) which would fit the bill and is of course ripe for coming to Windows Phone 7.

See a video demo (around the 3 min mark) after the break.

Continue reading →

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Nokia’s Ovi maps are pretty amazing

April 22, 2011 | By Surur

Nokia has upgraded their Ovi Maps service, making it a Google Earth equivalent (or even better actually) without having to load an application.

Nokia has achieved photo-realistic 3D maps of cities using C3 modern camera equipment to capture as many as one image per second of the same object from up to 100 different angles. The images are then used to automatically reproduce the shape of the objects with very high accuracy.

After that, an image processing software automatically drapes each shape with the texture chosen from the pictures of each object. The same process is being applied for all objects – buildings, houses, trees, and hills – the result is a seamless canvas of 3D-data where the resolution (8 to 12 centimeters per pixel) and quality is consistent over the entire model.

With the agreement between Nokia and Microsoft finalized Microsoft will soon share in Nokia’s mapping wealth, with Andy Lees from Microsoft saying “In the case of mapping, Nokia has far and away the largest global footprint,” . “Our mapping just got better everywhere around the world.”

Nokia currently has 3D maps available in San Francisco, New York, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Toronto, London, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Milan, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Prague, Vienna and more to come. The streets in downtown can be seen in London, San Francisco, Helsinki, Oslo and Copenhagen.

If your city is included try maps.ovi.com and let us know your impressions below. I was certainly blown away. (Don’t forget to click on the 3D button).

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Bing to get better in Europe

April 19, 2011 | By Surur

bing-arc-de-triomph A perennial complaint we have from our international readers is that while Windows phone 7 is fine, its Bing integration is not very useful outside USA.

EMEA Marketing Lead – SMB Advertising for Microsoft Advertising Cedric Chambaz spoke to State of Search about Bing in Europe, and how they will improve on this record.

He noted that Microsoft will continue their Bing push into Europe, but that the company needed to customize their engine accurately for local conditions first.

As mentioned before, Bing’s ambition is to help user make more informed decision, but to do so it is critical to understand the unique needs of local users. A one-size-fits-all solution, biased by a dominant market like the US, is not the way forward. This is why Bing invests locally to enrich its global experience. In Europe for instance, search technology centres have been opened in London, Paris and Munich with engineers fully dedicated to the localization of Bing. This means teaching the algorithm to perfectly handle local intents, local spelling, local acronyms… This also means developing user experiences which resonate with the local expectations.

Bing has just come out of beta in France with an experience customized in this very way.

Let’s take the French example: on March 1st Bing went out of beta with a search experience tailored to the French needs. Based on extensive consumer research Bing launched a qualitative and disruptive service with an innovative, more visual search experience which respects both the user privacy and the rights of publishers. On the latter in particular, Bing partnered with numerous iconic local content providers to enrich its offering, whether in local through Pages Jaunes, entertainment with Allocine or even in literature since Bing enables the Moliere and Racine fans to consume the content of the national library straight in the SERP. Such a systematic approach enables us to really fulfil unmet needs, establish a new, viable alternative that is convincing more users to use us more often.

On the future of Bing, Cedric mentioned we will see a lot more partnerships.

Our approach and the quality of our results have already convinced significant players such as Facebook, Yahoo!, CNBC… to adopt our technology. And these are more than syndication deals, they are often deep partnerships. The Facebook integration with Bing is for instance a great foray in how social networks can help redefine the expectations towards relevancy. Similarly Bing embraces the rise of mobile internet consumption. Whether in browser, in apps or embedded in the hardware like on Windows Phones 7, Bing is investing a lot in local and mobile intents with new services like Bing Business Portal launched recently in the US.

He also noted that Microsoft’s deal with Nokia will also significantly accelerate the adoption of the search engine. We have already seen some fruits of this partnership in Nokia’s Navteq doing Streetside mapping in Europe for Bing.

Read more about Bing and Europe at StateofSearch.com here.

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Could the Bing iPad app be a precursor to the Windows 8 tablet UX?

April 11, 2011 | By rush24

I say yes but first I have rant a little.

Microsoft quietly released the Bing app for the iPad which as you can see from the review on the video above by Chris Pirillo, and a consensus of people who have tried it out on the internet, they have all concluded that it is fantastic app. I know it has been said that Microsoft is a software company first and they have to make software available for other platforms, fair enough but, what is the value proposition of staying with Microsoft products when their best apps are not available on their own native platform?

Take an example of the above Bing app for the iPad, if Microsoft’s interim answer to the iPad are the various slates like the HP slate, where is similar Bing app for Windows based tablets. Is that asking too much? I bet our readers outside the US would also like to know, will any of these features ever make it to their territories?

Oh well! back to the main point.

Continue reading →

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NAVTEQ Announces Destination Maps That Allows Indoor Navigation

March 23, 2011 | By Pradeep

NAVTEQ Extends the Journey Beyond the ‘Front Door’

NAVTEQ Destination Maps™ to enable orientation, guidance and routing for interior spaces
CHICAGO, March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world, today announced the launch of NAVTEQ Destination Maps. Destination Maps feature a unique set of interior map attributes (e.g., escalators) with detailed place data to enable users to more efficiently navigate and explore interior spaces. With NAVTEQ Destination Maps, location-based applications can extend beyond streets and sidewalks and into complex interior spaces.
NAVTEQ Destination Maps moves the industry beyond the interactive floor plan maps available today and into a three-dimensional data model essential to a more advanced exploration and guidance experience. It does this by providing pedestrian-specific attributes unique to interior requirements like stairs and elevators as well as recognizing different floor levels (called Z-levels) that are essential for applications to “understand” movement between floors once inside a venue and generate routes and guidance. NAVTEQ Destination Maps also include a Virtual Connections feature that enables more intuitive guidance by recognizing how pedestrians “cut across” open areas.
The product even includes access restrictions to avoid being guided to an “emergency exit” as well as precise locations of important points like the nearest public bathroom. Additional POI detail such as meta-tag data enables search to be associated not just with a POI (e.g., a department store) but with specific sub-information (e.g., perfume) within those categories.
NAVTEQ is the first global map provider to offer this type of indoor mapping product. Initially, the company will focus on mapping large shopping centers in the U.S. but plans to extend the product to include other types of complex destinations in the future.
NAVTEQ’s own research* indicates consumers are ready for this holistic navigation experience: 74% of U.S. consumers are very likely to use interior mapping functionality when outside of their local area, and roughly 40% when local.
NAVTEQ Destination Maps also allows for seamless integration with other NAVTEQ products and services; for instance, dynamic POI content – such as Movie and Event Listings – can keep users abreast of entertainment options within and near each venue. Additionally, NAVTEQ LocationPoint™ Advertising services can deliver location-aware mobile ads and special offers to users as they shop, while helping to monetize high-value content.
“The concept of interior mapping and navigation is still relatively new,” said Tom Fox, vice president, Maps and Content Americas, NAVTEQ. “And we recognize that the interior of shopping centers is just the beginning: as future indoor positioning technologies are deployed, NAVTEQ Destination Maps will support even more sophisticated applications like seeing where your friend is in the mall or how crowded a restaurant is in real-time. NAVTEQ is actively working with its customers to help shape future indoor mapping applications.”
NAVTEQ Destination Maps currently covers more than 200 of the largest shopping centers in the U.S. (e.g., average of over 750,000 square feet) with expansion plans for more shopping centers and more types of destinations throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Lets hope Destination Maps gets integrated into Bing Maps as per Microsoft-Nokia deal. Bing announced similar service by launching indoor maps of various Malls in USA last year.

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WTH! Microsoft release Bing Deals app for Android, iPhone, not for Windows Phone

March 3, 2011 | By Surur

Microsoft has done it again – releasing a Bing Deals app for iPhone and Android without the same for Windows Phone 7.

It is getting extremely tiring to see Microsoft not supporting their own mobile OS. We can understand Microsoft wanting to be where the customers are, but unless they were subliminally telling their Windows Phone 7 users that they should also be on iPhone and Android, they need to get the whole company on message and make sure that every department include Windows Phone 7 in their strategy.

After all, having a viable mobile strategy will do a lot more for Microsoft’s share price than adding another 0.5% to Bing market share.

Update: Microsoft has made a statement to ZDNet.

“The (deals) functionality is based on HTML5 and will work with phones that support it, but today is being released for iOS and Android. Windows Phone 7 announced that they will have HTML5 support in an update later this calendar year, at which point deals will work great on Windows Phone.”

To which we respond – why develop a service in such a way as to exclude all Windows Phone 7 users?

Thanks Xin Sun for the tip.

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