I must say I am surprised at some of the comments that have already been left here. I would think a community like HN would be excited to see a project come out of the woodwork like this...at least <i>I was</i> and heck, I've already submitted an idea and may submit a couple more.<p>If, as everyone opines on here constantly, ideas have little to no value, but rather it is the <i>execution</i> of those ideas, why not submit ideas that may have some validity, and let Google essentially play matchmaker and help find the organization, people, and talent to execute on that idea?
Here's an idea for Google. I don't very much care exactly how they implement it but here's the outline:<p>1) Let various non-profits like the Red Cross or the Susan Komen Foundation etc. register as 'Recipients' with Google's AdSense program<p>2) Let website publishers who are (perennially) stuck with sub $100 earnings nominate one of these organizations to receive their AdSense balance- whether it is $0.25 or $99.<p>Bingo! All that money that Google is sitting on gets put to work immediately for worthy causes. Even if Google pays these orgs only when the total exceeds $100, this would help a ton of people around the world.
The incentive for submitting a great idea is sharply diminished by the fact that you don't get to have a say at all in the implementation of it. The project doesn't adhere well to the psychology of altruism.
I'm not buying. As Howard Roarke, the protagonist in 'The Fountainhead' says, "The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing."<p>We don't need more altruism or nobless-oblige. We need more innovation. Google, who all but started the cloud computing model, is a leader in innovation. They should stick with what they are good at, technological innovation, and not have some kind of save the world guilt trip. The world benefits most by a Google that is focused on the one thing they are great at: search and a cloud computing dev environment.<p>Don't save us, google. Just keep up the good work. That way, by benefiting from your technology, we can save ourselves. :-)
It is not selfishness nor altruism. It is their execution.<p>Anyone would be dumb not to see that Google through this project is trying to milk people for ideas for nothing in return.<p>We all want to help that is true (well besides the psychopaths and that's like 2% of the population) but if someone else is profiting from my help, the way Google most probably would, is just hurtfully cheating.