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MSN Search has released a beta version of its own Local Search, with the mapping functionality powered by Virtual Earth. The very first search I did was “cell phones 20038” (a zip code in the middle of DC) and the results were hilariously bad. Not a single result was inside DC; the results that did pull up were located everywhere else from New York to North Carolina — even though the system clearly recognizes that I’m looking for something in Washington DC. Some other searches I did were slightly better, but still not as good as Google Local, which presented only cell phone stores within the 20038 zip code.