One of the big news stories this week was Microsoft’s big Bing announcement. Bing is a “Decision Engine” providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions. This new Decision Engine idea is designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. Initially this will be focused on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business.
Bing is currently in private beta and is expected to launch on June 3rd. I was invited to test out the new Bing, so I thought I would post some pictures and thoughts about it.
If you’ve used Live search in the US, then you’re familiar with the vibrant picture that is displayed behind the search window. The new Bing engine brings this forward and extends it to those outside of the US, like here in Canada. As you’re typing in your search terms, a list of suggestions is populated below allowing you to navigate more quickly to the results you are looking for.
Besides the typical results that you expect to see after searching, Bing adds some nice new features. Down the left side of the screen is a list of related searches as well as your own search history. To the right of the search result that your mouse is over top of, is a small line with a circle on it. As your mouse approaches this a bubble pops out showing you a small synopsis the website of that result.
When it comes to image searching, I prefer Live Search over Google hands down. With Live Search, as you scroll down through the images, it will automatically return more results. So you don’t have to keep hitting next page all the time. Thankfully, Bing carries that design forward and they’ve even expanded upon it. Down the left hand side of the page, you have the option to narrow your search based on Size, Layout, Color, Style, and People. Each option allows you to narrow your search even more.
The same features work on Video searches. You can filter your search results even more by selecting Length, Screen Size, Resolution, and Source from the left hand side of the screen. Plus, when you mouse over a video it will playback a short clip without you having to load up that page.
I’ve really enjoyed playing around with Bing over the last 12 hours or so. I’m looking forward to the launch on putting some real world action behind Bing. Are you going to Bing it?
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