The ads themselves fill half the 4-gigabyte hard drive, and they're updated every time users go online. If that doesn't happen often enough, the PC will connect itself to the Net for that purpose. Just be sure it doesn't get hold of your long distance calling card. Businesses usually have to settle for vague assurances that their advertising dollars are well spent. Nobody really knows how many people see a particular commercial or whether viewers actually end up buying anything.
Online advertising has the potential to change all that.
Companies can learn who clicked on what ad and whether they responded by purchasing anything online. They also can design custom ad campaigns around the interests people express through their Web surfing habits. When companies do this sort of thing on the sly, it's usually denounced as an invasion of privacy. Widespread concern about relatively harmless intrusions like cookie files and e-mail spam also suggests that people value their privacy. But the excitement over Free-PC's offer shows many of these same people are happy to cut a deal.