Bing.com releases new Bing Maps features!

Bing.com, Microsoft's recently rebranded search engine, has added some great new features to their maps site.

Click HERE to head over and check it out. Click on the try out the new BETA button on the left side. It will prompt you to install Silverlight, which is similar to Adobe's flash.

Onto the new features that I will briefly cover here

1. StreetSide
2. Photosynth
3. Map Apps

First, StreetSide, which is Microsoft's new equivalent of Google's Street View.  Not many people know, but Microsoft actually was earlier to the Street View implementation that Google was. In early 2006 a public beta of Street Side was live on Microsoft's site.

So onto the new StreetSide, one major feature that differentiates itself from Street View are the smooth transitions as you "walk" down a street.  You don't skip/jump from view to view as you do when moving around on Street View, instead you slide down a street. This seamless transition is really cool to see.

One current drawback is that StreetSide currently does not cover many areas in most cities. I wasn't able to find my apartment, or even Qualcomm Stadium. <-- Home of the San Diego Chargers!!


Next is Photosynth.  This application/site is something that has been available from Microsoft for a while, but finally it has a venue where people will find it more useful.

Photosynth takes multiple pictures of a single object/location and mashes them together or, "synths" them, to get a 3-D view that can be turned around and view from several angles, depending on how many pictures are used.

This feature is now being integrated into Bing maps by having several major landmarks that have been 'Synthed" together.  These landmarks are specially marked on the map.  Something really cool is that hopefully in the future users will be able to submit their own synthed pictures of locations and landmarks through the website for other people to view.

The last feature is the Bing map apps.  These are basically layers that can be added onto your map view to show you anything from nearby attractions and businesses to traffic data and video.

Those are the main new features that were released today. Pretty exciting stuff. Hopefully they continue to release more as they try to build up their search marketshare which is currently sitting at around 10% vs. Google's 70%.

Go check it out!

excerpt KOBE vs. LEBRON

True and easily number one in most missed as well. This whole debate started with the "Are Lebron and Wade more clutch than Kobe?" thread. When comparing those three players all you can consider is the last 6 years. Those are the years that all three players have been in the league.

In the last five years, Lebron is number one, Kobe is number two, and Wade is number three in game winning/game tying shots. Lebron has made the most shots (17) , shoots the highest percentage of the three (34%), and has made more game winning assists (6) than the other two put together (3 from Wade and ONE from Kobe).

It is important to note that prior to 6 years ago, Kobe was an assassin in those situations. He still jacked up a lot of shots, but broke a whole lot of teams hearts with game winning shots at the buzzer in the process. Unfortunately, he has gone cold as of late shooting just 25% from the field.

You may not think numbers matter but I think we all agree that LOSSES matter. Kobe is 14 for 56 in those situations in the last five years. Thats 42 losses. That's a big deal.

-from NBA.com