Google Puts the Brakes on Saving the World

The screeching halt of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)'s "Project 10 to the 100th," suggests that, for Google, saving the world is just too time consuming.

Project 10 to the 100th (or Project 10100), launched last September, was an effort by Google to both celebrate its 10th birthday and -- while they were at it -- save the world. (All in a day's work...) Prompting people with the missive "How many people could your idea help?" the project commissioned ideas for changing the world and offered $10 million in funding to the best ones to help make them a reality.

Here's a pretentious fun video promoting the project:

While we tend to pick on Web users for their apathy, it turned out that lots of people actually did care enough to share their philanthropic ideas. So many, in fact, that Google simply can't handle reviewing them.

The deadline for submissions was October 20, 2008. Semifinalists were to be announced in late January, after which the Internet public would get a chance to vote for their favorites, which were then to be narrowed down by an advisory board and revealed to the Earth as winner by mid-February -- the scheduled date for ultimate world-saving on Google's dime.

Well... let's hope the ideas weren't time-sensitive, because it seems this project has come to a halt. After first delaying the semifinalist announcement until March, Google then posted verbiage putting off the vote indefinitely:

Thank you to everyone who submitted an idea. We received over 150,000!

Due to the enthusiastic response we received, it's taking us longer than we expected to review all the ideas. Check back later, or sign-up to receive an email update when we've announced the top ideas.

You got that, needy folk? "Check back later" -- oh, and try not to die until then. Bad for our image.

Responding to an inquiry from Internet Evolution as to how far along Google is in the judging process and when the winner(s) would be announced, a Google spokeswoman provided no date, instead telling us the following:

We unfortunately have had to delay announcing the top ideas for Project 10^100 for a while longer. We've never managed a project like this and it's taken more time than we ever imagined possible. We apologize for our over optimistic assumptions about how quickly we could analyze all the ideas that we've received, and thank everyone for their patience. We'll continue posting updates on the Official Google Blog.

Isn't it convenient that, for its 10th birthday, Google got its usual gift: Endless love from the media, which it used to flaunt its latest fruitless endeavor in changing the world. As far as the delivery on that promise goes, however, well, Google will have to get back to you.

Perhaps in the meantime, then, Google could do its part to save the world by shutting down, thereby eliminating the carbon emissions from its private jet?

Just a suggestion.

But, yes, do take your time, Google. It's not as if anyone's lives are at stake or anything.

Oh, wait...

? Nicole Ferraro, Site Editor, Internet Evolution