Microsoft's search/social hybrid project is alive and well and, if current reports are to be believed, may be headed toward some kind of private beta test in the near future. If you were with us back in July, you might recall the small firestorm that burned for a couple days after news spread about Socl.com. At the time, it was called Tulalip and, when Microsoft published a very early version of the site, the home page promised a way to "Find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever." At the time, Microsoft described it as an "internal project" and said publishing it was an [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Microsoft: Other | Microsoft: Other Search

It appears that Microsoft is planning a new project called Tulalip and could be positioning it as a hybrid search/social networking service. First reported by Fusible, Tulalip currently sits on the SOCL.com domain, which is owned by Microsoft. You can see the socl.com WHOIS record on DomainTools to confirm. Tulalip currently only offers a "welcome" message that explains itself this way: With Tulalip you can Find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever. There's a non-functioning search box at the top of the page, preceded (mysteriously) by the word "OPEN." There ar [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Microsoft: Other | Microsoft: Other Search

Let's just get it out of the way: no, Bing is not a "Google Killer." It's also safe to say that Microsoft doesn't see it that way either. My understanding of what Microsoft believes it has in Bing is a much more competitive product than Live Search. I entirely agree. Over the course of the next two or three weeks there will be countless articles and blog posts discussing Bing and whether or not it can dethrone Google. Microsoft has told me that the company sees Bing as a start (or restart) and that improvements will continue to roll out over time. One can be skeptical of that position or no [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Marketing | Microsoft: Other Search | Top News

Last month, Microsoft researchers from around the world showed off some of their most unique creations at the company's TechFest 2009 event in Redmond. This month, a smaller group of Microsoft researchers took part in the 5th "Demo Fest" event -- a smaller event that's designed for researchers from adCenter Labs to show off their latest ideas. The company let reporters in on Wednesday to see four of the new Demo Fest technologies, and the Seattle Times' writer was not impressed. "The demos I saw were not jaw-dropping. The concepts seemed to echo things we'd seen elsewhere or things I w [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Other Search

Hundreds of Microsoft researchers from around the world gathered at company headquarters in Redmond this week for TechFest 2009, a chance to share ideas and show off their latest creations. Although Microsoft emphasizes that there are no plans to bring any of this technology into Live Search, some of the interesting ideas were featured this week on the Live Search blog. Here are two that caught my eye: Opinion Search Microsoft's existing Opinion Index in Live Search was built from this technology, but the version demoed at TechFest takes the collection, storage, and organization [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Other Search