Thursday, September 18th, 2008 by Andy Beal

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Microsoft’s Live Search Starts Integrating Powerset Features

I’ll admit, I expected it would take Microsoft a lot longer to start integrating Powerset’s search technology with Live Search–but the company is announcing the first of the new features.

Freebase Answers Integration

First-up, Live Search Answers will use Powerset to bring in results from Freebase Answers. Freebase looks to be a cross between Wikipedia and Google’s Knols.

Better Wikipedia Captions

I’d hardly call this exciting, but apparently some of the $200 million paid for Powerset will help Live Search better display Wikipedia results. [Yawn!]

Related Searches

"Related searches" have been around for eons. Still, Microsoft is excited to join the year 2008, with Powerset’s Factz.

Only a small, randomly selected audience will see the new features. If you’re not one of those chosen for the test, something tells me you won’t be heartbroken over it. ;-)

PS. Dear Microsoft, you need better screen-grabbing tools–the above images look awful!

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5 comments on “Microsoft’s Live Search Starts Integrating Powerset Features”

  1. Utah SEO Pro Says:

    September 18th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    If Microsoft tackles natural language they’re one step ahead of Google and Yahoo!. This may be a way for them to set their UVP.

    Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..Building an SEO Friendly Site – SES San Jose 2008 Presentation

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    September 18th, 2008 at 9:45 pm

    Live needs to starting stepping up their game to catch up to google and yahoo

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  3. jamiekeaney Says:

    September 19th, 2008 at 9:45 am

    I didn’t like PowerSet and I’m not surprised MSN is the first engine to blend in its functionality. Why do I care about the architect of the Chrysler building? I’d rather have directions, hours of operation, nearby restaurants, it on a map, anything but when it was built. Who are they designing search for? 6th graders?

  4. Stuart Robinson Says:

    September 21st, 2008 at 12:02 am

    Microsoft didn’t pay $200 million for Powerset. It was closer to $100 million:

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/01/ok-now-its-done-microsoft-to-acqu ire-powerset/

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