Bing 2.0 ''Visual Search'': Microsoft's Ace?

Sep 15 2009, 11:00am CDT | by Robert Evans

Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled Bing 2.0 (and it made the TechCrunch50) to the world. No, it didn't involve a series of hyped up commercials and a broken, buggy new program. What it did involve, is Silverlight technology and several big leaps of logic. Bing 2.0 is regular Bing, with a visual search option added. If Search Engine Land is right, it looks like a very useful little addendum.

In essence, visual search allows users to use images in order to sort through large piles of data returns easily. Sorting through text can be difficult and time-consuming, but you can tell which images fit and which don't at a glance. If you don't fully know what you're looking for, a visual search engine could be the fastest way to find it (or to at least figure out what it is you -aren't- looking for).

If you'd like, you can check out visual search here. It seems to be at its best when performing a direct comparison (eg; sports teams, cities) or helping to search for a product (travel destinations, iPhone app rankings, etc). Right now visual search is very limited, as Bing has only finished the preliminary round of work on it. You may notice certain search results are rather sparse as a side-effect.

Visual search gets a big thumbs up from me. I'll need to spend more time finangling it, but so far it feels like an improvement in an area Google never even entered. I have no doubts that they'll be quick to seal up that hole by creating a similar service, that's why inter-industry spats like these are so good for customers. Yay corporate rivalry!

where to buy

Buy from Amazon

What Others Say about This

SSL Traffic Analysis Reveals What You Are Looking At On Google Maps

The general consensus is that https connections to web sites protect your data from being spied at by users in the same network. That’s why all major web services such as Facebook, Twitter or Google have started to enforce the use of https on their websi ...
Full article at: GHacks Technology News More like this 49 minutes ago

Alibaba-Yahoo! talks hit impasse: report

AFP - Alibaba's move to buy out Yahoo!'s stake in the Chinese Internet titan has tripped on the California firm's determination to sidestep taxes, a Dow Jones-owned technology news website reported on Tuesday. AllThingsD.com cited unnamed sources as sayi ...
Full article at: France 24 More like this 2 hours ago

Fort Collins' VanDyne SuperTurbo gets $8 million venture capital boost

The Denver Post's reporters and editors offer news, analysis and commentary on the latest business, real estate, tourism, gambling and technology news in Colorado. VanDyne SuperTurbo Inc. — a Fort Collins start-up with technology aimed at making auto and ...
Full article at: Denver Post More like this 2 hours ago

Don't miss ...

Technology News

Solar Powered Clothing: The Future of Mobile Charging...

Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.