Yesterday Microsoft launched the latest expansion of their Bing search service, an image search system called Bing Visual Search. Unlike Google Image Search, where you have to know what you’re looking for, Bing Visual Search also presents you with pre-sorted options, like new cars or US politicians or cell phones. Each option comes with a tile depicting a typical result, like the BMW M3, President Barack Obama, or the Palm Pre. Wait, the Palm Pre is the cell phone icon on Microsoft’s new search engine? Wow. We’ve preserved the irony-laced screenshot after the break.
To be fair, it's entirely possible - likely, even - that these images are automatically generated by a mysterious and powerful algorithm, but if we're not ones to hold back from occasionally poking fun at our friends.
[via: Blorge.com]
Thanks to kyanite for the tip!
Comments
Well they cannot deny the popular. Otherwise favoritism in a search engine in our culture is FAIL.
Another overuse of the popular "FAIL"
Intetesting.....is Bing Pre Mobile Site friendly?
Too bad you have to install silverlight to use Bing Visual search. I guess it is another mircosoft product I will not be using.
You have to install Flash to use many popular sites on the web but no one complains about that. Silverlight is quite similar to Flash and you should really give it a try. It's just one more way for you to get rich content in a browser. Why would you purposefully limit your browsing experience?
I do find this funny though as Silverlight is not even announced for the Pre but sure, we'll put it as the image on the site!
What mobile browser IS Silverlight announced or available on?
If you want irony, try this:
http://www.bing.com/search?q=google&form=QBLH&qs=n
Well, yeah! If you search on bing for google, you're going to find it. The results aren't ironic. No more so than any of these:
http://www.google.com/search?q=bing
http://www.google.com/search?q=yahoo
Now what *is* ironic is that if you google search engine, google isn't first, it's 8th:
http://www.google.com/search?q=search%20engine
Apparently google doesn't think very highly of itself.
Leo Laporte did a segment on his TWIT podcast about this recently. They were experimenting with different combinations of browsers (ie, chrome, firefox) and log in states (logged into google account vs. not logged in) and googling the term 'search' to see what came back. It was interesting in that the responses were not consistent. It wasn't entirely clear what the pattern was, suggesting there is some randomizer at work here -or- in my opinion, it wasn't scientific enough a test to make any determination.
You really want irony, try this:
http://www.bing.com/search?q=windows+xp+serial&go=&form=QBRE&qs=n
Speaking of Bing, I've been wanting it as an option for universal search.
yes... it's really lame, that one can not change these settings. I find these kind of hard coded configurations outdated! that's not what I expect from a phone that "reads my mind".
Haha, after the second Pre commercial subliminally promoted Bing, I'm impressed that MS has returned the favor :p
Yet for some reason we dont have Win Live Messenger on our Pre's.....
It's perfectly possible that the items featured in those search tiles are paid product placements. It would be trivial to have generic icons there, but instead, there are very specific products and items being shown.
when you dig deeper into the bing visual search, you have the ability to "sort by bing popularity." after the sort, the pre comes up to the front of the line. i can only assume the "front page" displays the most popular in each category
http://www.bing.com/visualsearch?q=Cell+phones&g=cell_phones&FORM=Z9GE26...
Clearly, Obama has paid Microsoft to promote him.
As a WinMo user awaiting contract end, I support this probably statistic happening.
Want to leave a comment? Register for free!
In an effort to reduce comment spam, you need to log in to comment. Registration is fast, free, and easy and gives you access to comment, discuss the Palm Pre on the largest Pre forums on the 'net, enter contests, and much more. Join now!