October 15, 2008 11:03 am | Posted by Adrian
U Rank is a search engine with a difference! Although still in prototype, it gives a clear indication of where Microsoft thinks search could be improved.
To quote the U Rank project area, “U Rank is a search engine that allows people to organize, edit and annotate search results, as well as share information with others.”
Now, this could be very good. Imagine, a search engine where the results are a reflection of what you, friends or co-workers believe and trust.
The prototype is only accessible to US users at the moment but keep an eye on the U Rank project area if you’d like to know more and see how it progresses.
October 7, 2008 9:13 am | Posted by Adrian
We reported back in May (MSN Cashback - The Future of Search?) that Microsoft had launched its new Cashback scheme for US searchers.
As a reminder, this is Microsoft’s way of rewarding searchers who make purchases online through Live Search.
Without exaggerating it’s performance, Hitwise have just published research that shows that MSN Cashback is showing good growth with it accounting for 6.29% of traffic to live.com compared with just 3.75% eleven weeks ago.
This has to be seen in context with Google clearly dominating the US search landscape with 70% of all searches and Microsoft’s properties way down in third place with 5.4%. Still, this model will be an interesting one to monitor in future months, given the economic climate, as online shoppers look to the Internet to bag a bargain!
August 19, 2008 2:19 pm | Posted by Ben Norman
Last weekend Microsoft updated their adCentre system adding extra functionality to their billing processes including:
- You can now pay your balance any time not just monthly as previously
- You can now remove unused credit cards from file
Microsoft also claim that the process for adding new credit cards has been streamlined making it even easier to give them some money.
February 1, 2008 1:52 pm | Posted by Adrian
In a world full of mega-money purchases and deals, Microsoft has set the Internet alight with an offer of $44.6bn (£22.4bn) in cash and stock to buy Yahoo.
This offer is 62% higher than Yahoo’s closing share price on Thursday 31st January 2008.
As of today, there’s been no comment from the search company so at the moment it’s just a question of ‘watch this space’.
Let’s just hope that the Internet doesn’t just end up being divided up between Google and Microsoft with any hint of individuality being snuffed out my the mere offer of a few billion dollars…
