Google Offers Reward For Hacking Contest

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And now to Google, which is looking for some hackers to ride to the top in an unusual competition. Our last word in business is pi contest, as in 3.14.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Three point one four - that's the amount, in millions of dollars, that Google is offering in what it's calling its Podium Hacking Contest. The challenge here is to hack the Google Chrome operating system and expose security flaws. Travis McCoy is the product manager for Chrome. And we asked him, why pi?

TRAVIS MCCOY: Well, when we started Podium, we offered a million-dollar prize and then at Podium 2, we raised it to $2 million. This time around, we kind of wanted to up the ante again. And we happen to love nerdy numbers, at Google, so we thought that pi million dollars - or $3.141 million - was a perfect fit.

MONTAGNE: If you can find the holes, you can get a piece of that pi.

INSKEEP: Eeergh!

MONTAGNE: Aah!

INSKEEP: She's here all week.

MONTAGNE: And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

INSKEEP: I'm Steve Inskeep.

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