Google offers millions of Dollars

Building a real time, user-reported news service might sound utopian but the idea is one among the 16 that could end up getting millions of dollars from internet major Google.

The company has shortlisted 16 ideas that has the potential to help the most number of people and up to five of them, would receive funds worth $10 million.

According to information available on its website, the project is a "call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible".

The 16 ideas such as building a real time, user-reported news service and making educational content free online, were shortlisted from thousands of ideas submitted by people from different parts of the world.

Going by the website, the firm would give $10 million to fund the implementation of as many as five ideas. As per descriptions available on the website, the user-reported news service would help people find and report timely, important local information.

"Implementation of this idea would involve creating a system that enables ordinary citizens to easily report news that's happening around them, from meaningful local events to important global stories," the website said.

Other ideas include creating genocide monitoring and alert system, promoting health monitoring and data analysis and building better banking tools for everyone.

The public can vote on these ideas till October 8.

AGLOCO DOESN'T PAY TO SURF

If it was a bad idea the first time around, it’s probably a bad idea the second time around too.

Mike was harsh on AGLOCO, a variation of the failed AllAdvantage pyramid scheme from a few years ago, when he wrote about their launch. He was right to question the business - they’re closing down. The following email was sent to at least some AGLOCO members:
We would like to update you on the status of AGLOCO’s operations. We continue to believe in the AGLOCO concept, but our revenue is currently not sufficient to give Members a meaningful distribution. And though there are increases in membership, the resulting revenue is not enough to support operating costs. As a development team we are unable to continue to use our savings to fund the operations. If any Member would like to pursue continuing the operations of AGLOCO, you may contact us at agloco1@live.com .
We would like to thank every Member for supporting our effort to bring a piece of the Internet directly to the user. We hope that we can find a way to keep the operations going.
AGLOCO is the reincarnation of AllAdvantage (complete with some of the same founders), a Web 1.0 company that paid users for viewing advertising through a toolbar. The founders, who blamed the stock crash in 2000 for the AllAdvantage faiure, claimed they’d get it right this time around. In particular, the ability to highly target advertising would allow them to generate enough revenue for a sustainable business.