donation posts

Filed under: Developer, Mozilla, Browsers

Good night, and don't forget to tip your add-on developers!

by Jay Hathaway Jul 18th 2009

Mozilla's add-on repository recently added a new feature that might make the developers of popular Firefox extensions very happy: a tip jar. Nobody's charging users to download add-ons, but at least the option is there to reward the (mostly) unsung heroes behind some of the software we use every day. Add-ons aren't really the most glamorous or profitable arena in software development, but Adblock, Greasemonkey and other favorites make daily life on the web a lot more enjoyable.

Because Mozilla's add-on site does such a good job cataloguing and signing add-ons, most people who use them never need to visit a developer's website where there might be a way to donate, so the PayPal tip jar on the Mozilla site might be the only way they get paid anything for their work. I know most people writing Firefox extensions aren't doing it for the big money, but in some cases, I'm actually making money by using their add-ons to work more quickly. I don't see a problem with kicking back a few bucks to the folks who made them.

[via Webware]

Tags: add-ons, donation, firefox, mozilla, tip-jar

Filed under: Internet, E-mail, Web services

Use your email signature to support charitable causes

by Lee Mathews Feb 20th 2009

The "Consider the Environment" meme spread across email signatures like wildfire, and now Reply for All is hoping they can accomplish the same thing.

Their service inserts an advertising-supported signature into your GMail or Yahoo Mail messages that supports a charitable cause of your choosing. Currently, there are eight choices: AIDS prevention, cancer research, children's rights, animal rights, climate change, fighting poverty, clean water initiatives, and supporting education. The insert can be customized three ways: display your cause only, or add rotating relevant facts and your contact information.

Once you begin using your new signature, you can check on the impact you've made on the Reply for All web site. They also provide global statistics, and it's nice to see that they've been able to make some fairly significant contributions since launching their service.

You won't be spamming your mail recipients with ads, either. It's only added once every four hours, and you can always click the brightly-colored no signature button to remove it from a message.

To use Reply for All, you'll need either a Gmail or Yahoo Mail address, Firefox, and the Reply for All addon - which you can install after signing up. There is a privacy policy and a TOS that you may want to read, just so you know what you're agreeing to by signing up.

[ via Digital Inspiration ]

Tags: activism, aids, charity, climate-change, donation, humanitarian

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Microsoft, Social Software, web 2.0

Microsoft's I'm Initiative hits Hotmail

by Danny Mendez May 6th 2008

Microsoft is expanding that successful I'm Initiative we heard about last year to include Hotmail. The company started the I'm Initiative in 2007's March and has so far raised nearly $1.5 million to give to charities.

The "service" makes using Microsoft's services -- specifically Hotmail and Messenger -- beneficial to several causes. Microsoft shares a portion of its advertising revenue collected through its email and instant messaging apps, and although this is "nice" on Microsoft's part, there's a clear business-minded motivation behind it.

Despite that, at least there's some good coming out of the ridiculous amount of instant messaging and emailing we all do. Though we can't praise Microsoft too much: $1.5 million out of the billions Microsoft makes everyday is hardly significant. Then again, if more companies donated a tiny portion of the tremendous amount of money they make everyday, the world could benefit significantly.

Tags: cause, charity, donate, donation, im initiative, ImInitiative, microsoft

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Takes All Types: Use Facebook, donate blood, save a life

by Brad Linder Mar 10th 2008

You might turn to Facebook to see what your friends are up to, organize a party, or just waste some time. But a non-profit group has decided to try to leverage the social networking site for another cause: to find blood donors.

Despite the fact that thousands of people give blood every day, there are constantly shortages of blood. People keep getting sick and injured, and donated blood has a limited shelf life. So the Red Cross and other organizations regularly reach out to news organizations to get the word out that there's a need for more donations. But the non-profit group Takes All Types wants to send the message out via Facebook.

If you sign up, Takes All Types will send you a Facebook alert when your blood type is needed in your area. You'll also be prompted to give blood regularly, and you can opt to receive notifications by phone, fax, email, or SMS as well. Overall, this seems like a great way to get the word out when there's a blood shortage, as you can directly target people who have already expressed an interest in donating blood.

[via New York Times]

Tags: blood, blood-donor, donation, facebook, takes-all-types

Filed under: Business, Internet

Need money? Get your friends to 'ChipIn'

by Ted Wallingford Oct 19th 2007

When Jammie Thomas got slapped with a $220,000 judgment by a jury friendly to the recording industry, the entrepreneurs at a little company called ChipIn had no idea how much free publicity they were going to receive. That's because Jammie is using their donation-tracking widget to raise money for her legal defense.

ChipIn lets you park their widget in your web site, MySpace page, and so on, in order to collect money for any cause you choose. ChipIn will handle the credit card transactions needed to bring in the funds. The more money you collect, the higher your 'progress meter' indicates on your widget, until you've hit your goal.

Tags: charity, chipin, donation, jammie thomas, JammieThomas, web

Filed under: Business, Developer, Adobe, Mozilla

Adobe donates JavaScript engine to Mozilla

by Chris Gilmer Nov 7th 2006

Adobe will be generously donating some code that will allow JavaScript programs to run within Firefox. This new donation will form the Tamarin Project, a new initiative with developers from both Adobe, and Mozilla. The code in question is called the ActionScript Virtual Machine, and is used to run scripts inside the Adobe Flash Player 9. The new code integration is expected to be fully integrated into future Firefox versions, first released in the first half of 2008.

This new donation is the largest donation to date for the open-source Mozilla Foundation. The new addition will drastically help the development of the Firefox browser, especially since HTML and Flash developer communities will both be on the team collaborating on a common language. The addition of the script engine is said to be extremely important to open source projects including both Firefox and the Thunderbird email application.

Tags: actionscript, adobe, code, developer, donation, firefox, flash, html, mozilla, player, thunderbird, virtual machine, VirtualMachine

Filed under: Business, Google

Google's creative donation

by Chris Gilmer Nov 2nd 2006

Google is full of cash that they have to offload. Perhaps just for tax purposes, but also just to be good and give back to the community that gave them so much. What better place to give a nice wad of cash to then the Creative Commons (CC) during their annual fundraising campaign? Creative Commons is a little non-profit organization that helps creators of original content retains their licensing rights, and copyright protection, all the while permitting free use of their materials within certain guidelines. Creative Commons has also recently launched licensing for audio and video materials, giving protection on a whole other level. Google's $30,000 donation to CC was an extremely gracious gesture, again, showing that they do care about content.

Tags: cash, cc, creative commons, CreativeCommons, donation, google, tax

Filed under: Microsoft

Microsoft throws Creative Commons a $25,000 bone

by Jordan Running Jan 3rd 2006

Over on his blog Lawrence Lessig, chairman of the Creative Commons board of directors, writes, "At 12:30pm, an envelope from Redmond appeared at the Creative Commons office. Inside, a check for $25,000. From Microsoft." The check, which arrived on December 30, put the organization well over their $225,000 fundraising goal for 2005. Though $25,000 is pocket change to Microsoft, it's still an interesting move. Is it truly a gesture of good will, or is Redmond trying to gain influence with Creative Commons?

Tags: creative commons, CreativeCommons, donation, fund drive, fundraiser, microsoft

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures

Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party

Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Download Squad bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jay Hathaway	111	5
2	Lee Mathews	82	24
3	Sebastian Anthony	69	254
4	Brad Linder	39	4
5	Jason Clarke	23	0
6	Dolores Parker	8	2
7	Grant Robertson	6	2
8	Victor Agreda, Jr.	5	1
9	Matt Heerema	4	2
10	Nik Fletcher	4	0
11	John Burke	2	0
12	Paul O'Brien	2	0
13	Download Squad Staff	1	0

More Tech Coverage

Control Shift It's all about the experience
Somewhat Frank Perspectives on tech as it fuses in everyday life
Switched Gadgets, web news and commentary
Urlesque Exposing bits of the web

Download Squad