Many of you in the U.S. have noticed some big changes in Live Search Video this week. Now you have lots of tools for browsing to find your favorite TV shows, music videos, and all of the most-watched content on the Web, just by clicking. Based on what we're hearing, it's a primetime hit! And of course, it still includes the best and only "smart-motion preview" technology that plays a preview right on the page to spare you those frustrating misclicks.

When we launched cashback nearly six months ago, we mentioned that we're going to use these three criteria to measure the program: Number of offers in the system Advertiser ROI Percentage of commercial searches as measured by ComScore Well, we've been measuring, and today we can report that we've increased the number of product offers available in Live Search cashback by 30%, indicating strong advertiser interest in the program and early results on its ROI. Stephanie Tilenius,

Today at PubCon we launched a new release of the Live Search API for publishers and web developers. Now, in one place, we're making available what is essentially a content management system for your site or blog, plus the ability to monetize by selling ads. This release is the next step in what we're calling Project Silk Road, a broad range of tools and services we're offering online publishers and developers to help them generate traffic, increase engagement on their sites,

On Monday we announced a search distribution deal with Sun Microsystems. Now, when U.S.-based Internet Explorer users download the Java TM Runtime Environment )JRE TM (, they're offered the MSN Toolbar. Like our partnerships with HP and Facebook, this agreement is another example of our strategy for gaining traction in the search market. When Internet Explorer users downloading Sun's JRE opt to download the MSN Toolbar, they'll have one-click access to Live Search features,

PubCon )Nov 11â€"14( has established itself as a rich forum for web professionals of all shapes and sizes to come together to network, learn, and share the latest on SEM topics and more. It has become a key event for us on the conference circuit, so our team is excited to be joining Brett Tabke and the WebmasterWorld team in Las Vegas this week for PubCon 2008 . I'm particularly looking forward to having the chance to address an audience of around 3,000 attendees on Thursday,

Starting in late October, holiday travel fares have been falling quite a bit, and right now the average airfare for both Thanksgiving and Christmas travel are actually below their price points from this time last year. But don't take our word for it. You can see for yourself. Farecast puts the power to predict into your own hands with expert travel advice based on science, not marketing.

Christmas presents to be purchased? Budget a bit tight? Microsoft Live Search has a solution for all the parents out there being harassed for big ticket items by our kids. Why not save up to 25% right now? I need an Xbox 360 for ankle-biter number one. What is the plan? I head on over to http://www.live.com/ and search for "xbox 360," where I see a bunch of search results. At the top I see "Xbox 360" with the gold coin cashback icon and "Live Search cashback.

We've been having a great time bringing you our daily homepage updates over the past couple of months. You may have noticed that our normal programming for the Live Search homepage content is occasionally interrupted by newsworthy events, like last week's World Series image of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrating their win. We think that the 2008 presidential election is about as newsworthy an event as you get. Regardless of which party wins,

There are really just two types of searches: Browse and seek We want to browse for our best fit when we type "I want to learn how to speak Spanish." Tell me now I just want my question answered when I search for how tall Mount Kilimanjaro is or who the 31st president of the U.S. was. We've been working hard on the "Tell me now" type of search, or as we Live Search boffins call it, "instant answers." Instant answers show up at the top of your search results,

Regardless who wins next month's election, one thing is certain: there's going to be a new administration in the White House. This means a lot of folks fresh off the campaign trail will relocate to Washington, D.C. to take on roles in government. Whether you're planning a move, a visit, or just want to see what D.C has to offer, check out the latest release of Live Image Search.

I get a little more excited than most people about data, but I think even "normal" people will have fun with the new xTreme movers feature in xRank, which lets you track the searches that are gaining popularity the fastest. Just yesterday, " dow jones ," " recession ," and other economy-related terms were moving incredibly quickly, while today we're noticing that people are interested in recent events including the debates , Boss Day , and Hurricane Omar .

We've all watched the debates and the interviews , tracked the latest polls , and probably watched a few of the recent SNL skits )I'll let you search for those on your own(. But did you know that there's an African American woman running for president, too? And Ralph Nader has thrown his hat in the ring again. Yes the presidential election is big news, but are you ready to cast your other votes? We've updated xRank Politician to include all candidates for president, governor,

The Live Search Powerset team will be presenting next week at Web 3.0 in Santa Clara on October 16-17. Scott Prevost, Powerset general manager, is providing Friday's keynote on The Road to Semantic Search . And I'm hosting a roundtable discussion on Thursday with Alitora, Cerebra, Metaweb, and Thompson Reuters called Semantic Startup 101 - Successes, challenges, and strategic decisions . For details, see Powerset at Web 3.0 next week . Hope to see you in Santa Clara!

Today we're excited for our friends at Facebook. Now Facebook users in the U.S. have the option to "Search Facebook" or "Search the Web." In addition, adCenter is delivering search ads alongside those results. For me that means getting great search results while receiving highly relevant ads that are personalized by either my Facebook profile or search query. Find out more about the Facebook team's first implementation of Live Search in their blog .

Live Search is headed to New York City for SMX East 2008 ! SMX â€" Search Marketing Expo â€" is one of the premier "all-search" conferences. The goal is to educate and empower marketers, publishers, and advertisers alike to get the most out of search. So if you're headed to the show, October 6-8, come find us at one of the many panels we'll be speaking at. Or stopy by booth #640,

From cashback to Live Search club we've been building programs to help increase engagement, usage, and loyalty. Today we're expanding our efforts with the release of SearchPerks!, a new program designed to reward consumers with cool prizes â€" like frequent flyer miles, Xbox games, music downloads, and other products â€" just for using Live Search. To participate, visit http://www.getsearchperks.com/ and download the Perk Counter,

The Virtual Earth team has just released a major update that brings some great new features, as well as enhancements to existing features to Live Search Maps . Some of the highlights include: New imagery. Brings locations to life, with richer bird's eye and 3D imagery of more locations in cities across North America. Weather Integration. Features near-real time local weather and cloud formations within the 3D imagery. Localized maps. Provides maps in English, German, French,

If you were trying to get a hold of someone in Live Search today, you were probably getting nothing but voicemail as it seemed like everyone was keen to get downtown for the Microsoft company meeting! When I left campus this morning there were 10 buses full of Search team members leaving for Safeco field. After chatting briefly with Harry Shum and a few developers who were waiting for their bus, I headed out on my motorbike to get ready for my demo.

Powerset officially became a part of Microsoft a little over a month ago, and Live Search has been hard at work collaborating with Powerset on several quick projects designed to be ready for testing within 30 days. These projects encouraged early collaboration between our two teams, as well as sharing of respective technologies. Freebase Answers Our first joint project was to expand the coverage of Live Search Answers. Today, many topical queries such as such as musicians,

Now that the Web is more worldwide than ever, the number of non-native English speakers going online has ballooned, and yet online content in English still dominates. For these users, free translation services mean that an entire world of information can now actually be at their fingertips. We're doing something to help them out. Translation now fully powered by the Microsoft Translator technology is available through Live Search, as well as IE8, the Windows Live Toolbar,