WebProNews

Tag: toolbars

  • Don’t Laugh. Bing Has a New Toolbar.

    Don’t Laugh. Bing Has a New Toolbar.

    "OK, don’t laugh," an email we received from a Bing representative began. "I’m really e-mailing you about a toolbar, but it’s actually pretty cool."

    Yes, Bing has a new toolbar, or "Bing Bar" if you will. It includes things like Bing Search, Facebook, email, Bing Rewards, Maps, Games, etc. 

    "I know what you’re thinking – another toolbar?" the rep tells WebProNews. "Bing took a fresh approach and redesigned it so the Bing Bar not only delivers a rich search experience, but also brings some of the most popular things people do on the web right to them in an app-like experience."

    "For example, one key feature of the Bing Bar is the Facebook integration, which makes it easy for you to see what your friends and family are up to without ever having to leave the web page you’re on," he added.

    Bing Bar Released

    It also comes with alerts. "As we talked to customers we realized that more and more of them use many different online services and while some of those services provide proactive alerts of new mail or postings, they didn’t have a consolidated way to get all that information," says the Bing Team. "Additionally, as folks are browsing the web often times they encounter areas where they might like some help (say content on a page in a foreign language). We created Alerts to act a bit like your online personal assistant, letting you know when new messages arrive or when the Bing Bar can help you with something you are doing online."

    Rewards are only available for the U.S. "Finding the latest offers for Bing Rewards is easier than ever by simply clicking the Bing Rewards icon in the new Bing Bar," says Bing’s Joshua Schnoll. "With Bing Rewards you have the opportunity to earn credits redeemable for great rewards just by taking advantage of offers while searching, discovering, and exploring on Bing right from the new Bing Bar. Learn about Bing features and ways to find information more quickly while earning credits for rewards like gift cards for Starbucks and Amazon, Microsoft Points for Xbox Live and more. We’ll also alert you when new offers are available through alerts in the Bing Bar. Sign up for free through the Bing Rewards icon in the Bing Bar and earn 250 credits to get you started towards your first reward."

    <br /> <a target="_new" title="New Bing Bar Available Today" href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&amp;vid=1029d71f-192f-4d98-bba7-917e550090d8&amp;src=SLPl:embed:&amp;fg=sharenoembed">Video: New Bing Bar Available Today</a>

    The announcement did not say anything about using Google search data as a Bing ranking signal. When asked about data collection, the rep told us:

    There hasn’t been a change, but the team did update the Bing Bar privacy info to be more clear. When a person uses the Bing Bar we collect information that helps us understand the configuration of the computer, how the Bing Bar is used, and search information where the default search service is Bing and the user conducts a search through the Bing Bar. If a user elects to participate in the Bing Bar Experience Improvement program, then we collect additional information including the websites that a user visits from the browser with the Bing Bar installed. 

    If a user elects to participate in Bing Rewards, then we also collect additional information as detailed in the Bing Rewards Terms of Use (http://www.bing.com/rewards/tou/). Specifics regarding Bing Bar Privacy can be found here: http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/gg316403.aspx

    The Terms of Use (http://explore.live.com/microsoft-service-agreement?ref=none) and the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74170) for Bing are publicly available.

    The Bing Bar requires Windows 7, Vista, or XP with Service Pack (SP) 3, and Internet Explorer 7 or later.

  • New Google Navigation Bar Rolls Out – Social Layer Coming?

    Google users may notice a new top navigation bar across Google search, Gmail, and possibly other Google services. 

    Google’s statement: "Last week we tested a new top navigation bar, which increases consistency across most of Google’s properties and is a visual update over the previous top navigation bar. We are now rolling this new bar out widely."

    MG Siegler at TechCrunch suggests that this could be related to the Google social toolbar it is supposed to be releasing, tentatively called Google+1. This seems like a reasonable assumption, based on previous reports. 
    Google Navigation Bar - Where's the Social?

     

    The bar isn’t on YouTube at this point, which would presumably be one of the most important pieces of Google’s social initiative, but that doesn’t mean it won’t appear there sooner or later. 

    Strangely, I’m not even seeing it on Google Reader (another important piece of the company’s social pie), which falls more in line with the design of the Google products that do have the bar. The same goes for Google Docs, Calendar, and Picasa Web Albums (all potentially very social).

    There’s really not much to the bar at this point. It just displays your name with a drop down menu revealing your Gmail address and a sign out option, along with the standard settings menu, which now has a more Chrome-like feel.

  • Digg Launches New Extensions for Firefox and Chrome

    Digg has launched new extensions for the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers.

    "A month ago, we announced new capabilities that let developers create writable applications with the Digg API," says Dig’s Chris Howard. "We decided to put this to work ourselves and update our original Firefox Extension and also create a new Google Chrome extension at the same time. In both cases, you can now Digg stories as you browse the web, without having to come back to the Digg site each time."

    The Chrome extension includes the Digg count for any URL. It’s displayed to the right of the browser’s address bar, and users can click it to see the title and comment count for that URL, as well as the button to Digg it. It also comes with ways to share any URL (like through Twitter, Facebook, and email).

    Digg Toolbar for Firefox

    There is a little more to the Firefox extension. It improves upon the existing FireFox extension. Digg has moved the Digg count and Digg button to the navigation bar, so the toolbar doesn’t have to be open for users to Digg stories. The toolbar itself is shorter and has added keyboard shortcut functionality to make it easier to hide and show it.

    "This makes it really simple to check out the Digg story details for a URL and then close it when you’re done," says Howard.

    Digg has also added controls in the toolbar settings, such as notification thresholds and a smaller notification box. These features were designed to make notifications less intrusive to the user.
     

    Related Articles:

    > Important Product Director Moving From Google To Digg

    > More Stories Get a Shot at the Digg Home Page

    > Digg to Get All Twitter This Year?