

Google One Today - andreavaccari
http://www.google.com/onetoday/

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tomasien
Have you ever been working on something then had some huge company just go
ahead and release exactly what you're building? Yeah, um, that totally didn't
just happen to me.

~~~
VikingCoder
Contact the team. Ask for a job.

No, seriously.

~~~
fijal
i'm impressed with your belief in google. You can't just do it. It's a giant
institution with rules and hiring process is formal and can't be done by the
team.

~~~
VikingCoder
There are at least two ways to get hired at Google:

* Apply blind

* Work on something fascinating, and have someone on the inside want to hire you

The second one is normally acquisitions, but it's how researchers often get
hired away from universities as well.

I'm not saying it's likely for someone to get hired the second way, but it is
possible.

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scrrr
I once saw a nice idea when I was traveling to Sofia in Bulgaria. When I
withdrew money at an ATM it asked me at the end if I would like to donate 1
LEV (0.66 USD, 0.5 EUR) to Unicef.

I really liked it, because it's a very small amount of money, a big name
(Unicef), and it's no hassle at all.

I don't know if there are enough ATM withdrawals for the sum donated this way
to be significant at all. But if yes, I wish they would do it in other
countries, as well.

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molecule
"One Today is an app that brings together people and nonprofits through the
simple act of giving $1."

To be clear: you'd be giving the non-profit $0.98, and your credit-card
company $0.02:

<http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html>

"How much of my donation will reach the nonprofit?

"The nonprofit will get all of your donation except the credit card processing
fee of 1.9%"

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ryandvm
And this is the real value of Bitcoin et al. As more and more commerce moves
to the Internet, I become increasingly irked by the credit card processing
"tax" levied by Visa/Mastercard. I long for the day we can yank those leeches
off the legs of the Internet economy...

~~~
nhaehnle
Of course, Bitcoin is also designed to charge a processing fee. This is
currently optional, but it is entirely conceivable that this would change in
the long run if Bitcoin ever sees adoption on a serious scale. This holds
especially true given that mining awards will go down. Furthermore, services
built _on top of Bitcoin_ will have such charges as well.

I don't think economics as a science has a consensus theory _that has
withstood serious empirical shakedowns_ for explaining how high such fees end
up in practice.

~~~
ceph_
You know the bitcoin exchanges are taking a transaction fee in the same way
the credit card companies are, right?

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nhaehnle
I'm very much behind on this since you wrote that two days ago, but I wrote my
initial reply in the mindset of "what if Bitcoin becomes more pervasive" - as
in: it gets increasingly used as an alternate currency. But of course your
point still stands for the world today, and that other world will probably
never come anyway.

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jeffdavis
What do they do to prevent fraudulent charities?

E.g. a "save the seals" campaign that spends all its money on lavish salaries
and helps one seal a year?

People paying only one dollar are unlikely to do much research.

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pavs
From: <http://www.google.com/onetoday/faq.html>

How you find the nonprofits featured on One Today? All the nonprofits on One
Today are members of Google for Nonprofits.

<http://www.google.com/nonprofits/>

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Following that logic, if I open a Google Apps for Business account that must
mean I run a honest and ethical company.

To become a 'member' of Google for Nonprofits, non-profits only need to show
that they hold current 501(c)(3) status. That's a pretty weak filter.

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frasierman
I found it a bit weird that they never asked for my email, they just assumed
that my Gmail account was my email.

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hallmark
This sounds an awful lot like Philanthroper, which Mark Wilson eventually had
to shut down. However, it's a slightly new angle, and I sincerely hope they
succeed. I created a nonprofit Facebook app many years ago in the same space.
It's tough, but Google has the resources to see it through.

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solox3
It won't fly just like this - You can't just ask people to download an app and
donate a buck a day. You need an incentive. This will definitely work if the
$1 gets the donor an "item of the day" from the play store, which Google can
most certainly give out copies for "free".

~~~
Sunlis
That seems quite cynical. Kiva is quite successful, and they offer no
incentives at all; you just loan $25, wait for it to be repaid, then loan it
out again.

<http://www.kiva.org/>

~~~
ruswick
Regardless, adding a tangible incentive will undoubtedly increase adoption and
will cost Google little to nothing. It seems like a good idea.

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beyti
Is it just me or is it really weird to request an invite to use an app which
needs your donation?

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nodata
The invitations are to create exclusivity and drive demand.

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nazgulnarsil
Let's continue to encourage people to give to charities with shit
effectiveness!

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prawn
Same thing happens with whoever I give money to - taxes, paying off my wife's
credit card, etc...

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hayksaakian
> Google has a long-standing commitment to supporting nonprofits and to do
> doing good.

The best kind of good

/snark

