Bing's not-so-newest push into online travel hasn't begun to roil the industry, the latest example of where if Bing does something, no one cares, but if Google does it, it's time for a Wall Street Journal story examining the potential evilness of the move. In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal has a story out about how Google's travel results -- added in September, rather than December as the story says, have upset (as you'd expect) rival travel search engines such as Kayak, Expedia and Orbitz. Bing: Pushing Travel Search Against Google Since 2009 You have to get midway down int [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Features: Analysis | Google: Antitrust | Google: Critics | Google: Flight Search | Google: Travel Search | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Search Engines: Travel Search Engines | Top News

Finally, some good news for air travelers: Flying gets a little bit easier with Bing's launch of detailed U.S. airport maps. Much like the previously announced shopping mall maps, Bing's airport maps take searchers inside the airport to see things like gate locations, stores and restaurants on each concourse, restroom locations and more. Searchers will find the airport maps when they come across one of the 42 available U.S. airports on Bing maps. They're accessible more quickly by searching for the airport name or code (i.e., SEA for Sea-Tac International Airport). And Bing has als [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Travel

Bing is taking the next step in its self-conscious evolution from "search engine" to "decision engine." Perhaps we could equally use the term "conversation engine," as Bing begins to emphasize social content and even tries to enable connections between people through the deeper integration of Facebook and "Likes" data. It isn't news that Bing is integrating the Facebook data; that was originally announced in October last year. Rather the news today is that Bing is entering a kind of "phase II" of the process, doing some more interesting and potentially useful things with Likes. According [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Facebook | Features: General | Google: Social Search | Google: Web Search | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Shopping & Cashback | Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Top News

In a post on the Bing blog made earlier today, Bing Travel and Kayak have joined forces, as the two travel search engines announced a formal partnership to provide searchers with more comprehensive results. In the next few weeks (no specific timeline has been shared yet), Kayak will begin serving flight search results to Bing to give customers additional results for flights in the "U.S. from multiple cities, airports and airlines, giving customers access to a larger set of flight itineraries." The Kayak flight search data will supplement existing Bing Travel tools including Price Predict [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Search Engines: Travel Search Engines | Search Headlines

Some day, the McGee family is going to pack our bags and hightail it to Hawaii. We've never been there and would love to spend a week or two on the beaches, in the mountains, and enjoying the weather. But we have no idea which island to visit. Sound familiar? Maybe you want to to head to Australia, Ireland, or somewhere else but you don't know exactly where to go for the best vacation fit. Bing has a new tool that might help. Its destination pages now let searchers compare several destinations at once in a familiar side-by-side layout. Here's what it looks like when you start to compare th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing Travel

Following yesterday's massive rollout of several Bing search enhancements, one of their new content features, Attraction Answers, is fully functional today. Intended to complement over 3,000 new destination guides for cities around the world, Attraction Answers also offers more details on over 60,000 tourist attractions worldwide, with approximately 20,000 attractions across the US. The attractions data, as well as the destination information is being provided by Frommer's, so in many cases, you'll be given links to the official attraction site, as well as a link to Frommer's guidebook pag [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Top News

At the Bing Search event in San Francisco today, Microsoft unveiled a dizzying array of nearly across-the-board updates and improvements for Bing online and mobile apps. Some are minor and some are more significant. Most of these upgrades and feature enhancements will be available starting today or later this month. There are in fact so many things rolling out simultaneously that it's a bit overwhelming. Accordingly in this post I'm just going to offer up an edited version of the information provided by Microsoft. We'll explore selected features and products later in subsequent posts. Fa [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: General | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Image Search | Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Microsoft: Photosynth | Top News

Bing announced they have released a new version of their iPhone app that has better travel and mapping features. The travel feature now takes advantage of their Farecast acquisition, where you can now get Bing flight price predictions on your iPhone. The price predictions let you know if you should buy or wait to buy a specific airline ticket. The second update is about making the maps on the iPhone app easier to read and see. The backdrop information now pops up, the font size has been increased, added a nearby feature and easy map switching. Here are some pictures: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Mobile | Microsoft: Bing Travel

It’s that time of year when many of us turn to the internet for information, advice and maps to help plan a getaway for some rest and relaxation. Although search engines may be an obvious place to start your quest, they often aren’t your best bet for useful information, helpful advice or savvy planning tips. Here’s why—along with an in-depth look at more useful alternatives.

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features: General | Google: Gmail | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Search Engines: Travel Search Engines | Top News

Bloomberg News is reporting that Google is in discussions on what could be a $1 billion buyout of ITA Software, a company that provides reservation/information systems used by many well-known travel industry companies. Bloomberg cites "three people familiar with the matter" in its article, two of whom speculate that ITA could want up to $1 billion in a sale to Google. The sources also say that "the negotiations may not lead to a transaction." Ironically, ITA provides software that's used by Bing, presumably for its popular Bing Travel search tools. In a recent news release, ITA says its [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Business Issues | Microsoft: Bing Travel

There's a lot of news today coming out of Bing headquarters, perhaps most notably that the long-rumored partnership with Wolfram Alpha is finally coming to fruition. Bing's announcement today explains that the collaboration will cover two specific areas: nutritional information and mathematics. Nutritional Data With help from Wolfram Alpha, Bing says it can now help users make smarter diet choices. When searching for specific food items, searchers will see a new Nutrition tab that offers more information. And at the bottom of the search results page, Bing will show the nutrition facts [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Microsoft: Partnerships | Top News | Wolfram Alpha

Kayak travel search launched a formal attack on Microsoft's Bing Travel yesterday in an article that appeared on Wired, Kayak to Bing: Stop Copying Us!. Apparently, Kayak's executives are more than a little steamed by the eerily similar look and feel, and even went so far as to put Microsoft on legal notice (presumably a cease & desist) to knock it off. Wired implies that Kayak is concerned about the similarities causing brand confusion with its users, and even noted an "uncomfortable" comparison in their own review of Bing, and points out that others have noticed as well. You can see f [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Microsoft: Bing Travel | Search Engines: Hakia | Search Engines: Travel Search Engines | Top News