Bing Testing a New Media Bar on the Homepage

Likely in advance of the upcoming Windows 8, Bing.com appears to be testing a new bar on the home page below the image. I first saw the new homepage on Tuesday, January 10th when I opened Internet Explorer 9. We opened Bing in different browsers, and on different machines, and did not see the new layout. Much like when we see something new on Google, we usually only see it in one browser. Well, I saw it for just 2 days, and now it’s back to the regular homepage. My guess is that they had it up for CES, where they were showing off tablets that were running Windows 8.

Side-by-Side comparison of the Bing.com Homepage.

Trends Replaces Popular Now

It looks like the bar below the image is the only actual change to the page. New in this bar is the “Trends” box. Comparing it to the current version of the homepage, this looks to be replacing the “Popular Now” section. There are 8 links in the “Trends” box with the new layout , whereas the “Popular Now” section had 5.

New Weather Box

There is also a “Weather” box showing you the current weather. What is interesting to note about this box is it was showing the temperature for the city I live in. However, when I took this screenshot I was at the office in Minneapolis, and I was not logged in to Bing. So I am not sure how it got the info for the city to display.

New Images Box

The next box is an “Images” box. The image in this box switches every few seconds. Going along with the “Trends” box, this appears to be based on trending image searches.

New Videos Box

The final box is a “Videos” box. Like the image box, this switches every few seconds and also is likely based on trending videos.

A view of the Test Layout

Hover over the following image to see the change from the current layout to the test version. Also, click for a larger image version.
Sorry, picture removed.

 
That’s all I noticed. Did anyone else get to see this new layout and noticed anything different?

 
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