Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Patenting Celebrity-Shaped Bing'ing
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."
..nothing?
People USE Bing?
Google's move? I'm pretty sure it'll be a bewildered gaze followed by a light chuckle.
I doubt that will stop them though.
404: sig not found.
I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of celebrity stalkers are crying out in terror and suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible is happening.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Beats the hell out of copying Google's results.
Soon to be followed by a patent on searching for LOLCat pix. Clearly Microsoft are scraping at the bottom of the barrel with bloody fingers.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Have gnu, will travel.
"It looks like you are going to a party. Would you like some help?
* Help me choose my underwear
* No, thanks, I'll continue to use the last week's one."
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
And you thought "Miserable Failure" Google-bombing was bad...
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Don Draper: People want to be told what to do so badly that they'll listen to anyone.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Lets see...
Jessica Lange like evening dresses.
Although the average slashdot reader probably has difficulty imagining anyone dumb enough to want to use this service, I guess every click from those who do must be like pure gold to the advertisers.
Monkeys- all results are "banana"
Kangaroo- all results are "jumping"
Dog- "Snausages!"
Australia & Drop Bear- "best deals on caskets"
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Turning this patent around a bit, it sounds like just profiling someone, and predicting purchases based on that profile. Isn't this pretty much what all the "you might also be interested in..." pop-ups do, to some extent or other?
I did a Bing search for "thumbs" using the Megan Fox shape, but all I got back was pictures of toes. Must be broken.
Seriously, who on /. cares about what a celebrity searches for?
To quote Bill Gates "that's the stupidest fucking idea I ever heard".
Major Hoople?
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
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.
[] Do you feel lucky, punk?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
who hire others to shop for them because they don't even have the basic sense to dress themselves?
win
Bow Ties are cool
I read the summary. I've read some of the discussion. Haven't bothered to read TFA. I'm just sitting here, wondering. Would I rather have my searches shaped by the preferences of someone like Paris Hilton, or would I rather be caught blaspheming against Allah in Iran? Tough question. FFS - if there were any "celebrities" that I gave a damn about, I still wouldn't want my searches to reflect their preferences!
Case in point - I happen to like Linus Torvalds. He's in my circle on G+. I've learned a few cool things about him. In fact, I've learned that we actually share some interests aside from his operating system. But, we're worlds apart. For starters, he's a young father. I'm an old grandfather. He has concerns, regarding his family, that I just don't give a rat's ass about anymore. Oh - I might sympathize with some of his day to day problems, momentarily. But, I solved all those problems, on a daily basis, a lifetime ago. I just don't give a rat's ass anymore. I don't WANT my searches to give me hits on childhood illnesses, discipline and motivation tips, etc ad nauseum.
The "celebrities" that are likely to show up on Bing are mostly mindless idiots. I'd just barf if my search results were keyed to any of them.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Google's move? I'm pretty sure it'll be a bewildered gaze followed by a light chuckle.
Followed by an hour of rolling around on the floor laughing!
Something from a mirror site I guess.
**TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
Based on some studies they've done with chimps, it's not just our society, but something deeply ingrained in our DNA, we're just wired that way. See the way Slashdot deals with RMS. There's articles in here about his opinions on things which have nothing at all to do with his areas of expertise or even FOSS. We all want to know about important people, some of us just have different definitions of who is important. Some folks like loud mouthed idiots who look good in a dress or a suit, others like loud mouthed idiots who can program and don't look good in anything.
Don't you mean sing'ularity? Apparently the apostrophe, which used to be advance warning of an "s", is now doing double duty to inform you that a "g" just went past.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Am I the only one who find the ability to search with the "persona" of another person rather disturbing?
And, if you are sick enough in the head to use this service, how can you be sure that any "persona"is accurate? Wouldn't it be skewed by the celeb claiming to like XYZ and then trousering a nice pay-off for the promotion?
Also, I assume that this "persona" is based on what the celeb make publicly available or how they wish to appear in public. But that's not them, that's just a veneer. So will the search use the veneer or the real person?
Finally, how long before parents demand the ability to search using the "persona" of their child. They need to protect their child by finding out what they ware doing.
Dear god people, what is wrong with you? WILL NO ONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?
Did you mean: "Toe thumbs?"
And how do MS disavow any unfortunate search results as not in any way defamatory to the celebrity whose "personality" is being impersonated?
-- What do you need?
-- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.
Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Megan Fox, and ...Jessica Lange?!?!
It's all i hear 15 year olds talking about nowadays, their favourite star, Jessica Lange. And I get sick of having to buy Cary Grant action figures, but I hear next year Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is coming into fashion.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
So now instead of not finding what I want, I can not find what a celebrity wants. Awesome!
~Syberz
The second.
My point is that celebrity is in the eye of the beholder, and from a logical point of view, obsessing over RMS makes about as much sense as obsessing over any other celebrity. Yes he has some ability which puts him near the upper range of celebrities, but his opinions aren't really any more worthwhile than mine, which is to say not very worthwhile at all.
... for grasping at straws. Poor Microsoft, they just can't seem to catch a break.
mov ah, 4ch
int 21h
Therefore, I predict that it will tie in closely with Facebook, something I also think is dumb, and be a huge market success.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Less individuality and less development of personal preference
Twinstiq, game news