Microsoft Redesigns MSN, Adds Twitter, Facebook

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is giving its MSN Web portal a long-overdue makeover. It says it hopes the new site will funnel more people to its search engine, Bing.

Microsoft is ditching the heavy blue background and stack of tiny text and menus across the top of the page that have defined msn.com for a decade.

The new site is cleaner, with simple, colorful links lined up across the top. But it's still clearly a portal, filled with blocks of headlines. The most prominent real estate on the page is dominated by a slide show of the top five stories with big headlines and photos.

Some of what appears on the MSN home page will be picked by editors looking for top stories. They'll get an assist from new software that uses Bing to find hot topics just as they begin to simmer.