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Microsoft integrates Bing with Hotmail

Jul. 9, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

From Microsoft:

Bing – Microsoft’s decision engine – has come to Windows Live Hotmail through a new feature unique to Hotmail, called quick add. Gone are the days of shuffling between multiple windows to search for a map to email to party guests or the latest viral video to share with friends and family. Quick add – powered by Bing – puts an end to the multi-window chaos so you can accomplish tasks faster, and allows consumers to ‘Bing and decide’ from the comfort of their Hotmail inbox.

Windows Live Hotmail customers can find and share information more easily with quick add:

  • Search for maps, restaurants, movie times, images, videos and business listings, all within your Hotmail inbox. 
  • Insert maps, business addresses, restaurant and business reviews and more directly into the body of an email in a few simple clicks.
  • Preview and insert videos and images from the web without leaving your inbox.

To try it firsthand, visit hotmail.com and check out the right-hand side of the screen when composing a new message. Or, check out this demo and this blog post for screenshots of quick add, and more information about how Hotmail’s integration with Bing makes it easier for consumers to share information via email.

Nice!

Discuss this Article 22

techfan
on Jul 9, 2009
I use Gmail but Quick add in Hotmail is awesome!!! Gmail has something similar but rather limited with "Web Search" in Gmail Labs ("Web Search" only searches the web). I'm sure Google will release something like "Quick Add" -- and will get press/credit for it, but it was Hotmail that first brought this cool feature to the table. I love how you can preview a clip on Hotmail before inserting it onto the email. Great feature!
techfan
on Jul 9, 2009
@kabato: Try adding the city you're in. I searched "pizza miami" (no quotes) and Quick Add listed pizza joints close to where I live. Must be using my zip code when I first registered for my @live.com account.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jul 9, 2009
kabato It's most likely that you weren't logged in with a LiveID that had a physical address tied to it so that it would know where to look when you don't specify a location for the search. You could type in: "pizza near Atlanta, GA" if you don't want to associate your LIveID with an address or if you were traveling and wanted to see what was where you were going. I entered "pizza near Atlanta, GA" and got Mama Mia Pizza at 225 Central Ave SW in Atlanta, GA as my first entry.
tayme
on Jul 9, 2009
@kabata - If you did it from work and you have proxy servers, Bing will use the IP of that proxy...just like every other location based search engine... --tayme
machias
on Jul 9, 2009
Okay, that new feature is very cool. I'm liking Bing more and more and I have been a diehard Googler for a long time.
whiplash55
on Jul 9, 2009
With the risk of sounding like a MS fanboy, I love Bing! It's way better for certain types of searches. I just made a number of online purchases using Bing and it worked great. I just researched a medical issue my wife is having using Bing, again it kicks. Google is great for some things but I find I don't miss it at all, I could live without it online, something I never would have said a year ago. Hotmail is improving steadily, as are the Live Essentials. If they give us support for raw format I'd dump Picasa since I prefer the editing Live Photo Gallery offers.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jul 9, 2009
whiplash55 OT: Which RAW format (They're different for each vendor and sometimes different between models from each vendor) Many are available as drivers for download from Microsoft and once installed on the computer become a fully suppported native format for all apps using the standard controls.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jul 9, 2009
whiplash55 The RAW format codec site is in the Microsoft Professional Photography site at http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/codecs.aspx You might also find additional codecs from your camera or digital back vendor.
whiplash55
on Jul 9, 2009
@mike Thanks just grabbed the raw codec for Canon. Thanks
gfryesc1
on Jul 9, 2009
if apple came up with 'decision engine', I'm sure paul would jump all over it for just how idiotic it is. meh.
lketchum
on Jul 9, 2009
Mike/Whip Windows Imaging Component (WIC), especially in Vista/Win7 is one of my favorite features. Yeah, I know, one can download some support for WIC in XP, but... what they don't tell people is that WIC is for everyone and it allows developers with no understanding of image file formats to access a consistent model that automates the delivery of required support, like codecs, from within an application. It allows independent shops to write their own codecs, yet access the platform in the same way well known file types can. Companies like TechSmith who produce amazing products like Camtasia and SnagIT make use on WIC in Vista. We make use of it to ship custom graphing applications and entire digital dashes. AS Mike points out, installation makes the codec available for all installed apps using it. Please see, http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms737408.aspx
robertsjoe
on Jul 9, 2009
This is not a "new feature unique to Hotmail". GMail has already got this. Don't claim this as unique. It's a copy of what Google has already done, for months now, with GMail.
robertsjoe
on Jul 9, 2009
*sigh* yet another thing Microsoft has ripped off from someone else. Recently it's the layout of Bing. Now this? Pathetic.
whiplash55
on Jul 9, 2009
lketchum Thanks for the info!
routerbad
on Jul 10, 2009
I read this blog all the time (along with the comments). I had to register just to say what a troll robertsjoe is. We understand Google has a similar feature. In fact, if had read any of the previous comments, it has already been mentioned. This isn't the same feature, as Google only allows you to search the web through gmail, Microsoft expanded on this feature. I half expect you to troll that Microsoft ripped off Google's idea of actually "searching" the web. Those B***ards! Even if they had "ripped off" the idea, does it keep you from continuing to use Google to do it? I would impart that if the feature is good for users, and good for business, why is it a bad thing? Are you honestly that scared that Microsoft is going to steal Google market share with this? I think not. So why be a tool about it? Google isn't going anywhere for a long time, because of its ubiquity. (no pun intended)
routerbad
on Jul 10, 2009
[quote] This is not a "new feature unique to Hotmail". GMail has already got this. [/quote] Google has already integrated Bing with GMail?!?! Ballsy ;P
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jul 10, 2009
OT: But Time Sensitive http://www.SeeTheLight.com will show the launch of Silverlight 3 at 7:00AM PDT. (roughly 15 minutes from the time I post this)
lketchum
on Jul 10, 2009
@Mike's OT: Very exciting times, indeed! Le me see, little SL 3.x, lil MVC under ASP.NET, VS2010, Gazelle the instant I want it out of a baked NAND running parallel to the main chipset, silent/transparent boot to the main OS when I want, or need it, sync with the cache from my Gazelle based session. Bing around the web a bit, simultaneously access my own cloud, MS's, S3's and whatever else I need or want... forget using enterprise apps - they are so smart that people "just work" normally and they push visual intelligence to me upon which I make my decisions... and occasionally, but not too often, wonder why in the heck anyone is excited about Google, or whatever they happen to polish into some half-baked approximation of what I have been enjoying for years.... show a few other friends that also happen to run and build businesses and simply "share" what we enjoy with them. Regretfully, as in a sad reflective way, observe guys like Robertsjoe and other young people, and worry that they'll never find their own way, much less aspire to create a better world for themselves and others... as they accept whatever populist mantra happens to be regarded as cool and topical in the moment... and just at the point when that sort of reflection would begin to drag on the day, turn my attention to just how dang wicked sick cool having immediate access to such information really is... this stuff will keep you young forever if you just let it... and poor ole Robertsjoe, is older than I will ever be... it's like living on a gorgeous beach for years and never going in the water, because some jerk said it wasn't or shouldn't be any fun. Hey RJ, get out there, young man... last I checked, some pretty young gals with bright eyes and lean limbs were walking around looking a bit lonely... just say'in...
RunTimeError
on Jul 10, 2009
routerbad : You singed up to feed our troll. Bravo. You must have missed the big notification on the way in that says: "Do not feed robertsjoe!"
mikegalos@msn.com
on Jul 10, 2009
lketchum It really is amazing how living six months in the future and thinking five years ahead keeps you young while doing what you're told and liking what you're told to like ages people so quickly. I wonder, though, how much of it is luck of timing. The people in this industry born from the mid-'50s through the mid-'60s seem like Dorian Gray while those born earlier and later seem more like his portrait. Or perhaps its just the universe apologizing for having us live our lives in the shadow of the baby boom.
routerbad
on Jul 10, 2009
Yeah, missed that. I just think that companies that learn from their competitors is a good thing. If people will use that new feature and choose to use that product to fulfill their need then it's a win for the consumer. Because rolling out products and services that people will buy/use is every company's mission. This is how the market works, though it can be hard to compete against heavily entrenched firms. So I hope that people get a chance to see/use this and other features in the Windows Live ecosystem. I haven't a problem with Google (though sometimes I think they want to take over the earth). I just think that certain people should give credit where credit is due. Google is definitely not going anywhere, so why not take a look at some of the other choices out there? Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but you'll certainly be better off for having the opportunity to choose, no?
techfan
on Jul 10, 2009
@robertsjoe: Sorry? What feature in Gmail is like Hotmail's "Quick Add"?

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