http://networkchallenge.darpa.mil/
I was thinking a meta-search-engine bot on facebook / twitter / google might be good, if you could collate the hits and map them geographically.
A:
I'd report a terrorist threat in the form of red weather balloons to several major news networks (cough fox cough), and then wait.
Tom Ritter
2009-10-30 20:52:25
A:
Search all cities for social networking traffic containing "red" and "balloon"...
a la... LocationFeed Beta
Edit: Oh, I'd also report it to some news sources that there's a boy inside and simply soak up the RSS.
routeNpingme
2009-10-30 20:55:33
A:
Google Blog Search would be good to use since the results are timely and can be sorted by date. Just search for "red balloon."
But to win I imagine you'd have to be a lot more clever than that.
Steve Wortham
2009-10-30 20:56:32
A:
We’ve got a strong team that’s going to give all the money to charity (Red Cross). If you’d like to help, report your balloon sightings to http://www.ispyaredballoon.com/ or at facebook group ispyaredballoon
nathan chambry
2009-12-03 17:53:21
A:
oin the MIT team, invite your friends and you can win money, help science, and help charity!
Find all the information about our approach at http://balloon.media.mit.edu/
THANK YOU AND... GOOD LUCK!
The MIT Red Balloon Challenge Team
MIT
2009-12-04 02:31:56