As part of Microsoft’s commitment to protecting consumers’ privacy in the operation of Live Search, we’re announcing support today for the Article 29 Working Party’s guidelines for search anonymization. These guidelines call for a common industry standard for the timing and methods for anonymizing search query data. Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist Peter Cullen provides an overview of the importance of industry-wide...
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But not the political sort. Part of the Live Search team is headed to SES Chicago. We hope to “change” the minds of those who’ve never tried us before and show something new to those who have. We’ll try to do this through a number of panel discussions covering topics such as: How blended search is evolving for us How semantic technology is changing the future of search What’s our take on search’s role in the...
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We want to apologize again for the outage on Friday and the inconvenience it has caused. We deeply regret that many users were unable to access the Live Search cashback service. We’ve been working diligently to correct the issues. We’ve been in constant communication with the customer support team about those orders that were incorrectly processed, and we have now reached out to all affected customers whose email addresses and purchase...
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We want to answer the most common questions that have appeared in the comments section in response to yesterday’s post about Friday’s cashback outage (Black Friday cashback blackout). How do I receive credit for an order that is not showing the correct rebate in my Live Search cashback account? All orders placed on HP Shopping through Live Search cashback on November 28, 2008 are eligible for a 40% cashback rebate. If your account is...
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The web can be a dangerous place; there are threats around every corner. In recent years, threats coming from web pages have significantly increased, from malicious programs hosted on web pages, to downloads that manipulate your computer and steal your personal information. In the past, these threats mainly came from questionable websites, but today even reputable sites can turn bad, which means that everyone is at risk for malware. Live Search is...
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We want to respond to those of you who’ve commented about your problems using cashback last Friday. For a few hours on Friday, November 28, Live Search cashback experienced an unexpected outage. If you completed a purchase that day, you can follow up on a cashback rebate by contacting Microsoft at https://support.search.live.com/. Be sure to have the order number and the email address provided for the transaction. Here are the details about...
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When we asked users about the improvements they’d like us make to Live Search cashback, many said they want to receive cashback instantly instead of waiting for 60 days. Well, I’m happy to announce that we’ve just released the Instant cashback feature with eBay. Instant cashback will be eligible for some, but not all users. Eligible shoppers will be notified online after completing a purchase on eBay. Here’s how it works...
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With features like continuous scroll and an index that encompasses millions of websites, a single image search query is often all you need to find what you are looking for. But sometimes those initial results only give you a hint of what’s available and you need to refine your search to uncover the images you want. With Live Search, you can now use images, rather than additional keyword queries, to refine a search and discover more content...
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Last week we announced Project Silk Road, our vision for delivering a broad suite of products and services for publishers and web developers, including a customizable Live Search API, rich content, multiple media and source types, and the ability to monetize through ad-serving. Today we’re expanding our toolkit with two important updates to Webmaster Center: the ability to detect malware on your site and the sites you link to, plus a...
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Last week we covered how you can use instant answers to find deals on travel. This week we’ll show you how to save on last-minute flights for Thanksgiving weekend.   Have a great holiday trip! Joel Grus, Live Search Farecast Fareologist
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