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the business-end of media companies as they navigate through the jungle of content licensing, fierce competition, and outdated tech legislation.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

T-Mobile’s chief exec Philipp Humm throws in the towel

T-Mobile USA’s chief executive Philipp Humm has abruptly resigned from his position today, according to the company.

We don’t know the exact reason for Humm’s departure, but T-Mobile did say he was interested in pursuing a career outside of T-Moblie …

Google+ is finally getting a native tablet app

As Google’s social network service Google+ comes up to its first anniversary, the company is finally ready to launch a native application for its Android OS platform.

“We now have more users engaging with Google+ from mobile than desktop. That’s …

Sorry, Siri, ‘Google Now’ is a personal assistant I’d hire in real life

Google announced today that its new Google Now personal assistant feature is available on the latest version of its mobile operating system, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The company showed off the new assistant at its Google I/O event in San …

Chill closes $8M to make social video discovery even cooler

Chill, the social video discovery startup, has closed an $8 million funding round to stay on top of ever-changing entertainment consumption behavior, the company announced today.

Chill started out as a Turntable.fm-style video curation site that let people on Facebook …

Get money, get paid? Yahoo signs distribution deal with Spotify

Yahoo has reached an agreement with Spotify that will put the streaming music service in front of its 700 million global users, the web portal announced today.

Spotify is the ultra-popular music service that lets people share their song library …

Google X Lab proves that the Internet is really powered by cats

Google X Lab, the search-engine giant’s supersecret laboratory for Reed Richards-style experiments, made an interesting discovery in its efforts to create a machine capable of learning on its own. The team created one of the largest neural networks for machine …

Because TVs & iPads belong together, Brightcove targets dual-screen Apple TV apps

Soon your iPhone (and/or iPad) won’t just be the device you immediately reach for whenever a long patch of commercial interruptions comes on while watching a TV show.

Today Brightcove is announcing a new set of tools for its App …

Vizio debuts $99 Google TV puck with some bite

Vizio announced its first Google TV set-top box product called the Co-Star today, which offers access to the Google Play App Store, live gaming, a slick remote, and much more.

Vizio first made clear its intentions to produce a Google …

Wired and The New Yorker make their Flipboard streams less potent

Some of the most popular U.S. magazines are dialing down their efforts to publish content through Flipboard, reports Ad Age.

Flipboard is an ultra popular digital magazine app available on iOS and Android devices that places a publication’s content into …

Wait, now T-Mobile is on team Verizon? Carriers may swap spectrum

Verizon is currently trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission to approve a deal that would allow the carrier to purchase a section of spectrum currently owned by big cable companies — a move that many smaller carriers, including T-Mobile, …

LoveFilm combats Netflix’s UK takeover with Fox streaming deal

LoveFilm, the Amazon-owned rental service, has signed a news deal with Twentieth Century Fox to bring a ton of new video content to its library of streaming video content in the U.K., the company announced today.

The deal is just …

Ooyala serves up video on demand for Wimbledon

Increasingly, it’s becoming a necessity for people to watch their favorite sports beyond the confines of a traditional TV, which is why this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament is doing just that for its championship matches with the help of Ooyala.…

Cheating and deception are at Reddit’s core, founder reveals

Before Reddit became the revolutionary powerhouse of truth, justice, and random acts of pizza, it was just a couple of dudes trying to attract people to their idea of launching a link-sharing site that featured democratically curated news from the …

Wi-Fi-only Microsoft Surface isn’t a setback, but a $999 price could hurt

Microsoft’s recently announced Surface tablet may only be available with Wi-Fi connectivity when it launches later this year, according to a Bloomberg report that cites  unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

The Surface already faces heavy competition from Apple’s iPad …

Shit yeah! FCC can’t fine TV networks for cursing & nudity anymore

The major broadcast networks won a bit more freedom today, thanks to a Supreme Court decision involving the Federal Communications Commission’s rules for keeping swear words and naked people off live broadcast television.

The high court ruled (PDF) that the …

Microsoft wants leaked Xbox 720 doc erased from existence

Someone should really explain to Microsoft’s legal team that trying to eliminate information once it’s been leaked online is more difficult than eliminating a cockroach infestation from a dilapidated frat house.

Try as you might, you’ll never manage to kill …

YouTube co-founder’s digital magazine startup Zeen to launch next week

Most people who see a $1.65 billion exit of their company would be content to retire from the business world, but that’s rarely the case in the tech industry, as YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley demonstrates.

Hurley is scheduled to launch …

PayPal’s website is no longer an insult to your eyes (confirmed)

Digital transactions leader PayPal has started rolling out a brand new design to its main website for some users Tuesday. [See update below.]

Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of the lucky ones to see the updated site, but I can say …

Windows Phone 8′s new start screen pumps up customization (gallery)

Microsoft has officially unveiled its Windows Phone 8 operating system and, with it, a mighty change to the user interface.

The new OS features an all new start screen that features the familiar “smart tiles” design we’ve previously seen on …

Hardware partners didn’t hear squat about Microsoft Surface until public announcement

Microsoft didn’t bother giving its long list of hardware partners much of a heads up on the recently announced Microsoft Surface tablet, according to Reuters.

The immediate implications of Microsoft’s own tablet is that it brings the tech giant into …