Microsoft’s TechFest 2009 Is A Search Playground

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 of user reviews to a new level, the company says.

Color-Structured Image Search

This technology adds the color element to the traditionally keyword-based world of image search. The technology can help you locate an image of a tiger under a sunny blue sky easier than by simply searching for “tiger sky.” As Microsoft explains it:

With Color-Structured Image Search, we’re able to re-rank search results for the query “tiger” to include tiger-related images with “blue” color at the top of the search results.

You can get more information about these technologies and many others by clicking the “Research Gallery” tab at the TechFest 2009 web site.

About The Author

Matt McGee

Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.