Items tagged with Bing
In January, Google threatened to disable its search engine in Australia if legislation passed a proposed law. This law would have made it so digital companies would have had to pay media and publishing companies (like HotHardware) for aggregating news content. We are now starting to see major players in Tech take sides, with Google holding steady against the legislation and Microsoft backing up media companies and publishers. Yesterday, Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, penned a lengthy blog post explaining that Microsoft would remain in Australia if the proposed law was passed. In short, the company is fully in support of paying media and publishing companies for news content as that...
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When it comes to troublesome data breaches, this one is pretty significant, and it comes from a surprising company. The company in question is Microsoft, which left one of its backend servers that runs the Bing mobile app wide open. As a result, over 6.5TB of log files were leaked into the internet that contained a treasure trove of user search data. Inexplicably, Microsoft staffers left the Elasticsearch server online without any kind of password protection from September 10th through September 16th. This lapse in security by Microsoft was discovered by Ata Hakcil, who is a white hat hacker from the WizCase online security team. The data that was exposed comes primarily from Microsoft's...
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Not all hackers are jerks, but the ones preying on the global population with booby-trapped maps of the coronavirus sure fall into that category. It's just a scummy thing to do. Fortunately, not every interactive COVID-19 tracking map is laced with malware. If you are looking for one that is clean, you now have one more option, courtesy of Microsoft. The Redmond outfit has added an interactive Bing map that tracks the spread of COVID-19. At the time of this writing, it shows there are 175,049 confirmed cases. Of those, it lists 90,552 as being active, 77,791 as being recovered, and 6,706 fatalities related to the disease. Those numbers will change as time goes on, and possibly by the time you...
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Microsoft has announced that based on user feedback, it will no longer force the install of the Microsoft Search in Bing browser extension for users of Office 365 ProPlus. Microsoft had intended to force all users to receive the browser plug-in, whether they wanted it or not. As you might imagine, that angered a lot of people. Microsoft maintains that it has heard from "many customers" who are excited about the "value" Microsoft Search provides through Bing and what it calls the "simplicity" of deploying that value via Office 365 ProPlus. Microsoft intended to integrate that search function so that Bing became a single search engine for users to find what they need inside and outside their organization....
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It's no secret that Google has the most popular search engine on the planet and the most popular browser with Chrome. Microsoft also has its widely popular Office 365 suite of software. Microsoft now wants all the people that use Office 365 ProPlus to change to using its Bing search engine. The software giant announced this week that it would be forcing users to install the "Microsoft Search in Bing" extension if they are using the Chrome browser for all Office 365 ProPlus customers. The extension will be forced on the users with the version 2002 rollout of Office 365 ProPlus. That rollout is set to start in February, and there will be a broader rollout in March. The first countries to be graced...
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Last week, Microsoft unwittingly provided a gateway to malicious content via Bing ads within the Microsoft Edge web browser. A malicious ad was being served that was promoting a fake version of the Google Chrome download site. What makes this particular incident so dangerous with the potential to affect millions of people is the fact that one of the first things that many people do when setting up a new computer is to fire up Microsoft Edge (usually for the first and last time) to download Google Chrome or another browser. Google Chrome is by far the most popular browser in the world, and Microsoft Edge has been relegated to also-ran status. In this case, using the search term "Download Chrome"...
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Microsoft has announced a new feature for Bing that will make it much easier to find information about things you see in the real world. The new feature is called Visual Search and it harnesses a smartphone's camera letting you snap a picture to search, shop, and learn more about anything around you. All you need to do to start a search is to take a photo. See a car you like, snap a picture and learn more about it. Want to buy that cool new TV you see, but want to check prices, take a picture of it. Microsoft says that the Visual Search capability is available right now in the U.S. via the Bing app for iOS and Android devices. Visual Search is also available via the Microsoft Launcher...
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Microsoft really wants people to leave Google and use its Bing search engine. The problem is that the exodus away from Google never really happened, leaving Microsoft working hard to compete in the search market. Microsoft has announced that it has added some cool new features to Bing in an effort to make the search engine more popular with users. Microsoft is now integrating additional artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its search results and into Office 365. The AI promises to have a useful impact on our day-to-day lives. "AI has really been integrated into society for many years," Jordi Ribas, Microsoft VP in charge of AI products said. "Sometimes, people have been using AI...
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Perhaps Google should invest in a bumper sticker that reads, "My AI is an honor student," and then motor around Redmond and Cupertino where Microsoft and Apple are respectively headquartered. Compared to Bing and Siri, Google's artificial intelligent system is a cut above the competition, according to new research at Cornell University. Researchers Feng Liu, Yong Shi, and Ying Liu set out to test and rank the intelligence quotient (IQ) of various natural and artificial intelligent systems, including humans, Google, Bing, Baidu, and Siri. Based on the tests conducted, Google's AI has an IQ of 47.28. That ranks just below a six-year child with an IQ of 55.5, but is twice as high as Siri with an...
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Back when Windows 10 was still being talked about and had not yet launched, there was a fear that Microsoft was leading users into a walled garden, a fear that actually started with Windows 8. Things have not played out that way, though a hint of what that world might have looked like can be seen in Windows 10 S, a new version of Windows that is set to compete with Chrome OS in the education market. One of the restrictions in Windows 10 S is that Microsoft's own Edge browser is the default vehicle for surfing the web, and there is no way to change that. Likewise users are restricted to installing apps from the Windows Store, unlike regular versions of Windows 10 where users are free to install...
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“Don't let the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead distract you from the fact that…” The Golden State Warriors had a record-setting run during the NBA regular season (2015 - 2016) and were even looking good throughout the playoffs. Heck, the Warriors had a 3 games to 1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers when it all fell apart. The Cavaliers would rally during the finals to win three straight, clutching the 2016 NBA championship title. Needless to say, the meme community was (and still is) unkind to Steph Curry and his crew for the embarrassment. Golden State has a lot to prove this year in the playoffs, and according to Bing Predicts, the team will avenge its stunning loss last year by torching Cleveland...
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Bing doesn’t exactly have the same star power as Google when it comes to search in the minds of most Americans, but that isn’t stopping Microsoft from emboldening its search engine with new functionality. Today, Microsoft is feeding Bing with a new tab called Campaign Landscape, which gives voters insight, statistics, and projections for the current election season. No matter if you're rooting for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or ever Gary Johnson, there's plenty of data to pour over for folks that enjoy numbers and figures. “In roughly three weeks, America will elect the 45th President of the United States of America,” writes the Bing team. “However, this unprecedented campaign year has left...
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Two of the biggest phrases in technology right now are deep learning and artificial intelligence. They're intertwined with one another, and Microsoft is betting big on both, as company CEO Satya Nadella recently underscored during a keynote at Microsoft's Ignite conference for IT professionals. As part of that ambitious transformation effort, Microsoft today announced the formation of what it's calling the Microsoft AI and Research Group. The new division brings together Microsoft's renowned research division with more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers focused on the company's efforts in AI products. Harry Shum, a 20-year veteran at Microsoft with multiple leadership roles under his...
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We’ve stated on many occasions that Windows 10 is an excellent operating system, albeit one with a few rough edges that could be smoothed-out. However, Microsoft has angered some users over the past year or so, in its willingness to dance right up to the line of what customers feel is acceptable practice for promoting adoption of its new OS. Further, some feel the company crossed that line with respect to user data collection and privacy concerns. It looks as though Microsoft stands to garner more criticism if its recent patent filing comes to life in a production software product. The title of the company's patent filing is “Query Formulation Via Task Continuum” and it aims to make it easier...
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Do you use Edge? If not, this incentive might convert you. Microsoft wants to pay customers to use the Windows 10 Edge browser and Bing search engine. Microsoft claims that the Edge browser is faster, more energy efficient than its competitors, and also consistently offers 1080p streaming on Netflix. Edge, nevertheless, has had trouble gathering converts. Google Chrome is by far still currently the world's most popular desktop web browser. Bing Rewards, which paid people for using Bing as their search engine, has been rebranded as “Microsoft Rewards”. Customers can now earn rewards by using Bing, Edge, and making purchases through the Microsoft of Windows store. Users can earn points for...
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We've all seen shady pitches to sell software and services that purport to fix our PCs, restore system performance, recover lost passwords, and so forth. The problem is many of them are outright scams. Rather than try to wade through them all and let only the good ones through, Microsoft has decided to ban all online technical support services from advertising on Bing. Microsoft's concern is over the "serious quality issues that can impact user safety," which is a polite way of calling scam services out on their shenanigans. There is no magic software elixir to turn a dilapidated PC into a smoking fast hotrod, and unfortunately there are many third-party tech support services that outright lie...
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When it comes to prediction algorithms, Microsoft usually doesn't horse around. It's making an exception for the Kentucky Derby, the annual horse race held in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. As Microsoft has done with other sporting competitions, it tasked Bing with making some bold predictions. The technology at hand is called Bing Predicts and it consists of analyzing web activity, social sentiment, and other signals to predict outcomes with sometimes surprising accuracy. Using Microsoft's Bing prediction engine, Cortana correctly picked 14 straight winners in the games leading up to the 2014 World Cup. It's only blemish in the entire tournament was picking Brazil to beat the Netherlands....
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Microsoft is changing how search queries entered into the Cortana search box in Windows 10 are carried out. From now own—and for your own good, from Microsoft's angle—searches made with Cortana searches will only be carried out with Edge and Bing, even if you've configured a third-party browser like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to be the default. You're still free to use third-party browsers in Windows 10 all you want, otherwise Microsoft would be looking antitrust lawsuits. However, Microsoft wants its digital assistant to stay loyal to Edge and Bing to avoid delivering a "compromised experience" to users. That's the explanation Microsoft is giving on the surface, anyway. "Unfortunately,...
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Microsoft really wants you to use Bing. The company makes Bing a focal point of its new Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile operating system and even pays customers to use its search engine with Bing Rewards. The company has even received some flak for making Bing the default search engine in Windows 10 if they choose the Express upgrade options, since this overrode the user’s previous default search option. Bing has roughly 20 percent of the U.S. search engine market, and a little less than 11 percent of the global search engine market. In an effort to push Windows 10 growth in China, Microsoft’s isn’t going to try to force Bing upon users. Instead, it has teamed up with Chinese giant Baidu, making...
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Microsoft keeps making changes to Bing that challenge the notion of Google being the go-to destination for web searches. The latest effort by Microsoft is a better video search experience, one that several media sites are already claiming is superior to Google's own YouTube service. That's high praise, considering that YouTube pretty much dominates the online video scene.The design changes to Bing's video search are intended to give web surfers the information they need quicker and more efficiently. When you look up a video, you'll see a bigger size video thumbnail than before, making it easier to pick out the exact video you were looking for among a collection of tiles.Bing also now includes...
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Microsoft this week announced that web searches made using the company's Bing search engine will soon be encrypted by default. In actuality, users have been able to encrypt searches made via Bing for around a year and a half now, though sometime before summer comes to an end, it will be a standard option for all users. The move will level the playing field with Google and Yahoo, both of which already offer encrypted searches by default. Of course, the bodies at Microsoft still need to eat and so the company will conintue to pass along referrer strings to marketers and webmasters that identify traffic as coming from Bing. What won't be included are the specific search query terms that users input,...
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Google caused quite a stir late last month when it altered its search engine algorithm to favor mobile-friendly sites on smartphones. Considering that mobile devices currently make up the bulk of Google’s search traffic, this move was inevitable. The move makes sense, as sites that offer an alternate mobile layout or a dynamic layout that automatically adjusts based on screen size is preferable for smartphones. So it should come as no surprise that Microsoft has now thrown its hat in the ring by making “significant investments towards understanding the mobile friendliness of web pages.” Microsoft started off this “investment” by tagging Bing search results that are “Mobile-friendly.” But now,...
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