Bing has been adding a lot of new features recently. This time around, they are bridging the physical and virtual world in a way that will help find missing children. For those of you who live in the US, you will likely be familiar with AMBER alerts, and these alerts have been added to Bing.
AMBER alerts, which stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response, were created after the abduction of Amber Hagerman in 1996. AMBER alerts are issued when a child goes missing and are delivered via SMS, radio, television and many other mediums that now also include Bing.
Microsoft is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help broadcast AMBER alerts after they have been issued by local law enforcement. The alerts will show up if you search AMBER alerts and you are in a geographic region with an active search for a missing child.
It's not hard to see why Bing added this feature as it will assist in the search for children. The program appears to work: As of December 10, 2014, AMBER alerts have helped to rescue and safely return 723 children. With Microsoft adding the alerts to Bing, the numbers should only get better.
Source: Microsoft
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