bing

Birds do it. Bees do it. It's just that these days in India it may be a little harder to watch online images of human beings doing it.

Sex is often a slightly thorny subject (well, maybe except in France). However, varying attitudes around the world to varying sexual practices mean search engines must adjust their positions accordingly.

So it may sadden some to hear of a Guardian special investigation that appears to have unearthed evidence of Microsoft and Yahoo search engines complying with a new Indian law offering severe punishment for the display of "lascivious" content.… Read more

This one's a surprise. Twitter will have turned a profit in 2009, a BusinessWeek report claims, citing sources. What happened? Search deals with Google and Microsoft brought in a nice chunk of cash for the company, which has raised well over $100 million in venture capital and has a paper valuation floating somewhere around $1 billion.

Considering the company has not yet put forth a long-term revenue strategy, this would be one of those Christmas miracles along the lines of a neurotic mom getting home to her stranded 8-year-old by fortuitously hitching a ride with a polka band fronted by John Candy.… Read more

There are those who believe that Microsoft came up with the name Bing for its refreshed search engine after staring at the word "Bingo" for several days and then removing the last letter.

However, a small entity in St. Louis has decided that the name Bing was, is and always should be, theirs.

According to Ars Technica, Bing Information Design! has designs on some compensation from Microsoft, as it has used the delightful term, followed by a slightly less delightful exclamation point, ala Yahoo, since 2000.

Even to the most bleary eyes, Bing Information Design's Web site … Read more

This week on the Roundtable: The biggest tech stories of 2009! With my boss, CNET Editor in Chief Scott Ard, and Buzz Out Loud host (and my co-conspirator on Real Deal) Tom Merritt.

Google is in talks to buy Yelp and it may finally be pushing the line over what's too big. Sure, a lot of you thought it was too big already, but now it's just getting ridiculous--although, I didn't like that it lost its court case in France over indexing books. We also touch on the Twitter hijacking and new 3D Blu-ray standards.

Twitter hijacked by ‘Iranian Cyber Army’ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10418140-93.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10418270-36.html… Read more

It's no surprise that Microsoft's Bing app includes voice search, maps, directions, search suggestions, and location awareness. Besides these being features common to Bing.com and to the Bing application on other mobile platforms, they're also necessary to compete with Google Mobile App for iPhone.

More surprising is Bing's stylish layout, which opens on the image of the day in the background (this doesn't appear to be customizable); a rounded, six-panel grid of buttons to jump you to movie listings, maps, directions, and more; and a drop-down menu on the search bar lets you filter … Read more

Snigger as you will over Microsoft's decision to call Bing, its overhauled search engine, a "decision engine," but those giggles should dissolve when you start up Microsoft's brand-new Bing for iPhone (and iPod Touch). As a search app goes, Bing, which debuted Tuesday in the iTunes App Store, is the real thing.

The Bing app has a slew of expected features, including voice search, maps, directions, search suggestions, and location-awareness. That's no surprise. Besides these being features common to Bing.com and to the Bing application on other mobile platforms, they're also necessary to … Read more

Microsoft's feisty little search service, Bing, has finally made an iPhone app, which is now up on the Apple iTunes app store.

Bing showed off the free app at a party thrown by its mobile team in San Francisco on Tuesday night. Information about the new app is also now on Microsoft's Bing blog here.

Its description on the iTunes store says: "Make decisions and get where you need to go with Bing. See the Bing daily image and related trivia on the home screen. Search maps or the Web with your voice--even say an address. Use … Read more

So, Apple bought Lala, and Ars Technica thinks it has a source who knows what Apple's going to do with it-- it's going to make a Web site that sells music and stores it in the cloud. Kind of like what Lala already is, but it's going to be all iTunes-ified. And that has Rafe worrying about cloud failure again. We also kvetch about Facebook, a Mozilla employee complains about Google, and the "New Moon" videotaper is set free.