
This man certainly looks qualified and capable of finding the next great American entrepreneur. (Photo: Deadline)
It’s the news no one in tech has been waiting for with bated breath. Hot on the heels of the announcement that Randi Zuckerberg’s Silicon Valley Start-ups will debut on Bravo next month, a new tech show is rumored to be in the making. Except this time it’s an X Factor-style talent show, featuring ex-American Idol judge Simon Cowell and Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am.
“Singing and performance create a couple of jobs. But this will create lots,” Will.i.am. told The Sun. “It’s about getting in touch with youth and giving them a platform to express themselves — whether that’s in science or mathematics.”
Will.i.am’s involvement is unsurprising given his penchant for space hype. A song he wrote for kids about math and science was recently broadcast from the surface of Mars, leading some to conjecture whether or not it would instigate a full-scale alien attack on our planet.
The show seems to still be in its very early stages, but one thing is clear: These producers obviously have no idea how boring working to become a successful entrepreneur actually is. How will the show even test the contestants’ skills? “Write a PHP script that generates the numbers 1-10 in a vertical line.” “Write a blog post about your morning routine and post it to App.net.” “Get a controversial screed against MongoDB to the front page of Hacker News.”
Titillating television, y’all.
Jessica Roy is a reporter for Betabeat and the New York Observer. Follow Jessica on Twitter or via RSS. jroy@observer.com
