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Phones Smart Enough To Give Back: Mobile Micro-Volunteering

Earlier this week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt's personal seed fund TomorrowVentures was part of a $3.35 million round of financing for mobile-gifting startup Giiv. Through Giiv, you can gift directly to friends and family through mobile phones. Your gift is sent to the recipient and redeemed at retailers all through the power of today's smart phones....

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PdF 2010: Photo Highlights

Stay tuned for photos from the PdF 2010 conference here.

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PdF 2010: Notes from the Opening Events

Can the Internet Fix Politics?

That question is the theme of the 2010 Personal Democracy Forum, a two-day conference that merges technology with politics. Another theme that continued to be mentioned during the opening event of PdF was the ongoing disaster in the Gulf Coast, and the inability of the government and private industry to solve the crisis....

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@Safeway:You MUST Like This Page to Continue vs. Like @NissanEVs LEAF & Plant a Tree

In the last two days Safeway and Nissan have launched  unique Facebook landing pages that take different approaches to accomplish similar objectives. Playing off two very different motivations, both companies want your profile information and status updates in exchange for delivering a reward.  In this case, money or karma. Winning the award for the most aggressive approach is Safeway’s landing page promoting a $100 Memorial Day gift card giveaway....

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Pakistan’s Media Ban: Limiting Access and Spurring Action

When I traveled around Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital last month on an independent reporting project, all the sources I encountered under the age of 40 asked me the same question: “Are you on Facebook?”

The social networking site is massively popular in the Islamic republic, and this week’s ban – and subsequent banning of YouTube and nearly 1,000 other social sites – stifles the communication of a population with very few social freedoms....

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