There comes a time, usually if you’re working remotely or have no office, where you really need a way to share files, documents, messages and pictures online between a lot of people for free.

Easy, I said at my last Amnesty International meeting, we’ll just set up a Google non-profits account - all their project management tools are free. No thanks, they said, we refuse to use Google because of their human rights record.

John Lyman from Google.org talks to us about how social benefit organizations are using Google Apps to enhance their operations and collaborate.

Our goal is really for non-profits to have access to the same technologies that Fortune 500 companies have… And the way that you do that, basically, is you make the same technology available to everyone, which is what Google has done.

Jed Sundwall: What are you working on with Google.org?

Thank you kbaird for the photo!

Last week about 25 people representing 16 NetSquared Mashup Challenge projects joined us for a Hackathon at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.

You can see photos from the event in the NetSquared Flickr Group Photo Pool. While you're there, why not join our Flickr group?

Google's engineers, product and project managers want to help bring your NetSquared Mashup Challenge idea to life!

Next Friday, March 7th, NetSquared Mashup Challenge applicants have an incredible opportunity to participate in a Hackathon at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA from Noon-5 PM.

A group of Google engineers, product and project managers will be available to help you think through your idea, answer questions, give advice and start building your mashup for social change!

Are you excited? We are!

"Mountaintop mining poisons water supplies, pollutes the air, destroys hundreds of miles of North America's most ancient and biologically diverse hardwood forests and permanently impoverishes local communities. For too long, this devastation has been hidden in the remote poverty-stricken communities of Appalachia. This new website finally exposes this national disgrace for every American to witness. Wherever you live, you have a connection – and a responsibility."
-- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the Official Google Blog.

ilovemountains, has a cool new mashup that even has RFK, Jr. talking about it! It's their "What's My Connection?" campaign. They have combined data so that when you punch in your zip code, you can see how you are paying for mountaintop removal.

This past summer, I helped three park groups place community public art in their parks. A few neighbors near one of the parks had concerns about homeless people sleeping in/near the sculpture, and it became necessary for us to generate and document overwhelming community support to obtain the required city permits.

I used Google Maps to see where the neighbors actually lived in relation to the proposed site, typing in each of hundreds of addresses by hand using the Google Maps "My Maps" feature. Recently, some awesome Google maps have been created about the So Cal fires.

Where o where is the app that imports a spreadsheet of addresses, lets you choose the markers and visually illustrates community support?

Tomorrow Google will launch OpenSocial.

ZDNet's post, Google's OpenSocial: What it Means explains what it will be:

"[T]he set of APIs allows developers to create applications that work on any social network that joins Google’s open party. So far, besides Google’s Orkut social net, LinkedIn, hi5, XING, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning (see Marc Andreessen’s post) have joined the party.

Last week, at NetSquared's San Francisco Net Tuesday Meetup, Steve Miller, Product Manager, Google Earth Outreach spoke to a room of 50+ social changemakers and web innovators about how nonprofits can use Google Earth Outreach for their work.

He began the talk by telling the story of the first time Google Earth was used for awareness raising by Rebecca Moore, Program Manager, Google Earth Outreach. Two years ago, Rebecca presented a logging flyover at a Neighbors Against Responsible Logging (NAIL) meeting. In the NAIL case study on the Google Earth Outreach site, she describes the experience:

"At the packed-to-overflowing community meeting in September, 2005, I first presented this KML to about 300 residents. When I flew in from outer space to the Santa Cruz Mountains, and then turned on the long, red swath representing the logging zone, there was a gasp from the audience.

Personally, I am super excited to announce that the October 9th speaker at Net Tuesday San Francisco will be Steve Miller, Product Manager, Google Earth Outreach.

Ever since I saw the Jane Goodall Institute's Gombe Chimpanzee Geoblog made with Google Earth last fall, I've been excited about the potential for nonprofits to use this tool.