A week agothe Redmond-based tech giant unveiled its new MSN home page that comes in a much neater and less cluttered layout as compared to previous versions. Microsoft executives said that MSN would embrace the latest customer trends by deeply integrating powerful search from Bing. The Bing integration on the new home page will help people make faster and more informed decisions and easily find the information they want from anywhere on the Web. For instancelocal informationlike weathermoviesrestaurants and trafficthat is easily accessible on Bing will be equally easy to find on MSN.
And now in an effort to funnel more people to BingMicrosoft is now taking its biggest step so far on that frontby merging its video search efforts with its MSN Video site into a new page that will bear the Bing moniker. Head to video.msn.com and you’ll notice that it redirects to Bing Video.
The new version of Bing Video brings together a rich editorial content and programming of MSN Video with the web-wide breadth and great search capabilities of Bingto deliver a new online video destination that offers a comprehensive and faster video experience. Bing Video simplifies finding and watching the widest selection of premium and general video from around the Web. Just like any other video platforms like YouTube and Vimeothe new Bing video page enables users to browse videos and watch them within the site itself.
At the top of the home pageit displays a huge player featuring popular videos like ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ HD Trailer or Obama honors 13 slain in Fort Hood shootings. Scroll down the page and you would see tabbed categories which include editorial pickshot viral clips‘Last Night on TV’ and many more.
Music lovers can check out the popular music videos listed under the ‘Music‘ tab located below the search bar. There are different categories to choose from such as RapRock and R&B.
Unlike video-sharing platformsBing Video grabs full-lengths TV shows and videos from more than 300 content providers like MSNHuluCBSMySpaceDailyMotionand YouTubeand does not allow users to upload their own videos. The site directly hosts 900 TV shows and the rest have to be watched from the respective content sites.
As for the Bing Video Playerit’s pretty well done. It comes in a neat and sleek interfaceand the “dim lights” function is the most impressive among all. When clickit makes everything in the browser go darkwith the exception of the video itself.
Earlier on TuesdayMicrosoft made some enhancements to Bing Mapsincluding the ability to use the mouse to alter a suggested route and have one’s directions re-calculated.