Author archive - Zoe Fox

Want to Meet Top VCs? Score Face-Time With Donation

On the heels of the $610,000 coffee date with Apple CEO Tim Cook, online charity auction platform CharityBuzz is offering lunches with some of Silicon Valley's top venture capitalists. If you'd love to share your best ideas with or pick the brains of VCs — and have the cash to give to charity — this might be the perfect opportunity for you.

From now until June 11, you can bid on power lunches to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of the Greater Bay Area. More than 20 venture capitalists, including Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Shervin Pishevar, advisor for Menlo Ventures; and David Lee, co-founder and managing director of SV Angel, are offering lunches. Read more...

Why Social Media Is the Front Line of Disaster Response

Nearly one million people are affected by natural disasters each year. In the U.S. alone, some 400 people die from disasters that cost the economy $17.6 billion. Helping respond to these cataclysmic events, social media is now a go-to tool for those effected by disasters

One in five Americans has used an emergency app. Of those Americans effected by natural disasters, 76% used social media to contact friends and family; 37% of used social media to help find shelter and supplies; and 24% used social media to let loved ones know they're safe.

How to Help Victims of the Oklahoma Tornados

One of the most devastating tornados in U.S. history tore through Oklahoma City Monday, wreaking considerable damage to the suburb of Moore.

The Oklahoma City medical examiner's spokesperson originally reported at least 51 deaths, including 20 children, though those counts are no longer thought accurate. The storm reduced homes to piles of rubble and destroyed entire neighborhoods. Two elementary schools, one in Moore and another on the town's border with Oklahoma City, were among the devastated buildings.

Recovery will be an arduous task. Beyond the buildings, infrastructure such as phones lines, TV cables and cell connections will need to be restored. Read more...

7 Google Talk Alternatives

It's hard to believe how long we've been instant messaging. The formerly ubiquitous AIM launched in 1997, and you've probably used a handful of services since registering your first screen name

For many of us, Google Talk, more affectionately known as "Gchat" has become the standard — especially if both your work and personal email accounts are on Gmail. While Gmail has its perks, such as the ability to search for conversations among your archives, having your chat windows stuck to your inbox can be quite distracting.

We rounded up seven instant messaging clients you can use instead of Gchat, each with its respective perks. Many of these clients will merge your buddy lists from other chatting services, including ones you probably haven't used in a few years (does anyone still use MSN Messenger?). Read more...

5 Services That Will Sequence Your DNA

Angelina Jolie wrote a heartfelt column, "My Medial Choice" for the New York Times Tuesday, detailing her decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy at age 37. She explained that her choice was based on her abnormally high genetic predisposition for breast cancer; doctors estimated there was an 87% chance she would get breast cancer and a 50% chance she would get ovarian cancer. As the mother of six, Jolie says that she would hate for her children to lose her too early; her own mother died when she was just 56 years old

After having her DNA tested — a process which can cost anywhere from a hundred dollars to several thousand — Jolie learned that she is a carrier of a defective BRCA1 gene. That defect, though not the only determinant of breast cancer, meant a 65% chance she'd get the same disease that killed her mother. Read more...

17 Supermoms Who Dominate the Digital World

Sometimes we wonder how moms can accomplish all that they do. From traveling to outer space to running some of the world's most powerful companies to raising us, moms are unstoppable.

While these incredible ladies deserve to be recognized every day of the year, Mother's Day is the special time for singing their praises.

For these leaders in the digital space, it's not just their children who can appreciate everything they do. As Internet and technology lovers, we feel like it's also our duty to celebrate their incredible contributions.

Here's our list of 17 moms doing incredible things that most people — even without kids — wouldn't think they could do. We think they definitely deserve the title "supermoms." Read more...

Acrobatic Blogger Puts Your Travel Photos to Shame

Some travelers take clichéd photos when they visit famous sites; others add their own flare

During Jaime Davila's two-year trip around the globe, he took more than 26,000 photos. Of those, 426 feature acrobatic toe-touches, the jumps popularized by cheerleaders. While not all 426 are in particularly unique locations — and many are toe-touch fails — you can take a trip around the world with Davila and his signature pose.

Davila did not plan his stratal jumps around the world. Rather, he tells Mashable he was inspired by the positive response he got after sharing a jumping picture from Nicaragua (the first in the gallery above) on his blog Breakaway Backpacker. Though his Nicaraguan tour guide mocked his pose, the online feedback inspired him to continue. Read more...

YouTube’s 20 Most-Shared Ads in April

YouTube makes advertisers' jobs easier. When fans love and share ads, they expand the clips' reach far beyond the scope of a TV spot. For some of April's most-shared YouTube ads — many of which were April Fools' pranks — those shares generated millions of pageviews.

Our friends at Unruly put together this list of the month's most-shared viral YouTube ads. Check out the gallery above to see if your favorite ad made the list.

It came as no surprise to us here at Mashable that the most-shared ad on YouTube of April was Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" video, because it was our most-shared story as well! The viral campaign was shared more than 3.1 million times. Though that number sounds astounding, it pales in comparison to its total view count of 37.5 million Read more...

The 20 Most-Clichéd Tourist Photos

Chances are, after travelling around the world, you'll want to bring back some evidence of your latest trip — and we're not just referring to postcards and tsotchkes. We're talking photos because, let's face it: Pic or it didn't happen.

Much like how there's a bucket list of must-visit destinations, there're now must-take photos that correspond with each spot on a map. Everyday, at landmarks around the world, tourists take nearly identical photos in practically mandatory poses

We've rounded up some of our favorite clichéd tourist photos from around the world. Full disclosure: We've taken a number of these ourselves. Have you? Read more...

UNICEF Admits Its Facebook Likes Don’t Save Lives

In the latest TV commercial campaign from UNICEF Sweden, the organization admits something few seem to remember in the age of social media milestones: Facebook Likes don't save lives.

In the most viral clip, which has received more than 40,000 views on YouTube, we meet a young boy named Rahim, who's sick, though he says he's not worried because of UNICEF Sweden's Facebook community.

"UNICEF Sweden has 177,000 Likes on Facebook. Maybe they will reach 200,000 by summer," he says.

His sardonic statement, as you can see in the above video, reflects many organizations' and brands' preoccupations with getting Likes. UNICEF Sweden informs viewers that Likes won't deliver life-saving vaccines to the children in need Read more...