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Internal emails regarding Ridgeland, South Carolina speed camera system shows profit drives deployment decisions: An ongoing federal lawsuit against the speed trap town of Ridgeland, South Carolina uncovered internal emails last month that shed light on the motivation behind the state's only photo enforcement program. Since July 2010, Ridgeland has allowed the private firm iTraffic to operate a mobile speed camera van on Interstate 95, despite a state law outlawing the practice and a pair of attorney general opinions warning that the photo ticketing was not legal.

See photo at top left of article showcasing one of their high-tech, computer laden facilities on display for this article "What are the most significant security threats? What do we know about them? What don't we know? What is just around the corner that we should be preparing for now? These are the kinds of questions we ask ourselves every day. It's part of our intelligence-driven, threat-based, future-focused approach to defending the country from a range of national security and major crime threats. Today, the FBI combines its investigations and intelligence operations to be more predictive and preventative-more aware of emerging threats and better able to stop them before they turn into crimes. "

"ROI -- or Return on Investment -- is a pre- and/or post-evaluation process and analysis of three factors: benefits, costs, and value of a specific technology purchase over time. ROI can help your organization avoid a technology purchase that is a huge mistake or avoid not investing in a technology that could return many dividends."

some info on the secure content box which can popup over and over and over and over and over if somebody doesn't get a handle on it

The evil secure content popup box terrorizing websites going to the cloud can be stopped!

Obama talking about the importance of investing in wireless technology in Marquette, MI, up north last Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011. This part of a new White House focus on "innovation, competitiveness and infrastructure as a pathway to jobs and 'winning the future.' The president compared the goal of extending wireless access to important successes that connected previous generations of Americans: the building of railroads and the federal highway system."

I really like the plans he is pushing for. Mobile devices is obviously the current frontier to win. The impact on nonprofit activity will be enormous. Most businesses for that matter now have to consider a mobile device plan in supplement to their initial web design plans.

It would be great if non-profits could get on board with something like this--with products pertaining to their services. Also if a project like this was successful with products, it would be great for a system to be created dealing with service projects.

UNICEF is playing with the idea of using QR Codes to encouraging people to donate items on a 1X2 (buy one, give one) basis while shopping at the store. It is a pretty neat way to utilize the technology, and encourage people to donate.

"ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous."

This article describes the advances that public schools have made in technology in the classroom, and also charts who has access and who does not. For example, how many computers per student are available in one school may vary considerably to a similar school in a poorer district.

This site has at Top 10 list for paid social media monitoring services specifically designed for nonprofits. I found it to be very helpful because it had descriptions of each type of service along with costs, and what size nonprofit it would be most beneficial for. This could be useful for a nonprofit trying to organize contacts while also receiving feedback on how they are progressing through social media.

Finding grants for nonprofits to increase and expand on technology could have never been easier

This website gives some good statistics on facebook and how non profits can use and benefit from it.

I know they've held similar events in Lansing and Ann Arbor (not sure about Grand Rapids). I've heard mixed longer term results from the work: some of it sticks, some doesn't. Would be interesting to do a "one-year later" follow up on these.

Open APIs (application programming interfaces) are VERY important to look for when considering cloud-based solutions. Think about the implications for nonprofits selecting an online solution... would you want one with an API or not? (BTW... take a look at the APIs for both Google Apps online and Microsoft Office365 online. Let me know what you find.)

This is the video I showed during the 1/31 class re: APIs. (Cards vs. Candyland)

"The argument for the internet being a wild, wild West of geriatric porn and kitten antics and Twitter wars is a good one, but there is at least some sense of an overarching "etiquette" when it comes to navigating the web and social media. Speaker John Boehner broke one of the rules tenuously keeping the web from descending into anarchy and goatse .gifs by adding his own editorial stance to a re-tweet concerning health care law......."

Brief tips on keeping a better website for a non-profit organization.

Before an organization gets to Twitter and other social media they will have to have settled on a logo. This article critiques 25 powerful and unique logos and how they send their message

Wireless technology platforms are changing rapidly and there is always an emerging battle between two or more delivery paths. LTE appears to have an edge in the immediate future but WiMaxx is one of the technologies that hopes to supplant it. Public safety organizations are endorsing LTE.

There is a definite correlation in mobile wireless applications for public safety and nonprofits alike

How do you decide which cloud platform is right for your company? Well you could trust the cloud rep. implicitly or learn why one platform might be the best fit for your nonprofit or government agency to use. This PDF outlines many of the differences.