Comments on: Amazon looks to solve problems that stump computers

"Mechanical Turk" lets developers tap global network of humans to handle small tasks that are part of larger software processes.

[SqlserverCode]

Pays for books

During the time that I eat lunch at my desk I figure I can make about 2-3 dollars. at the end of the month this means I can get myself a technical book (or two) and it doesn't cost me anything plus I put it to good use. This is actually old news since it's from last Wednesday I believe

http://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/

[ryanmickyv]

It wont work

Microsoft might, Apple maybe, but Amazon. what doe they mean by simple problems. I think it would be lousey. Yes some things humans can do better then computers- but If i had a problem- iwould take the 4 minutes to do it instead of paying amazon a small fee......

[Earl Benser]

Can't Amazon find anything significant to do???

... the mental midget that came up with this idea ought to be fired
- or made CEO. He's smarter than Bezos who obviously had to
approve the idea

[gee672]

Minimum Wage

3-5 Cents per task? Did you know it would take 130 tasks to make a minimum wage of $6.50 per hour?...talk about sweat shops...Come on Jeff Bezos...I'd rather work for McDonalds instead and all I have to do is flip burgers.

Maybe you should pay your developers that much for coming out with such non-sense???

GW

Good applications are there

I can imagine several good applications.
1. One may show pictures of a broken part in some machine (whose catalogue one does not have any more) and soemone can quickly tell the inquirer what it is and where one may find a spare part. That will save a lot of aggravation and the inquirer may be willing to pay a couple of dollars (not just cents) for information.
2. One may show pictures of weeds, discolored leaves, rotten fruits, and withering plants, stains on a carpet or furniture, or granite counter top and seek remedial advise.
3. One may show pictures of rash on one's skin and obtain curative advice.
Eventually, this can become a great application.

[Earl Benser]

And who sorts out....

... the true information from the irrelevant??? It's a safe bet that
there will be tons of crap for every small jewel.

[parich1776]

Really?

The WWW is a strange and wonderful place, but not one for sourcing critical information, such as medical diagnostics and remedies, from someone with a net-name like Dr. Bubba - especially knowing that the good "doctor" received 4 cents for his/her/its efforts. Get real.

[nats]

Other companies had that idea before

Hi, tech-angels.net had that idea a couple of months ago, and they dont pay cents, they actually pay 5$ us per incident solved.
They are going live in the next couple of weeks.

[Grark]

Tech-Angels.net

Hey, an angel sent me the link to this story. Sounds like they forgot what made the net so great in the first place. Remember "get paid while you surf?" or "paid per click"? Well once the companies realized the power the internet could harness, they changed policies, changed rates, and eventually turned to close down instead of continuing what was a concept far ahead of it's time.

Tech-Angels.net harnesses the collective credited services of technicians and qualified dabblers and pays them a lot more than pennies. In fact, just to start each successful incident closed is $5.00us. Imagine a customer has the need to get a virus cleared up. A hijacked start page. Easy tasks, real money.

Unlike Amazon who is simply "dabbling" in such concepts, we will be taking our offline business online and sharing the potential with everyone in the world. The more successful our "angels" make tech-angels.net customers, the more we pay. Check out http://www.tech-angels.net/ for ground floor information or feel free to email me with any questions: [e-mail]

[jjnk--2008]

your 2 cents

well this seems like the right place to give my 2 cents worth. considering thats all this article points out.
think of the vauluable information people can pass along. how many times have you stopped someone from sharing their 2cents.
Now there is a chance to be given 2 cents, for your 2 cents, and people criticize. Sure the world isnt going to be honest about it, but what is it honest about, with time this will be pulled off. one step toward borg. (rele bad trek joke sry)