Just so nobody misses the point - there's no evidence that the incidence of spam and malware being generated is improving. "What we have seen is a significant uptick in the area of malware related to the expanded use of social networking sites. Although we are isolating the malware, it blows my mind how significant it has become,"

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.

New Year resolutions are often easy to make and even easier to break, but this year PDF users worldwide can make resolutions worth sticking to. As tech enthusiasts try to follow better computing practices for 2011, Nitro PDF Software (www.nitropdf.com) provides easy-to-follow, helpful tips and products for a pain-free year of PDF usage.

Survey tools automatically collect and tally responses in "real time," which means you can watch the results come in as they're being submitted. Results are often organized and presented graphically using charts and tables. Most tools will even produce reports based on the survey results. You can share the results with members of your staff, and even with survey respondents. post date:  Feb. 1, 2011

SMinOrgs Founder Courtney Shelton Hunt has created a number of resources that address some of the connections between social media and the management of human capital in organizations. 

"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.

Professor Bo Brinkman, has developed an Android app that could save librarians a lot of time and hassle. Using the Android's camera, the app "reads" a bookshelf, and with an AR overlay, quickly flags those books that are misplaced. It will also point to the correct place on the bookshelf so the book can easily be re-shelved correctly.

Modernizing the 990-PF to Advance the Accountability and Performance of Foundations: Part 2 (posted 03/21/2011 to website) (John Craig is executive vice-president and COO of The Commonwealth Fund. Craig is chair of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, and a former chair of The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF). He serves on the boards of the TIFF Education Fund, the Greenwall Foundation, the International Women's Health Coalition, and the National Center for Law and Philanthropy, and on the investment committee of the Social Science Research Council.)

CELEBRITY PHILANTHROPY ADVISOR BECOMES REGULAR GUEST CONTRIBUTOR TO THE MICHAEL CHATMAN GIVING SHOW   **Portfolio Includes NBA Stars Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant & Luol Deng Halleemah Nash is an entrepreneur, philanthropy professional, and youth advocate. Her journey from the streets of Compton, California to Howard University is what inspired her plight to reach back from where she came and make a difference by helping others understand, in her words, "it's not about your location but about your destination."  

* Online is the fastest-growing fundraising channel for nonprofits. In 2010, Convio's clients raised more than $1.3 billion online, up 40 percent from 2009. * The median growth rate in online giving was 20 percent. The median growth rate was 14 percent in 2009.

Microsoft Community Affairs and TechSoup recently hosted a webinar focused on how moving to the cloud can benefit nonprofits.

Food shortages and distribution issues have become a major problem in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In many areas, supermarket shelves are empty, particularly as people stock up on food and other items as they face uncertainty around the nuclear situation in the country.

Technology is increasingly important to the American Red Cross. We are an old organization proving we can learn new ways of doing good. Our ultimate goal is to empower the American public to get help or give help during emergencies. A healthy dose of passionate people, tools, and gadgets are required to do this effectively.  

Thanks to technology, email accounts, social networking sites, and cell phones are now prime marketing real estate. In order to strike the right balance between marketing to the masses and generating revenue, organizations should do two things right away. First, establish communication guidelines that reflect the organization's vision, mission, short and long-term objectives (collectively, the brand)-not what the business Joneses are doing. Second, ask constituents what matters to them.

New York City-based Catchafire, a business that links nonprofits with skilled volunteers who are ready to perform discrete, pro bono tasks. The goal is two-fold: to help nonprofits build capacity within their organization by using volunteers and to provide professionals with high-quality, skills-based volunteer experiences.

I'm always up for something fun and helpful. With the social web, there are some tried and true ways that I approach cause marketing and raising money for nonprofits.   

young hacker is holed up alone in his apartment. His face is lit by a laptop screen, monitor split between a live video stream and a text editor filled with code. Fueled by Ramen Noodles and caffeine, he codes away through the night, monitoring the latest hashtags on Twitter, never a few seconds behind the newest exploding meme, instantly transmitting the latest news to others in his social graph. ((This is a scene that is played out in the rooms of countless hackers and their "lean startups" around the world. Only for the past few weeks, it could have just as easily described an entirely new, organic, philanthropic phenomenon: Hacktivism. Hacktivism is the use of hacking and the startup mentality to tackle and support social good causes.

When most businesses and non-profits start using social media, they start with "small talk" with their communities. They politely reply to tweets, express appreciation to donors, respond as quickly as possible to customer support issues, and generally try to add value to their network. But all to often, they fail to move beyond the "small talk" and create meaningful discussions that their communities are dying to have