Think about all those different ideas that run through your head when you’re lighting on up being a couch potato.  Well, maybe this is the time to try to pitch some of those and see how they fair. In celebration of their 10th birthday, Google’s announced Project 10 the the 100th to put a grip on these different ideas and use them for a greater cause.

How it works: fill out a 20-step Submission Form that covers your contact info and what your idea is.  Once that’s done with, you hit the Submit button $10 million in funding if you win.

Seem simple enough? Get your brains pumping, people.  Check the video below.

Q: What is Project 10^100? A: Project 10^100 (pronounced “Project 10 to the 100th”) is a call for ideas to change the world, in the hope of helping as many people as possible.

Q: Why is Google doing this? A: The short answer is that we think helping people is a good thing, and empowering people to help others is an even better thing. Here’s the long answer.

Q: How many ideas are you funding? A: We have committed $10 million to fund up to five ideas selected by our advisory board.

Video after the gallery

Google’s Project 10 to the 100th:

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are donating $2 million to a clinic in Ethiopia, the birthplace of their 3-year old daughter, Zahara.  The Global Health Committee will use the money to build a centre in the capital city of Addis Ababa to fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

The centre will be named Zahara. The World Health Organization estimates that the African nation has 1.7 million people infected with HIV and 6,000 people infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis. “It is our hope when Zahara is older she will take responsibility of the clinic and continue its mission,” Pitt, 44, said in a statement.

In Cambodia, where their oldest son Maddox was born, the couple’s opened the Maddox Chivan Children’s Centre, where the centre has provided medical treatment, education and social services to children affected by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis since February of 2006.

“Our goal is to transfer the success we have had in Cambodia to Ethiopia, where people are needlessly dying of tuberculosis, a curable disease, and HIV/AIDS, a treatable disease,” Jolie, 33, said in a statement.

Source:  Telegraph

Today, Google and their partners like HSBC gave $60 million to help place an order for 16 low-orbit Thales Alenia satellites to help improve the infrastructure of developing markets such as Africa.  3 billion people in the world are without internet access, and Google and their partners hope to deliver it to them.  A total of $150-$180m is required by O3B networks (other 3 billion) to establish the satellites.  O3B is the company that will be launching the satellites and managing the initiative.

The company also has plans to convert mobile phone towers into multipurpose high-speed network nodes, which when complete is estimated to cost $750m all told. Google says it will help drop the price of broadband by up to 95% in some places where it’s a rare commodity.

The satellites won’t be launching until 2010, so look for news to break about the companies dishing out the remaining $100m + to launch the satellites from now ’til then.

Source:  slashdot

In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Lance Armstrong said that he was inspired to return after finishing second last month in the Leadville 100, a lung-searing 100-mile mountain bike race through the Colorado Rockies.  For anyone that’s been hiding under a rock, Lance Armstrong’s won the Tour de France SEVEN times, the seventh time coming after he defeated cancer.

“I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden,” Armstrong said in a statement released to The Associated Press. “This year alone, nearly eight million people will die of cancer worldwide.  It’s now time to address cancer on a global level.”

Will Armstrong be able to return for the 2009 Tour de France and win?  First, Team USA might not even be invited to the Tour, because of the doping allegations against the team in the past few years.  Armstrong said that he has already put a call out to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

We hope to see Lance make his way back to the Tour to shine some light on a sport that’s been in the dark ever since he left.

Source:  msnbc

With the poster boy of the Beijing Olympics last month saying that he might be done with competing in the Olympics, what’s next for Michael Phelps?  When he tied Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympic game, he was rewarded a $1 million bonus by Speedo, a company that he’s been signed with since he was 16.

For the past 20 years, a brutal civil war has devastated Northern Uganda. Thousands of child victims of the conflict are now emerging with no home or family awaiting them. They have been labeled the lost generation.  Recent struggles in Sudan and Rwanda have captured countless news coverage and pledged donations, yet, the country in the middle has suffered.   “Doctors Without Borders” recently named the conflict occurring in Northern Uganda as one of the top 10 must under reported Humanitarian tragedies in 2005.

That’s all about to change we hope.  The Gentlemen’s Fund, Citi, and Forest Whitaker have partnered with Hope North to take action.