Bing launches 'Visual Search' |
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Bing launches 'Visual Search'
A screenshot of the Bing Visual Search feature, rolled out today in beta.
Microsoft's Bing search team this morning rolled out a new feature called Visual Search that will let people browse through categories of images as a way of finding information online without typing in a keyword. In a post introducing the feature, the Bing team used examples including an actor whose name you can't remember, or a product, such as a handbag or digital camera, whose brand name you can't remember.
The feature uses Microsoft's Silverlight interactive technology. Visual Search is available in beta here, and Microsoft says it will be adding more categories of images over time.
Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi introduced Bing Visual Search at the TechCrunch 50 conference this morning. It's part of what he called "Bing Wave 2," other elements of which will be released later this year. A Microsoft representative confirms that this is what employees were shown at the company's annual meeting last week. The video of Mehdi's presentation is available here.
"When you are the single-digit, come-from-behind player against the leader who is the verb of the category -- 80-plus percent share -- you don't go and try to be 10 percent better," Mehdi said. "You gotta bet where the thing is going, you gotta be first and best in the new area."
On that topic, online research firm Nielsen this morning reported that searches on Bing increased from 9.0 percent in July to 10.7 percent in August in the U.S., the fastest growth among the top 10 search providers. Google came in at 64.6 percent for the month, a slight increase, according to the Nielsen data.
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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