Tattle-telling on the boss?

Need a little extra holiday cash? Well, if you're an employee in London, snitching on your boss might pay big dividends this holiday season.

While we know that software piracy is a huge problem, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) is going to pay employees who alert the organization that their boss is using pirated software. In London, the payout can be as high as $32,000.

This isn't the first time BSA had such a campaign. A 'Nail Your Boss' campaign took place in the United States in 1997. The BSA is made up of about 80 companies, including Microsoft and Apple.

Given the tough economic climate, the campaign is expected to be very successful. According to the BSA, a whopping 41% of all software is pirated.

The power of social media

Ok, so DARPA, that secretive and sometimes downright spooky research arm of the Defense Department (which totally intrigues me) put out a challenge to find 10 moored, 8-foot, red, weather balloons at 10 fixed locations. The balloons were strategically scattered around the United States and nine days were allowed to find the balloons for a $40,000 winning prize. So, imagine DARPA's surprise when the contest was won in under nine hours. How? Read here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/07/darpa-challenge