Aventones is an online carpooling tool aiming to reduce traffic in Mexico City that presented its business model in the recent Convention of Climate Change in Cancun. One of the few green start-ups, Aventones is using social media to reduce the trust deficit in Mexico’s capital city, so commuters can feel safe and share their cars.

Crisis mapping tool,Ushahidi and the US Institute of Peace recently launched a new initiative called Universities for Ushahdi to encourage developing country students to use the platform. But is the tireless work of countless students in the US being overlooked?

The debate about Wikileaks is becoming increasingly polarized. Sadly, few seem to argue for the middle path.

The Obama Administration’s philosophy is that government should be transparent, participatory and collaborative – here are a few highlights of what the administration has achieved to date.

Gizmodo, Gawker, and Lifehacker were all hacked by Anon. Claims that 1.5 million usernames/emails/passwords have been taken over…

The founder of the new social network, Jumo, aims to do for charities what “Yelp” did for restaurants. Though he faces some stiff competition, he might just have a winning model.

The leaders of five major publishing companies are determined to prove that magazines are here to stay. Why? Because magazines, they argue, do what the Internet can’t.

Germany has emerged as the most skeptical among the European nations in terms of the online privacy of citizens. But what is it about Europe’s biggest economy that makes it particularly critical towards online companies’ collection of user data?

SeeClickFix is an application for iPhone, Blackberry and Android that allows citizens to report public not-emergency issues to the City Hall, working like a collaborative 311. SeeClickFix fosters social commitment, empowering citizens in front of the Government. Local Governments fostering “Gov 2.0″ are employing social media and mobile technologies such this to build a more responsive, collaborative, and effective government to respond to a more engaged society with a richer civic commitment.

When three friends launched Project Commencement in partnership with the non-profit school building organization BuildOn, they turned to online media tools such as Facebook to raise awareness and elicit donations. After having completed schools in Nicaragua and Mali, and breaking ground on a school in Nepal, Project Commencement has encountered both great success and modern-day challenges in bridging the gap between online awareness and online action.