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 Blogs Google Watch
    • Blogs
    • Google Watch
    • Search Engines

    Microsoft Bing Visual Search Option Helps Us Become Lazier Searchers

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    September 14, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

      Angling to give Web surfers another, easier way to find what they are looking for, Microsoft’s Bing search team introduced a visual search option today, Sept. 14.

      No, this isn’t another take on image search. But it does use images to help users find results.

      Bing Visual Search lets users type in a query as usual, but instead of returning the customary blue links as results, Bing returns images associated with books, movies, celebrities, sports teams and so on.

      How can you try this? First, you have to download Microsoft’s Silverlight plug-in if you haven’t already (How’s that for a barrier to entry?) Then go here.

      See the demo video from Bing here:

      I just had to try this to see if it’s worth the hype. As a big movie buff, I first searched for “movies in theaters” and saw this:

      Bing visual movies.png

      Mousing over each image put the title of the film handily in the search box. No typing required! Just mousing. I’m a horror movie fan, so I clicked on “Halloween II” and saw these movie listings and more info:

      Bing visual movies 2.png

      Bing Visual Search categories at the moment are Entertainment, Famous People, Reference, Shopping and Sports. Read more on this on Techmeme here, though Search Engine Land’s review is the most thorough.

      Google moved toward a picture-based search with Similar Images from Google Labs in April. Bing’s Visual Search even uses many of the same categories as Google Similar Images:

      Google similar images.png

      However, when you click the pics, Similar Images helps you find more images, not search links, so it’s not quite the same.

      Bing gets a big kudos for this in my book. Now, what will Google do, particularly now that Bing just notched 10.7 percent of the search queries in August, up from 9 percent in July, according to Nielsen? That’s almost 20 percent growth!

      However, it wasn’t at Google’s expense (64.6 percent), but Yahoo’s, which tallied only 16 percent of the searches in August, a drop of 4.2 percent in July.

      Here comes Bing, gobbling first Yahoo (even before the Microhoo integration). Next up, Google. Brace yourselves for the search war.

      Clint Boulton
      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.

      ×