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Where to next?

Bing Team — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 02:35:16 Z

Looking for a vacation destination or planning a trip? Finding and arranging your next great getaway is easy with the destination-ideas carousel from Bing.

You can explore various popular travel destinations in the carousel, then check out points of interest and suggested itineraries by selecting a location. Say goodbye to time spent searching for where to go and planning your vacation—the Bing team has done it all for you.

Once you’ve decided on a location, select it to see a suggested itinerary. And use the ‘Plan a trip’ module to book a flight and hotel.

With these time-saving Bing features, travel planning is simple. Start scheduling your next vacation with these tools, then tell your friends about how you did it all on Bing.

#BingCanada150 Quiz Contest (the “Contest”) OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

Bing Team — Fri, 19 May 2017 08:02:33 Z

1. ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible, you must be i) a legal resident of Canada (excluding Quebec) who has reached the age of majority in his/her province or territory of residence and (ii) a Facebook account holder. You are not eligible if you are: a) an employee of Microsoft Canada Inc. (“Microsoft”), Facebook Inc., their respective subsidiaries or affiliates, advertising or promotional agencies, the contest judging organization, or the prize suppliers; or b) a member of the immediate family (defined as mother, father, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and spouse, regardless of where they reside) or household (whether related or not) of any of the above persons. Microsoft is committed to complying with government gift and ethics rules and therefore government employees are not eligible to participate.

2. HOW TO ENTER: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Contest begins at 12:00:01am Eastern Time (“ET”) on May 24, 2017 and ends at 11:59:59 pm (ET) on July 1, 2017 (“Contest Period”). To enter, visit www.bing.com (“Contest Website”) and follow the instructions to complete Bing’s Canadian History Quiz (“Quiz”). Click on the Facebook link at the end of the Quiz to share your score on Facebook. Sharing your score will be considered an entry into the Contest (“Entry”). Limit: One (1) Entry per person and per email address. If more than one (1) Entry has been submitted by any entrant, only the first Entry will be eligible. All Entries must be received by the end of the Contest Period. Microsoft will not be responsible for illegible, incomplete, lost, misdirected or late entries, which will be void. Any use of automated devices is prohibited.

3. PRIZE: There is one (1) $2,000.00CDN Flight Centre Gift Card available to be won. Gift card can be used towards air transportation and/or accommodation offered by Flight Centre up to a maximum value of $2,000.

Gift card must be redeemed through Flight Centre by phone or in person at a Flight Centre location within Canada and is subject to Flight Centre Gift Card Terms and Conditions. Microsoft will not be responsible for, and will not replace, Gift Card if it is lost, stolen, destroyed or used without permission. Gift card can be partially redeemed but winner is not entitled to cash for unused portion. Gift card cannot be redeemed for traveller’s cheques or cash. Winner will be responsible for all necessary travel documentation and all meals, taxes, travel and/or medical insurance, airport improvement fees, gratuities and all personal and other expenses not specifically described above as included in the prize

Prizes are not transferable and must be accepted as awarded with no substitutions, whether in cash or otherwise, except at Microsoft’s sole discretion. Microsoft reserves the right to substitute a prize of equivalent monetary value if a prize, or any part of the prize, cannot be awarded as described for any reason. Microsoft will not be responsible, however, if weather conditions, event cancellations, or other factors beyond Microsoft’s reasonable control prevent a prize or part of a prize from being fulfilled. In any such event, a winner will not be provided with a substitute prize or cash equivalent. Prize will only be released to the verified winner. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate entrant.

4. PRIZE DRAWING: On or around July 3, 2017, a random draw will be conducted from the total number of eligible entries. The selected entrant will be notified within five (5) business days by direct message (“DM”). To be declared a winner, a selected entrant must first correctly answer without assistance of any kind, whether mechanical or otherwise, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question to be administered by email or telephone. If a selected entrant cannot be contacted and the skill test administered and returned within 3 business days of initial contact attempt, the Prize may be forfeited and awarded to an alternate entrant. Odds of winning will depend on the total number of Entries received throughout the Contest Period.

5. RELEASES, ETC.: Before being declared a winner, a selected entrant will be required to sign and return within the time stipulated in the documents, a Declaration of Compliance with the Contest Rules and a Liability and Publicity Release releasing Microsoft, Facebook Inc. their respective advertising and promotional agencies, the parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliates of the foregoing and all of their respective directors, officers, owners, partners, employees, agents, representatives, successors and assigns (collectively, the "Releasees") from any liability in connection with this Contest or the prize. Declaration and Release documents must be returned within the time period indicated in the documents or the prize will be forfeited. This Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook Inc.

6. PERSONAL INFORMATION: By entering this Contest, entrants consent to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information for the purposes of administering the Contest. By accepting the Prize, the winner consents to the use of their names, addresses (city, province), voices, statements and photographs or other likenesses for publicity purposes in connection with the Contest in any media or formats, including but not limited to the Internet, without further notice, permission or compensation. Your personal data will be used in accordance with the Microsoft Privacy Statement which is available at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839. Personal information will not otherwise be used or disclosed without consent.

7. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: Without limiting the release provided in Paragraph 5 above, and for greater certainty, Releasees will not be liable for: a) any incomplete or inaccurate information, whether caused by Contest Website or Facebook users or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, or by any technical or human error which may occur in the processing of entries, the Contest Website or Facebook; b) the theft, destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries; c) any problems with, or technical malfunctions of, telephone networks or lines, computer on-line systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, viruses or bugs; d) any failure of any e-mail to be received by or from Microsoft for any reason including but not limited to traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or combination thereof; or e) damage to a participant's or other person's system occasioned by participation or downloading of materials in this Contest.

8. RIGHT TO TERMINATE, SUSPEND OR AMEND: Microsoft reserves the right to terminate or amend this Contest at any time without prior notice, if any factor interferes with its proper conduct as contemplated by these Official Rules.

9. MISCELLANEOUS: Entrants who have not complied with these Official Rules are subject to disqualification from this Contest and any future contest or other promotion conducted by Microsoft. All decisions of Microsoft are final and binding in all matters relating to this Contest. No correspondence will be entered into except with selected entrants. Contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial and municipal laws. In the event of a dispute regarding who submitted an online entry, the entry will be deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the Facebook account at the time of entry. "Authorized account holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned to a Facebook account by Facebook Inc. or other organization that is responsible for assigning Facebook accounts. A selected entrant may be required to provide Microsoft with proof that he/she is the authorized account holder of the Facebook account associated with the selected entry.

Microsoft reserves the right at its sole discretion to disqualify, from this Contest and any future Contest or other promotion conducted by Microsoft, any individual that it finds or believes to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or Contest Website; to be acting in violation of the Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER PERSON TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, MICROSOFT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Find and save for later – with Bing

Bing Team — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:02:59 Z

One of the great things about search is that you have the world of information at your fingertips. Yet you don’t always have time to explore everything you find right at the moment you discover it. Now, with the new saving function offered on Bing, you can easily save videos and images you find while using Bing, and view them later on your PC or mobile device, as long as you’re signed in.

Let’s say you are looking for Valentines Videos on Bing to send to your beloved. With the new saving function, you can save where you found them by hovering on the video and clicking ‘save.’ This action saves that searched item to ‘Show all saved videos’ in top right corner where you can come back and view it later when it’s convenient for you.

The same feature exists for image search. For example, use Bing’s image search for Valentine’s day decorations, Save the results you like, by hovering over the image and clicking on the plus symbol. Click on ‘Preferences” on the top right corner of the search results, and find all of your saved images.

Enjoy searching and finding with Bing!

Microsoft and NCAA Announce 2016 NCAA Tournament Game Plan

Bing Team — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 14:00:22 Z

Since we began Bing Predicts in 2014, we’ve made lots of predictions around some of the most important cultural moments.

Today, we’re announcing that we’ll be partnering once again with the NCAA to build off the great work we did with them last year, and expand our ability to deliver Bing predictions to passionate college basketball fans.

Together with the NCAA, Bing is creating the NCAA® March Madness® bracket experience. Bing Predicts’ intelligent machine learning technology will analyze social and search signals, NCAA statistical data to help fans build a smarter bracket. The Bing bracket provides intelligent match-up predictions, analysis and additional features that can help newcomers and diehard hoops fans alike make sense of the over nine quintillion possible outcomes for all 67 tournament games.

And as the official ‘Bracketologist’ of the NCAA, Bing Predicts insights and game match-ups to the official bracket on NCAA.com.

Bing’s smarter bracket will be available on all your devices after Selection Sunday™, March 13 on Bing.com. To ensure that you don’t miss a moment of play during the tournament, the NCAA has built a universal app for Windows 10. The app will be available for Windows 10 PCs, phones, and tablets prior to the tournament start. It leverages exclusive Windows 10 features so fans everywhere can experience the tournament whenever and wherever they are. Stay up to date on tournament action with Live Tiles by pinning your favorite teams to the Start menu. Get live alerts on upsets, overtimes, and close games, and live video streaming of all 67 tournament games.

And if you just can’t wait to see if your team will make it in to the tournament, simply search for your team on Bing.com to find out where Bing Predicts thinks your team stands.

Stay tuned for additional info about the Bing Bracket Features and NCAA Application for Windows 10 as we get closer to the tournament.

Happy March Madness from all of us at Bing!

NCAA, Final Four, March Madness, Selection Sunday are all registered trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association

Bing Predicts: Carolina expected to win their first title

Bing Team — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 22:19:00 Z

The pro football season comes to an end with a contest between the top seeds in the two conferences. In Sunday’s title game, the Bing Predicts models project 17-1 Carolina to win the Big Game with 64% probability. During the regular season, Carolina was the league’s #1 scoring offense and #6 scoring defense, while Denver was the #20 scoring offense and #4 scoring defense. Carolina’s rush offense was #2 vs #17 for Denver, and Denver’s rush defense was #3 while Carolina’s was #4. Both defenses are stout, so our models expect Carolina’s much stronger offense to be the difference, becoming the first 18-win champion in 30 years.

Championship Game Facts:

Denver and Carolina have only met four times in their history, with the last meeting a 36-14 Denver win at Carolina on November 11, 2012. The teams had two common opponents this year, Indianapolis and Green Bay. Both beat Green Bay in successive weeks, Denver first by a score of 29-10 and then Carolina 37-29. Carolina beat Indianapolis at home in overtime 29-26, while Indianapolis ended Denver’s perfect season with a 27-24 win in Indianapolis.

Carolina looks to become the first 18-win titlist since the 1985 Chicago team also went 18-1. If not for the December 27^th loss at Atlanta, 20-13, the focus of the run-up to the title game would be about Carolina chasing history and matching the 1972 Miami team which was the last to have a perfect season. Carolina was 4-0 in the regular season versus playoff teams, securing wins over Washington, Green Bay, Seattle, and Houston.

Denver was 5-2 against playoff teams, beating New England, Cincinnati, Kansas City (they split their two games with the road team winning a game each), Minnesota, and Green Bay while losing to Pittsburgh and Kansas City. They ended the perfect seasons of Green Bay (6-0) and New England (10-0), and beat a Cincinnati team which had started 8-0, giving them the highest strength-of-victory for any of the playoff teams.

Season in Review:

In August during the pre-season, Bing Predicts projected a Denver vs. Green Bay title game. Before the playoffs began, we predicted a Carolina vs. New England final. In both cases, we got one of the two actual finalists. Last week, in the semifinals, we correctly predicted Carolina while missing Denver’s close win over New England. With these results, Bing Predicts moves to 7-3 in the playoffs.

Bing Predicts finished the regular season 161-95 (63%), a few games ahead of Vegas odds. The models got off to a fast start with a 13-3 Week 1, and also had a 13-1 Week 8 and a 9-4 Week 9. For 2015, we also had playoff projections from the beginning of the season, at which point we had predicted Denver and Green Bay to win their conferences and reach the big game. Our pre-season models got 5 of the 12 playoff teams correctly, including Denver, New England, Houston, Green Bay, and Seattle.

This season, we also added fantasy football predictions weekly for QB, WR, RB, and TE positions. Our accuracies for the predicted order of players was in line with major sports sites. For highlights, our models had Tom Brady first and Cam Newton second for QBs (they finished in the top 2 with order swapped, but we were one of few who had Newton rated so highly). At the TE position, we projected Jordan Reed in 3^rd, and his breakout season landed him in the top 2 at end of the season.

What’s Next:

With the professional football season coming to a close, Bing wants to invite you to our college basketball experience,AreWeIn, which you can also experience on Bing.com, as well as our coverage of the 2016 elections, reality shows, andaward shows as we want to have all of your sports, election and entertainment needs covered. While we eagerly await another football season in the fall, let us help you track your favorite college basketball team and presidential candidate as both try to advance their way in 2016, and use Bing.com to get the latest on potential award and reality show winners with our entertainment predictions.

– Walter Sun, Bing Predicts Team Lead

Bing Predicts the Australian Open

Bing Team — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 22:14:12 Z

The first major tennis tournament of 2016, the Australian Open, is underway in Melbourne and Bing is predicting the winners of every match in the Men’s and Women’s Singles events.

Bing uses its unique algorithm to draw upon a variety of data sources, from previous match statistics to audience sentiment across social media, to deliver match to match predictions through to the finals on Sunday, 31 January.

Search “Australian Open” to see the day’s scheduled action, live scores and match predictions.

How far will Canadian No. 1 Milos Raonic go? Tell us your predictions @microsoftcanada and tag with #AusOpen!

Bing on the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup!

Bing Team — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 22:14:24 Z

The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off June 6 right here in Canada. With 24 teams competing, this is the largest Women’s tournament yet and Bing has gone big to bring you all the answers you need – from scores to schedules to player information and more. This is the largest single-sports women’s event in the world, which means people across the globe will be cheering on their country. We’re even getting in the game with Bing Predicts!

Scores, Schedule, and Standings

Starting today, if you search for “Women’s World Cup,” Bing will display the match schedule directly in the search results. You’ll also see on the side some interesting facts and context on the event, videos, and top players to know.

Can’t watch a game live? Bing will keep you updated with live scores of all the games here. You’ll find scores at the top your search results, organized by day, throughout the group stage. See the full bracket when we reach the knockout rounds. If you just care about your country, search for it! We’ll keep you updated with their performances.

Curious to know how your team stacks up? Bing will continuously deliver on the latest standings, scores, and stats throughout the tournament.

Bing Predicts the Women’s World Cup

Beginning on June 6, when you search for a particular team you’ll not only find the schedule and scores about that team but Bing’s predictions for the team’s chances throughout the tournament.

The left half of the Bing bracket is overloaded with talent as the top three FIFA-ranked teams are all on the same half—Germany, United States and France, ranked in order. Our models show Germany, currently ranked at No. 1, winning close games against No. 3-ranked France in the quarterfinals and the No. 2-ranked USA in the semifinals. Host team Canada will have a nice run, winning their Group and playing a tough match with England in the quarterfinals.

In the end, we predict that the German women will join their male counterparts as defending World Cup champions, defeating Sweden (which will reach the finals despite a 2nd place finish in USA’s group). Be sure to follow our predictions on Bing throughout the tournament.

Let the games begin!

Bing Canada Team

The search for cute just got better with Bing

Bing Team — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 21:10:40 Z

At Bing, we’re always looking for ways to improve your experience. And the search for cute—be it for bunnies, kittens, teacup pigs, or hedgehogs—is no different. That’s why today Bing is proud to announce its partnership with the Cute Cloud—a cloud-based data store created by Microsoft Research (MSR) to host the web’s massive stock of cute images and videos, from portraits of cherub-cheeked toddlers and bespoke pets to GIFs featuring panicked squirrels and sleepy puppies.

And you can search the Cute Cloud only with Bing.

“The Cute Cloud is really a sugar-bowl of cuteness, stored remotely in the cloud, and searched with the precision that only Bing can deliver,” says Derrick Connell, Corporate Vice President of Bing. Connell adds, “Our algorithms can mine the web precisely for the two key indices of cute: eye-to-head-size ratio and, of course, cuddle density. That means we’re now able to deliver adorable media at scale while featuring the best of cute on the Bing homepage, today and every day.”

User appetite for locating cute imagery on the web is seemingly infinite. To better understand those cute urges, Bing data scientists studied and graphed search data. The result was a fractal image with a strong resemblance to the whorl of an itty-bitty kitten nose. Not surprisingly, these juvenile feline data visualizations directly correspond to our most popular cute animal searches:

Using unbiased web-aggregated data and mathematical models derived from Pavlovian studies of cute-endorphin causation, Bing Predicts has forecasted for 2015 that, while cats will continue their reign as the most searched-for cute creatures, “panda dogs” may soon usurp their position, with “agility pigs” not far behind.

Here’s the breakdown:

The search for cute

The Cute Cloud developed as the result of research spearheaded by Harry Shum, Executive Vice President of Technology and Research at MSR. Shum and his team of scientists observed extraordinary search volume around queries for “cute.” In fact, it was the challenge of bringing high-quality cute to the cloud that brought Shum to MSR. “We’re putting the brightest minds on one of the biggest problems in search—how to make the search for cute easier, faster, and more fun,” adds Shum.

What’s more, the Cute Cloud aligns with Microsoft’s hybrid cloud strategy. Scott Guthrie, EVP of Cloud and Enterprise, envisions a world where the enterprise can host their version of the Cute Cloud across private, public and hybrid clouds.

“80% of the Fortune 500 are on Microsoft’s Cloud. Imagine if each of them had the ability to host employees’ cute pet photos in the own Cute Clouds that deliver friction-free deployment, support high-throughput applications across private and public clouds and can scale their data tier up or across thousands of databases – or cute images.”

“If your business isn’t serious about cute,” warns Guthrie, “it should be.”

Today Microsoft takes a bold step to get serious about cute. Come search the Cute Cloud.

– Bing Canada

Finding the perfect restaurant just got easier with Bing Restaurant search

Bing Team — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 23:24:36 Z

On the hook to plan the evening for the special person in your life this weekend? Bing is making it easier to search, find and take action on the best restaurants in Toronto, Vancouver and all cities in Canada. Search for any cuisine to satiate your palate from the usual of Thai and Chinese or even the more targeted of vegetarian and buffet restaurants

Below are some few examples:

Once the carousel is present you can use it to compare quickly between the many restaurants based on price and ratings. The rich image also gives you a sense of how amazing the dishes are.

Click on individual restaurants to get a deeper look into them. You can see detailed reviews, more photos and other related restaurants. And if you think this restaurant is THE one, then you can click on the phone button to make sure you have the best spot in the restaurant.

We’re always exploring ways to help you find things faster on Bing.

-Bing Canada Team

Build a Smarter Bracket with Bing

Bing Team — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 22:23:53 Z

March Madness® is here! And the Bing team has been cooking up something special for all you bracket builders out there. For the first time ever, Bing has partnered with the NCAA® to gain unprecedented access to over 10 seasons worth of Division I basketball data – and we’re putting that knowledge to work for you. Combined with the industry-leading predictions of our Bing Predicts team, we’re giving bracket builders the ultimate March Madness® experience.

No matter where you fall on the spectrum, whether you’re a casual observer or a foaming-at-the-mouth fan, we’ve got something for you. Here is how Bing gets you in the game:

Bing Bracket Builder: Want to come out on top with your bracket? We’re here to help. We know that as much as we all love basketball, we don’t have time to follow all 68 teams. Don’t worry, Bing is here to level the playing field for the average fan and make you look like that smart sports analyst.

Beginning today, on Selections Sunday™, we are launching the Bing Bracket at Bracket Builder with a slew of features to help you build the best bracket, including:

Intelligent Predictions: We’ve built Bing predictions right into our bracket builder. So as you hover over a team, we give you all the data you need to make an informed decision on a matchup. Of all the features of our bracket, few are more exciting than our predictions. Once the bracket is announced, our servers need a couple hours to run through all possible 9.2 quintillion outcomes of the bracket, stay tuned for updates on when the NCAA bracket builder goes live.
Auto-Fill: Only 1 in 5 people follow more than five teams, so how do you fill out an entire bracket with 68 teams when you really only care about whether your team makes the Final Four? Use the auto-fill function and Bing will help you fill out the rest using smart predictive capabilities and accounting for your favorite teams.
Search within your bracket: If you don’t want to take Bing’s predictions for granted, we give you the next layer of team stats to help you make the most informed decision on the possibility of an upset. If you’re one of the 44 percent of us that do research online as we fill out our brackets – the Bing Bracket is for you!
Interactive Highlights: With the Bing Bracket you can follow along during the tournament and watch highlights, research teams and players, check scores and engage with your picks directly. Miss a game in your matchup? Visit your bracket and see key highlights post game.
Detailed game matchups: Kentucky v Duke? Gonzaga v UNC? Get detailed matchup stats, pulling in historical data and even Bing’s predictions on who’s favored to win and why. Want to know what it will take for the underdog to pull off an upset?
Export: Four out of 10 March Madness fans will fill out more than one bracket. With Bing we’ll make it easy for you to export directly to the Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge and compete against Bing.
Print, save, share: Bing makes it easy to share your success with friends.
March Madness hub: With 68 teams playing throughout the tournament, that’s a lot of games to keep track of. Bing has you covered.

Check it out here: Bracket Builder

-The Bing Team