Newsletter Archives

• The Casio question

  Posted on February 22, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  I want to write a letter to Casio in the US. I knew neither who the CEO is or where the US headquarters are. So, I decided to ask Copilot via Bing.com:

  “Who is the president of Casio US, and what is the US headquarters’ mailing address?”

  I then verified the answers from alternate sources. The mailing address Copilot returned was correct. The CEO was wrong. Copilot gave me Makoto Ori, who did assume that position in 2021. But in 2023, a new CEO was named, Tomoo Kato, a fact I established using ordinary search and reading further. Copilot’s source was a news article from 2021.

  Having found the new name, I just typed it to Copilot. It responded by stating that Kato-san was the current CEO.

  Copilot knew both names but gave me the wrong one when I asked. What are we to make of this?

  AI Bing, Bing AI, Copilot

• The mustache question

  Posted on February 7, 2025 at 15:49 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  We’ve been having something of a debate around here regarding the use of AI. Susan, as you well know from her numerous posts and columns about it, warns about jumping into Microsoft’s Copilot service. I agree that caution is warranted, and one of the first things I reported here was the abusive threat Bing’s chat feature made to a reporter. I have a slightly different take, based on the premise that these AI services and features are here whether we like them or not, and whether we fear them or not.

  I conducted a very simple and brief experiment based on questioning two assistants. I asked Bing search, “Who was the last US president to have a mustache?” Bing did more or less what I expected — it gave me a list of results, with the first being a link to a Wikipedia article about facial hair on all presidents. I saw nothing on the first page with the answer. Further research would have been necessary.

  Then I asked Copilot. It’s response? “William Howard Taft.” It provided several citations in support. Of course, that’s the correct answer, and Copilot did the research for me. Annoyingly, Copilot’s response included a question to me: “Is there a particular reason you’re interested in presidential facial hair?” I was tempted to tell it “None of your business.”

  So, I ask you: Which assistant do you think did a better job?

  AI Bing, ChatGPT, Copilot

• Bing Chat is sorry

  Posted on January 22, 2024 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  I thought it had no emotions.

  It took only one sentence for Bing Chat to annoy me.

  More importantly, that one sentence was so loaded that it begs for comment. And it raises serious questions about AI.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.04.0, 2024-01-22).

  Commentary AI, Artificial Intelligence, Bing, Bing Chat, Copilot, Edge, Newsletters

• Browsers and search engines

  Posted on October 30, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  If you are as old as I am, you will remember the revolutionary changes the browser Netscape Navigator and search engine AltaVista brought to our desktops.

  In what now seems like an overnight event, all those research topics that used to require a trip to our local libraries became a mere dial-up call away, using our light-speed, 9600-baud modems. Okay, a little patience was required in those days, even once those ubiquitous modems reached the dizzying heights of 56K.

  At about the same time, we witnessed the start of what was to become a decades-long browser and search-engine war, during which we all have probably changed allegiances several times.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.44.0, 2023-10-30).

  On Security Bing, Brave, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Edge, Google, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Qwant, Swsscows

• More Microsoft Rewards tips and tricks

  Posted on August 14, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  You can earn points by playing games on Xbox — even if you don’t have a Game Pass subscription — or even by learning about new games!

  Last week, I looked at all the ways you can earn daily and weekly Microsoft Rewards points by using the Bing search engine and the Edge browser. But if you have access to an Xbox, you can earn significantly more points, even if you’re not a regular gamer.

  The number of apps involved depends on where you live and how much you travel, because the Rewards program has become attractive enough to exploit.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.33.0, 2023-08-14).

  Microsoft Bing, Edge, Loyalty Programs, Microsoft, Newsletters, Rewards, Travel, Windows, Xbox

• Make the most of Microsoft Rewards

  Posted on August 7, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.32 • 2023-08-07

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft will give you points for using Bing, and more!

  Welcome to this first of a two-part series on how to earn rewards points, where to spend or donate them, and how to maximize your earnings.

  You can view the Rewards program as a bit of a bribe to use Microsoft’s search engine and browser, or you can see it as getting your share of the advertising money Microsoft earns on Bing and MSN. Every search engine makes money, but only Microsoft shares it with users through what’s now called Microsoft Rewards.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.32.0, 2023-08-07).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft Bing, Edge, Loyalty Programs, Microsoft, Newsletters, Rewards, Windows

• All in on AI

  Posted on May 15, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.20 • 2023-05-15

  MICROSOFT NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  On May 4, Microsoft announced the “next wave of AI innovation.”

  Well, we’ll see about that.

  There was no parade, nor any hoopla associated with this announcement. The entirety of the presentation was in a single blog post, which might have gone unnoticed had I not received an email from a Microsoft spokesperson telling me about it. That was unusual.

  But that’s not the news.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.20.0, 2023-05-15).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft News AI, Bing, Bing AI, Copilot, Microsoft Edge, Newsletters

• Why is Bing worse than Google for finding Windows info?

  Posted on November 7, 2022 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Microsoft’s Bing search engine has a small but growing market share — chipping away at Google’s 90% dominance worldwide — but the Redmond software giant’s Web crawler can be surprisingly weak in showing you helpful Windows information from technology websites other than Microsoft.com.

  There are thousands of blogs and newsletters that post every possible factoid about Windows, from the fluffiest corporate press releases to obscure technical features you’ve never dreamed of.

  So what might explain the inadequacy of Redmond’s favorite search engine to deliver the Windows info users need to know?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.45.0, 2022-11-07).

  Public Defender Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google, Newsletters, Public Defender, search engines
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