The Inquisitr » live.com

We haz ur flight status

Steven Hodson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:59:39 +0000

It might not be some cute LOLcat letting you know the status of a flight but it’s still pretty cool as long as you can give up your MS hate for a second or two and hop over to Live.com. By plugging in the flight number you want to check on you will see the result just below the sponsored sites section of the results page.

The example used here is for British Airways 10 – ba10:

As well you can also track the flight real time by clicking on the Track this flight in real time link but at this point in time this will only work for flights originating in the United States, Canada and Europe. This option comes via FlightStats.com.

The data used to display this information is provided by Farecast which Microsoft acquired and integrated into Live Search last year.

much thanks to the crew at Liveside for the info and graphic

Live Search rebranding – Kumo sneak peek

Steven Hodson — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:11:01 +0000

There’s been rumors rumbling around the web about an impending branding change for Microsoft’s Live.com search property and it appears that Kara Swisher has managed to get her hands on a couple of sneak peek screenshots (damn her – in a nice way of course). In a memo from Satya Nadella, Microsoft search head, which managed to find its way into Kara’s inbox we get (in part) the following

From: Satya Nadella
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 4:18 PM
To: Microsoft – All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: Announcement: Internal Search Test Experience

The Search team needs you. We’ve been working hard to improve our search service and want to share the progress we are making with you. We are launching a new test program called kumo.com for employees to try and provide feedback. Kumo.com exists only inside the corporate network, and in order to get enough feedback we will be redirecting internal live.com traffic over to the test site in the coming days. Kumo is the codename we have chosen for the internal test.

In spite of the progress made by search engines, 40% of queries go unanswered; half of queries are about searchers returning to previous tasks; and 46% of search sessions are longer than 20 minutes. These and many other learnings suggest that customers often don’t find what they need from search today.

We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks. During the test, features will vary by country, but you’ll see results organized in a way that saves you more time. An explorer pane on the left side of results pages will give you access to tools that help you with your tasks. Other features like single session history and hover preview help accomplish more in search sessions.

Your Next Search…
To get started, visit kumo.com or click one of the samples below to see how it’s possible to find the right results more easily:

· Audi S8
· Taylor Swift
Bose Lifestyle 48

[…]

Here are the screen shots for the Audi S8 and Bose Lifestyle 48 (click on images for full size):

Microsoft to relaunch Live.com as a Facebook style social networking site

Duncan Riley — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:01:42 +0000

Microsoft will relaunch its Live.com search site as a search + social networking site in something that looks like Facebook.

The new Live.com will be focused on social interactions around Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) complete with user profiles. Tightly integrated into the new site will be Hotmail/ Live.com email as well.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will make it easier for users to maintain a single list of online friends, from which they can address emails, send instant messages and view activity updates through the new Facebook-like “feed” feature that shows, for example, new photos that friends have posted online and short messages they’ve broadcast through Twitter.

Facebook or FriendFeed style, users will be able to import content from external sources such as Flickr, or any service that has an RSS feed.

Microsoft is claiming that the changes are in response to “the proliferation of online communications services…frustrating many users by forcing them to create and manage instant messaging buddy lists, email address books and social network friend lists in information silos.”

It’s a nice line, but this screams social networking wannabe, not that that’s a bad thing given Microsoft has been sitting on a massive untapped user base in instant messaging which it has so far failed to really offer much extra to. Whether this is a serious challenge to Facebook is yet to be seen, but finally Microsoft may be getting serious about social networking, and while we may be naturally skeptical about their changes, Windows Live IM users are over 100 million, and even if they convert a small percentage, they’re the sort of numbers you can confidently apply the label FTW to.