Google is inviting innovative ideas that change the world and help the highest number of people. The initiative is called Project 10100 (10100 is a way of expressing the number “googol,” a one followed by one hundred zeroes) and Google has committed $10 million to realize the selected ideas —
Here’s how it works. You submit a short description of the idea (and maybe a video) by October 20th, under one of eight categories (community, opportunity, energy, environment, health, education, shelter, and everything else). Google will put up a selection of hundred ideas for public voting and shortlist the twenty most popular ideas. Finally, an advisory board will select up to five final ideas and Google will use an RFP process to identify the organization(s) that are in the best position to implement the selected ideas.
So, Project 10100 is not a social entrepreneurship venture fund — it is meant for people whose desire to see their idea being brought to life is bigger than their desire to bring it to life themselves. I know how powerful that desire can be — because I feel it (suffer from it?) myself — and I applaud Google for tapping into it.
Pay It To Me is the perfect example of a good idea combined with bad design.
The idea itself is elegant. Users post pictures of the items they desire, along with their prices. Advertisers pay for the items in lieu of having their names and links posted on the front page of the website for a minimum of 15 days. The idea is that the advertisers who pay for the costlier items will attract more attention (but it isn’t clear why).
The execution isn’t as elegant. It’s basically a Blogger hosted blog (and not a very well-designed one at that). Clearly, 30 year old Belgian municipal worker Renaud’s creativity doesn’t extend to website design.
Still, Renaud has managed to get some serious coverage on popular tech blogs and even has a publicist e-mailing bloggers on his behalf. What Renaud needs now is a designer. In fact, I have e-mailed Renaud to check if I can submit a ‘wish’ to hire a professional designer to redo his website.
A Global Microbrand is a small, tiny brand, that “sells” all over the world.
With the internet, of course, a global microbrand is easier to create than ever before… And with the advent of blogs this was no longer just limited to people who made products. We saw that any service professional with a bit of talent and something to say could spread their message far and wide beyond their immediate client base and local market, without needing a high-profile name or the goodwill of the mainstream media… But it’s not just limited to cottage industries. The great Tom Peters talks about “Brand You”, a personal brand that transcends your organisation or job description.
(After) I created my own fledgling global microbrand (i.e. via this weblog), I now live in a small cottage in the English boonies, and careerwise I’m getting a lot more done than when I lived in a large apartment in New York or London, for a fifth of the overheads. For one fiftieth of the stress levels.
I have no patience for the stuff in the dead zone, the items that are too slick to be real, but not slick enough to be a marvel.
Seth Godin’s advice is that if you can’t make it really slick, you should make it really simple.
My advice is that even if you can make it really slick, you should make it really simple.
First, let me say that I agree with Seth Godin — it only works if it’s really slick or really simple; all the in-between stuff is mostly mediocre. So, yes, if you can’t make it really slick, you should make it really simple.
However, it takes more time and effort to make things really slick than to make them really simple, and if both really simple and really slick have the same effectiveness, why not go with really simple?
I am a big believer in this thinking and you will notice that both my website template and my daily vidcast are so simple that they are perhaps too simple.
