Freelance writer, San Francisco, CA
August 2007-present
Independent journalist specializing in technology reporting and feature writing.
Author of “Giants Past and Present,” a book about baseball’s New York and San Francisco Giants, published in Spring 2010 from MVP Books.
For my most recent work, please see My Writing.
Recent publications:
San Francisco magazine
Stories include:
Tech Gets a Time-Out (April 2010): Charges of hypocrisy be damned: Some Silicon Valley tech wizards are quietly raising their kids outside the lurid digital landscape that their own industry calls childhood.
The Lords of No Rings: After 50 years in San Francisco without a single World Series title, the Giants have now passed all the pretenders. Stay in denial if you wish, but this is America’s most heartbroken baseball team.
Los Angeles Times
Stories include:
Facebook becoming big friend of small business
Microsoft hoping that Hollywood touch makes Windows 7 a hit
Ukuleles have gone viral
IPhone app firm SonicMule puts music at its users fingertips
The New York Times
Stories include:
They’re working on their own, just side by side
Personal assistants on call, just not in the next office
Killer statue — Psyched about the site!
USA Today
Fortune.com
Stories include:
Welcome to Conference 2.0: Social media is putting an end to the passive role attendees traditionally play at business gatherings
Practice: New Writing and Art
Vanuatu: An Essay. Story about a brother and sister’s journey to learn about their father’s World War II experience in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, complete with a trip to the top of an active volcano.
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, CA May 1998-August 2007
Staff writer for daily newspaper, circulation 400,000.
- Write breaking news and feature stories for business section, specializing in technology.
- Wrote weekly media column, 1999-2003.
- Won Peninsula Press Club award for feature about Lucasfilm spinoffs.
- Faced contempt of court charges in January 2000 for refusing to testify about unpublished information in Marin County Superior Court, stemming from a 1997 murder story. Charge overturned by California Court of Appeals.
Stories are online in no particular chronological order.
Stories include:
Digital Utopia: May 2006 examination of the idealists building Web 2.0
Where Neo-Nomads’ Ideas Percolate: New ‘bedouins’ transform a laptop, cell phone and coffeehouse into their office
Novato, CA Nov. 1991-May 1998 Reporter for daily newspaper, circulation 40,000.
- Won Davidoff Scholarship to Wesleyan Writers Conference, one of two national winners, 1997.
- Won California Newspaper Publishers and “Best of Gannett” awards for 1996 stories on education and agriculture.
- Won numerous Gannett awards for reporting on technology, education and health.
- Won state American Heart Association awards for stories on teen heart transplant patient, 1992-93.
New York, NY Feb. 1996-May 1998; Oct. 1987-July 1989Stringer; wrote regional articles on assignment from Northern California and Upstate New York.
Ithaca, NY Oct. 1989-May 1998
Contributing editor for monthly magazine covering population and consumer trends.
Freelance Reporter
San Francisco, CA Oct. 1989-Nov. 1991
- Regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and the Oakland Tribune.
- Published in: Columbia Journalism Review, Seattle Times, Detroit Free Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Ithaca, NY March 1987-July 1989 City Hall reporter for daily newspaper.
- Won AP awards for series on police brutality complaints and for deadline reporting on bus crash.
- Won New York Newspaper Publishers Association award for distinguished community service.
- Won Gannett award for investigation into developers’ interests in a proposed highway.
USA Today
Arlington, VA May 1988-Aug. 1988
Reporter on loan to rewrite desk, news department.
- Part of floor team at Democratic National Convention.
Tab Newspapers
Newton, MA July 1984-March 1987
Senior reporter for largest weeklies in Massachusetts.
EDUCATION
College of Communication
Sept. 1980-May 1984
B.S. in Journalism, concentration in Political Science. Magna Cum Laude.
- Internship with U.S. Rep. Wyche Fowler Jr.
- Sports editor for The Daily Free Press.
CONTACT
DAN FOST
P.O. Box 151524 San Rafael, CA 94915
Mobile: (347) 338-8106
Danfost@gmail.com
References available upon request.
