Microsoft has updated its mobile Bing client for iOS today, bringing the app to version 4.4. The update brings about a number of new features and improvements that both current Bing and potential future Bing users might find worth checking out.
Perhaps most interesting of the additions is a new shake-to-discover feature, which allows you to shake your iPhone about to discover random 'Trending' news topics. Microsoft also added the ability to copy URLs and open URLs in mobile Safari...
Microsoft launched Bing Rewards in September 2010 in a desperate attempt to get people search the web with Bing. Bing Rewards provides credits to users of major desktop browsers through regular Bing searches and special promotions.
Today, Bing Rewards is going mobile as the program has just been extended to owners of iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
Rather surprisingly, the Windows maker said that Bing Rewards was “coming soon” to Windows Phone devices. Bing Rewards replaced Microsoft's similarly conceived initiatives, SearchPerks! and Bing Cashback...
Microsoft has posted a significant update for Bing for iPad this evening, bringing the app to version 2.0. The update includes a number of improvements, including an all-new design for iOS 7 and new SkyDrive bookmarks.
The new design features flat images and text, and a lot of open space (good news though, it's not all white). And with the new bookmarks feature, you can now save bookmarks and images, and access them via SkyDrive...
I'm not using Microsoft's Bing search engine much on the web, but really meant to fall in love with the iPhone and iPad app, and long before Google's Search iOS software became sleek. The problem is, Redmond was rolling out those updates way too slow for my taste.
I last checked Bing out some time last year and was disappointed that it still had certain non-Retina elements to it, such as the logo graphics. Today, Bing for the iPhone and iPad has gotten a fresh coat of paint, a nice new flattened logo and a completely revamped user interface re-created from scratch with iOS 7 in mind...
"The enemy of my enemy, is my friend." That proverb seems fitting for the new Bing partnership Apple announced today, which sees Microsoft's lackluster search engine tapped as the default search engine for the snarky digital assistant Siri.
The entire audience went silent during the keynote this morning, as Apple's SVP of Internet software and services Eddy Cue announced that new in iOS 7, Siri will be able to respond to queries with integrated Bing web search results...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ismMaczcCzo
Microsoft, once the mighty Apple archival, in ways more than one is now directly or indirectly supporting Apple's war on Android. With that in mind, let's check out Microsoft's recap video highlighting its milestones in 2012, one for each month. I'd call only two Microsoft products milestones: Halo 4, which raked in $220 million in sales in the first 24 hours, and the Xbox console with Kinect, which got Windows support in February.
As much as I like Windows Phone's originality, it's failed to make a dent and clings to a single-digit market share. The Surface is a flop (even the CEO agrees) and major software launches like Windows 8 and server products have not met the management's internal expectations. Besides, Apple's iPhone biz recently became worth more than all of Microsoft. How's that for a milestone?
Microsoft recently overhauled its Bing search engine around a new social bar to let desktop users "find people who are relevant to your search based on what they’ve shared, publically blogged or tweeted about".
Friday, the Bing team announced that the feature is now available on the iPad and iPad mini via browser support for iOS Safari. The new UI adapts to landscape or portrait orientation automatically, with the social bar on the right.
If you're a big Bing fan, this addition makes it easy to learn what your friends shared on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Klout related to what you’re searching for...
Exploiting a record $25 million settlement Google negotiated with The United States Government over the iOS Safari privacy breach that erupted back in February 2012, software giant Microsoft put together a little web page meant to convince Apple users to use Bing as their default search engine.
The Windows maker is reminding us of Google's failed promise of not tracking Safari users without their permission, suggesting Google's credibility has been tarnished beyond repair. Want to do something about it?
Use Bing instead, the company proposes...
While it's true that users can switch between Google, Bing and Yahoo when deciding which search engine to use in Safari on iOS, it's debatable as to whether anyone does actually change it. We're going to put our money on the percentage being on the low side!
That's why being the default search option on iOS is so important. If you're the one chosen out of the box, then the chances are you'll be the one that gets the vast majority of hits from users. Right now, that default choice is Google, and they pay handsomely for the privilege according to Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter.
Just how handsomely, you ask?
InstaURL is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to perform web searches from anywhere on your iDevice.
Similar to QuickGoogle and QuickSafari, InstaURL isn't alone when it comes to tweaks of this nature.
Is it different enough to warrant paying the $0.99? Check inside for the full video walkthrough...
If you've spent any time with Siri, you may have noticed that you can actually ask it to search the web for pretty much anything. At this point, Siri fires up a Google search and populates the search field with whatever it thinks you asked. The degree of accuracy here very much depends on your accent and whether it's a full moon or not, but on the whole, it does the job fairly well.
But did you know that you can also have Siri work its magic with both the Microsoft Bing and Yahoo search engines? Well, you can...
Microsoft already has a few apps in Apple's App Store, such as, Bing and Windows Live Messenger. However, no Microsoft Office programs have made their way to the iOS platform - that is, until now. (Don't get your hopes up, there's still no Word app for iPhone.)
Microsoft has released its note-syncing app in the App Store, which will work with its Windows desktop counterpart. This move by Microsoft is an obvious attempt at further reaching out to the mobile worker and student. OneNote is packaged in the Mac bundle of the Microsoft Office suite, but Windows users will be happy to know they can now take their Office notes with them thanks to the beauty of cloud-sync technology...