| Bio |
I am a digital native – the first generation to grow up enmeshed in digital technology. I was raised in Silicon Valley by parents who both worked in technology. I learned to type on an Apple II and began programming in BASIC when I was in fifth grade.
In college, at the University of Chicago, I majored in mathematics and worked summers at Hewlett-Packard, intending to join the technology industry after graduation. But after writing for the campus newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, I fell in love with journalism. My first job after college was an internship at The Washington Post, which was followed by stints at two small wire services in Washington D.C.
In 1996, just as the dot-com revolution was beginning, I joined the San Francisco Chronicle and began covering technology, including Microsoft’s antitrust woes. In 1998, I was named “Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year” by the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and was awarded a Knight-Bagehot fellowship in journalism for studies at Columbia Business School.
After completing my MBA at Columbia in 2000, I joined The Wall Street Journal in New York and began covering technology and the dot-com boom from an East Coast perspective. The rise and fall of the AOL Time Warner merger was an important part of my beat. In 2003, I was on a team of reporters at The Wall Street Journal that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for coverage of corporate corruption.
Over time, my beat evolved into the convergence of technology and media, including battles over copyright issues and open access to cable companies’ Internet pipes. I took a leave of absence in 2007 and 2008 to write this book about the swift rise and deep cultural impact of MySpace. I have now returned to The Wall Street Journal as a technology editor and columnist.