Put A Little Zing Into Your Bing!

Real Live Search API Is A Blast.

I must admit that I haven’t embraced Bing yet, the new search engine from Microsoft. Then again, I haven’t forgotten about it, making the occasional foray over there to see what is new or different. I’m still finding that some results served are off, including photos attributed to me that really aren’t mine. No matter, I was intrigued when I discovered that Long Zheng had developed an API (application programming interface) that puts Bing on steroids, one of the niftiest I’ve seen to date.

The Real Live Search

Dubbed, “The Real Live Search” by Zheng, this API delivers search results almost as fast as you can type them. For example, as I was typing in “New York Giants” the results quickly narrowed to the city and finally to the team. I should say “lastly” as there wasn’t anything slow about how the results were “finally” served – the moment I was done I received a list of links, several photographs and additional links to related searches including “New York Giants Logo” and “New York Giants schedule” among others.

Zheng must be some sort of wonder kid as I have at least two pairs of shoes that have been around longer than he has. At the ripe young age of 21, Zheng runs the istartedsomething.com website which is is where he demonstrates his technological prowess.

Born in mainland China, Zheng moved to Australia when he was nine and is currently majoring in Marketing Communications and Multimedia Systems Enterprise at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to his studies, Zheng works for a software development firm in Sydney and takes on other “obscure” projects with friends.

Up & Running Fast

In his blog post describing The Real Live Search, Zheng mentions that the tool took him just a few hours to build which also means that it could prove buggy. Moreover, with tech sites picking up the news about Zheng’s project, there is a good chance that the site will crash by the time that you look it over.

Me thinks that this kid has a bright future ahead of him. I’m checking out some of his other blog posts to see what he is discussing.

Bing Still Bouncing

Speaking of Bing, the new search engine’s share of the marketplace is now up to 8.9 percent, in the US market. Bing still trails Google who controls 64.7 percent of the market and Yahoo which has 19.3 percent of all searches, which means that if Bing and Yahoo were one right now, the Bing would control just over 28 percent of the search engine market.

Microsoft may want to consider hiring Zheng; his Bing API truly rocks!

See Also – Bing, Bong Yahoo Search Is Dead!

African Press International — I’m Doubting The Story

An unfavorable news report about Michelle Obama has gotten a lot of attention, but my truth antenna says that this story is simply not legitimate.

In every political campaign there are reports and allegations made by opposing or supposedly neutral parties which, if true, can turn the election tide suddenly and even permanently. This presidential election cycle is no different with Democrats and Republicans working diligently to gain that edge in a bid to tip the race in their favor.

Barack Obama With A Small Lead

Inasmuch as I doubt the accuracy of some of the polls, I do believe that Barack Obama has a slight lead over John McCain, but not enough of one for him to feel assured that the election is in the bag. Clearly, Obama has seized on two matters which is keeping him in the lead: the economy and change. The latter being something that he has been championing all along, making the case that John McCain’s candidacy represents all things George W. Bush, an inaccurate charge but one he has been able to make stick thus far.

I’ve made it clear that I am supporting the McCain/Palin ticket since I am a registered Republican but above that I am a conservative. Initially, I was turned off by McCain and very disappointed that another candidate didn’t win the Republican nomination. But, as the campaign season wore on I knew that my support couldn’t be given elsewhere, though I must admit that I’m closer to Ron Paul than to John McCain politically. Just the thought of Barack Obama being in the White House bothers me, with the potential to push the most far-reaching leftist agenda America has ever seen. Thus, my firm support for McCain which has only grown strong thanks to the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket.

Truth Telling Or Fairy Tale?

I’m not a professional journalist, but I do adhere to many of the practices of media people who (supposedly) check every source to confirm its veracity and then go with the story. These days there is a blur between mainstream media and bloggers, with both camps often running with stories that seem to be more rumor or innuendo than truth. This bothers me because going with less than factual information discredits the new media, feeds the public with inaccurate news, and sullies the reputation of the deliverer. Sometimes the line between truth and a fairy tale is blurred, making the unreliable story sound credible.

Yesterday, I was given a story about Michelle Obama — Barack’s wife — which alleged that she had a conversation with a press corps operating under the name African Press International or API. The account of that story, which has spread across the internet like wildfire, alleges that Mrs. Obama called the API and gave them a tongue lashing over their reporting. I’m not going to repeat the story here, but some of the comments made by Michelle Obama were outrageous, to the point where if what she said was true could tip the election the other way.

However, I simply cannot believe that the conversation happened in the first place — at least as it is being reported.

African Press International — Who Are They?

My doubts surfaced when I visited the API’s website and found that it is hosted by WordPress on their domain. Okay, fine — the organization doesn’t have much money and they’re operating with a threadbare budget. Perfectly understandable. I’ll even overlook a site that isn’t professionally laid out too.

I did not dig deep into the API site to read their many stories, but I did scoot to the end of several articles to see how they sourced their news. In most every case the appropriate source was listed allowing me to verify each one (although some of the African sites were down when I tried to access them).

But, when it came to the Michelle Obama interview there was one important thing missing — a copy of the audiotape of her conversation with API. Without this, I and so many others doubt that the conversation took place or that if it did that it was Michelle Obama who called in the first place.  Sure, we all heard Mrs. Obama declare earlier this year, “…for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback,” comments for which she rightfully took a lot of heat (what, you have been without hope all of your life?). And, we’ve been led to believe that of the two Obamas, Michelle is a real hot head and speaks first and thinks second.

Michelle Obama Isn’t Stupid

Still, for Mrs. Obama to call the API and give them a tongue lashing would be political suicide, a move I cannot see her doing because she isn’t stupid.

As far as the African Press International goes, I’m not saying that this press organization isn’t legitimate, but what I am saying is that the proof is in the audio and the onus is on the API to supply that information or otherwise drop the story. BTW, the YouTube video is intriguing, but having an unidentified moderator read “excerpts” from the call just doesn’t cut it.