Can Bing Be A Google Killer?

Microsoft’s most awaited new search engine Bing is now up and running in most of the countries replacing Windows Live Search. Bing, also known as the decision engine, has gained 6% market share within hours of launch. As Microsoft search engine currently holds the third-place behind Google and Yahoo Inc, it hopes that Bing will play a big role to reach a good position in the search market. With Google having the most of the market share for searches across the world and having received mixed reviews after the launch, will this new search engine can turn the tables for Microsoft?

Microsoft launched the search engine on June 1st and the engine looks pretty good when I did a couple of common searches. But when I tried to search for the newest trending topics, it didn't quite give a satisfying result. Like for instance I have searched for the "iPhone 3G S" which was one of the newest trending topics as of this writing. Bing only gave relevant search results that consists of Youtube links and blog posts about iPhone 3G S, whereas Google gave the the phone's exact official webpage on the top of the list of the search result.

Adding credit to this new search engine are the new features like the text preview for search results which is really helpful in saving time. Microsoft has also released Bing add-on for IE 8 which will be rather useful and add-ons for Mozilla Firefox is said to hit the market soon.

The new play-preview feature involved in Bing Video search has received critical reviews as one can play the video in the video search results page without going to the actual video page. This allows users to go to porn sites and other banned sites from restricted places creating a big concern for work places, colleges and other areas where these things are strictly prohibited. Some even have commented Bing as ‘porn search engine’. Let's hope Microsoft will do something about it.

Bing also comes with Travel search options which can help the user to plan the trip quite easily. This is one of Bing's options that really impresses me and it proves to be a good decision engine. I have tried it and it looks pretty good and I expect it to take over the popular travel planning sites very soon.

The new Bing decision engine has also brought new dimensions to advertising giving wide range of options to advertisers. Microsoft has posted a FAQ page for advertisers wondering just what Bing has got in it. Microsoft is also said to have changed its search algorithm considerably to make Bing a big success.Carolyn Miller of Microsoft has told WebProNews,

"We have made numerous improvements to our algorithm, focusing on spelling, freshness of results, and core ranking. Our algorithm is changing continuously to provide the best results. Although we have a six month release cycle for major updates, our algorithm is refined everyday to improve the relevance of our results and to better address our users’ intent."

ReadWriteWeb has given some tips on the Bing search strings for Chrome and Safari. Released just couple of days ago, it is too early to comment about the decision engine. We just have to wait and watch to see how it goes.

Google Just Released A Faster And More Stable Google Chrome 2.0

After it was first introduced in September last year and followed up by some beta versions early this year, Google Chrome browser has a major updated version released today. Google boosts that this newly updated version contains about 300 bug-fixes is now more stable and a lot faster that even those heavy JavaScript websites will run around 30% faster, even when there are lots of of tabs open.

Some of the top requested features that were added on this new Chrome are the form auto-refil, improved new tab page, full screen mode, and the option to delete 'most visited items' in the new tab page. Some of these feature updates were already available in the beta version, but for most users who did not even know that the other development tracks exist, these updates will represent a major step forward.

To know more about this improvements, check out the short video below by Chrome's Product Manager, Brian Rakowski:




I personally love to use Chrome for my regulat browsing activities like checking emails, website hopping and blogging, but with the lack of add-ons and extensions, I cannot make Chrome as my default browser and always makes me go back to Firefox as my preferred browser for doing more important tasks on the internet.

If you're already using the earlier version of Google Chrome, you'll be automatically updated to this new stable version soon. If you just want to try this right away or if you are a new user, you can download the latest version here.

SureFireHire - Connecting Small-Medium Businesses and Freelancers

Yesterday, while I was doing my website hopping routine, I came across to this forum thread from YoungEntrepreneur forum wherein the thread starter is asking people to provide honest reviews or opinions about particular website. Its catchy domain name made me curious so I decided to surf over to take a look on it.

The first thing that strucked me with the site was the nice layout. The clean layout, color scheme and the simplicity of the design looks professional to me. Then I realized that the site has the reason to look professional. It is actually an outsourcing platform for employers or service buyers, a freelance marketplace for jobs; hence, it was named SureFireHire.com.

SureFireHire is an online marketplace that connects people who need something done with people who can do it for them. It enables small to medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs to have access to human resources of talent and expertise worldwide in accomplishing any short term projects or jobs, and definitely have options to choose from. It is an auction site for services, a similar model to popular freelance marketplaces like Elance, Guru, oDesk and Rentacoder -- but with a feel-good twist. Job posting here is free for service buyers and there is no pay per bid charges for service providers.

How is SureFireHire different from others?

• It doesn’t have an overly complex fee structure. Simplicity is their concern.
• There are no pay per bid charges.
• The freelance hiring process is simple, and easy to use.
  
• Posting a job or opportunity can only take about 45 seconds or less.
  
• It only charges Service Providers a very small commission of 5% of the rate of each job or opportunity bids they win.
  

Doing business in SureFireHire is really simple. The service buyer or employer will just have to post his job requirements or opportunities on the site and the service providers should bid for these opportunities. The employer then has to select the service provider who he feels is best qualified and pays him directly through Paypal when the job is completed. The service provider then has to pay SureFireHire a 5% commission within 3 days after the job opportunity is awarded to him.

Founder David Naumann says that the idea came to him upon seeing the need to simplify the procedure of how businesses or entrepreneurs can have access to specific resources and acquire them, “We’ve hired people organically from the website and have seen a significant reduction in the cost of administrative expenses. This website enables small businesses and entrepreneurs to explore a vast talent pool and hire an expert to fulfill their projects or needs. Businesses are posting an ad and getting responses.”

The best thing about this site is the fee. Employers have absolutely no fees to pay for using the site. They only have to pay the services they get from the providers after they were completed. For the service providers, they can bid on any number of jobs or opportunities they want with no upfront fees and expenses. Providers only pay when a job or opportunity is awarded.

The site, being new, doesn’t have much job postings yet compared to other sites with the same platform. This is just normal for any starters. If you are an employer or service buyer, you can take advantage of this because there are more service providers that are bidding for small number of jobs. This can result to more competitive bidding, which is to your advantage. However, this may be a disadvantage if you are a service provider. But if you have an outstanding resume and skill set, this would not really be a problem. All in all, SureFireHire is worth a try, whether you are a service buyer or a provider.

So, with all these things about SureFireHire, who wouldn’t be tempted to surf over to the site to learn more about it and maybe give it a try? Head on now to www.surefirehire.com to get more information.

Twtjobs - Connecting Job Seekers and Employers Via Twitter

Twitter has been a runaway success since it was launched 3 years ago. Its skyrocketing popularity, extensibility and ease of use have been resulting to a lot of excited developers taking Twitter's best bits and mixing them up to their own ends. This is because we all know that Twitter is an important web tool for online brand management as well as self promotion. Its short term and long term benefits could not be over looked, especially in this current state of economy.

This why looking for work has to be a creative endeavour. Many people use social networking tools, like Twitter and Facebook, to find potential employers to connect to. The Montreal-based Twitter applications developer Twtapps is taking advantage of this economic crunch in a timely fashion. It just rolled out yet another new application for job seekers called Twtjobs.

Twtjobs is a business tool to help job hunters and employers connect via Twitter. You can create your "Twitter Resume" in 140 characters and employers can post a job opening. To apply for a job, you simply enter your Twitter name and if you have a twitter resume, it will be emailed to the employer. The posting page form looks simple and clean making postings very easy to do.

Other useful features include the capability of adding your LinkedIn page to its resume builder; it also has sharing capabilities with other social websites and a feature that let's you tag your resume with key skills or interests.

Twtjob has a one-time service fee in which you can decide the amount yourself. Just simply name their price that you can afford for this and you're ready to go!