50 Fantastic Bing Tricks for Students & Librarians

Here at the library we're always looking for new ways to find more relevant information faster.  This blog post from Online Colleges gives some very helpful tips for using one of the newest tools available on the web.

Bing has made quite an entrance in the Internet search world. This new way of searching provides quick and easy shortcuts that don’t always require reading through lists of websites and clicking on each one to find what you want. Check out the following tricks to see how Bing can help students and librarians find the information they need in a snap.


Finding Information

From doing math without a calculator to getting definitions, use Bing to find this information quickly and easily.

1. Use the background image. Hovering over different locations on the background image provides an opportunity to learn facts about the image or related topics.

2. Do math. Enter a math calculation directly into the search box to compute anything from simple math to trig functions.

3. Ask questions directly. Type a question into the search box and if the answer is located in Encarta encyclopedia, you will get an answer directly.

4. Get definitions. Enter "define" or "definition" along with a word to find a definition of that word.

5. Look up IP addresses. Type in IP: [IP address] (substituting [IP address] with the actual IP address) to find a list of domains associated with that IP address.

6. Find statistical information. Find statistical information by typing what you want to know, such as "population of Texas" or "number of bald eagles in America" to get the answer.

7. Locate area codes and zip codes. Enter an area code or zip code into the search box and find out with what location the number is associated.

8. Find business contact information. If you have ever tried to find a phone number for a business with little success, then try typing the name of the business in Bing’s search box. They frequently provide contact information even for companies with hard-to-find phone numbers.

9. Get used car information. Simply type a car’s VIN into the search box to get history on that car.

10. Get stock quotes. Add "stock" or "quote" to the name of the company or their stock quote symbol to find stock quotes and other financial information.

11. Find holiday dates. Enter the holiday and year to find out what date that holiday will occur.

12. Get sports information. Get scores, stats, game times, and much more quickly and easily by searching for your team only or adding specifically what you want, such as "Mariners score."

Research and Collaboration

Bing is great for Internet research and sharing that research for others. Find out how with these suggestions.

13. Save search results. Save your search results to a local folder online to have access to them without having to remember how you performed the search.

14. Share search results. If you have found important information you want to share, email your search results or share via Facebook.

15. Find specific types of files. Use a keyword and "contains: file type" (with file type being the file type you are seeking) to find PDFs, MP3s, and other files.

16. Get results from a specific region. Type your keyword and loc:US (or any other location) to get webpages from specific countries.

17. Restrict search to titles. If you want to find your keyword in a title only, use intitle: to search.

18. Disable search suggestions. If you don’t want Bing’s search suggestions, just click on "Turn off " at the bottom of the suggestions. To turn them back on, follow these directions.

19. Show more results. If you want more than 10 results per page, change your Preference to get up to 50 results per page.

20. Get search results as RSS feeds. Get your search results sent to your favorite reader where you can access them later or share with others.

21. Use related searches. When searching for a topic, use the related searches located in the left pane to more easily find what you are seeking.

22. Control search history. Learn how to turn off the search history or clear the search history here.

Images and Videos

Use images and videos easily and more quickly with Bing to find the information you need.

23. Easily find images. The image search on Bing provides many images that are easily scanable.

24. Preview videos. Get a whole page of video thumbnails, then just hover over each to start it playing.

25. Preview websites. Get an image of the website from your search results just by hovering over the link.

26. Find videos of a specific length. Whether you are searching for a full episode of your favorite show or a quick overview of a how-to, find the length video you want by following these instructions.

27. Specify the size image. When looking for an image, you can specify what size image you want, whether small, medium, large, or wallpaper.

28. Search for color or black and white. While performing an image search, specify if you want only color or only black and white images.

29. Ensure your images are safe for everyone. This blog post from Bing tells you how to ensure your image previews don’t show adult content.

30. Save Bing’s background images. If you want to keep the background images from Bing on your desktop, follow these instructions.

Travel

Whether you are going home for the holidays or traveling to the next big conference, use these tips to help facilitate your travel with Bing.

31. Find low air fares. Enter "flights from x to y" (with x and y being the cities of travel) to find low air fares as well as predicted fare trends.

32. Get flight status. Enter your flight number along with "flight status" to immediately find out the status of your flight.

33. Plan your stay. When you enter a place name, you will receive links for attractions, weather, nightlife, tours, and images of that location.

34. Find a hotel. Get star ratings, reviews, a map, and more details to help you find the perfect place to stay.

35. Eat out. Get maps, menus, and reviews easily for restaurants in the area.

36. Find directions. When you enter an address, you will get a map and directions powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth.

37. Get real-time traffic information. The traffic map has routes highlighted in red and green to designate which roads are having problems and which are good.

38. Find out the weather. Weather forecasts are easy to find and easy to read when you select "weather."

39. Convert currency. Type in "1 x in y" (with x and y being the currency abbreviations) to get an automatic currency conversion.

40. Take advantage of local search features. From detailed business listings to business scorecards to one-click directions, take advantage of the Bing local features.

Mobile

Just because you stepped out of the library or away from class doesn’t mean you can’t still access the benefits of Bing. Find out what you can do with Bing and your mobile.

41. Use their mobile site. The Bing mobile site is specially designed for mobile phone usage.

42. Download the app. From your mobile phone’s browser, go to http://m.bing.com/download/ to download their mobile app.

43. Get mobile with a text. Visit Bing for mobile to enter your phone number and receive a text with the link.

44. Download Bing Tones. Download these free MP3 ring tones for your cell phone from Bing.

45. Try Bing 411. Call 1-800-BING-411 to get information via text message or to contact a business directly–for free.

46. Get turn-by-turn directions. Save both home and work starting points to get turn-by-turn directions over your phone from Bing 411 if you don’t have a phone with GPS.

47. Get walking directions. If you are on foot, don’t rely on directions down highways, instead, get the step-by-step walking directions on your phone.

48. Get weather by phone. No need to get a meteorology degree online. Bing 411 also delivers very detailed weather for your specific location over the phone.

49. Find movies. Locate theaters, find show times, and buy tickets all from your phone.

50. Go shopping. Not only can you locate products, but you can also do a price comparison to ensure you are getting the best deal.

Originally found on the Online Colleges Blog