Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud

    Bing Elections Predicted 95 Percent of Races Correctly

    By
    Pedro Hernandez
    -
    November 10, 2014
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Microsoft Bing Elections

      One company wasn’t surprised by the results of last week’s midterm elections in the U.S.: Microsoft.

      Microsoft’s online voting guide and resource hub, dubbed Bing Elections, performed an admirable job of predicting the outcome of most of the races, the company announced. “We weren’t perfect, but we are proud to report that we got it right in more than 95 percent of the races—and we did better head-to-head than renowned forecasters, including Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight,” wrote the Bing Predictions and Elections group in a Nov. 10 blog post.

      Bing Elections leverages Microsoft Prediction Lab, a social-enabled and gamified polling site, to create crowdsourced forecasts. “Your predictions are integrated into our crowd forecasts showing how likely certain candidates will win and other events will occur,” states the site’s FAQ.

      Those predictions came surprisingly close to reality, Microsoft reported.

      According to the company’s data, Bing Elections was accurate in 34 of 35 Senate seats in the 2014 midterm. In the House of Representatives, it picked 419 out of 435 seats correctly. It also called 33 out of the 36 gubernatorial elections.

      The site follows in the company’s tradition of creating timely, themed online hubs that are based on the Microsoft search platform. Last month, while debuting Bing Elections, Derrick Connell, corporate vice president of Microsoft Bing, said that Microsoft’s aim was to inform and engage the voting public.

      “Politics aside, our goal with Bing Elections and the personalized Voter Guide is to arm voters so they can make decisions based on the most comprehensive and best information available,” said Connell in a statement. Visitors can drill down and explore the political scene at the state level, including elected officials, key races and their candidates via an interactive map.

      While not infallible, Bing has a good track record of picking winners. During the World Cup games in Brazil this summer, Bing correctly predicted that Germany would emerge victorious. In fact, it picked all 15 winners of the tournament’s elimination rounds.

      Those capabilities are being slowly incorporated into Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant for Windows Phone 8.1.

      “For a bit of fun—we’ve also added predictions for ABC’s Dancing With The Stars into Cortana powered by Bing Predicts,” revealed Microsoft spokesman Brandon LeBlanc today in a statement. Fans of the celebrity-packed TV dance competition can simply ask Cortana as they would a fortune teller.

      “Just ask Cortana ‘Who will be eliminated in DWTS,’ ‘Who is safe in DWTS,’ or ‘Who is in jeopardy [in] DWTS,’ for this week and she will give you an answer! You can even ask her ‘Who will win DWTS this year’ to look ahead at what you might expect,” continued LeBlanc.

      Bing has more predictions in store for sports fans. In addition to NFL games, the company is turning its “predictive attentions toward the NCAA March Madness bracket, the NBA Playoffs, and more in the coming months,” announced Microsoft.

      Pedro Hernandez
      Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to eWEEK and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×