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

AnonyMouse launches to help gay youth while protecting their identities

March 28, 2013 10:04 AM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

While SCOTUS debates LGBT rights and Facebook goes all red/pink stripey, real-world gay youth still battle many issues -- and too often, they do it alone. Here's how one hacker is trying to help.

A sneak peek at Subaru’s first-ever hybrid

March 28, 2013 9:39 AM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

The hybrid version of the Boxer engine weighs around 300 pounds more than the standard gas-only version. In low-speed situations, the car can run on electricity, and it can start on electricity.

Feds pooh-pooh Softbank/Sprint deal over Chinese hardware fears

March 28, 2013 9:21 AM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Chinese cyber-spying may have soured a $20 billion dollar mobile deal. If Chinese hardware makes its way into U.S. core networks, will the nation be compromised?

How to future-proof your SEO

March 27, 2013 5:00 PM Jayson DeMers

Guest Post Sustainable SEO is all about quality. It’s about truth, genuineness, and “being natural” as opposed to “acting natural,” not increasing rankings but rather improving user experience and building quality relationships.

Here’s what Adobe plans to do with Behance, starting with free portfolio sites

March 27, 2013 12:45 PM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Starting today, Creative Cloud subscribers (paid tiers only) will get free access to Behance's ProSites, a feature that gives creatives customized online portfolios with cleaned-up URLs and great UIs.

Funding daily: Big companies, big dreams, big disappointments

March 25, 2013 6:19 PM Jolie O'Dell
Jolie O'Dell

Today's Funding Daily brings you nothing small. We've got a huge new fund for health tech ideas, a massively ambitious plan to turn cars into something from The Jetsons, and a great, big payout from Nasdaq to early Facebook IPO participants.