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I found this article to be very interesting, especially relating to the comparison of the U.S. and Chinese patent system. China is increasing it's supply of patents, hoping to stimulate innovation and start-up inventions in the country. China is starting to heavily invest in 4G telecommunication. Wadhwa is offering a different perspective on this issue and ultimately plays down the hype of this story. He asks for the U.S. to concentrate on being a leader in innovation, rather than patents, which seem like nuclear weapons in an everlasting tech arms race that doesn't seem to allow for revision.

This is a survey using information from 238 non profit organizations in seattle. I found it easy to read and interpret. It's a great snapshot of IT use and needs by non profits in a US city.

This article answers some questions about Twitter. What is a Twitter profile, it's value, and how will you use it??

This website reports on the University of Michigan's efforts to use information technology to completely revamp it's systems, and change how they do things at their hospital.

Social media tools, such as twitter and facebook, played a significant part of the overthrowing of Mubarak. With two-thirds of Egypt's population under the age of 30, it's no surprise that internet-savvy, educated, young Egyptians used such tools to break barriers in a country that has been ruled under unjust dictatorship throughout their lives. These tools helped organize and gather the millions of protestors that have sparked revolution in Egypt. Social media and sharing information online has played an almost unimaginable role in this process and certainly poses a threat to governments around the world with dictatorships and a significant proportion of the population who is educated and able to use these tools.

Imagine this. You log onto Everycharity.org (or whatever it ends up being called). A website opens: Instead of looking like it was designed by PhD candidates in MIT's accounting program, it's as visually seductive and appealing as iTunes.

In today's world, we live our lives on the internet. We communicate, learn, find loved ones, get our news and buy products all online. But, 90% of volunteering happens offline.  Traditional offline volunteering has a lot of hoops to jump through.

Technology pop quiz for business owners: What's more secure? A. Data stored in redundant back-up server installations (or "the cloud"), automatically updated and maintained, in a facility secured from outside threats. Or B. Data stored or backed up to an on-site tape or flash drive, whenever the company's controller or non-IT back-office staffer remembers to do it - then left in the drive? For many, the answer in theory is A, but in practice, it's B. Why is this important? Because studies have shown that 70 percent of companies go out of business after a major data loss and 60 percent of companies that lose their data will shut down within six months. Yet those unfamiliar with cloud computing still believe onsite back-up is a safe, secure solution. Therein lies one of the most compelling reasons to embrace cloud or ERP (enterprise resource planning) computing.

Great article on government IT and some of it's misconceptions.

"How American-Made Tech Helped Middle Eastern Governments Censor the Internet" A new Harvard University study details how American and Canadian companies provided Internet filtering and monitoring software to the Iranian government, Mubarak's Egypt and other repressive states. It's still going on.

Amazon launched it's Cloud Player and Cloud Drive service today, which lets you store files online and stream music to your computer or Android phone. We spent some time with it this morning, and despite some missing features, the service is an amazing value and pretty easy to use. Right off the bat, Amazon gives you 5 GB of free storage, which is already more than the free 2 GB Dropbox has.

This is admittedly NOT nonprofit related.  But I thought some of you might be interested to know you can get Windows 7 Professional for just $30 from Microsoft.   If you're running Vista, BUY THIS NOW. Windows 7 runs noticeably faster in my experience than Vista on the same hardware. If you're running Windows 7 Home, it's not as big of a deal (if you're on XP, it can get messy to upgrade. Ask me if you have questions). Andy

The outline of the 12th Five-Year Plan maps out a visionary blueprint for China's science and technology development. It's viewed by officials as a way to nurture talent in both fields, which will ultimately boost the nation's economy.

This article talks about how technology is improving our ability to respond to disasters around the world. Specifically it talks about how technology like SMS and twitter allowed rescue efforts to happen quicker and more efficiently. I think it's cool how with all this new technology we have the ability to save more lives and do more in times of disaster. Families were able to communicate with those in Haiti more than they would have been able to before this technology was available. Also, that with tools like SMS, donations were able to be set up for non-profits to assist in recovery efforts. People are probably more likely to donate if they can do it with something as simple as sending a text message, and organizations will be able to receive the money quicker. Cool article.

This article discusses how Buffalo City Mission, which helps with the needs of poor and homeless families is teaming up with SofTrek Corporation. SofTrek corporation helps many nonprofits by providing donor management software, online marketing and fundraising tools, business services, and technology solutions. It's great that there are corporations out there that work with nonprofits to help them achieve their mission.

If you setup a file server at non profit this article outlines a good strategy for your files structure. The use of outside backup and a partition of disk drives should be done from the start. It is a good idea to determine what the activities will be and make the structure match to avoid over searching... Some seemingly simple structures can be a nightmare for maintenance.. A good file server setup promotes sharing which can produce efficiencies..

This is really server basics for some of the less technical but it's good advice

It's greta to see how many students are benefitting from such projects

For what it's worth, I always find snippets like this in the news to be interesting because everyone thinks the same thing: What are they talking about? A dozen tech execs attended a private dinner hosted by President Obama in California. With Zuckerberg to his right and Jobs to his left, one can't help but wonder what was discussed. Being a poli sci major, I feel the Obama administration certainly needs the Silicon Valley tech giants to help get re-elected in 2012. Nonetheless, i guess investment in Silicon Valley is obviously worth a dinner with the President.

Some helpful tips for if/when you have to register a domain name for your nonprofit's website, and it's already taken. Creative names are worth money, and people are happy to squat on them for as long as possible. These are just a few ways to help get around it.

Government officials have now started using facebook and twitter accounts. It helps people feel more connected and allows them to communicate outside the typical 8-4:30pm, M-F. An issue that arises is it can be an exhausting job for anyone, because it's 24/7. Once the newness of the accounts wear off, they might not be updated as much.