Can you trust the reviews you read? Get tips on how to be a discerning reader of advice.

Next time you're in the market for a new computer, look for one with the Energy Star logo, which consume 15 to 25 percent less energy than standard new computers.

Our online event, "Online Activism: Social Media Tools for Social Change," is over, but the conversation continues in TechSoup's forums.

Boost your fundraising efforts and save $300! Today from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time only, specially discounted GrantStation memberships are available for just $99 to eligible nonprofits and public libraries.

How did you set up your organization's podcast? Share your experiences with other nonprofits.

Work in a multi-platform environment? Remote Desktop allows Mac users to manage Windows servers and manage PC workstations remotely.

May 31: 2008 Nonprofit Congress National Meeting hosted by The National Council of Nonprofit Associations at Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill

May 21: Free Open Source Webinar-Open Source Uncovered, what a Department of Homeland Security Scan Reveals about Open Source at Free Online Webinar

Jun 11: Nonprofit Blogging 101 at Columbia College Chicago's Center for Book + Paper Arts

Jun 11: MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and Change.org Training for Non-Profit Organizations at Columbia College Chicago's Center for Book + Paper Arts

Here at TechSoup, new donated software is being added to our catalog all the time. Want to be the very first to hear about the latest releases? Subscribe to our RSS feed.

We are steadily expanding our training catalog by adding online seminars that are available on demand, with hands-on coaching and personal attention. Today, I'm pleased to announce the availability of a two part seminar on Organizational Restructuring in the Age of Networks. This is a workshop for anyone who sees the writing on the wall in regard to how networks are transforming fundraising, volunteer management, education, and advocacy. We need to get ahead of the curve on these issues, so that we are able to preserve and build on what's best about our organizations while taking advantage of the opportunities and meeting the challenges presented by the rapidly changing boundaries and relations within and around us.

The latest issue of the Journal of Community Informatics is out. My favorite paper so far is a case study by Arnold, Shepherd, and Gibbs entitled Trouble at Kookaburra Hollow: How Media Mediate. Essentially it looks at a public conflict in a housing estate and how four different media - a community intranet, hand-made signs, public and private meetings, and a television broadcast - mediated the actions in the dispute. They also lay out three factors as accounting for the differences between each medium: the medium's domain, it's "register", and it's patterns of circulation.

Although the blog is SalesForce focused, NonprofitCRM's Anand Sethupathy's recent post on the cost of a CRM implementation is worthwhile reading for anyone thinking about planning such a project. All the major cost factors are described, including: Business Functions, Business Process Re-engineering, Iteration Cycles, Training & Documentation Needs, 3rd Party Applications, Consultant, Custom Code, Systems Integration, Web Integration, Data Migration, Reporting Requirements, and Do It Yourself costs.

The new Journal of e-Media Studies has published its inaugural issues. Published and supported by the Dartmouth College Library, the papers are available in full online. The first issue includes pieces on e-poetry, an examination of FolkVine, and a review of Fred Turner's excellent From Counterculture to Cyberculture.

This month's research theme at IssueLab is on Veteran's Health, a timely topic that is in desperate need of sober assessment. It opens with an editorial by Vanessa Williamson of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. I like the very fact that there is an editorial involved. It's one the multiple frames of reference here which reflect that, even though we must strive for quality in the specifics of our methods of investigation, research is not a socially or politically neutral phenomenon.

Teresa Crawford and Matthew DeGroot of the Institute for Sustainable Communities have launched a blog on advocacy called The A Spot. So many helping organizations fall into the trap of being patronizing, but the ISC has worked hard to avoid that. The blog, with its motto of "Change, not Charity" reflects this strategy.

As part of preparing for an upcoming seminar, I've been giving a lot of thought recently to patterns of failure in online marketing efforts. I had a very big list for a while and then suddenly it hit me: Most of these patterns reflected a desire on the part of the organization to play it safe. I share some of these with you in today's feature article, entitled Playing it Safe is a Trap: Five Syndromes in Online Marketing. Briefly, the five syndromes relate to "best practices", the wrong metrics, self-promotion, cautious language, and control. These really helped me see online marketing programs in more strategic terms and I hope you find them similarly useful.