Corporate competition = bigger, faster, stronger (we all benefit)

I use Google and I’m not alone.  Averaging about 400 million queries per day, the world’s largest search engine is providing a valuable and impressive service for a majority of internet users.  Google Maps is one of my favorite sites on the internet, which is why I’m so happy with some of the latest Bing services.  It’s like a cheerleading movie where you can ignore the terrible dialogue and appreciate the impending buildup and showdown.  Google has been dipping its toe in the pool with geo-tags from Wikipedia articles and links to photos with GPS coordinates in Panaramio, but Microsoft’s Bing is unabashedly jumping in the mash-ups deep end with Twitter, Photosynth, travel webcams, urban graffiti and murals, and other user-driven resources.  Seriously check out the Bing mash-up links in the previous sentence (zoom in, spin around, etc. [wait…see below]).  This is getting interesting.  As with any competition, the audience will have the pleasure of viewing the battle from the sidelines while the competitors strive to define their strengths.

[So it looks as if WordPress is reformatting the above links.  You can see the Bing Map apps by going here and clicking on the map apps link in the lower left hand frame.]