Archive for the ‘Microsoft’ Category

Sometimes when you do a search, you’re looking not just for definitions and answers (and of course decisions), but you’re also looking for what the community at large is saying about the subject. Well there’s a site called BingTweets.com that will do just this.
It lets do you a Bing search, but along with the results you see a dynamic column that shows you what people are saying about the subject on Twitter as well. It also will show you some search tags based on what’s popular now, and the people, places, and products that are currently popular.

Tags: bing, search, Twitter

Bing Tweets | Larry Larsen | Channel 10

If you are curious what 2010 has to offer, or why you would want to upgrade, check out the Microsoft Outlook 2010 YouTube Channel.  It has 19 videos with everything from Word and Outlook to some of its lesser known tools.   Below is just one of the videos.

YouTube – officevideos’s Channel

The images on big are breathtaking and available for download.  Check out Bing.com’s image archive calendar.

 

 

 

Bing Image Archive

 

One of the coolest additions to the new Windows 7 OS is definitely the taskbar. Now a super-sized toolbar of program icons with corresponding menus and thumbnail previews, the new taskbar has dramatically changed the way I interact with my applications. I’ve been perfectly happy with the way the taskbar works out-of-the-box, but others have wanted to tweak the taskbar to fit their needs. To do so, one developer has created a program called Taskbar Overlord that has let him change some of the default behavior of the new Windows taskbar.

Once installed, you can use Taskbar Overlord in order to middle-click to close an open application – just like closing a tab in the IE8 or Firefox web browser. He also added a feature that lets you left-click a program icon to switch to the last active window you were using instead of showing you the thumbnail previews (available when you have multiple windows of that application open).

The Taskbar Overlord is actually a little AutoHotkey script that makes these two changes for you. If you’d rather have one of the changes and not the other – you’re in luck. There are actually several different versions of the program available for download:

• Taskbar Overlord – Source Code. This includes both the left click and middle click functionality as an .ahk script file.
• Taskbar Overlord Executable – Left and Middle Click.
  Has both features. Switches to the last active window when left clicking. Closes all windows when middle clicking.
• Taskbar Overlord Executable – Left Click Only.
  One feature only. Switches to the last active window when left clicking.
• Taskbar Overlord Executable – Middle Click Only.
  One feature only. Closes all windows when middle clicking

[UPDATE: Direct links above may not work for you, click here and download directly.]
Future releases and bug fixes will be announced in the following feed: http://www.ocellated.com/tag/taskbar-overlord/feed/.

Tweak the Windows 7 Taskbar with Taskbar Overlord | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Microsoft this morning announced that it is rolling out Bing Travel, one of the verticals it’s focusing much of its attention on when it comes to the recently unveiled “decision engine” the company set out to conquer market share from Google and Yahoo Search. Bing Travel, as we mentioned when we posted the first screenshots based on the Kumo preview, combines a lot of the airfare and hotel reservation tools from Microsoft’s 2008 acquisition of Farecast with news and other editorial content from MSN Travel (in fact, travel.msn.com already redirects to the new search engine).

Bing Travel Arrives

Microsoft is busy announcing a slew of upgrades to Xbox Live, and the biggest news so far is relaunch of the video service, now Zune-branded with 1080p instant-on streaming content in 18 countries. XBL is also now integrated with Facebook — your Facebook account can be linked to your Gamertag, and games will support Facebook Connect for sharing content online. That’s pretty huge — but if that wasn’t enough, you’re also getting Twitter and Last.fm in the deal. Want more? Netflix users will now be able to browse the entire catalog instead of simply loading their queue, and Microsoft has also gotten its Party Watch system in order, so you’ll be able to heckle videos with your online friends. Last but not least, there’s now live TV streaming for UK and Ireland gamers, who’ll get Premier League soccer live from Sky. All in all, a solid set of updates for XBL — but we’ll wait and see how that "1080p" video looks before we pronouce Blu-ray dead. PR blurb after the break.

Today from the E3 stage in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced plans to dramatically improve their HD video offering through a new technology that enables instant on 1080p streaming with 5.1 audio with Zune video on Xbox 360.
This implementation is as close to a "disc in the drive" experience as possible over the Internet. At a high-level, here is how it works:

• Video startup is nearly instantaneous because of the back-end proprietary Microsoft technology developed by Zune that seamlessly transitions between many different bitrates and resolutions of video.
• Video playback will start at a low bitrate for fast download time and then ramp up to a higher bitrate and quality, up to 1080p with 5.1 audio.
• Features such as smooth fast forward and rewind that users have only seen before with local physical media.

It doesn’t stop there. Other news coming out of E3 for Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace:

• Social: We unveiled Movie Party, a feature where you can go to the movies with your friends whether you are sitting on the same couch or in living rooms across the country. Starting this year, you can share a virtual theater, see your Avatars (a virtual you) on the screen – all while you listen to each other laugh and cry together at the movie through voice chat on Xbox LIVE.
• New Regional Partners: Now, for the first time Xbox LIVE members in the UK and Ireland can watch live or on-demand TV with BSkyB on Xbox. Never miss a moment of your favorite live TV shows, sports, movies and family-friendly entertainment – even share your favorites with up to seven friends in an Xbox LIVE Party.
• Global Expansion: The 1080p streaming HD Zune video experience on Xbox LIVE marketplace is expanding to 10 new regions this year, making movies and TV shows available in 18 total countries including US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, and New Zealand. (Note: content and partners vary by region

Xbox Live gets 1080p Zune video store, Netflix browsing, Twitter and Facebook integration

Today at the D7 Conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that the new search engine that has been previously known under its code-name “Kumo” is going to be called “Bing” and will launch worldwide on Wednesday, June 3rd.

The search engine is being called a “Decision Engine” because its aim is to help you “navigate through excess information and find the shortest distance to an informed decision,” reads the new website promoting the engine, DiscoverBing.com. Reading between the lines of that statement, it’s clear that the goal of Bing is to help us search better and faster, without having to waste so much time scrolling through useless or irrelevant results, an experience that many of us have had in the past. In fact, it’s more of a common experience than you may have realized – a recent comScore Inc. study across search engines showed that as many as 30% of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result! They also found that approximately two-thirds of the remaining searches required a refinement or re-query on the search results page. What a waste of time!

Working with Bing Results

As to how Bing is going to refine the search process, that has to do with a combination of features built into Bing. Of course, still at the top of the list is relevant search results – obviously, that’s critical. However, the results on Bing have been refined to surface the best answer for you in the form of a search result called “Best Match” which will appear at the top of your results list. If you want to delve in deeper to the resources of a particular site, a feature called “Deep Links” can help you there. Also, a Quick Preview feature will display a hover-over window that expands the search result caption so you can decide if the result is worth the clickthrough.

Quick Previews

Organized Search

Besides the search results themselves, Bing offers other features that help better organize the search experience, including an “Explore Pane” which helps guide your search by letting you filter the results by various search verticals (images, video, shopping, etc.). It also has a “related searches” section which can help you find a better query and beneath that, a search history section where you can easily recall past searches.

Making Decisions

As to why Bing’s being called a “decision engine,” that has more to do with how it will help people make key decisions in the following areas: shopping, travel, local business and info, and health-related research. Queries in each of these areas will reveal specialized Bing features that will help make the process of making a decision easier.

For example, a Sentiment Extraction engine will scour user reviews and expert opinions to show whether that product you’re shopping for is worth the money.

If searching for travel, Bing compares the location, price and amenities of multiple hotels and provides a color-coded key of the best values. Also, a Price Predictor actually helps you decide when it’s the best time to buy an airline ticket in order to get the lowest price. These are featured carried over from Microsoft’s acquisition of Farecast, it’s just now better integrated into the search experience.

Videos & Pictures

You have to wait until June 3rd before you can try Bing for yourself, but in the meantime, you can check out some Bing screenshots here and watch videos on BehindBing.com.

It’s Official: Bing to Launch June 3rd | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Bike to Work is an event Microsoft puts on to encourage employees to consider alternate forms of commuting to work. 

 

David Grossman (DTV) on Qik

 

Microsoft impressed many with its Windows 7 beta, and the new Windows 7 Release Candidate looks even better. More than mere bug fixes, the Windows 7 Release Candidate improves on device management and search-term highlighting, and includes support for a virtual XP mode to run older programs. Preview what’s new in this First Look video, and don’t miss the hand’s on review.

Watch Windows 7 RC in action | The Download Blog – Download.com

 

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, shares his optimism for emerging innovation in the midst of economic turmoil, and the story of his own entrepreneurial path. He also speaks of his company’s continued investment in Internet-ready hardware and software that seeks progress in healthcare, education, and science.

Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner: Steve Ballmer, Microsoft – The Future of Microsoft, The Future of Technology

Twitter applications are a dime a dozen these days, but a new one called TweetMyPC caught my eye. This app lets you remote control your computer using a Twitter account. It can either shutdown, restart, or log you off your PC just by sending commands from a special Twitter account you set up for your computer. The app monitors that account for new tweets, then performs the actions you specify.

It seems like this app has set the stage for more remote control applications that use Twitter to operate. Why not have apps that launch programs, run a backup, stream music or video, etc.? Now that would be cool. Hopefully TweetMyPC gives some developer the idea to expand upon the command set for a truly cool Twitter-controlled PC experience.

Control Your PC with Twitter | Sarah In Tampa | Channel 10

Students in high school, or college kids without embedded math knowledge, take note: Microsoft’s Live Search can solve math equations with variables.

That means everything from 3x=18 to x+(x*8)=256, and basically any equation where there’s a definite answer for one (possibly two?) variables can be solved from the Live Search bar. It might not be exactly new—in fact, it might have been present in MSN search years ago—but certainly under-explored.

Anyone with a bit of mid-level math to do on occasion might consider putting a Live Search option in their search options or as an AwesomeBar keyword. Got another go-to resource for stuff that’s beyond multiply and divide? Drop the link in the comments.

Lifehacker – Let Live Search Do Your Algebra – Live Search

 

A new build of Windows 7, one that appears to be the "escrow" build that eventually becomes a release candidate, is starting to build up steam on BitTorrent servers. Microsoft’s Windows 7 engineering team posted yesterday that beta-to-RC upgraders would have to modify a build number to 7100 to enable the upgrade, so many distro-watchers are saying that build 7077 is the last one before Microsoft starts handing the OS out to its trusted partners.

The (non-BitTorrent) downloading public will likely still get a re-named release in May 2009, but those with a hunger for getting the cutting edge right away don’t have to wait. Not too much that’s really brand new, except, apparently, a tweak to the Start menu "orb," some new sound schemes, and a slight visual revamp on the Media Center.

Lifehacker – Likely Windows 7 Release Candidate (7077) Lands on BitTorrent – Windows 7 Beta

Twitter
is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
Twitter has spawn a whole host of tools and services, creating its own Twitterverse Here is a quick list of tools and sites for Twitter:

 

DoesFollow? - Find out if who if the person you’re following is following you back.

FriendOrFollow - Gives you breakdown of a) those you follow who do the same, and b) a list of those you don’t follow but follow you.

Grader for Twitter - A tool that grades your relative reach and influence on Twitter.

GroupTweet - Great tool to use if you want to send public tweets simultaneously but only to a select number of people.

Hashtags - A service that lets you tag your posts as a way to group and organize them with others.

Hellotxt - Another good status updater for your social networking.

is.gd - With only four letters (and a dot), is.gd is great for URL shortening.

iTwitter - An application that integrates with your iGoogle homepage.

Just Tweet It - Another cool directory.

Loudtwitter – If you also have a blog, LoudTwitter is the bridge that posts to your blog your daily tweets.

Ping.fm - Update Twitter and a plethora of social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook.

Qwitter - Another services that sends you a notification when someone stops following you.

Quotably - Follow the conversation. It seems these days there are lots of conversations that have moved to Twitter. Quotably aims to make these.

Remember the Milk - The popular task management service now has Twitter integration to let you manage and create tasks right from Twitter.

Snip URL - As I’m sure you know, Twitter doesn’t lend itself well to the long-winded.

Straw Poll - Need to get feedback? Create a poll and solicit responses just by tweeting… Cool interface, too!

Summize – Summize is now Search.twitter.com. 

TinyURL - One of the most popular URL shorteners around.

Tweet Later - An essential service for many Twitter users.

Tweet2Tweet - Allows you to view a conversation in a much easier fashion.

TweetBeep - Google Alerts meets Twitter.

TweetBurner - Another essential service to add to your Twitter toolbox.

Tweetdeck - An absolutely fantastic Twitter client.

Tweetscan – Real-time Twitter Search. Find it here – breaking news, consumer opinion, recent blog posts and discussion – the most complete Twitter index outside of Twitter itself.

TweetStats - Add this stats tool to the essentials pile.

TweetTake - Backup your followers, favorites, or your entire Twitter account.

Twellow - A great Twitter directory… Fantastic way to connect with others in you niche and industry.

Twhirl - Another great Twitter client.

twInfluence - Great tool for measuring the reach of your account and your entire network… Measures metrics like your “velocity” and “social capital.

Twitbuzz – Twitbuzz is a new content filtering service that tracks and follows the latest popular links, conversations and people on Twitter.

TwitHire - A free job listing board.

TwitPic - Easily post your photos and share them on Twitter.

TwitSay - Record a 10 second voice message and share it with your Twitter peeps.

Twitscoop - Real-time current events for Twitter.

Twitstat - Real time Twitter Analytics. Want to be in this list? Just follow @twitstat.

Twittad - Monetize your Twitter account by selling your background space.

Twittelator - Twitter for your iPhone… Comes with a massive and very impressive feature list.

Twitter Counter - Simple to use site (just plug in your Twitter name) and get stats that span a week.

Twitter Digest - A site that helps you read your Twitter updates in a more manageable fashion.

Twitter for Wordpress - Simple plugin that also “pulls in” your tweets using a sidebar widget.

Twitter Keys - Have you ever seen icons and shapes in someone’s tweets? You might’ve even sent some yourself.

Twitter Search (formerly Summize) – Hands down, one of the best tool for finding Twitter conversations and conducting niche/keyword research.

Twitter Tools - This plugin allows you to “pull in” your tweets to your blog.

TwitterBerry - Crackberry users rejoice! The latest version boasts new features and a larger cache.

TwitterCal - If Google is your calendar of choice, take a look at this site which lets you add entries just by sending tweets.

Twittercounter – TwitterCounter is a service to number of followers they have on Twitter. Add the TwitterCounter to your blog.

Twitterholic – Our twittastic robots scan the Twitter public timeline for new users to watch.

TwitterIM - IM junkies can send tweets using their Windows Live chat client.

Twitterless - Service that sends you a DM (direct message) when you lose a follower.

TwitterTise - Brand advertising meets Twitter… Track your links and measure their effectiveness.

Twitturly - Think Digg meets Twitter.

TwittyTunes - If you’re using the FoxyTunes plugin for Firefox, you can use TwittyTunes to easily

Twubble - Want to find more Twitter peeps to follow?

CurseBird - A hilarious site that culls the profanity laced tweets together and displays them in a real-time feed. I put this at the end because it is NSFW.

 

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