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Uncategorized Friday, February 4th 2011 at 9:40 am

Stephen Colbert Weighs in on Bing-Google Spat

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We normally leave the Stephen Colbert coverage to our sister site Mediaite, but it so happens that on last night’s Colbert Report, he entered the fray of what’s been one of the most contentious debates in tech this week: Whether or not Bing is crossing the line in indirectly using Google’s search results as signals for improving its own. [Ed: Bing is currently an advertiser on Geekosystem and other Abrams Media sites.] Whereas Googlers like Matt Cutts charge that Bing was “targeting Google deliberately” and that Google’s sting proves this conclusively, Bing defenders downplay the significance of Google results to Bing’s algorithm and say that Google’s sting was flawed in its methodology. Daniel Eran Dilger writes that Google is “hypocritical” for “claiming to be wronged by the reuse of the information it makes publicly available” when it has greatly benefitted from the same in the past.

Colbert, for his part, definitely comes across as pro-Google, despite his show’s relationship with Bing (he claims that every time his bell rings on the Report, it’s [obviously] making a “Bing” sound). Colbert: “For the first time ever, someone’s search history has been busted for something other than porn.”

(via TC)

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1371608167 Brian Beacom

    its kind of ironic that even when Bing uses Google’s results – Google’s results are more relevant – Bing is the unchangeable default browser search in Abertay and not one of us uses it, opting to take the extra steps of going to google.co.uk and searching.

    As for the Bing ad’s here, they are totally unfriendly to the user, I have in the past clicked one of the video’s to be confronted with Bing’s search page again which in itself is unnecessary but if the page gives the same video results you click said video there and it tries and fails to load it inline, so I stop that and click the link to open it at its source and after all that its just not that interesting. As an interesting note in my madness to not click your Bing links I have stopped myself from clicking “ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERNET” too by mistake

  • Anonymous

    Now wait you mean that somewhere on the internet someone stole a piece of technology from someone? No way, can’t happen. That’s why we have two of everything because people copy each other and that way you can’t have a monopoly; See how that works. But Coblert’s donation was the bomb, or the bing as the case may be. Working at DISH network I record Colbert nightly and I have to say he looks even more distinguished in HD, which since its free with any top package, my wallet feels more distinguished as well.