MSN offers prizes to searchers
Microsoft is offering prizes to people who use its MSN search engine, according to a promotional Web site it calls MSN Search and Win. "Simply search with MSN, click the Search and Win link in the results, and you could instantly win one of many fabulous prizes," the site says.
The list of possible prizes includes a one-year Netflix subscription; magazine subscriptions; gift certificates at Starbucks, Blockbuster and Barnes and Noble, among others; a Panasonic plasma high-definition TV; a Canon digital camera; a home office makeover; hotel stays; and a cash award to the charity of choice.
MSN isn't the only search engine looking at ways--other than providing good search results--to increase its traffic in the face of the Google juggernaut. Yahoo also is considering offering incentives to get Web surfers to use its search engine.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
