Note: Interesting article today, this has to be an FEC violation of some sort. Software paid for by political donors, then re-purposed as a company after the election cycle. Thanks @danpatterson for the heads up!

Article:

Supporters of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney tend to fancy themselves red-blooded capitalists. So it would probably upset them to learn they funded someone else's business, and get none of the profit.

BlueSwarm LLC freely admits its fundraising management software was built for Romney, the remarkably lifelike 2008 Republican presidential contender. Its pride is understandable from a marketing, if not legal, standpoint: the system attracted some favorable press during the campaign.

But the code's use in subsequent campaigns by entirely different candidates, and its repurposing to fill BlueSwarm's coffers, raises questions over whether Romney's donors are getting a raw deal. The same finance director who drove the custom software for Romney, Spencer Zwick, is now finance director for California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. And, go figure, Whitman is aprominently advertised BlueSwarm user, using the software to coordinate her fundraising operations.

It's unclear how much, if anything, Whitman is paying to use the code. But other politicians are paying "astronomical rates" for BlueSwarm access, an anonymous tipster claims.

Somehow we don't think Romney's many Utah Mormon donors would appreciate the spoils of their generosity being provided to candidates like Whitman, a "socially moderate," gay-friendly female California CEO who supports (at minimum) civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Or being funneled to a closely-held LLC. They probably should have found some way to properly liquidate their software assets at the end of the campaign (*cough*).

If you know more about this tangled web of software, politics and money, do email us.

Send an email to Ryan Tate, the author of this post, at ryan@gawker.com.

Today is yet again another year and another birthday.

This morning I sat back in my chair, thinking about all the wonderful years that have passed and the many blessings that I've had the distinct opportunity to participate in. In recent years I have been incredibly fortunate to have the endearing support of many friends and family as I quest through life. My driving mission today - give back as often as possible - and empower as many people as I can with the same opportunity. Let's enjoy the beautiful benefits of life, and then share those experiences with others less fortunate than ourselves. That's, why for this years' birthday, instead of gifts - I'm asking my friends and family to give to someone else.

A few weeks ago, I helped my friend Justin and his law school counter part rescue her three adopted children from Haiti. In the midst of doing this, Justin captured the essence of our quest - Haitian orphans singing songs of praise in the dark morning hours after Kennedy and her children were rescued. No picture, just a black screen with beautiful voices. It's the soundtrack of life, and it was absolutely powerful. While darkness surrounds these children, they can still be heard singing joyous songs of praise and hope. Children. Over 380k orphans BEFORE the earthquake. It's staggering.

Justin and Kennedy are not finished yet, they're only just getting started. And I have made a commitment to be there to support them.

Let's give something up today, and trade it in for the betterment of others.

Courtesy of: Tom Krazit from CNET.

Google's end run around Apple's App Store is complete: Google Voice is ready as a Web application.

Owners of the iPhone and Palm's WebOS devices can now get in on the mobile Google Voice experience with the Web app, which will run in the browsers of iPhones with the 3.0 software installed and all Palm WebOS devices, said Vincent Paquet, senior product manager at Google. The application should be available for current users of Google Voice--which is still an invitation-only service--as of Tuesday at m.google.com/voice.

Google Voice allows incoming calls to ring mobile phones, office phones, or desk phones depending on how the user sets their Google Voice profile. It also treats voice mail like e-mail, transcribing voice messages into an in-box where they can be read and deleted.

Last year Google submitted a native version of Google Voiceto Apple in hopes of getting the software onto the iPhone. As most will recall, Apple and Google then entered into a semantic war of words over whether Apple rejected the application (Google's version) or merely continues to study it (Apple's version). Either way, the FCC got involved and Google Voice remains in App Store limbo, Paquet said.

"We haven't had any updates regarding our native app for the iPhone, unfortunately," Paquet said. However, now that the Web app is ready iPhone users will be able to get essentially the same experience that the native app would have delivered, although the user interface will be slightly different because the application will be running in the browser. Paquet declined to comment on whether Google plans to continue the App Store approval process with the native version.

The Web application is another sign of Google's strong desire to encourage people to think of Web-based applications as a ready alternative to native applications. The company has spoken about its plans for Web development at length, and even plans to develop a lightweight operating system based on its Chrome browser as a sort of proof-of-concept for the Web development mindset.

Rafe Needleman did a test-drive of the new application, which you can read here.

Coming to a classroom near you!

BookSpring is yet another excellent Piryx client that emphasizes the importance of reading for school-aged children. Based out of Austin, TX, this nonprofit works in conjunction with Reading is Fundamental to help put books into the hands of every child.

Every year, BookSpring puts on its Read-A-Thon where school children solicit pledges from family and friends to sponsor their reading. Donors pledge a certain amount per page (say $0.25) and the students then read as much as they can over a month. The donors then donate the total amount (pages read X pledge amount). Donations go to support reading programs in the student's school.

In the past, all pledges were recorded, and subsequently collected, on and in paper envelopes (not unlike our old popcorn selling from Boy Scouts). Yup, that's right. Much like the man behind this campaign, Mr. Will Ikard, I was a boy scout too - In fact, we were Eagle Scouts baby! Ok...enough of that. Back to the books. At the time, Only checks or cash were accepted. BUT This year, BookSpring has established a Piryx page for Read-A-Thon.

With the help of Piryx developers, BookSpring built custom fields (like Student's School, Grade, etc.) to better track donations and make sure the right books go to the right schools. This Piryx page is running parallel to BookSpring's traditional one-time and monthly recurring fundraising campaigns. Read-a-Thon begins accepting donations this week, so please visit the BookSpring site to find out how you can contribute!

Why participate?

For the children - For every year a child is read to, the average lifetime earnings increase by $50,000.

For the families - While in middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, in low income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 age appropriate book for every 300 children.

For the community - The U.S Department of Education expects the literacy gap in America will produce a shortage of 12 million qualified workers in the next decade.

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