Is Bing really capable of stinging Google?

Bangalore: On June 3rd this year, Microsoft launched Bing, a renamed and reformed version of its search engine Kumo, with an intention to increase its hold on the search market, where an over 70 percent share is with Google. Though there are reports and testimonies in favor of this new search engine, Bing has to go a long way to catch up with Google in delivering in-depth results.

On the home page of Bing, there is a specific feature for search optimization where an Indian user can select between two options such as 'Show all' and 'Only from India'. If one checks any option before giving search words, the results returned will be optimized on the basis of the selection of the option. When a search on "Bikes' resale in Bangalore" was attempted by siliconindia news bureau on Bing with the 'show all category' marked, there was only one relevant link in the first ten results where one could find some bikes. But the same search on Google fetched all the ten results relevant and satisfying.

But in Bing's case, a user can try "Only from India" option, and get much more optimized results while searching about bike resale in Bangalore for instance. However, another problem with that is the user has to be aware where the stuff he is searching on is available, if he does not want to lose time switching the options. Since most of the popular websites are hosted outside India, searching for Facebook, for instance, in the 'India' section of Bing will turn nothing but a futile exercise.

Ironically enough, one will get better results about India not via India specific option, but through 'show all' section on Bing because Wikipedia is accessible via the latter option.

It was reported that Microsoft allocated $80 to $100 million dollars to build the brand name Bing. To put the amount in perspective, one must know that Google had spent only $25 million for its all ad campaigns in 2008. And naturally, Bing is fast catching up with its competitors in terms of market share as Alexa.com, a website that ranks websites across the world, listed Bing.com as the 15th most used website during the past one week. Just one week after its launch, Bing is already the second most popular search engine in the U.S. and worldwide except the U.K., according to StatCounter Global Stats.

IIT-K to launch India's lightest nano satellite 'Jugnu'

Kanpur: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has come in to agreement with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to launch a nano satellite. It will be the country's lightest and the institute's first satellite to be launched in the orbit from Sriharikota.

IIT Kanpur had presented the second design review to ISRO which nodded to launch the satellite.

"Though the memorandum of understanding between ISRO and IIT-K for the project was signed in February, regular review sessions are being carried out by ISRO to check the progress of the project," said Sanjay Govind Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur.

"On Tuesday, our technical team working on the project apprised ISRO authorities of the release and antenna mechanism," he said.In April, the first review of Jugnu was carried out by ISRO.

Since last December, a team of 40 students and around 12 professors, led by Professor and Mechanical Engineering Department Head, Nalinaksh S Vyas have been working on the project.

"A similar project in any European country would have cost over Rs 10 crore but we expect the entire project to complete within a budget of Rs 2-3 crore, without compromising on quality. This is a welcome signal for indigenous remote sensing technologies," said Vyas.

A technical team led by D Madhav Murthy in the ISRO for Small Satellite, has said that the procedures for informing the ISRO officials for launch by a mother satellite has been provided, along with the details of the positioning of the satellite antenna set up in the institute premises.

Jugnu weighs around 3.5 kgs and would be 34 cm long and 10 cm wide. Equipped with the micro imaging and micro electronic system, it will transfer the images to the IIT Kanpur campus. The high resolution pictures obtained will be used for different applications like drought monitoring, wasteland management, urban planning and flood risk management.

"Although the stipulated life time of the satellite is six months, we are optimistic that it will complete at least 12 months in the orbit," said Dhandhe.