Ads Will Help Pay For Surfing Time

If you’ve been killing time surfing the Net, now you can turn your pastime into profits.

But don’t expect to get rich. And to cash in, you’ll have to allow a bar of advertisements to move across the bottom of your computer screen.

AllAdvantage.com, a California start-up, is offering Web surfers 50 cents an hour — up to $20 a month — for their online time. They also earn 5 cents an hour when people they referred are browsing.

AllAdvantage.com will pay people simply for allowing the viewbars to occupy screen space. Consumers don’t have to click onto ads to get their checks.

About 60,000 people had signed up to participate as of early April, the company said.

Other rewards-based companies are infiltrating the Web. Cybergold of Berkeley, Calif., pays its 1.5 million subscribers for visiting advertisers’ Web sites. And MyPoints of San Francisco gives its 2 million subscribers points, which can be redeemed for goods and services, when they click on ads.

Here are some new or entertaining Web sites to check out while you’re running up online time to pad your earnings:

* Rate check: Consumers inundated by credit card offers can compare interest rates online.

A site sponsored by Intelligent Life Inc. in cooperation with Bank Rate Monitor allows you to search for the best credit card deals by state.

One section gives the lowest introductory interest rates and another lists the best rates after the introductory period ends.

Information also is provided on rebates, platinum card deals, gold card deals, frequent flier bonuses and annual fees. It’s free, but expect to be bombarded with ads.

The same site also lets you search for low-rate auto loans and mortgage and home equity loans.

http://www.bankrate.com

* Kidding around: Looking for a safe place for your kids to surf?

Add Zeeks.com to the list.

The site, for kids age 6-13, offers chats, interactive games, customizable calendars, personalized e-mail, and Web authoring and research tools. And it features a free proprietary filtering software that restricts more than 100,000 Web sites containing inappropriate material for young audiences, including pornography, violence, drugs, hate speech and gambling.

http://www.zeeks.com

* Duffer’s delight: As winter relaxes its grip on the Inland Northwest, golfers’ thoughts turn to resuming play interrupted by snow, ice and frozen greens.

The Web offers a cornucopia of information for golfers on topics ranging from weather conditions at major courses to tournament information.

Web sites of potential interest to aficionados include:

http://www.masters.org; http://www.pgatour.com

http://www.golfonline.com; http://www.pga.com

http://www.weather.com