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the business-end of media companies as they navigate through the jungle of content licensing, fierce competition, and outdated tech legislation.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

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, …

Google Fiber TV fixes everything that’s wrong with basic cable

Much like The Batman's effect on Gotham City's criminals, Google's newly announced Fiber TV service will strike fear into the hearts of big cable company executives across the country.

Google Talk IM service goes mute for most users (update)

Anyone wondering why they don’t see many friends or contacts online via Google Talk’s instant messaging list? Rest assured that it isn’t due to zombie uprising.

The Google Talk service has been down for the majority of users this morning, …

YouTube becomes the largest host of Creative Commons licensed videos

In addition to being the biggest streaming video site in the world, YouTube is also the largest host of videos licensed under creative commons, the site revealed today in a blog post.

The Creative Commons licensing allows others to use …

HBO unsurprisingly extinguishes any hope of working with Netflix

Premium TV channel HBO said today it will not be forming a partnership with video rental service Netflix.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings insinuated that his company might form an agreement with HBO — either through a future content licensing agreement …

Earnings show AOL successfully putting the brakes on revenue decline

AOL showed signs of life in its Q2 2012 earnings report today, beating Wall Streets expectations and sending a clear signal that the company is doing well under CEO Tim Armstrong.

AOL reported revenue of $531 million for the quarter, …

Square seeks $200M at a whopping $3.25B valuation

Mobile credit card transactions startup Square is rumored to be closing a new $200 million round of funding, according to a New York Times report that cites anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

If the news is true, the round …

Netflix narrowly meets its subscriptions guidance for Q2

Netflix brought in just over a million total new subscribers for the second quarter of 2012, the company reported in its Q2 2012 earnings release today.

The numbers narrowly meet the guidance numbers the company predicted in the previous quarter. …

Comcast confirms 305 Mbps Internet tier, doubles other tier speeds for free

Comcast announced its plans to offer a new, ultra high-speed broadband Internet tier today, confirming rumors first reported last week.

The new tier will be called Xfinity Platinum Internet and will offer download speeds of up to 305 Mbps and …

StackSocial grabs $800K to bring stores to tech publications

Startup StackSocial has raised $800,000 to help take its tech deals platform public, the company announced today.

StackSocial basically provides a white-label daily deals-like store for news publications to place within their website. The startup drums up a number …

YouTube attempts to vanquish awful comments by using real names

Would you be less likely to leave an embarrassingly awful comment on a YouTube video if you had to use your real name rather than an alias?

Well, maybe you’re not the type to leave an awful comment anyway, but …