Topping tech headlines on Thursday, Microsoft dramatically revamped its Bing search results page, adding a "sidebar" that will allow users to interact with knowledgeable friends on a variety of topics.
The new Bing UI will roll out in the next few weeks, said Derrick Connell, corporate vice president of Bing, at the Bing Search Summit at Microsoft's Silicon Valley headquarters. Consumers can also sign up at the Bing site to be notified of the new update.
Meanwhile, rumors are heating up that Apple is readying a smaller version of the iPad for release later this year. The website iMore on Thursday claimed to have a "reliable" source who said Apple is planning to release a smaller version of its coveted tablet in October for $200 to $250. The Cupertino tech giant is looking to price its so-called iPad mini aggressively to "leave absolutely no space for competitors," the site reported.
And in other news, Amazon announced that the Harry Potter series is coming to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library starting June 19. The Lending Library, which launched in November, lets customers with an Amazon Prime membership borrow e-books for free. Next month, that will include all seven Harry Potter books in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Also making headlines on Thursday:
- Foxconn, Apple to Share Chinese Factory Improvement Costs: Foxconn, Apple's leading Asian manufacturing partner, said Thursday that the two companies plan to share the initial costs of improving working conditions at the Chinese factories where iPhones and iPads are assembled.
- Facebook Expanding File Sharing Across Groups: Facebook will roll out file-sharing among Facebook Groups, allowing non-copyrighted files to be shared directly between members.
- Leica's New M Monochrom Snaps Only Black-and-White Photos: Black-and-white photography has long been considered a bastion of film photographers.
- Rumor: Microsoft Testing Modified IE9 Browser for Xbox 360: Microsoft is tinkering with an Xbox-tailored version of Internet Explorer 9 for its current game console, according to The Verge.
- EU Mobile Roaming Caps Start July 1: The European Parliament on Thursday formally approved a plan that will put a cap on how much travelers can rack up in mobile roaming charges.
- Pebble Smartwatch Sells Out, Collects $10 Million on Kickstarter: The team behind the watch stopped taking pre-orders on Thursday, after pre-selling 85,000 devices and raising more than $10 million on the crowd-sourced funding platform Kickstarter.
- Five More Dutch ISPs Ordered to Block The Pirate Bay: The Pirate Bay was dealt another blow today when a Dutch court ruled that five additional ISPs must block access to the file-sharing site.
- Google Search Results Protected by First Amendment, Report Says: Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are well within their First Amendment rights to pick and choose what type of search results they display, according to a new report.
- Mozilla, Google Irked by IE-Only Windows RT: Mozilla and Google have hit back at Microsoft over what they consider to be restrictive browser settings within the Windows on ARM version of the upcoming Windows 8 OS.
- BioShock Infinite Release Date Pushed to February 2013: The first-person shooter game, originally scheduled to drop on Oct. 16, will now launch worldwide on Feb, 26, 2013.
- Otellini: Intel Entering 'Golden Age' of Innovation, Profit: Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini laid out the chip giant's future vision in his opening talk at Intel Investor Day 2012.
- T-Mobile Mum on Reports of MetroPCS Merger: T-Mobile was coy when asked about reports that its parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG, is pursuing a merger with MetroPCS.
For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.
