Burnsmarketing.comDARPA, the Pentagon's research agency, released 10 balloons on December 5. The first person or group to determine the locations received $40,000.
This wasn't just a silly balloon contest, DARPA wanted to learn about social networks and behavior and how computer-connected teams used resources and connections to compete.
People were able to see the balloons from public roadways for one day. Peter Lee, a computer scientist and one of the DARPA directors, wasn't sure how people would compete, but he expected people to develop software applications, create large groups of spotters, even disseminate wrong information, or pay for clues, etc. The answer is in... the winning team, Team MIT, built a web site that engaged users and encouraged them to lookout for the balloons. Read the team's strategy here.
Why December 5? Well, that was the 40th anniversary of when the first four nodes of the military-sponsored computer network, Arpanet, were connected. That little experiment was the precursor to today's Internet.
For more info and previous Darpa challenges, check out this New York Times article.
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