We hope your holidays were peaceful and that you're as excited about the possibilities of 2008 as everyone here at NTEN.

Don't forget that the Early Bird deadline for NTC 2008 registration is January 15th, just about a week away. If you're planning on attending the NTC -- and we hope you are -- be sure to save those $100 by registering soon.

It's also not too late to sign up for the NTEN Technology Leadership Series, presented by John Kenyon, kicking off this Thursday, January 10th, with "Getting the Big Picture: Intro to ICT Systems and Analysis". You can register for the full series or individual webinars.

More to the point: we have four fresh webinars coming at you next week:

When Earthlink famously pulled out of its deal with San Francisco to install a city-wide wireless network, many individuals declared it the nail in the municipal wireless coffin. It's true that municipal wireless projects are getting knocked around all over the country: the Philadelphia and Minneapolis projects have also come under heavy fire. These criticisms have led lots of folks to question the whole idea of ubiquitous access.

What's more telling than all the hoopla is the fact the communities are persistent, insistent even, about developing wireless solutions. Check out the latest from San Francisco.

It may take a while, but communities will figure this out for themselves. Are you part of the discussion in your community?

Flickr Photo: merfamWhen you ask folks what issues matter most to them in this election, technology almost never tops the list. But there are a number of technology issues being debated in the policy arena that could profoundly change our daily lives as individuals, and as nonprofits.

Net Neutrality, copyright, and Internet surveillance are just a few of the topics politicos are addressing these days. Lucky for us, CNET compiled detailed responses from a number of the presidential candidates about where they stand. Not all candidates chose to respond, but here are the answers from those who did:

• Hillary Clinton (D)
• John Edwards (D)
• John McCain (R)
• Barack Obama (D)
• Ron Paul (R)
  

Sadly, Stewart and Colbert did not respond.

A discussion thread about email subject lines has been growing on The Progressive Exchange List, beginning with a question from Karla Capers of the Union of Concerned Scientists:

I just received this email from "Doug Bishop" asking me to make a donation to the Edwards campaign. I have used this tactic before to raise money for organizations--sending an appeal to the list from a fellow "everyday person"--but I've never changed the "from" name on the outgoing email. I worry that if the email comes from a new name that list subscribers don't recognize they'll either just delete it, or worse, report it as spam. What do others think about this tactic?

The first week of 2008 has already offered up some good advice and discussion from the nonprofit technology community. NTEN members contributed by focusing on lessons learned from 2007 that can be applied in 2008.

An effort spearheaded by social media guru and lifetime NTEN member Beth Kanter offered some honest and helpful takeaways on the state of social media from Britt Bravo, Katya Andresen, and our very own Holly Ross, including: