Amazon.com has announced its third annual Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge, a contest for entrepreneurs and start-ups.
The winner of the contest will receive $50,000 in cash, $50,000 in Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits, mentoring sessions, and premium gold support for one year. The winner may also receive an investment from Amazon.
All finalists will receive $5,000 in AWS credits and all qualified participants will receive $25 in AWS credits.
Will Google Chrome OS Challenge Windows?
Google has announced that it is working on an operating system based on Google Chrome (their browser). The company says the project is an attempt to "re-think what operating systems should be."
The OS-in-progress is simply called Google Chrome OS, it is open source, and it will initially be aimed at netbooks. The announcement came on the same day that Google dropped the "beta" tag from Google Apps.
Online Brand Fraud Poses Challenge To Marketers
Marketers say they are seeing an increase in online brand attacks driven by the down economy, according to a study by the Chief Marketing Office Council.
The study of 306 markets, sponsored by MarkMonitor, found that 29.5 percent of marketers are reporting a greater number of incidents of online brand fraud.
Study respondents said brand value, trust, integrity and reputation are being significantly damaged because of gray market knock-offs, phishing attacks, cyber squatting, email scams, trademark abuse and copyright/patent infringements.
The Craigslist Challenge Continues
Craig Newmark never killed anyone. In fact, all Craig wanted to do was help people. Unfortunately, Philip Markoff possibly did kill someone, and he found his lead on Craig’s website, Craigslist.org.
Shortcovers Could Challenge Amazon’s Kindle
You’ve probably heard a lot of hype about the new Kindle 2 from Amazon that people just started receiving this week. This isn’t the only news in electronic reading materials though. What if you could just get books delivered to your phone? That doesn’t sound too bad, and it’s exactly what Canadian Indigo Books & Music, Inc. is doing with its well-timed release of Shortcovers, which launched today.
A Search Engine Marketing Challenge
A few search engine marketers have come together to present the SEM Challenge, which is described as a project for the search engine marketing community to use their online skills to make a real difference in the offline world. The initiative is working with charity organization FORGE, which works with displaced communities in Africa. The challenge itself is to meet their budget gap of $100,000 through a pro-bono SEM campaign designed to increase awareness and donations.
12 for 12,000 Challenge in 2009
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the world around me, around us. When the economy is so bad and much of the future is uncertain, it’s easy to forget that as bad as we have it, there will always be someone worse off. Illness; poverty; hunger; abuse; these and more happen every day to people breathing the same air as us. Which is why I’m setting up the 12 for 12,000 Challenge in 2009.
Pepsi’s Social Media Challenge
Recently, PepsiCo and Edelman Digital staged a small event to tap the minds of 25 social media marketing experts about how best to engage the online community. The event began with mystery packages and ended with a discussion in a special branded area of FriendFeed called the Pepsi Cooler. The results, though, seem a little flat.
Android Developer Challenge Concludes
The Android Developer Challenge has ended, and there’s no doubt that it worked out well for developers – ten teams each received $275,000 awards and another ten got $100,000 apiece. Things seem to be headed in the right direction for Android users, too.
Facebook Facing Another ConnectU Challenge
Although the two sides signed a settlement of ConnectU’s suit against Facebook, ConnectU claims new evidence merits an end to that agreement.