Tom Cheredar

I’m staff writer and lead media reporter for VentureBeat. Typically, my focus is on tech companies, products, and services related to music, movies, books, TV shows, comic books, digital magazines, and pretty much anything else that’s considered “consumable media.”  I do spend a lot of time covering YouTube, Spotify, Apple/iTunes, and Amazon (among others), but not just from a consumer perspective. I want to drill into the business-end of media companies as they navigate through the jungle of content licensing, fierce competition, and outdated tech legislation. I support VentureBeat’s ethics statement, and I don’t accept gifts from companies I cover, which includes hardware or paid services that frequently pop up in my reporting.

 

Prior to VentureBeat, I was a frequent contributor to Geeks of Doom where I did on-site coverage of events like Comic-Con. Before that, I worked at a handful of local newspapers around Nashville, Tenn. (Perhaps this explains why I consider Spider Jerusalem’s contribution to journalism on par with Marshall McLuhan’s.) I have a degree in journalism from MTSU, and currently live in Austin, Texas.

 

You can contact me via my staff email or through Twitter.   ***Please send all pitches to tips@venturebeat.com***

stories by Tom Cheredar

Hey Netflix, Amazon Instant Video’s new iPad app could eat your lunch

Online retail giant Amazon released an iPad app today that provides streaming access to its library of Prime Instant Video movies and TV shows.

The Prime Instant Video is a complimentary video service offered to members of Amazon Prime, the …

Shiny new Digg v.1 relaunch goes live

Iconic social news sharing site Digg launched a completely revamped version of the service today, one day ahead of schedule.

Previously, Digg was focused almost entirely on allowing users to vote on community submitted URLs, with the best stuff rising …

Amazon’s Cloud Player update takes aim at iTunes Match

Amazon is giving its cloud-based music service Cloud Player some significant upgrades today that could bring it up to par with rival services from Apple and Google.

Previously, the Cloud Player worked in conjunction with Amazon’s Cloud Drive storage locker. …

Google wisely delays Nexus Q consumer launch

Tech giant Google is holding off on launching its expensive streaming media bowling ball, the Nexus Q, to the public, the company announced today.

Google first announced the streamer nearly a month ago at its Google I/O developer event. The …

Spotify is a beast: 4M paying subscribers and growing

Streaming music service Spotify has once again achieved a new milestone by reaching over 4 million paying subscribers, according to Chief Content Officer Ken Parks.

Parks talked about the premium subscription increase, as well as achieving more than 15 million …

Viddy rolls out an API for its white-hot social video service

Capitalizing on a successful past few months, Viddy has launched a public API that will allow developers to use the social video service within third-party apps, the company announced today.

Viddy produces an iPhone application for shooting 15-second clips that …

Hulu app finally lands on Apple TV—what took so long?

Apple rolled out a software update for its Apple TV set-top box today that includes a new app for Hulu.

Apple TV owners have been waiting forever for Hulu service to land on the device. Previously, rumors indicated that a …

Digg relaunch preview: Betaworks may understand the site far better than Digg ever did

Betaworks is showing off a preview of its forthcoming Digg v.1 redesign today, which looks much cleaner and less convoluted that the current version.

Originally launched in 2004, Digg was the first of the big community news sharing social networks, …

Samsung’s Galaxy Beam with built-in projector launches in the U.K.

Samsung released its new smartphone, the projector-ready Galaxy Beam, in the U.K. today.

The company first showed off the Galaxy Beam at Mobile World Congress back in February. The smartphone, which runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, rocks a 4-inch display, a …

iPhone 5 & iPad mini likely launching Sept. 21

Both the next generation iPhone and a new, smaller version of the iPad are rumored to be announced during an official Apple event September 12, with a retail release to follow on September 21.

The news comes from sources obtained …

The Google-fication of Yahoo begins with free lunch

New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is wasting no time is remaking the company into something akin to her former digs at Google.

Some of the changes Mayer is enacting immediately are free lunch at the company’s cafe and company-wide weekly …

Fake New York Times Wikileaks op-ed even fools the NYT (update)

A fake opinion piece published under the domain opinion-nytimes.com was shared on Twitter by New York Times lead tech reporter Nick Bilton.

The tweet, which was first sent last night, has since been deleted by Bilton, but the culprit was …

Olympic fail: Officials tell crowd not to tweet or text during events

Olympic committee organizers are blaming the crowds of people in attendance for failed television coverage of the cycling event today.

So, what exactly did these fans do that was so wrong? They excitedly tweeted and sent text messages during the …

Is this the iPhone 5? Leaked next-gen iPhone parts get assembled

The photo shown above could give us a glimpse of what the next generation of Apple’s iPhone looks like.

Japanese repair shop site iLab Factory has obtained and assembled a collection of parts purportedly used in the iPhone 5. The …

Hate the Olympics? This browser addon will block all references online

If you’re on a computer with Internet access, the chances of ignoring the 2012 London Olympics are slim to none — even if you want to.

For this reason, F.A.T. has created a browser addon called Olwimpics that essentially blocks …

Senate amendment could finally bring Netflix into Facebook Timeline

The senate is expected to vote on an amendment next week that would allow video rental services like Netflix to take advantage of deeper integration with social networks like Facebook.

Despite being the country’s largest streaming movie service, Netflix is …

Hans Zimmer releases exclusive online track dedicated to Aurora

Acclaimed The Dark Knight Rises composer Hans Zimmer has released a new song dedicated to those involved in the tragic incident in Aurora, Colorado, which he’s made available for sale online.

Zimmer and Waterhouse Music (the soundtrack arm of Warner …

Prison inmates start making satellite parts for NASA

Some components found in NASA-commissioned space-tech devices will soon come from an unlikely source: prison inmates.

NASA recently forged an agreement with San Quentin State Prison in California that will put its inmates to work building Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployers …

Brand protection startup Mark Monitor acquired by Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters, one of the biggest news gathering and public relations companies, has purchased Mark Monitor for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced yesterday.

Mark Monitor is a service that helps brands track what’s said about them in public and …

Amazon reports mixed Q2 results, with revenue up $12.8B

Online retail giant Amazon reported mixed results for its second quarter 2012 earnings today.

The company hit its own revenue goal for Q2, increasing 29 percent to $12.83 billion, compared with $9.91 billion in second quarter 2011. Wall Street, however, …