Tag Archives: search

The New Bing Not Ready for Primetime

May 16, 2012InformationBing, search, SocialKL Tech Muse

I was sent an email invitation to try the new Bing this morning. My default search engine is Google, but I am willing to try something different if it is better. So I clicked on the Try the new Bing. First in order to get the full Bing experience you have to sign in either by using your Windows Live or your Xbox Rewards account and you also have to connect Facebook. I signed in with my Windows Live account and connected Facebook. Now when I search for something using Bing on the left hand side of the window is a grey tab which shows if any of my friends on Facebook have posted anything on the subject on Facebook. It will only show likes, post and photos that they posted publicly. You can also send a question to your friends on Facebook from the same tab.

To be honest the new Bing is a little disappointing, since it only connects to Facebook directly. If you do a search and your friends don’t use Facebook than none of their suggestions show up. There is a limited connection to Twitter, but not surprising there is no connection to Google Plus If you do a general search for movies, then you get two sections Friends who might Know and People who Know. Under People who Know you see tweets from people like Roger Ebert on the subject. So far the subject movies is the only search that has brought up People Who Know section. I hope that is just a temporary situation, because I am more interested in what Roger Ebert thinks about a specific movie rather than what he thinks of movies in general. This would be true of any subject and expert. Most other searches I tried have been fairly weak on the social connections. Part of the problem I will admit is I don’t have a lot of connections on Facebook, however based on my reading I am not the only one that ran into this problem.

The new Bing does have somethings going for it, first the social interaction is to the side and it doesn’t interfere with normal search. Second you can close or open the search column by hitting the arrow on the top right side. I suspect despite these good points, I will continue using Google as my main search engine.

Opinion Time: What Do You Think of the New Bing?

May 16, 2012Facebook, searchBing, Facebook, searchAlan

Bing has rolled out their brand new interface, at least to U.S. users, and it has met with mixed reviews. While the new interface feels faster and Microsoft claims gives better results, the social aspects, mainly Facebook results in the right column, are a big change that takes some getting used to and also feel vaguely like a privacy invasion.

Paul Thurrott, writing over at WinSupersite, said he had problems getting the service to work and had to try three different browsers before being successful. Using Chrome I had no problems with the new Bing on the first try, but your results may vary.

By default, bing.com/new takes you to a search results page for the subject “movies” and you will find recommendation from your Facebook friends appearing to the right of the main search results.

On the whole I found the new interface to be a bit more appealing than the previous version, although if you use Google for the simple, clean look then this probably isn’t for you So, have you tried out the new Bing? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Latest Google Search Engine Update

May 3, 2012Informationgoogle, searchTodd Cochrane

Nothing more depressing in seeing your page-views drop, and you having no idea why. While the hit has not been super large I can see a drop off. In the recent Google search engine update we took a hit on traffic and for the life of me I cannot figure it out. The large majority of content here is original, and with over 11,000 original articles we have enough posting history this should not have happened.

The only thing we think it could be is in the way we do show notes for the podcasts. We provide links to all the content we cover, and those show notes/links do not have a lot of context, so in all likelihood our goal of providing links to the content we cover in the podcast is hurting the sites traffic in the eyes of Google, which is really sad as those links are cherished by the 125k plus people that listen to the show.

We started using no follow in the podcast blog postings a while back, which obviously did not help. The Google Webmaster tools are not helping us either as they say everything is good on the site. Sucks but hey its happened before and we will figure it out and regain the traffic. If your a fan you can help by linking to us and if you have some skills would love to hear from you.

People Search For Facebook?

April 3, 2012amazon, bbc, ebay, google, searchamazon, argos, bbc, brands, daily mail, ebay, experian, Facebook, google, Hotmail, next, search, YouTubeAndrew

Business intelligence company Experian Hitwise recently released the top 10 searched for brands in the UK. Top of the pile came internet giants Facebook, YouTube and eBay with four British brands showing; catalogue store Argos, fashion shop Next, news and media organisation the BBC and tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail.

Here’s the full top 10.

According to Hitwise, around 2% of all searches in the UK were for “facebook”, and variants such as “facebook login” and “fb” made three of the top 10 searches overall.

While it’s not 100% clear from the press release how the data was gathered and what search engines were involved, the research suggests that lots of people use search engines in preference to the address bar, even when the web page is simply the brand plus .com or .co.uk. You can begin to see why there is so much money to be made from advertising in search: every time one of these people goes to a web site, they’re using Google, Bing or Yahoo to get there.

Frankly, the one that really amazes me is “google” at #7. People are using search to find a search engine? This doesn’t make sense and my only thought is that large numbers of people don’t know that it’s possible to reset their default search engine (or home page). Consequently, they’re using Bing to find Google instead of changing the settings in their web browser. Amazing. If anyone has any alternative thoughts, let me know in the comments.

Yahoo Reveals Top 10 Searches of 2011

December 1, 2011search, Yahoo2011, search, Yahoo, Year in ReviewAlan

Yahoo today announced the 10th anniversary edition of their Year in Review. The top 10 searched terms are a general barometer of the year, giving insight into the biggest products, news stories, and celebrities. Yahoo boasts about 700 million unique monthly users, so these results do provide a pretty good overview of the hot topics of the year. Yahoo has made their Year in Review available “in 17 versions including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States”

Surprisingly, at least to me, was that the most searched for term of 2011 wasn’t a celebrity or a news story, but a tech item – the iPhone. It was the first physical object to garner the number one spot since the Playstation 2 did in 2002. Britney Spears is the only multi-time winner, being number one in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The Apple phone was the only non-news, non-person to to make the top ten list. Beyond it, you will find a mix of names, mostly celebrities along with a couple from news stories. Only one event made this year’s list – the Japan earthquake.

Here are top ten most searched for terms of 20, based on Yahoo’s data.

iPhone
Casey Anthony
Kim Kardashian
Katy Perry
Jennifer Lopez
Lindsay Lohan
American Idol
Jennifer Aniston
Japan earthquake
Osama bin Laden

You can get a lot more data and lots of different lists by visiting the Yahoo Year in Review.

My Tree Lot Finder: Find Your Perfect Christmas Tree

November 30, 2011Gadgets, InformationAndroid App, android os, app, Green, Map, non-profit, search, tree farm, tree lot finder, wreath, yule logJ Powers

Looking for that perfect holiday tree? The lots seem to pop up within 24 hours of Thanksgiving. But which one do you go to?

A new application has hit the Android market. My Tree Lot Finder ™ can help you find the best tree lots; those “Mom and Pop” lots that use quality trees for best selection. That way, you don’t have to search for hours to find that perfect tree.

The app helps you not only save time and money by locating the perfect tree, but also gives you care instructions for your new purchase. That way, if you are a N00b when it comes to trees, you don’t have to act like one.

“Have you ever headed out after dark to find that perfect tree? Kids in tow? The first lot you go to had nothing but dead and dried trees,” says Wayne Irving II, creator of My Tree Lot Finder. “ Wouldn’t it be nice to know where the next tree lot to you is? So you are not driving further than you have to?”

You can search trees by Zipcode or just scour the map within the app. Target a lot and get driving directions. It will also let you know where the tree farms are and where the non-profit lots (like Boy Scouts, fund-raising lots, etc) are located.

Some lots also have other amenities, such as selling ornaments or if the tree farms have other cool events like hay or pony rides, if they also offer things like Yule logs, wreaths or more.

The application is only available for Android at this time. The parent company – Iconosys – is a member of the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS).