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BingFact sheetApril 2014Search today is about more than simply finding information, it’s about gaining knowledge and taking action. Since the launch of Bing, the Web has become more vibrant, more capable and unimaginably vast, encompassing tens of trillions of Web pages housing pictures and videos and the digital footprints of billions of people spread across the world. At the same time, how people are using the Web — both how they access it and what they do there — is changing at a dizzying rate. We no longer think about search as simply a box we type into. We “search” on maps using our fingers, ask our devices questions using our voices, use our social networks to figure out what’s happening, and even use gestures to navigate our content libraries. Search has never been asked to do so many things in so many different ways across so many devices. It’s time to change.Redesign of A new look for Bing: more helpful, more human, more beautiful has been rebuilt with a new, beautiful, modern design focused on simplicity and speed, which helps people get things done faster regardless of the devices they are using. We’re bringing the modern, fluid design language, an engaging format that we’ve long supported in Windows, Windows Phone and our other Microsoft search experiences, to in Web browsers as well. To accomplish this, we performed a fundamental rewrite of the underlying code, which delivers a much cleaner experience and provides us with a more flexible environment in which we can incorporate the rapidly changing information and services the vibrant Web provides. Because we’ve placed a premium on well-organized content, it’s now easier to get information and take action. Spacing is more consistent, colors separate areas of the page for easier scanning, and improved fonts bring search into the modern age.?Page Zero: helping you before you finish your searchPage Zero is a feature in Bing that helps users get answers or take action even before they see results. We do this by showing them key tasks associated with their queries while they’re typing. This not only gives important information to people up front, but it also directly connects them with great content and additional answers on Bing and across the Web. Pole position for high-confidence resultsPole position is the surface area at the top of the search engine results page. This canvas will be used when Bing believes it understands what a user is trying to accomplish and is reserved for special “pole position” treatment. When Bing thinks someone wants images of a celebrity, is looking for a specific fact, just wants the latest news on a sports team or needs a detailed view of the weather in a particular city, it now provides a much larger answer beautifully integrated with the rest of the page. These larger-format answers are complete with links to enable people to take action or dig deeper into that topic and will grow across a variety of query types (or “segments”) as we build this feature out.The right search experience for the right deviceThe Bing layout is built from the ground up to work across devices and will adjust to the screen size so we present the right experience at the right time. Our intention is for the results to look as beautiful on a Surface tablet or an iPad as they do on a PC — and to work just as well, too. Our platform will enable us to improve experiences across all devices. Part of this focus on mobile and tablet devices also means providing a better touch experience, and we’ve introduced a number of spacing and legibility improvements that will continue to be refined in the future. SnapshotIn our new design, we’ve combined Snapshot and Sidebar to provide users with all the supporting context they’ll need for any given query. This combined region ranks the key information Bing knows about any entity, while bringing in relevant information from friends on Facebook and expert opinions from other popular social networks about that same topic. See below for a description of some content types, or “segments,” which show up in the new Snapshot.Ask Bing. In many cases you can ask Bing a question the way you would ask a friend. By incorporating natural language understanding, Bing answers the question correctly in the search results and also shows you pertinent information on the right side of the page in Snapshot. Restaurants. See summarized reviews from across the Web, location maps and one-click directions, interior panoramas, and building shots from within Snapshot without ever opening a new page. This will help people know where they’re going, what to wear, how to get there and more.Hotels. Bing shows a collection of hotels and provides easy access to pricing data through the check-in, check-out tool. For specific hotel searches, Bing offers photos, maps, easy access to pricing and reviews.Movies and events. When searching for a specific movie, Snapshot aggregates movie images, reviews, facts about the film and important links such as showtimes near a person’s location. Movie trailers can be viewed without having to leave the page.People. Searching for people is very common, but finding the right person can be difficult. Bing uses social networks to help narrow down searches for the correct person. Snapshot allows people to see information from many networks, including LinkedIn, Twitter and photos shared across Facebook, to help them find the right person.Celebrities. Bing helps people stay up to date with their favorite celebrities, providing a bio of the celebrity, as well as relevant content such as images, movies they’ve starred in or albums they’ve released, or a timeline of important events.Landmarks. Find an overview of world landmarks and destinations, including fun facts, reviews, images and more.From friends. In Snapshot, Bing will surface Facebook friends who have recently liked, shared or searched for content related to their friends’ Bing queries, helping users find more relevant information. For example, someone searching for great diving spots in Costa Rica might discover that a Facebook friend has some suggestions based on his recent shared content and activity, such as photos, tags, likes, status updates and comments. Bing honors Facebook privacy settings and will not present any Bing user with content from their Facebook friends unless that content is already shared and viewable to that user on Facebook. Therefore, Facebook authentication on Bing is required to see results from friends in Snapshot.From popular social networks and bloggers. Beyond friends, Bing also identifies and surfaces experts and enthusiasts with knowledge in search-related areas. When someone is searching for an amazing diving spot, for example, Bing may surface people whom the searcher may not know personally but are influential on that topic and can help find that perfect spot.The Bing you knowHomepage. The Bing homepage includes a new, beautiful image daily; information hotspots embedded in the image; and clear links to search for video, news, shopping, travel, images, entertainment and maps. In addition, the Bing homepage features panoramic images for users of Windows 8, the ability to download the homepage image directly to one’s computer, and, occasionally, rich HTML5-powered videos in place of the daily image, providing people with an even more immersive experience. Autosuggest. One goal of Bing is to eliminate unnecessary clicks from the search experience. The Autosuggest feature saves users even more time by allowing them to click through to top websites and get query-related answers for people, places and things directly from the Autosuggest drop-down box. Instant Answers. Bing provides Instant Answers that immediately return highly relevant direct answers in response to a specific search. Instant Answers help people find relevant information easier by reducing the number of clicks so they reach their destinations faster. For example, entering a flight number will return the most recent flight information and display it prominently in the results page, saving the hassle of needing to go to a separate page. Other Instant Answers on Bing include stock prices, local weather, package tracking and sports scores, for example.Related searches. Our research has shown that, when searching for a specific result, people also like to expand their search to explore related topics. After an initial search is made, Related Searches provides a list of related search terms, helping people to easily expand a search to find more great results.Video search. Bing videos helps make finding, previewing and watching videos easier. Bing indexes content from video sites across the Web, as well as from its own index of full-length television shows. It also includes filtering tools to narrow a search to make it easier to find the exact video. In addition, as of fall 2013, over 1.7 million songs, 70,000 artists and a half a million albums are available on Bing video.Image search. Bing image search allows people to find the images they want faster using smart tabs, small image view and the image detail page. It also features less clutter, bigger thumbnails and infinite scrolling, allowing for easy browsing of image results without clicking to a new page. Bing also has powerful filtering tools for images to make it easier to find just the right image. In addition, Bing offers Pinterest integration for U.S. users only. News search. Bing News pulls in and organizes uniquely rich local and world news content and multimedia, including articles, images, videos and related searches from across the Web. In addition, alongside the latest headlines on Bing News, people will find a real-time feed with the latest updates from Twitter highlighting hot news topics. Leveraging Satori technology, Bing provides deep understanding of trending news topics in a visual and easy-to-use carousel.Search history. Nearly half of all searches are a repeat of previous searches.1 Search history provides easy access to searches from a current search session so people don’t need to initiate a new query to return to an earlier result. Providing tools to help complete tasksBing was designed to help people make more informed decisions faster and go from searching and finding to searching and doing, and it focuses on several key areas:Maps. Bing Maps is an immersive mapping experience that brings search to maps, providing a limitless canvas for people to accomplish their location-based tasks online through new types of imagery, relevant content recommendations and map apps. Bing Maps offers engaging imagery, including aerial, Streetside, Bird’s Eye and Global Ortho. In addition, the new Bing Maps preview app on Windows 8.1 provides an interactive 3-D imagery experience showcasing over 70 cities from around the world, taking advantage of Windows features including Snapview, Windows notification and live tiles.Travel. The Hotel Rate Indicator and other Bing features provide useful information for people looking to book travel online. In addition, through partnering with KAYAK, Bing provides people with access to a more comprehensive set of flight itineraries, including more airlines, airports and cities. Based on science, not marketing, Bing enables people to make smart, well-informed decisions when planning and booking a trip.Local. Finding the best local information online can be challenging. Whether people are searching for a review of the newest restaurant in town or the contact information for a local plumber, information on local services is often strewn across many websites. Today’s search engines don’t always help inform people about patronizing local businesses. Bing is designed to be different by providing tools, such as customer reviews, hours of operation, one-click directions, maps and traffic reports, that make it easy and quick to find relevant local content. Bing partners with Yelp Inc. to provide searchers with even richer local data — including review snippets, photos and business details — from one of the Web’s leading local listing services. Yelp content surfaces in Snapshot and in relevant Bing local pages, which are labeled as “Powered by Yelp,” to signify trustworthy content consumers can use to make informed decisions.Mobile. With Bing, Microsoft is demonstrating continued commitment to the mobile space and dedication to delivering a multiplatform mobile strategy — rapidly evolving to better meet the needs of consumers. Bing remains focused on enabling people to easily discover, access and use the information they need and want, anytime, anywhere, with the convenience of their mobile devices. Bing can be accessed on Web-enabled mobile and tablet devices and multiple browsers through m.. The Bing for iPhone and Android apps bring together the best of the Bing for mobile browse and Bing for mobile app experiences, with the goal of creating a consistent and seamless experience across most platforms and devices. Since every Windows Phone has a search hardware button, Bing on Windows Phone offers easy access to maps, directions, local businesses through Local Scout and more.Bing as a platform Windows 8.1 also provides a platform for Microsoft Devices and Services and third-party developers to deliver purpose-driven apps that cater to how people want to access and engage content and tasks today, helping them find what they need and do more.Cortana, powered by Bing. An exciting, new way the Bing platform is being used is to power Cortana. Through the expertise built up doing traditional search, Bing powers the following technologies underpinning Cortana: Bing Web index and search algorithm: Information on the Web matters Speech recognition, conversational understanding and natural language processing: Your personal assistant should feel natural and understand however you engageBing knowledge repository: Adding order and clarity about people, places and things (entities)Stream processing of interests, rules and events: Tying everything together to make Cortana a truly personal assistant, that is always onYou can also experience some of that same personalization via the Bing platform technology through improvements on that we call interests. Tell Bing about your interests, and, to start, you’ll see personalized news, weather, flights, stocks and more directly on the Bing homepage — all as part of the search experience you already know and love.Bing Smart Search for Windows. A new way to think about search in Windows, Bing Smart Search, only available on Windows 8.1, gives people one single way to find what they’re looking for, no matter where it lives — whether it’s a document on your PC, a photo album in the cloud, an app, PC setting or a website. In just a tap or click, you’re on your way to play, view, launch, or browse.Bing Voice Search on Xbox. Your voice has replaced the remote for your living room with Xbox One, an all-in-one games and entertainment system with sophisticated voice navigation and natural language voice search powered by Bing and Kinect. Bing and Kinect make it fast, easy and natural to find, play, watch and listen to whatever you want on Xbox One. Bing Apps for Windows and Windows Phone. Based on our expertise from search, Bing builds and maintains a number of apps for the Windows and Windows Phone platform2, including Bing Finance, Bing Food & Drink, Bing Health & Fitness, Bing News, Bing Sports, Bing Travel, and Bing Weather. for Developers. Bing offers a wide range of resources for useful technologies available to developers at . These include APIs, controls and SDKs for search, maps, speech recognition, optical character recognition, translation, ads, synonyms, webmaster and more. AvailabilityBing is available across 46 markets worldwide; however, the availability of specific Bing features varies by market.Bing is available at is on Twitter at is on Facebook at . The official Bing blog can be found at Live Search logs analytics, February 2008. Approximately 1,000 queries analyzed.2 App availability varies across platforms.For more information, press only:Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Communications, (503) 443-7070, rrt@ ................
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