Google Struggles to Give Away $10 Million
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By Eliot Van Buskirk
- June 28, 2010 |
- 1:29 pm |
- Categories: Crowdsourcing
On its tenth anniversary in 2008, Google promised $10 million to the best five ideas for using technology to improve the world, through Project 10100 – a neat play on words (10 to the 100th power expresses the number “googol,” which is a one followed by one hundred zeroes).
Google’s intentions were good, of course — $10 million spent the right way could have a real impact on these problems, which range from building better banking tools to a real-time, user-reported news service. However, the company’s follow-through leaves much to be desired. Google announced this cash prize contest in September 2008 and closed public voting on 16 finalists chosen from over 150,000 ideas in October 2009. Over eight months later, the company has yet to announce the winners.
Meanwhile, e-mails sent to Project 10 to the 100th’s Gmail account are bouncing, indicating that Google has deleted the address. And the company’s press department has yet to respond to our inquiries about the project.
“We’ll announce the winning big ideas in the near future,” reads a notice on the project’s website, which lists “©2009 Google” at the bottom. According to Daniel Meyerowitz, who says his idea for mapping ongoing genocides and providing early warning of new ones is a finalist in the competition, Google has not said a peep about this competition in nine months — despite having apologized for delays as early as March 2009.
“While genocide and other pressing problems relentlessly advance, it would seem that Project 10^100 does not,” Meyerowitz told Wired.com. “Years behind schedule. Nine months since announcing their most recent delay. How hard can it be to give away ten million bucks? Harder than Google can handle, apparently.”
So Google get 150,000 submitted ideas for free. And you can be sure that they are refining the best of them for themselves, for that is business, is it not?
What a clever idea, Google, although it is hardly original.
SHIT, JUST PLAY THE LOTTERY, THEY GOT A WHOLE GROUP OF DUMMIES, THAT WILL GIVE AWAY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, FOR NOTHING!!!!!!! AND THE GREATEST THING IS THE ACTUAL PLANET EARTH COULD GIVE A WHOOT WHAT HUMANS DO WITH ILLUSIONS!!!!!!!!!!
true dat daequalizer.
Maybe it’s taking them a long time because they’re having a difficult time narrowing the ideas down to 5..
Ideas are worthless. Execution and implementation is where all the hard work and creativity ends up.
How awful make crappy software and spend 10 million, afterward to conclude a new sliced bread method would be better worth the money?. Why I have a better idea for them “give me the ten million I’ll give them a concept worth that much” and why not same thing happened for facebook and the like only thing different, with mine idea this will be software you own service data is something else.
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Now what will happened to the thousands of other ideas? Google will just secretly hid on their stash — for its google darth-vader attack… in the future.
Maybe they need to pay a panel 10 million to decide the best ideas. joke.
hey guys, I just thought I’d contribute to this exciting conversation by posting something in a fit of arbitrarily assigned rage stemming from the discontent I feel about my own life. Here goes.
OMFG! JUST ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF STUPID MORONS BEING DUPPED BY CORPORATE AMERICA IN ANOTHER FAIL-ASS CROUDSOURCING SCAM! THE SAME RETARDS THAT ELECTED OBAMA. YOU SEE HOW THAT TURNED OUT….
Hum, that didn’t feel quite as rewarding as I hoped.
Dear Google,
Giving away money is easy. Giving away money wisely is not easy. Here’s a thought: please give your money to American school districts who are embracing technology in education. Our kids future depends on it. thanks… SusSaw