Bing

Bing and Facebook, connected

But there is no meat to the deal.

At a joint press event today, Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook unveiled the new Bing search engine that uses social information from Facebook to make decisions. The two companies offered a variety of places where the Facebook results would be integrated into Bings results, just like Bing's results appear at the bottom of a Facebook search.  And it all seems to be beneficial.

For instance, MORE

Bing's team answers Google Instant with tricks of their own

Competition has accelerated innovation in the search space, with Bing and Google leapfrogging each other with new technologies.

Google went live last week with Google Instant, changing the search page forever. Microsoft isn't sitting still, however, and they've introduced some pretty interesting innovations of their own.

Microsoft (MSFT) introduced some of those features today in San Francisco at the IE 9 launch event. Conveniently, a lot of Bing's upcoming features rely on HTML5and MORE

Today in Tech: News around the Web

A round-up of the companies, deals, and trends that made headlines.

Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We've assembled the morning's most newsworthy bits below.

Quick Review: Verizon Fascinate

Pass.

Verizon really blew it.  It traded having one of the best Android phones out there for some cash from Microsoft.  For their money, Microsoft got Verizon to pluck out the really good parts of the Google phone (search and maps) and clumsily put Bing in its place.  The mandatory, unchangeable search bar is now Bing and it is flakey (see video below) to say the least.  Bing buys you search MORE

Verizon forces Fascinate users to use Bing?

I've been telling my friends and colleagues on Verizon to wait for the Samsung Fascinate.  I'm sorry, I was wrong.  Get something else.

The latest Google (GOOG) Android phone from Verizon is saddled with Bing for all of its search features, according to Engadget's review this morning.  As Google incorporates its search engine into a variety of functions on the Android phone,  it just kills the experience.

Google is said to rely on search revenues to MORE

AOL and Google re-up for 5 years (eternity)

Google and AOL announce a continuation and expansion of one of the Internet's longest standing partnerships.

One of the bigger aspects of the deal brings AOL video to YouTube, further solidifying Google's dominance of video on the web.  It also includes the hot mobile category.

The length of the deal, at five years, is an eternity in the fast-moving Internet space.  YouTube, for example, is only five years old.

AOL  CEO Tim Armstrong, MORE

Microsoft builds Bing Search App for Android

Pigs are flying over a frozen river of Hades.

In case you like Google (GOOG) for its AndroidOS but hate their search engine, Microsoft (MSFT) has built a Bing Search Engine.    For now, like Skype, it is only available on Verizon's Android phones.

The Bing app has some interesting features that may or may not grab some customers:

The app homepage features the Bing image of the day, flickable back seven days
The image MORE

Google owns mobile search.

Analysts often put Google's domestic share of the search market at around 70%.  Some studies indicate that it is much much higher globally, especially in mobile.

Pindom published a chart today of Statcounter numbers that might well take the wind out of any sails at Yahoo or Microsoft in the mobile space.  While Google owns 90% of the global market in non-mobile search (which is a lot higher than MORE

Yahoo Japan chooses Google for search and ads

Yahoo Japan has chosen Google, rather than Microsoft, to provide its search engine results and advertising.

In a blow to Microsoft and its Bing search technology, Yahoo Japan Chief Executive Masahiro Inoue announced the move that would put Google in the driver's seat for Japanese web searches.

Yahoo Japan currently conducts about 57% of all Web search queries compared to Google's 38%.  The combined total will put Google (GOOG) dangerously close to MORE

Google's ITA acquisition will trigger regulators, analysts say

Google's $700 million purchase of flight information service ITA is covered by eight analysts.

The deal, announced yesterday, puts Google (GOOG) in the DoJ's regulatory cross hairs once again while adding functionality that its Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) Bing rivals use.

Citigroup is neutral on the buy, noting that they anticipate rigorous regulatory reviews.

We view this step as very similar to (tho much more $ than) Google's Comparison Ad move into the Credit MORE