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Bing goes live...or is that Live goes Bing?
In the wee hours of the morning, Microsoft flipped the switch and whether you like the name or not, Live Search has been bumped by Bing.
After finally getting a chance to test it out, I'm definitely more likely to use Bing than I was to use Live search. While it doesn't have the same tricks up its sleeves as Google (like unit conversions and exchange rates yes, yes it does - thanks, Bob!) it's still got plenty of nice touches. Search for a pro athlete, like the Red Wings' Jonathan Ericsson, and you'll get stats from his last performance, upcoming games, and more. Pretty slick.
You can also subscribe to any set of results via RSS and save search history in your Live account. The related searches, suggested refinements (like fights, biography, and quotes in the picture), and on-hover snippets help make researching a topic easier.
As Inquistir's Duncan Riley points out, things aren't all working the way we were promised in teaser videos. Example: hotel and shopping searches don't automatically present the tweaked results views - you'll need to go to bing.com/shopping or bing.com/travel to try them out.
Firefox users wanting to add Bing to you search box, here's your addon - contributed by our pal Long Zheng at IStartedSomething. Live Search addons will still work just fine, too.
If you've tested it out already, share your impressions in the comments!
After finally getting a chance to test it out, I'm definitely more likely to use Bing than I was to use Live search. While it doesn't have the same tricks up its sleeves as Google (
You can also subscribe to any set of results via RSS and save search history in your Live account. The related searches, suggested refinements (like fights, biography, and quotes in the picture), and on-hover snippets help make researching a topic easier.
As Inquistir's Duncan Riley points out, things aren't all working the way we were promised in teaser videos. Example: hotel and shopping searches don't automatically present the tweaked results views - you'll need to go to bing.com/shopping or bing.com/travel to try them out.
Firefox users wanting to add Bing to you search box, here's your addon - contributed by our pal Long Zheng at IStartedSomething. Live Search addons will still work just fine, too.
If you've tested it out already, share your impressions in the comments!
Comments
22
Subscribe to commentsKenofthedeadJun 1st 2009 11:30PM
Well, it seems okay, but nothing amazing. Doesn't help it won't work well in Opera for me.
I'll stick with Google and http://www.wolframalpha.com/
QuikboyJun 2nd 2009 3:28AM
I've been testing it out, and though it pretty much is Live Search with maybe some modifications in the algorithm, the 'new' things I've actually noticed are:
1. Updated Home Page - I like the daily background thing they offer, but the cool little "hotspots" on the page are much more noticeable and sleeker looking, and it displays the info in a pretty translucent box so it doesn't block the background too much. Going back and looking at past daily background is more noticable, and the extra information at the bottom of the page is noticeable but not too conspicuous. Overall, good.
2. Result hovers - Displays the text on the site that fits the query so you don't have to bother going to the site if it already seems wrong. Would be also neat if it had Snap.com shot of the site.
3. Categories - Goes a step further than just Related Searches in that these are categories you may want to further refine your results with.
4. Save and Share - Bing automatically saves your search history, including links you went to (this can all be turned off of course), and this can be really useful if you're doing research and you found some really good sites but forgot which links you went to and forgot to document them before going to more different pages or clearing the history. You can even share it with friends.
That's all the main stuff I noticed. Hopefully Bing will continue to improve and get more users. I'm thinking Microsoft is heading in the right direction.