I’m a reporter for VentureBeat. I report on business and technology with a special focus on and web development and design. I spend a lot of time covering Google, Facebook, and Twitter — not just their consumer-facing web products, but their inner workings as large and rapidly growing tech companies.

If you email me a pitch about your company, please copy tips@venturebeat.com. I get a lot of email and don’t have time to reply to every message I receive.

Before coming to VentureBeat, I worked at Mashable. Before that, I was a daily reporter at ReadWriteWeb. And before that, I did print journalism at magazines and newspapers.

I wholeheartedly support VentureBeat’s ethics statement. I don’t own shares of any company in the tech sector or any company that I’d have occasion to write about. Aside from one small stuffed fox from Mozilla, I don’t generally accept gifts, including trips or other such experiences, from the companies I cover. I have done only a few gadget reviews in my career, and I do not keep the hardware that is sent to me for review.

When I’m not doing journalism about technology, I’m either riding my bike around Golden Gate Park or baking something.

stories by Jolie O'Dell

Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz team up to fund Google Glass apps

This new partnership between three Silicon Valley powerhouses seeks to capitalize on what could end up being Google's next big ecosystem after Chrome and Android.

Sir Richard Branson, Peter Thiel join in $100M campaign for international startups

“This innovative idea for shaking up the financial services sector while helping startups in a practical way has caught the eye of many new businesses already," said Branson.

Here’s a sneak peek from inside the revamped Exploratorium in San Francisco

Here’s our first look inside (and outside) San Francisco’s 44-year-old science museum, The Exploratorium.

The museum recently got some major upgrades, with a change of location and a new focus on programming for adults. It’s three times bigger, features indoor …

SF’s revamped indoor/outdoor science museum is 3x bigger & adult-friendly

The new facility on the city's famed Embarcadero at Piers 15 and 17 features 330,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibits -- 600 total exhibits, around a quarter of which are new -- as well as 1.5 acres of free space, two restaurants, and a promenade.

Treehouse gets $7M to bring learn-to-code programs to high schools

"All the kids are from at-risk homes. These kids have never coded before, and I’ve talked to them in person, and I’m 99 percent confident we will be able to place them in jobs."

Have spare time, dev skills? See what open-source projects need your help with this flowchart

We all know open-source software is a good thing and good people give back to their communities. This site just makes it really easy to start following through on those values.

How Facebook got into the mobile OS game without actually building a mobile OS

Facebook Home isn’t a mobile operating system. But normal users who buy or download the Home experience won’t know or care. They’ll suddenly have Facebook phones that look, feel, and behave totally different from Android phones.

And the answer to …

I am taking over VentureBeat & declaring today ‘Nerd Day’

I hope you enjoy Nerd Day on VentureBeat. If you do not enjoy it, please send us an email with the subject line: "I hate nerds, so it makes no sense that I spend so much time on the Internet."