crowdsourcing

On Thursday afternoon, President Obama signed the JOBS Act, and among the changes it will bring to the world of business startups is one that makes use of a rising trend: The power of crowdsourcing.

After reading the breathless media coverage about the rumored $2 billion Yelp IPO, I have one question: Does the online-review site make money? None of the articles made any mention, but profitability is the issue that should be first on investors' minds.

On Thursday, Google bought Zagat, a reviewing empire that represents the gold standard for crowd-sourced content. So to get a glimpse of what the future holds for the search giant, the review company, and Internet reviews in general, we've talked with Google VP Marissa Meyer and Zagat founders Tim and Nina Zagat.

On Thursday morning, the announcement went out across the land: Google, the undisputed master of search, had acquired Zagat, America's best-known and most highly-regarded restaurant review company. The companies presented the merger in rosy terms, but it didn't take long for the snarky critiques to begin.

If the financial collapse taught us anything, it's that opacity and self-serving behavior rule at the big Wall Street firms -- so how can the little guy trust their advice? Wikinvest's Mike Sha explains how crowdsourcing can provide better, less biased investment advice to average investors.

It's a classic tale, retold a million times: The brash young gunslinger rises to the top of his craft, only to find himself facing a new generation itching to unseat him. But for Zagat surveys, the most famous name in restaurant reviews, the revolution is far from over.

If all you need is $5 worth of expert help, Fiverr has your number. For the price of a fast-food combo meal, this online marketplace will connect you with someone to proofread your business plan, repair an HTML bug, or whatever you might need. With 500,000 listings, it seems almost any service can be sold in $5 increments.

Before social media was a gleam in the Internet's eye, Tim and Nina Zagat built a crowd-sourced culinary reviewing empire out of the simple idea that ordinary people could rank restaurants as well as any famous critic. Here's how they did it, and where the Zagat's guides are headed in the Digital Age.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Whatever you are, be a good one." Perhaps this is the concept behind fiverr.com, a website where people can sling whatever wacky talent they may have for the low price of one of Lincoln's namesake bills - $5. I bet you didn't know you wanted a beautiful confetti...

The Gap earned nearly universal scorn this week when it unveiled its new logo. But the clothing retailer's response -- a crowd-sourcing request aimed at getting the public to design a better logo for free -- is only fueling the backlash against it.