Microsoft to reward Live Search shoppers with cash

May 22, 2008 · Filed Under Silicon Valley · Comment 

This just came in and it is rather interesting.

Microsoft said Wednesday it will reward US Live Search shoppers with cash for purchases, essentially trying to buy market share it tried to win with its failed bid to take over Yahoo. Under the Live Search “cashback” programs, shoppers using Microsoft’s Internet search service will have percentages of purchases refunded. Rebate money comes from fees merchants agree to pay Microsoft if Live Search online ads result in sales.


I’m not a SEO expert, not even close and based from my experience with go.com (anyone remembers Go.com? the search engine that rewards you for every search.) I can assure you this rewarding program of Microsoft is bound to fail. This is not a reward program, as much as the name says it, this appears to be a hand-out programme and nothing comes out from a hand-out. On the other hand, some critics appear to be somewhat optimistic about this program.

“I believe it will evolve into something much more dangerous to Google over time,” Enderle told AFP. “Long term, I genuinely believe this will create a price war. Up up to the present moment, Google has been taking swipes at Microsoft. Now, Microsoft can take a swipe at Google.”

Microsoft is bankrupt of ideas; I would suggest other alternatives such as a customizable search like what Google is offering in their Adsense program.

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NASA and the Zero-Gravity Pen

October 18, 2007 · Filed Under Make Money Online · Comment 

Here is an interesting story, found at Teaching Sells.

Back when NASA started launching manned spacecraft in the 1960s, they found out that the astronauts couldn’t use pens to write with while in space. The ink wouldn’t flow down through the pen in a zero-gravity environment. NASA decided to retain a man named Paul Fisher to design a pen that would work in space.

A mere $1.5 million later, they had a solution. NASA now had a pen that worked in zero gravity, in a vacuum, and in a drastic temperature range.

The Russian cosmonauts had the same problem, of course.

So they used a pencil.

Now, this anecdote isn’t historically accurate, and has become a bit of an urban legend. The truth is both the US and Russia used pencils at first, and Paul Fisher independently created the pen and sold 400 of them to NASA for a song. The reason the exaggerated story is so widely embraced, though, is because it rings true.

We often expend large amounts of time and effort creating elaborate solutions to problems when a simple answer is right under our noses.

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Making money online is not that tough after all, it requires an innovative approach, not labor intensive approach. Showmoney’s belowabuck.com is a great example, read all about the hidden agenda.

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