Bing! Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine

Today, Microsoft publicly unveiled its soon-to-launch search engine Bing. It will become available over the next few days, and be fully launched by June 3. On the surface, Bing has a distinct gloss. The home page features a rotation of stunning photography, for instance, which can be clicked on to produce related image search results. But the most significant changes are under the covers. “We have taken the algorithmic programming up an order of magnitude,” says Microsoft senior vice president Yusuf Mehdi. Each search result page is customized according to what type of search you do (health, travel, shopping, news, sports). The algorithms determine not only the order of results on the page, but the layout of the page itself, concluding what sections appear. These sections can include anything from guided refinements and a list of related searches in the left-hand pane to images, videos, and local results.

I’ve been playing around with a preview version of Bing for about a week. It is designed to be “more of a decision engine,” says Mehdi. Bing helps people make decisions through guided search and a focus on task completion. In a time when a new Website is created every 4.5 seconds, information overload is becoming a real problem. ” People are getting hundreds of thousands of links but not getting what they want,” says Mehdi. Bing tries to alleviate problem by offering up different experiences depending on the search.

The internal codename for Bing is Kumo (which is what you see in the screenshots), and the current release is called Kiev. Rather than a spare, blank screen, Bing’s homepage surrounds the search box with a single beautiful image, such as the one of the tribesmen above or a kinkajou. You can hover over parts of the image to get factoids about the image or click through to an image search result page to explore more. The left-hand pane offers the option to narrow your search on images, videos, shopping, news, maps, or travel. Each of these has a different look and feel. A travel search will turn up a page based on Microsoft’s Farecast technology asking you where you want to go, with flights, hotels, and destination information. A news search offers up headlines, photos, videos, and local news in a column on the right. A shopping search will bring up products and is tied into Microsoft’s Cashback program.

Every search also generates a guide on the left to help you refine your search. A search for “kinkajou,” for example, lets you refine by images, facts, sale, breeders, care, diseases, and videos. A search for “Samsung LCD TVs” brings up an entirely different set of guided results: shopping, review, manual, repair, buy, stand, images, and videos. Each guided option is dynamically generated, just like the different sections of the search results page. “Google, tried to preempt this,” says Mehdi, referring to Google’s new search refinement options it launched last week, which is also in the left pane. Those Google options, which include the ability to search across different time periods or for related keywords, are “completely static,” criticizes Mehdi. “There is nothing new about it. It is a very minor rev, not as sophisticated as what we are doing. For us ever query is special.”

Katy Perry, I love to flirt

Singer Katy Perry has recently spilt the beans for guys saying that "
don't expect me to go around having casual sex, for I finds it
'disgusting'.

The "I Kissed a Girl' hitmaker — who is currently going around with
Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy — says she loves to flirt, but
insists she would never have sex with a guy she barely knows.

"For me, it's not a pastime, going out and meeting people and trying
to hook up with people. That actually makes me feel disgusting. From a
really early age, I was really sensitive to that," the Daily Star
quoted her as saying.

"Getting your flirt on is the best thing in the world, but when it
comes to sharing bodily fluids with a person I don't know - no thank
you," she added.

Weebly Launches Free WYSIWYG Virtual Storefronts

Weebly, a popular WYSIWYG webpage maker, is launching a new feature
today that will allow users to quickly make fully customized web
stores using the Weebly interface they're already familiar with.

Using the new feature is simple. Weebly has added a handful of new
'revenue' elements to its main menubar, which allows you to
drag-and-drop items onto your page. Simply drag one of the four
available 'Product' elements onto your page, and you'll be presented
with a small box where you can describe your product, add a photo, and
set a price (you can easily create a new item in less than a minute).
After creating a product once, you can add it to your other pages
without having to recreate it.

The store supports both PayPal and Google Checkout accounts, and
allows users to add items to a virtual shopping cart as they browse
(you don't have to buy one item at a time). And aside from any fees
you might have from PayPal or Google, the Weebly storefront is totally
free - the company isn't taking a cut of any of your sales. To make
money, Weebly plans to offer 'pro' features for power users at a
premium in the future (the site also generates revenue through its pro
accounts and domain selling).

There are already quite a few services online that allow you to
generate your own virtual marketplace, but Weebly cofounder David
Rusenko says that most of these do a poor job allowing you to
customize the look and feel of your store, which often leads to
something generic. Because Weebly can already be used to build your
own fully customized webpage, adding the ability to sell items seemed
like a natural extension to the product (especially since many users
were already trying to sell items from their Weebly pages on their
own).

Space Shuttle Atlantis landed Sunday at Edwards air force base

The U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis landed Sunday at Edwards Air Force
Base in California, two days late due to inclement weather in Florida,
NASA says.

The Space Shuttle's mission to complete repairs to the Hubble Space
Telescope officially ended at 10:39 a.m. when Commander Scott Altman
guided the spacecraft to a landing on Edwards' Runway 22, telling
mission control that the flight was "a thrill from start to finish,"
the space agency's Web site said.

NASA said continued wet and rainy weather conditions over Florida's
Kennedy Space Center Sunday morning forced flight controllers to wave
off a landing there for the third straight day, directing the craft to
instead land at the backup facility in California.

Atlantis arrived at the Hubble Space Telescope on May 13. Its crew
performed five spacewalks on five consecutive days to repair and
upgrade the telescope.

The flight was the 126th mission for the U.S. Space Shuttle program, NASA said.

Ghostbuster 3 - coming soon

Movie "Ghostbusters" will be seen in a new format, news is that
Ghostbuster gang is getting ready to strap on their proton packs once
more, with some new recruits.
A long-awaited third film in the series "could be in production by
winter," Dan Aykroyd, the star and co-writer of "Ghostbusters"' first
two installments, told the L.A. Times, adding that he hopes stars such
as Alyssa Milano and Eliza Dushku sign on to join the ghost-fighting
team's second-generation squad.
The star confirmed that the core of original cast — Aykroyd, Sigourney
Weaver, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson — is on board for
the film.
However, Aykroyd noted that the new film would focus on new characters
joining the Ghostbusters squad, naming Milano and Dushku as
possibilities.
"I think they're amazing," he said. "I'd like it to be a
passing-of-the-torch movie."

Katrina Darrell, bikini girl on american idol

Cover of Big Girls Don't Cry

Katrina Darrell wins the award. She's been working on her tan since
getting sent home. Ryan, looking at her (and not her face), delivers
probably the best line of the night.

Katrina Darrell, bikini girl on american idol8:44 We're back…The girls
are on the mini-stage doing "Glamourous"…Wow, Megan sounds SO bad.
Tell me again how she got so far and how we're now stuck with her on
the tour?…And her shorts are so short…Allison introduces Fergie and
the crowd goes crazy…Randy stands up…She's doing "Big Girls Don't
Cry"…I really don't like her dark hair…The girls are backing her up…Oh
no, Fergie just encouraged the people in the mosh pit to sway. What
are you doing?…Allison introduces The Black Eyed Peas…They're doing
that new song of theirs that I totally don't get…What's it called
"Boom Boom Pow"?…We just left them to show a silent shot of the "Idol"
logo for several seconds. Is there massive cursing in that song? I
don't know I always turn it off when it comes on the radio? That could
have been a directing mistake, but it was a bad one if it was…They
have dancers behind them dressed in zebra striped bodysuits…The girl
Idols are behind the judges going crazy…Okay those zebra dancers are
freaking me out…The girls are dancing with Paula…They do know how to
put on a show…Ryan says that's why they're number one…Randy gives them
a standing ovation…

8:50 Back to the Golden Idols…Best Attitude…Katrina Darrell, aka
Bikini Girl…Alexis Cohen. You know, the actressing girl?…Tiffany
Shedd, who sang "pee on the safe side" while doing "Because of
You"…And it goes to…Katrina Darrell, who's in a bikini and she has
CLEARLY had some work done. Simon and Randy are a little surprised…She
kisses Ryan on the lips…Ryan says, I was going to ask you what's new,
but I think I can see" and the audience loved it. NICE ONE,
Ryan…Katrina does "Vision of Love" and it's terrible and then we hear
another voice join her…and it's Kara, who comes down the
stairs…Katrina gives up and just stands there…She tries to rejoin
her…Kudos to Kara for managing to stay on key during Katrina's
wailing…And then Kara rips open her dress and she's WEARING A
BIKINI…Ryan says they're donating a bunch of money to Kara's favorite
charity for that…THAT was the best thing Kara's done all season…Break…

Thanks to media.herald-dispatch.com

American Idol Shocker: Kris Allen Wins!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Kris Allen scored a stunning, dark-horse victory over Adam Lambert on
the star-studded season finale of "American Idol" Wednesday night.
Read on for the new champ's shocked reaction and the full recap!

When host Ryan Seacrest revealed that the nearly one-hundred million
votes cast favored Kris, the overjoyed 23-year-old from Arkansas said,
"It feels good, man, but Adam deserved this. … I don't know what to
feel right now, but this is crazy!"

"I thought you were both brilliant, unusually incredibly nice people,"
Simon Cowell told the top two shortly before the result was announced,
"and I think the both of you should be very proud of what you achieved
last night. And the future's all yours."

The shocking finale featured a host of duets between star musicians
and this season's "Idol" champ and hopefuls. Queen guitarist Brian May
and drummer Roger Taylor backed Adam and Kris on "We Are the
Champions." Keith Urban and Kris traded guitar licks on "Kiss a Girl."
KISS descended from the rafters amid a pyrotechnic supernova to jam
with Adam on "Detroit Rock City" and "Rock and Roll All Nite."

Guitar-god Carlos Santana unleashed "Black Magic Woman" and "Smooth"
with vocals from Matt Giraud and the Top 13 respectively. Queen
Latifah and Lil Rounds crooned "Cue the Rain." Jason Mraz sang "I'm
Yours" with Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace.

Cyndi Lauper and Allison Iraheta exchanged verses on "Time After
Time." Lionel Richie and Danny Gokey let loose with "Just Go" and "All
Night Long." And funnyman Steve Martin showed off his surprisingly
formidable banjo skills on his original tune "Pretty Flowers,"
accompanied by Michael Sarver and Megan Joy.

Plus, Rod Stewart crooned his classic tune "Maggie May." Fergie sang
"Big Girls Don't Cry" and her Black Eyed Peas grooved to their hit
"Boom Boom Pow." Former "Idol" champ David Cook performed "Permanent"
in honor of his late brother and the fans. And judge Kara DioGuardi
ripped her clothes off to reveal a bikini underneath after dueting
with the "Idol" reject affectionately known as "Bikini Girl."