DailyDirt: You Have Won Second Prize In A Beauty Contest! Collect $10.

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There are a lot of online contests, sponsored by all sorts of organizations (usually non-profits). Some of the contests are challenging, and others are just a little strange. Here are some examples that caught our eye.

• A professor of cybernetics promotes the Google Science Fair by encouraging kids to explore and experiment.. and by telling students that one of his own projects involves putting human brain neurons into robot bodies. Great, now kids everywhere are wondering how to scrape brain cells out of their younger siblings. [url]
• Play matchmaker for a guy named Chas... and get a chance at winning $10,000. If Chas marries the girl you recommend for him, collect the money -- or cut out the middlemen, ladies. [url]
• PETA has a $1 million prize for anyone who can sell the first in vitro chicken in "commercial quantities" by June 30, 2012. The lab-grown meat also has to pass a taste test from a panel of PETA judges -- hmm, but how do those judges know if it tastes authentic? [url]
• To discover more interesting stuff from non-profit organizations, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: challenge, contest, in vitro chicken, science fair
Companies: google, peta

Win A Trip To Napa For Your Team, Courtesy Of HP

from the reimagining-ROI dept

This post is sponsored by HP, as a part of its Reimagining ROI campaign, but even so, it's still a pretty cool contest.

As mentioned recently, over the past few months, we've been taking part, along with a bunch of other blogs, in a program by HP called Reimagining ROI. Basically, HP has asked a bunch of blog writers to write up stories of "unexpected ROI" on things they've purchased. This is a sponsored campaign (basically, HP paying us to write about our stories of "unexpected ROI," but no discussions of HP products or anything). You can see a few of our posts at the following links:

• My experience with a portable power strip helping me make friends at various airports and conferences.
• Our research director, Mike Ho's creative uses for dental floss.
• Analyst Joyce Hung's surprising value in an exercise ball.

Anyway, as part of this program HP is running a contest that will send you and five colleagues or friends for a huge five day trip to Napa with a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in as well. I have to say it's a really impressive prize. In order to win, you have to submit your own story of "surprising" ROI, and the best stories can win the prizes (there are some other prizes beyond the big trip).

Filed Under: contest, reimagining roi, roi
Companies: hp

HP Reimagining ROI Contest: Win A Trip To Napa

from the reimagining-ROI dept

This post is sponsored by HP, as a part of its Reimagining ROI campaign.

Over the past few months, we've been taking part, along with a bunch of other blogs, in a campaign by HP called Reimagining ROI. Basically, HP has asked a bunch of blog writers to write up stories of "unexpected ROI" on things they've purchased. This is a sponsored campaign (basically, HP paying us to write about our stories of "unexpected ROI," but no discussions of HP products or anything). You can see a few of our posts at the following links:

• My experience with a portable power strip helping me make friends at various airports and conferences.
• Our research director, Mike Ho's reliance on his whiteboard
• Analyst Joyce Hung's surprising value in an exercise ball.

Anyway, as part of this campaign HP is asking others to submit their own stories of "surprising" ROI and the best story can win a five day trip for six people to Napa with a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in as well. It's actually really quite an impressive haul that they're willing to hand out to the winners. There are some other prizes too, for those who don't win the grand prize, so check it out.

Filed Under: contest
Companies: hp

Connect With Fans + Reason To Buy; The Contest

from the cool dept

This is really, really cool. Filmmaker Ross Pruden -- who I don't know, other than a few quick email exchanges last month -- has set up The Connect with Fans + Reason to Buy Contest, based on the CwF + RtB business model, we've been discussing. The idea is to try to find cool examples of the business model in practice, and to build a detailed list -- with the best business models being able to win a prize. I have absolutely nothing to do with this, and didn't even know about it until I saw a Twitter message from Ross telling me that I was excluded from the contest.

Of course, under the "traditional" way of thinking about things, some might think I should be upset that Ross is taking this concept that I created and doing something else with it. But, that (of course) is ridiculous. I'm blown away that someone liked the concept so much that they've gone forward and set this up, and I really can't wait to see what comes out of it. In the meantime, if you know of such a business model, and want to take part in the contest, you just need to send a Twitter message with the details, along with the hashtag #CwFcontest.

Filed Under: contest, cwf, rtb

Radiohead: Pay Us For A Chance To Make Our Songs Better

from the not-that-appealing dept

It's been clear for quite some time that Radiohead more or less stumbled into its position as "embracing" new music distribution models. The band has admitted that the idea of doing a name your own price download offering was suggested by the band's manager just before they put the album online. They didn't really think it through, they just did it. And, since then, it's been clear that the band doesn't quite grasp the wider economics of what it's doing. It never made sense for the band to get rid of the download offering, but it did. And now, the band is getting some publicity for asking its fans to remix a new single from the band, apparently a song the band has struggled to complete for quite a while. However, the details are anything but fan friendly. Fans are asked to buy the five separate tracks (bass, voice, guitar, strings/effects and drums) and only once all five have been bought are they given access to a program to mix the tracks. And, as a bunch of readers have sent in, the terms are not particularly friendly -- basically saying that the fans have no rights whatsoever, Radiohead gets everything and no one should expect any prizes for participating. In other words, this is Radiohead getting fans to pay the band to do its work.

Filed Under: contest, radiohead, remix