normal hours, no more all-nighters," he says. "And by 2010 I plan on showing up only a few hours per week. It's not because I will lose dedication. I believe with all the hard work I am putting in right now, there won't even be a need for me to show up two years from now."
9. The iPhone Hacker
George Hotz, 18
Most hacking exploits earn their creator at best notoriety, and at worst, a prison sentence. But when George Francis Hotz became the first person to unlock Apple's iPhone last August, enabling it to work with any GSM wireless carrier, he got a $50,000 Nissan 350Z and three more iPhones. The car was courtesy of Certicell, a Louisville-based firm that resells used handsets; Certicell also took the opportunity to hire the then-17-year-old as a consultant.
But Hotz is no one-trick wonder. Before he ever touched the innards of an iPhone, he had won a $20,000 prize in a national science competition sponsored by Intel. The title of his project--"I Want a Holodeck"--proves he's nothing if not ambitious.
These days, the New Jersey teen is studying biotechnology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. For fun, he hacked the magnetic stripe on his student ID card, enabling him to unlock any door on the RIT campus. But he still finds time to play with iPhones. In February, Hotz published another exploit that permits a full software unlock of the latest iPhone software, earning him an additional $1182 from a Web-sponsored unlocking contest.
Memo to Steve Jobs: Hire this kid now, before he puts you out of business.
10. The Social Director
Catherine Cook, 18
Imagine a cross between MySpace and Facebook, only operated by the teenagers who dominate those sites. Now imagine that it's the fastest-growing social network on the planet. That's myYearbook.com.
Not bad for a couple of New Jersey high school students.
In 2005 Catherine Cook was a 15-year-old sophomore tired of her high school yearbook and unimpressed by its online equivalents. "Friendster was boring, MySpace was creepy, and Classmates was a rip-off," she wrote. At the time, Facebook was open only to college students. Why not create something she and her friends would actually use?
So she brought in her 16-year-old brother Dave and her 26-year-old brother Geoff, already a successful Web entrepreneur with a company called CyberEdit, Inc., and started myYearbook.com. With more than 5 million members, it's the world's seventh-largest social network and is growing at a rate of more than 400 percent per year, according to Hitwise.
"I grew up watching my oldest brother Geoff start and run his company, and I knew I didn't want to have a normal job like my parents--I wanted something cooler, more creative, and just more fun," says Cook. "I didn't necessarily see myself starting a social networking site, but I think I've always seen myself as an entrepreneur."
Unlike many of our other wonderkids, Cook says her age was an asset to her.
"When you're a teenager, it's virtually risk-free to start a business: You're still dependent on your parents, so really there are no major risks," says Cook. "Even if you fail, you'll still have a really really great college admissions essay, so just do it already."
Contributing editor Dan Tynan hopes his kids read this story and take the hint.
Post new comment