Blogwatch: Feb. 27, 2006
To promote its search engine, MSN announced a "Search and Win" contest, hoping to entice users with the prospect of a prize in every search. Inspired geeks like OILMAN cracked the source code to learn that the contest works by linking specific terms to prizes--a "Starbucks locations" search might yield a Starbucks gift card; he posted all 1,165 terms. MAKE YOU GO HMM dubbed the contest "Sit and Spin," scolding, "This is not how to get more people to use your search." Determined, THREADWATCH.ORG wrote a program that sent a keyword through the system 4,122 times. The booty: a Home Depot gift card.
Most Popular »
- The State of Hillary: A Mixed Record on the Job
- Powerhouse Priests Spar Over What it Means to Be Catholic
- Are You Getting Scammed by Facebook Games?
- The Ft. Hood Hero: Who is Kimberly Munley?
- The Meaning of Manny Pacquiao
- Hunting for Tuna: The Environmental Peril Grows
- Indie Film Shakeout: There Will Be Blood
- Troubles for a Deal — and for Obama — in Honduras
- Is the Dollar Dying a Slow Death?
- The Quicksilver Mess
- Powerhouse Priests Spar Over What it Means to Be Catholic
- Are You Getting Scammed by Facebook Games?
- The State of Hillary: A Mixed Record on the Job
- To Help The Kids, Parents Go Back to School
- Indie Film Shakeout: There Will Be Blood
- Hunting for Tuna: The Environmental Peril Grows
- The Ft. Hood Hero: Who is Kimberly Munley?
- Is the Dollar Dying a Slow Death?
- The Meaning of Manny Pacquiao
- Why California is Still America’s Future
Quotes of the Day »
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, to Congressional Democrats, urging them to pass health-care reform
Quotes of the Day »
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, to Congressional Democrats, urging them to pass health-care reform
RSS