giving

Facebook's Zuckerberg gives a boatload of cash to charity

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he let go of nearly $500 million today by donating it to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

This nonprofit foundation focuses on grant giving to serve the community in the San Francisco peninsula. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post today that he, his wife, Priscilla Chan, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation will work together to "look for areas in education and health to focus on."

The hefty sum of cash comes as a gift of 18 million Facebook shares, which is valued at more than $498 million, based on the social … Read more

Share Karma's Wi-Fi, get free data

Friday's CNET Update is counting megabytes:

Today's tech news roundup looks at the Karma hotspot, which rewards owners with free data for sharing access with others. Karma gives 100 megabytes of data for every person who taps into the network, plus the owner gets another 100 megabytes that do not expire. Adding more data costs $14 for 1 gigabyte. Frequent travelers might find Karma appealing. FreedomPop is offering a similar concept for home broadband, giving free data every month and adding more to those that recommend friends.

Another startup wants to change how we watch broadcast television. Aereo … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $100 million to charity

Apple CEO Tim Cook might just be taking some tips from Bill Gates--last week he announced he donated $100 million to charity, according to The Verge.

Cook made his announcement during an internal town hall meeting celebrating Apple's successful fourth quarter.

According to The Verge, Cook said $50 million had been donated to Stanford's hospitals, with $25 million for a new main building and $25 million for a new children's hospital. Another $50 million has been donated to Product RED, which is a charity that combats diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Since becoming Apple … Read more

Social gifting service unwraps $5.5 million in funding

Stockholm-based Wrapp, a social gifting service that lets you give friends on Facebook actual gifts, today announced it has raised $5.5 million led by Atomico. Atomico is an international venture capital firm created by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype.

Created for Facebook and smartphone users, Wrapp lets friends and family give, receive, and redeem digital gift cards using their mobile devices. There's also a feature that allows people to contribute to gift card amounts for group giving.

Certificates are available for 15 partner retailers, including Sweden's largest sporting goods retailer Stadium, designer underwear brand … Read more

Fab.com gets in the holiday spirit with two new gift shops

Consider your holiday shopping and decorating done. Fab.com, an online design marketplace, is launching two online holiday gift shops: One with 100 gifts under $100 and the other with modern holiday decor. These new shops go live tomorrow, November 1.

Fab's holiday gift shops join the original membership-based Fab site, which launched in June. Think of Fab as daily deals structured around small designers with unique vintage collections or newly designed products. Products range from furniture to wall decor to kids' toys to jewelry to unique kitchen appliances. Rarely will you find something you need, but you will … Read more

Philly to increase distracted driving, biking enforcement

The City of Brotherly Love is trying to practice some tough love on pedestrians who don't pay attention while they're walking.

Launched in May, a campaign known as "Give Respect, Get Respect" is geared toward preventing unsafe behavior on the roads, including pedestrians who talk and text while they cross the street.

As one example cited in a story by the CBS Philadelphia station, one cyclist had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting a man who crossed against the light while yakking it up on his cell phone.

The program, which has mostly doled … Read more

Amazon tech helps return gifts before you get them

Amazon might have a simple solution in store for those who get disappointed every holiday season by undesirable gifts.

The company has been awarded a patent that allows gift recipients to automatically exchange items before they receive them. The solution would offer those ungrateful recipients the opportunity to choose something else or get a gift card without necessarily indicating to the sender that it wasn't accepted.

"As in other gift-giving situations, it sometimes occurs that gifts purchased online do not meet the needs or tastes of the gift recipient," Amazon wrote in the patent, which was first … Read more

Zuckerberg to share half his billions

If you are one of those who are slightly disturbed at the idea of the wealthy enjoying tax cuts, a few billionaires would like you to understand that greed is not necessarily good.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, together with co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and other business luminaries, is pledging to give away half his vast fortune in order for at least that half to do real good, according to Reuters.

The Giving Pledge, founded in June by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is an attempt on behalf of those who surely wouldn't even be able to spend half of their … Read more

Survey: Smartphones altering holiday-shop habits

Mobile devices will have a big impact on buying behavior this holiday-shopping season, according to a new study from market researcher IDC.

An IDC survey of more than 1,000 American consumers in September shows that mobile devices are expected to give consumers "greater advantage as they engage retailers."

Over one-third of respondents said that they plan to use their smartphones to improve their shopping experience during the holidays. They plan to "search for price and product information" in stores, as well as search for "merchandise availability." About 45 percent of respondents said that … Read more