Google Wants You To Map Businesses

Google is hiring—and you don't even need to know html. The search giant wants locals to visit pizza joints, ice cream parlors, drugstores, and other businesses as part of a Herculean effort to build a commerce database. An army of freelancers will collect the data, snap a digital photo, and then send it to Google for $10 a pop, reports InfoCommerce.

Virtually anyone will be able to "work" for Google; all you need is a digital camera, passion for the web, and a legitimate W-9. InfoCommerce points out a few foreseeable problems: a contractor won't get paid if the biz has already been scoped out which could lead to mass confusion and irritation, and once data is gathered, maintaining it over time will prove onerous. (More data stories.)