Microsoft Turns Off Streetside Imagery In Germany Over Photo Blurring Concerns

Here's a shocker*: Microsoft's Streetside service has hit a bumpy road in Germany. The company says it's shut down Streetside imagery in Germany after complaints about the way the company was handling blurring requests. Microsoft spokesperson Thomas Baumgartner tells PCWorld that he's not sure if or when Streetside will be reinstated in Germany. A Microsoft statement says that the complaints are from "customers," not from any government data protection-related agencies. We have learned that there are a limited number of customers in Germany who raised concerns about the way we are pur [...]


Microsoft-Yahoo Ad Transition Wrapping Up In UK, Ireland & France

Yahoo search users in the UK, Ireland and France will start to see ads from Microsoft's adCenter next week, as the two companies wrap up the transition that began in 2009 with the MSFT-Yahoo search alliance. As part of the transition, search advertisers that are still on Yahoo's platform in those countries will need to migrate to adCenter because Yahoo Search Marketing accounts will shift to read-only status. But, in a blog post today about the pending change, Microsoft suggests monitoring both accounts during the transition: As Yahoo! ad serving moves to adCenter, and your clicks and im [...]


Under Threat Of Being Blocked Google, Facebook Comply With India’s New Internet Censorship Rules

After China and the US, India is the third largest internet market in the world. But India has philosophically aligned itself more with China in pursuing a policy of censorship toward publication of content deemed “offensive” or “objectionable” by individuals, groups or the government. A recently enacted law seeks to remove all such content from the internet in India. Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft were sued under the law and had been arguing in Indian court that it was all but impossible for them to comply as a practical matter. The law makes online publishers potentially li [...]


Bing Out Of “Betaphase” In Germany, Claims 10 Million Users

Bing is reportedly now out of betaphase in Deutschland. According to Microsoft, Bing has 10 million users or 20 percent of active internet users in Germany: Mittlerweile benutzen fast 10 Millionen Nutzer in Deutschland regelmäßig Bing, das sind 20 Prozent der aktiven Internetnutzer hierzulande. According to several third-party sources, Bing's market share is smaller than the 20 percent figure cited above. For example, the following is StatCounter's search engine data for Germany: Source: StatCounter NetMarketshare generally agrees, showing Bing's PC search share at just ove [...]


Report: Bing To Power Baidu English Results

China's dominant search engine Baidu is trying to expand its reach beyond Chinese-language speakers. Reuters is reporting that Baidu and Microsoft have done a deal that will offer Bing powered English-language results for the Chinese search engine. It's not clear whether this is limited to China or will be used in other markets where English is spoken. We've asked Microsoft for some additional color and perspective. Baidu controls roughly 80 percent of the search market in China, according to several sources. Google is second with approximately 19 percent. A Bloomberg report suggests [...]


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