Microsoft bringing Google-like instant search to Bing

By Aemon Malone Published March 7, 2011

Microsoft is set to go toe-to-toe with Google by outfitting its Bing search engine with an “instant results” feature to deliver near-real time results for search queries.

Last September, Google introduced Google Instant, a system that delivers search results seemingly as terms are being typed into the search field. “Instant” searches add a feeling of interactivity to Web searches in addition to potentially shaving a few seconds off the process of finding relevant content.

Recommended Videos

Microsoft has been diligently working to mold Bing into a worthy competitor to Google. In February, the rivalry between the two search engines erupted into a minor spat after Google accused Bing of adjusting its search algorithm to copy Google’s search results. Subsequently, our own experiment found that about half of the first page results were identical between the two search engines.

Search results aside, Microsoft may allow itself room to innovate with its instant search venture — at least in theory. The addition of instant searches is actually part of a Bing makeover that will incorporate HTML5 into the search site. According to WinRumors, the unveiling of the HTML5-based Bing site will coincide with the launch of the long-awaited Internet Explorer 9 Web browser. You can see a preview of the site here.

HTML5 is the emerging standard that aims to incorporate a basic level of interactivity into web pages — challenging Adobe’s Flash in the process. Although HTML5 has yet to gain approval from the Word Wide Web Consortium (w3C), the governing body of Internet standards, we’ve already seen a few forward-thinking browsers begin to support some of its capabilities.

The reliance on HTML5 means that to use the new Bing site — and its instant search capability — you’ll have to be equipped with a thoroughly “modern” browser. That might upset some Bing loyalists who aren’t eager to upgrade. But Microsoft’s decision to become an early adopter of HTML5 might be a signal that we’ll finally see some big innovations — and not Google imitations — from Bing.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Computing

ChatGPT Search is here to battle both Google and Perplexity

The ChatGPT Search icon on the prompt window

ChatGPT is receiving its second new search feature of the week, the company announced on Thursday. Dubbed ChatGPT Search, this tool will deliver real-time data from the internet in response to your chat prompts.

ChatGPT Search appears to be both OpenAI's answer to Perplexity and a shot across Google's bow.

Computing

Ancient Mayan city discovered via page 16 of Google search results

Proceeding to even the second page of Google search results is rare enough, but going all the way to page 16 and then selecting an entry that leads to the discovery of a huge Mayan city that was lost for centuries under a jungle canopy ... well, that’s really something.

“I was on something like page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organization for environmental monitoring,” Luke Auld-Thomas, a Ph.D. student at Tulane University in Louisiana, said in comments reported by the BBC.

Computing

Google expands its AI search function, incorporates ads into Overviews on mobile

A woman paints while talking on her Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Google announced on Thursday that it is "taking another big leap forward" with an expansive round of AI-empowered updates for Google Search and AI Overview.
Earlier in the year, Google incorporated generative AI technology into its existing Lens app, which allows users to identify objects within a photograph and search the web for more information on them, so that the app will return an AI Overview based on what it sees rather than a list of potentially relevant websites. At the I/O conference in May, Google promised to expand that capability to video clips.
With Thursday's update, "you can use Lens to search by taking a video, and asking questions about the moving objects that you see," Google's announcement reads. The company suggests that the app could be used to, for example, provide personalized information about specific fish at an aquarium simply by taking a video and asking your question.
Whether this works on more complex subjects like analyzing your favorite NFL team's previous play or fast-moving objects like identifying makes and models of cars in traffic, remains to be seen. If you want to try the feature for yourself, it's available globally (though only in English) through the iOS and Android Google App. Navigate to the Search Lab and enroll in the “AI Overviews and more” experiment to get access.

You won't necessarily have to type out your question either. Lens now supports voice questions, which allows you to simply speak your query as you take a picture (or capture a video clip) rather than fumbling across your touchscreen in a dimly lit room.
Your Lens-based shopping experience is also being updated. In addition to the links to visually similar products from retailers that Lens already provides, it will begin displaying "dramatically more helpful results," per the announcement. Those include reviews of the specific product you're looking at, price comparisons from across the web, and information on where to buy the item.