Bing's Lasso Ropes in Results Without a Search Box

Nomore cut and paste. Just circle a phrase and search launches automatically on the iPad. View full size image

Bing brings search by touch to its iPad app, eliminating typing into a search box altogether. Using a new feature that Microsoft calls “Lasso,” iPad users can forget the keyboard and simply draw a circle around a word or phrase they want to search for to initiate a Bing search.

 

Lasso is designed to ease the "pain point of copying and pasting," according to Bing Director Stefan Weitz in the company's launch video. Copying and pasting pieces of text from a webpage to a search box can take up to nine steps on the iPad.

"With Lasso you can circle and search in just two steps," he said.

Remember, you must be inside the Bing app―not Google―to try Lasso. Make sure you have installed the new version of the app, Bing 1.1. To use Lasso, launch Bing, choose news and select an article you like.

For instance, you select "Daniel Radcliffe takes break from Broadway to promote 'Harry Potter' movie" from the LA Times. You're reading and remember you want to buy tickets for the midnight premiere next week. Circle "Harry Potter movie" and a new page will open with showtimes and other related search results.

Bing developers have promised to take Lasso beyond Bing for iPad. Any touchscreen device could get roped in.

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