Google Sponsors “Lunar X Prize” to the Moon- $30 Million

It’s been 35 years since we’ve had human presence on the moon. Google announced today that they are sponsoring a contest for the rocketeers of the world. If you want $20 million all you have to do is build an unmanned vehicle that can launch and land on the moon. You also need to take pictures and send them back to Earth. For an extra $10 million your explorer will need to travel 5,000 meters on the moon, discover ice water and/or survive a night on the moon (14.5 earth days) and find man-made artifacts (including Apollo hardware or human footprints). That’s a big load. The public will be able to view all of this on the GoogleLunarXPrize page and it will have to be a high-definition camera (that’s good). The contest is based on a similar contest, which was won by SpaceShipOne, called Ansari X Prize. All SpaceShipOne had to do was fly into outer space and it was funded by Microsoft. That idea came from the Orteig Prize which was won by the one and only, Charles Lindberg. This is totally revolutionary.

Gpay for the Gphone

Google has recently patented a new service called Gpay. It is a form of paying for the cellphone user. Yes you can buy hings from your cell phone, but think of the possibilities of buying food from vender machines just by using your phone. Could this be the killer App that will separate the gPhone from the rest of the phones? Who knows, but Google’ definitely thinking of some ideas that will not only change the way cell phones can pay, but will change the way vender machines will look. For more info about this patent click here.

Two Hot New Google Features

New features? I love new features. The first new feature on Google will be what most websites have nowadays. A wiki! Google has bought a small wiki service called jotspot.com. It is to be an addition of Google Apps. Google has previously announced that jotspot will be part of the Google App program and part of the suite of online office applications Google is developing.

The second feature requires a story from me. Today I was reading the NYT talking about how Microsoft was going right on against google with new tools at Windows Live coming out soon when I thought “Hey, Google has a word processor, spreadsheets and almost every application Microsoft has, on the web. Although I’m sure that Microsoft is not going to beat Google in the internet game, wouldn’t it get Microsoft really mad if Google created an online presentation application? I was going to contact Google, but then I found out that Google already announced that in April! Who knew? Why do all my ideas become other peoples ideas?