“Vini, Vidi, Vicci, Vendaria.” With its unparalleled ability to deliver streaming video content to the desktop of anyone with a Web browser and a dial-up Internet connection of only 36Kbs (requiring no special plug-ins or software), Seattle’s Vendaria, like Julius Caeser, triumphantly came on the Internet scene, saw an enormous opportunity, and it conquered. Specifically, [...]
Boat building is the world’s oldest profession, dating back to ancient times and such cutting edge projects as Noah’s ark. What happens when you combine this time-honored tradition with the tech nouveau of electronic commerce? You might expect a titanic clash of cultures. And to a certain extent that’s been true. Marine parts provisioners and [...]
When it comes to the best of the online city directories, Seattle could lay claim to building the mold from which all other sites were cast. Before there was a definitive Web city guide of any kind, there was Seattle Sidewalk, Microsoft’s prototype of the quintessential city site. That mold was broken at the end [...]
The events of September 11th, 2001, touched off a torrent of change in the way we safeguard our national and global infrastructure. No industry or business sector is immune. Indeed, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, the provisions of the federal government’s proposed Anti-Terrorism Act now incorporate key components of the Computer Fraud and [...]
Each September, hundreds of thousands of new “communities” take shape in classrooms across America, from kindergarten to high school, and in colleges and universities across academia. You remember the kid who used to sit next to you in math class, don’t you? How about your science lab partner? Feel like dropping them a line? Renton-based [...]
Corporate benefactors like Microsoft and Boeing are from Mars. Non-profit charities like The Epilepsy Foundation of Washington and ElderHealth Northwest are from Venus. The challenge: how to make sure that the Martian technology and the Martian money that are granted to the Venutian non-profits are being put to effective use. Martian consultants are too expensive [...]
Back in the early, primeval days of the Internet [circa 1998], when two thirds of the earth’s surface was covered by water, the other third seemed to be covered by speculators looking to make a fast buck. Then the meteor struck and the earth stood still. Today, we find ourselves in the modern equivalent of [...]
When we think about information making our lives easier, it’s usually about gaining a few precious minutes in our daily schedule or saving a few dollars on a purchase. Hardly a matter of life and death. But what if a personal Internet knowledge-base could keep us informed about how much to lower our cholesterol, the [...]
RealNetwork’s RealArcade Group is out to change the way you think about buying and playing games online. Early results would indicate their game plan is a winning one. Each day, RealArcade attracts and retains enough game “buyers” to fill Seattle’s Husky Stadium to the roof — people who not only enjoy playing games online, but [...]
If E-mail is the killer application of the Internet, then E-mail marketing ought to be considered the Net’s most lethal weapon. It is in the hands of Donal Daly, the CEO of Kirkland’s NewWorld Commerce. Indeed, Donal and company have gained an international reputation as the world’s “most-wanted” eMarketers. Want evidence? In recent weeks, the [...]
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May 14 2012
Google Blinks! Bing Sings, and Slings the Arrows of Social Interface Discontent! Amazon’s Social “Denny Triangle!”
At last week’s Bing Search Summit in San Francisco, Microsoft took the wraps off a brand new Bing featuring a new, right-hand social column (“The Sidebar”) that will eventually include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Quora and LinkedIn integration, as well as people who may know something about your most recent Bing query. The new Bing search even offers a way to ask questions on your favorite social network, directly through Bing. “The search engine has been reinvented!” wrote Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff.
In total, there are three new Bing columns in all:
* Core Search: minus many of the social annotations that Bing has added over the years (that have been relocated).
* Snapshot: providing additional information about a particular search listing, without having to leave Bing
* Sidebar: serving as the new home for social integration with search
“With this update, the competing search philosophies are clearer than ever,” opined Mashable. “Google sees the world as a deep blend of data, people and activities, all of which can be mined simultaneously for a rich and useful experience. Bing sees a more structured world, where social interactions, while extremely helpful, are kept a safe distance from the core results you desire.”
How does Bing build these “Friends Who Might Know” lists? Microsoft execs explained they’re leveraging as much publicly available data as possible from Facebook (for now) and soon Twitter and other networks. Inclusion in the list is not necessarily based on something you posted about the topic.
The sidebar includes people you know through your social networks that have, say, posted a photo about the topic, liked a certain relevant topic or searched for a similar topic in Bing, and people you don’t know, who are, for example, known Topic Experts and Enthusiasts (identified by Bing). All of them could be considered helpful in your quest for knowledge. Conversations revolving around a query topic are viewable through the social pane — you just hover over the activity and a small box will slide out to the left with the original post. You can add comments in any conversation in the activity pane or see the conversation in the slideout.
For example, a search for “Seattle restaurants” might pull up Facebook friends who have “liked” dining establishments in the metro area under a header that reads “Friends Who Might Know.” Bing users can also post comments or queries in the sidebar interface that will automatically be published to their Facebook page (provided they’re signed into Facebook) and could hypothetically flag their Seattle-based friends in posts seeking advice on where to go for dinner.
To see the new pane at work, you have to sign into Facebook and install the Bing App in Facebook. With that done, your social pane will be filled with recent Bing activity that’s also been shared on Facebook. When you enter a search query in the Bing interface on the left, the pane will also display a list of Facebook friends, and topic experts who might be able to assist with your query. Note: The Bing App defaults to sharing your posts with Everyone. If you do a lot of searching, you may want to dial that down a bit.
This deep integration with Facebook isn’t the first time the two have collaborated, and Bing has been adding social recommendations powered by Facebook to its search results for the past year. But it’s a sure sign that Microsoft — which bought a 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240 million in 2007 — will lean on a company it’s heavily invested in to improve on the social-search product Google introduced in January. “Search Plus Your World” pulls up Google+ content deemed relevant to signed-in Google users and has gotten a tepid reception, said Adage. [24x7]
Amazon Advances Its Vision for a Social Campus Compass, Not an “Apple Circle,” but a “Denny Triangle.”
The City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development has posted the latest renderings of Amazon’s proposed Denny Triangle campus.
At a public design review board meeting, attendees liked proposed amenities that include outdoor artwork, a playing field, a dog park and space for food trucks.
The venue also incorporates a healthy measure of social engineering into the design. To ensure public open spaces between buildings are both lively and safe, buildings are designed so that people who park their cars in the underground garages will have to walk outside to get from the garage elevators to the elevators in the building lobbies. “That will help ensure a steady flow of people moving through the plazas.”
The project will also be a haven for bicyclists. Each of the three blocks will have a dedicated bike entrance and storage for as many as 400 bikes. That could allow as many as 1,200 Amazon employees to bike to work. [24x7]