Ellen is going Bing for the holidays

Our friends at Bing have an exciting announcement today. They’re partnering with the “Ellen” show to offer great deals on Ellen Degeneres’ favorite holiday gifts. Every year Ellen hosts her annual 12 Days of Giveaways – where she highlights the hottest holiday items and delights her audience by giving them each item. This year, Bing is making it easy for you to join in the fun.

Today, Bing launched a new online site that highlights Ellen’s picks for each day of her 12 Days of Giveaways and places where you can get great deals on the items online. Ellen will choose new items every day until December 18th – check out http://www.bing.com/ellen every day to see the latest.  

It’s almost hard to believe that it has been a full decade since Y2K bug became a common phrase and we stayed up all night just to see if the power would stay on. How can that be? While the last decade has brought its share of tragedy and turmoil, it has also have delivered some galvanizing moments in less monumental areas like entertainment and sports. For example, who was the hottest celebrity couple? What was the most inspiring sports moment? The hottest video games? The weirdest trend in food? We’re taking a look at those and more in XBOX presents Flashback 2000-2009: A Fun Retrospective.

As we approach 2010, think back 25 years to the year 1985.  Microsoft was preparing to release its long-awaited program, Windows, which promised to allow many popular programs to run simultaneously on one screen; The Walkman was the device that allowed you to take your music with you; Nintendo released NES, their revolutionary 8-bit video game console; The sound of a typewriter could be heard coming from offices and teenagers eagerly lined up outside local record stores to…well, buy records.  Take a moment to think about how far we’ve come. Today, we're launching a new experience to provide a unique and innovative perspective on the future of technology, from the hottest technologists, futurists, politicians, musicians, and more. 

52% of MSN customers are on Facebook, and 14% are on Twitter. Customers have asked for social media on the homepage and now they have it. Hear Lisa Tiedt, MSN’s Social Media Director, discuss the new social networking modules on the homepage.

How important is technology to a homepage? GM of Software Development, Stephen Lawler, answers this question and shares how we create a different experience for people through implicit personalization and segmentation. He also shares insight into building powerful tools for our editors to use in programming the page in real time.

MSN’s Architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, describes how and why MSN has been thinking of relevance. Also, Blaise shares three areas where we are pushing in innovation.

When the new MSN homepage & butterfly made its debut, Scott Moore discussed five areas where we’re increasing our investments due to consumer demand: news, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, and sports. These areas are hot with customers and advertisers – whether they’re at home, work, or on-the-go.

Our MSN Mobile customer base has grown from 3 million to 16 million in the last year alone and all signs point to even more rapid growth to come. We’re investing in a range of mobile offerings to help people stay connected with their passions from any location. Sports fans want to know how their teams are doing at all times and this is where MSN Mobile and Fox Sports have teamed up to offer an engaging experience that keeps fans across the U.S. up-to-date, with innovative technology they can’t find anywhere else.

We looked at over 1,000 butterflies before landing on the new logo. Hear Natalie Bow, Group Manager of MSN’s Brand and Advertising strategy, talk about why the butterfly is important to MSN and how we “built a better butterfly” along with a new homepage.

When you have a large customer base of 600 million people, how important is marketing? Danielle Tiedt, GM of Online Marketing, talks about the marketing priorities for the MSN launch,  the differences in the MSN and Bing marketing campaigns, and the beauty of the amplifier effect.

If you’ve read the Twilight series, you’d probably agree that it’s hard to wait for the next movie to hit the box office! It’s exciting to grab your seat in front of the big screen and watch Edward running through the forest with Bella, Jacob transforming into a werewolf, and Alice throwing Bella a birthday party. The magic of the movies brings a great book to life, while the technology of Bing & MSN brings Forks, Washington directly to Twilight fans around the world through our Virtual Twilight Tour.