Microsoft Patenting Celebrity-Shaped Bing'ing 123
theodp writes "GeekWire reports that Microsoft is seeking a patent on the concept of applying the persona of a celebrity to Internet searches, allowing people to see search results shaped by the personalities and preferences of Hollywood celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Megan Fox, and Jessica Lange. A search for an evening dress using the persona of Jessica Lange, explains Microsoft, would return dresses that reflect the actress's 'style and/or fashion preferences,' including 'color, fit, designer, cut, etc.' Your move, Google."
Google's move (Score:5, Insightful)
Google's move? I'm pretty sure it'll be a bewildered gaze followed by a light chuckle.
Re:Google's move (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes. This.
Unless Microsoft is getting a April Fool's joke in reeeeeally early, TFA represents one of the most retarded ideas I've heard in a long, long time.
Re:Microsoft? Innovating on searching??? (Score:4, Insightful)
Beats the hell out of copying Google's results.
Actually, Bing did bring some new ideas to the table that Google managed to borrow. For a while I used Google for my text searches and Bing for image searches because of extra features that Bing had. Google has all those features now so I stick with Google for everything again.
More importantly for this story, this shows that patents can actually be used properly for good reasons. I have long been a critic of patents, but I think that Microsoft deserves some credit in this case. They have done an excellent job in patenting this concept to ensure that such a stupid idea will never be seen in public again.
It is possible that Bing will implement it, but I think that counts as not being seen in public.