Show HN: Search Engine That Pays Your Student Loans for FREE. Over 1000 Users

browseu.com

2 points·browseu··3 comments

Isn't this similar to late '90s browser add-ons that used to pay you to have their ads always displayed?

I'm not quite sure what you're referring to. I might have been too young during that time. Just by the short description it sounds fairly different. Bing and Google also display ads during your searches. Whether you notice them or not. They keep 100% of the profit from those ads. We haven't changed anything besides the business model. The only reason companies like Google make as much money as they do is because so many people use their search engine and continue to generate those ads. These companies make their money from the actions of their users. Without those users there is no money. This is why BrowseU gives back to its users in the form of student loans. They're the reason money is generated from the ads and they should be compensated for that.

> The only reason companies like Google make as much money as they do is because so many people use their search engine and continue to generate those ads

I'm not very into this advertising mumbo jumbo, but you might be wrong here, since Google have AdWords/AdSense on couple more sites than the search pages. :)

Long story short, there were these companies that either had a browser add-on or a stand alone app that filled 10-30% of your screen with ads, for which you were paid by hour.

Some networks were so successful they even give free PCs :)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_to_surf - http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/12/17/free.pc.reut/ - http://www.angelfire.com/pe/home4u/cl204.html

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