Microsoft is expanding the capabilities of its Bing search engine by tapping into the computations, algorithmic, and data capabilities of the Wolfram Alpha computing engine, using the service as a way to deliver more-relevant information to search uses right from the get-go, rather than merely referring them to a list of sites. Wolfram Alpha—launched back in May by Stephen Wolfram and the folks who make Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha aims to not just find information, but make it “computable” to users—that is, Wolfram Alpha not only lets users find information, but do useful things with it. Bing plans to leverage Wolfram Alpha’s capabilities to enhance Bing’s search results: the collaboration will start with bringing nutritional information and tools into Bing’s search results, along with some genuine “math” to make those last-minute homework sessions a little more tolerable.
Tag Archive: Bing
Microsoft Wants Yahoo to Use Bing Globally
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has suggested that the Redmond software giant would like to extend its nascent search partnership with Yahoo to a global scale, having Yahoo tap into Microsoft’s Bing service to handle search queries from all over the world, not just in the U.S. and Europe. At a news conference in Tokyo (part of which is available on YouTube), Ballmer said the company would like to extend the partnership outside the United States, but “We will have to wait and see until we actually are able to get approval and consummate our partnership with Yahoo inside the U.S., and perhaps there will be news on that some other day.”
StatCounter: Bing Holding Steady, but Yahoo is Slipping
Media metrics firm StatCounter has released its figures on the U.S. market shares of the major Internet search engines for October 2009, and while the company finds that Microsoft’s Bing is holding on to its audience, Yahoo continues to decline—and Google seems to be picking up the slack, rising to its highest share of the U.S. search market since November 2008.
“Bing’s market share has stabilized after falling since mid August,” said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen, in a statement. “However, a worrying trend for Microsoft is that the combined Bing and Yahoo market share has seen a steady decline from 20.36 percent in July to 17.77 percent in October.”
Yahoo, Microsoft Still Working Out Search Deal Details
After more than a year and a half of testy courtship, Yahoo and Microsoft inked a ten-year deal last July that would see Microsoft taking over searches on Yahoo’s high-traffic Internet sites. But anyone who’s used Yahoo’s search in the last few months knows that the deal hasn’t really materialized yet: executing a Web search on Yahoo still shows Yahoo’s search engine, not Microsoft’s new (and highly publicized) Bing.
Microsoft Befriends Twitter in Google Search Duel
Microsoft Corp. has picked up a new weapon in its Internet search duel with Google — full access to Twitter’s communications hotbed. The partnership announced Wednesday represents a coup for Microsoft as it tries to spice up its Internet search engine, Bing, in its long-running attempts to lure traffic from Google. A test version of Bing’s Twitter feature debuted Wednesday.
If the alliance pans out the way Microsoft envisions, Bing will become the best way outside of Twitter’s own Web site to find out what people are saying in their Twitter messages, or “tweets.” The messages, consisting of no more than 140 characters, can be posted from Internet-connected computers or mobile devices, enabling people to share mundane details about their lives or intriguing news and commentary from all over the world.
StatCounter Shows Bing Losing Search Gains
The Internet has been watching carefully as Microsoft’s much-touted (and much-marketed) Bing search engine tries to take on Google in the Internet search marketplace…and, at least initially, Bing seems to be gaining followers, even if a good portion of its gains appear to be coming at the expense of new partner Yahoo. Now, however, Web analytics firm StatCounter finds that Bing’s initial honeymoon with the Internet search market may be coming to an end: StatCounter shows Bing’s share of the U.S. search market actually declined by over one percent in September, the first time Bing has lost share since it was loudly launched.
Google Refines Search Results to Counter Microsoft
Google Inc. is giving Web surfers a few more ways to refine their search results, signaling its resolve to ward off rival Microsoft Corp.’s aggressive campaign to lure traffic.
The changes announced Thursday might be hard to notice because they require clicking on a “show options” link above Google’s search results. The feature has been around since May, making it possible to focus the results exclusively on videos, discussion forums, reviews or books. Now news and blogs are joining the list of options.
Microsoft introduced similar features for limiting search results to specific categories as part of a June upgrade that renamed its search engine as Bing.
More Numbers Show Bing Chipping Away at Google
New search market analysis numbers from media tracking firms Comscore and Nielsen show that Microsoft’s search engine Bing is managing to increase its user base…and while some figures have Bing largely gaining share of the U.S. market at the expense of new partner Yahoo, other analyses show Bing starting to erode Google’s mammoth share of the search market…although it’s to early to say whether that’s a trend or just an aberration.
Yahoo Not Ceding Search Business to Bing
After years of dancing around each other, Microsoft and Yahoo cut recently cut a 10-year deal that has Microsoft’s new Bing search engine acting as the power behind Yahoo’s search—but that apparently doesn’t mean Yahoo plans to surrender its identify in the search market and essentially let its search become a branded version of Bing. Instead, Yahoo says it plans to continue to innovate in the Internet search space, integrating its search more deeply with social networking sites and surfacing key items—like videos—and offering in-page tools from the likes of McAfee and Yelp so users can get more information and filter dangerous links without leaving the search page.
comScore: Bing Slowly Growing Search Share
Although the market share numbers for Microsoft’s much-hyped Bing search engine won’t really matter until the technology takes over search functions for Yahoo has part of the company’s chance 10-year bid to go up against Google, media metrics firm comScore has released new figures that find Bing managed to increase its share of the U.S. search market back half a percent during July 2009, bumping up from 8.4 percent in June to 8.9 percent in July. And while Google saw its market share dip slightly from 64.7 percent from 65 percent, Bing also ate into Yahoo’s slice of the U.S. search market: Yahoo saw its share decline from 19.6 in June to 19.3 percent in July.
