Microsoft uses Facebook 'likes' to battle Google

Microsoft will launch a new feature in Bing Search, baking in recommendations from Facebook friends, to make results more relevant.
The new feature, to debut tomorrow, will elevate results that have received a thumbs up "like" from a friend on Facebook. So if a user is searching for a Thai restaurant in San Francisco, for example, a particular spot that received kudos from that person's Facebook posse will climb in the results.
Microsoft, which likes to call Bing a "decision engine" to distinguish from Google, wants Bing to mimic the real world, where people often seek advice from friends before making decisions. And while recommendation sites such as Yelp offer utility, they don't include insights from trusted friends.

Bing search results that include recommendations from Facebook friends

(Credit: Microsoft)

"We're trying to infuse this idea of emotion into the decision engine," Bing director Stefan Weitz said. What's more, Microsoft is deepening its relationship with Facebook, creating a bulwark against Google, which dominates Web search. The Facebook partnership offers Bing searchers something they can't get on Google.
"They don't have access to the Facebook firehose," Weitz said.
Google continues to dominate search with 65.4 percent share in April according to ComScore, compared to just 14.1 percent for Bing and 15.9 percent for Yahoo, which uses Bing's search technology. The closest social recommendation offering from Google is its "+1" feature that gives users the ability to effectively "like" search results.
Microsoft estimates that roughly 3.5 million sites have "like" buttons. What's more, the company says more than 30 billion pieces of content - everything from news stories and blog posts to music links and photo albums - are shared each month. The companies didn't share data about how often users "like" products and services, the cornerstone of the new Bing feature.
The social recommendations will be most obvious in searches for products and services. Hotels, stores, and goods, such as electronics and clothes, will all rise in search results if user's friends have clicked the "like" icon in Facebook. When those results pop up, they'll include a line that a specific friend liked the product or service along with a tiny thumbnail photo from their Facebook profile.
Bing will also elevate news articles in results if a Facebook friend posted a link to the piece on their wall. And when users look broadly in a product category, such as "thin laptops," review sites that focus on the category and have been liked by friends will surface in results.
The feature only works when a user is logged into both Facebook and Bing at the same time. Microsoft said that more than 60 percent of Facebook users have a Facebook tab open in their browser while online.

Nintendo 3DS to launch with 18 games

(Credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo expects 18 games to be available to U.S. customers when its 3DS portable-gaming device launches next month.
The lineup of titles hitting store shelves on March 27 will be highlighted by Nintendo's own Pilotwings Resort, an airplane game, as well as Nintendogs + Cats, which will allow gamers to take care of puppies and kittens from the device. All of Nintendo's games will retail for $39.99.
In addition, Capcom will be launching Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition on the 3DS next month, and Electronic Arts will be offering up The Sims 3 and Madden NFL Football. Sega fans will find Super Monkey Ball 3D, while Ridge Racer 3D will be available to racing fans.
Ubisoft will have the largest third-party presence when the 3DS launches, offering four games, including Rayman 3D and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars.
Nintendo's 3DS is one of the more anticipated gaming releases this year. The portable allows gamers to play 3D titles without the need for special glasses. At a press conference last month, Nintendo revealed that the portable would go on sale for $249.99 and hit store shelves on March 27. It also said at the time that some of its more popular franchises, including The Legend of Zelda, would be made available in the launch window.
Nintendo echoed those sentiments this time around, saying that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, and a new title in the Mario Kart series were on the way. However, it would only say that those titles would be made available at some point in 2011.
All told, Nintendo said that it expects to have 30 games available to customers by early June.
It should be interesting to see if consumers will respond to 3DS games the same way they have responded to DS titles, namely by opting for Nintendo games over third-party releases.
Last month, Nintendo revealed that 11 of the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. last year were available to the Wii or DS. Nine out of those games were published by Nintendo. Three out of the five most popular DS games in Japan last year were published by Nintendo or Nintendo-owned companies.
The issues third-party game companies have had selling their titles on Nintendo platforms has not gone unnoticed. EA CEO John Riccitiello went so far last year in an interview with IndustryGamers to say that Nintendo isn't always looking out for the best interests of its third-party partners.
"It's not lack of trying," Riccitello said in the interview. "They start the morning thinking what's best for their own intellectual property."
Whether or not that's true is up for debate. But by the looks of things, several developers, including EA, seem keen on capitalizing on the 3DS sooner rather than later.

Intel's MeeGo is a no-go for phones

Intel's MeeGo software seems destined for obscurity, in the wake of the Nokia-Microsoft agreement announced yesterday.

Why do I say that? Intel made a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show last year by flourishing an LG phone with an operating system that would later be called, under joint ownership of Intel and Nokia, MeeGo. LG's phone was due in the second half of last year--according to this video taken at the 2010 CES. But it has yet to appear.
That's not in the least bit surprising. Why would LG build a phone with software that was being developed by a competitor (Nokia)? A high-ranking Intel executive confirmed this sticky situation to me last year in a meeting.
Needless to say, a MeeGo phone from Nokia is increasingly unlikely now.
"This is a Nokia decision. Yes, we're disappointed with it," said an Intel spokeswoman yesterday, reacting to the Nokia-Microsoft announcement. "But we still believe there's a smartphone component to [MeeGo]. And we're talking to other partners. But it's also Netbooks, tablets, set-top boxes, automotive systems. So, it's a lot more than just the phone element," she said.
That statement notwithstanding, there' a quick moral to this story. MeeGo is not an operating system for mass-market consumer devices, no matter how strenuously Intel would tell you otherwise.
I had a brief debate at the Consumer Electronics Show last month with Intel marketing chief Tom Kilroy about this. He put up a good defense. But he didn't change my mind. And, quite obviously, Intel has not impressed Nokia.
So, what is MeeGo and why does Intel continue to hold on to it with a vise grip? MeeGo is what is called a reference platform. It's a way for potential customers to try out Intel chips on an open source platform with full support from the chipmaker.
"That's what Intel is known for. Building a lot of reference designs to show the industry what is possible. With MeeGo, they needed to get out there and demonstrate that their platform was viable," said Richard Shim, an analyst with market researcher DisplaySearch. "That it could sustain and help nurture a robust mobile experience. They wouldn't have objected if it had taken off as a full-fledged platform, but it wasn't being taken up (by device makers) very rapidly. It definitely took a hit with the Nokia Microsoft announcement," he said.
What else is MeeGo? It's an operating system for the so-called embedded market, such as in-car devices and industrial equipment, where it is doing well, according to Kilroy.
So, MeeGo will be sticking around but don't expect to pick up a consumer device at your local electronics retailer running the software. Friday's announcement made that a moral certainty.