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the business-end of media companies as they navigate through the jungle of content licensing, fierce competition, and outdated tech legislation.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

Durex creates vibrating underwear you can control via smartphone apps

The undergarments vibrate whenever your partner, using a smartphone app, decides you need some "attention" -- giving a new definition to "phone sex."

Watch now: NASA livestreaming a six-hour spacewalk from the International Space Station

I'm still pretty amazed that, as I go about my mundane daily routine, there will be two men performing a spacewalk from a football field-sized space station, which is getting livestreamed via Ustream today.

Google threatens to deactivate Google Glass if you loan it to a friend

While it might be extremely amusing to loan your brand spankin' new Google Glass eyewear to Grandma for the entire day, it's ill advised by Google.

With 35M saved items per month, Pocket’s latest update rethinks sharing

Pocket, the service formerly known as Read It Later, completely overhauls how you share things across all its platforms.

Google announces its third Google Fiber city: Provo, Utah (aka Silicon Slopes)

Just weeks after officially revealing that Google Fiber would expand into Austin, Texas, Google is announcing its third Fiber city -- Provo, Utah.

Researchers create tiny battery that recharges 1,000x faster than current tech

My capacity for patience is quite low when it comes to waiting on my smartphone or tablet to charge. And I doubt I'm the only one.

Ev Williams’ Medium acquires long-form journalism site ‘Matter’

Medium, the publishing platform startup founded by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, has purchased long-form journalism project Matter, the companies announced today.

Don’t call it a comeback (yet): Yahoo’s active Q1 beats estimates

It's too early to declare whether iconic tech company Yahoo is in full turnaround mode, but the company first quarter 2013 earnings certainly show it's headed in the right direction.

Google Fiber TV adds HBO & Cinemax to its programming lineup

Google has forged an agreement to bring premium TV channels HBO and Cinemax to its Google Fiber TV customers, the company announced today.

Twitter cuts off crowdfunding payment service Flattr

Crowdfunding payment service Flattr is no longer welcome when it comes to Twitter, the startup announced this morning.

Twitter might be making TV deals with Viacom & Comcast

If a rumored music service wasn't enough to push Twitter into the territory media, now the company might be trying to get TV content playing through the service.

Video curation site Waywire unveils new Pinterest-like design

Waywire, the hyped video site co-founded by Newark mayor Cory Booker, has released a new version of the service today that borrows plenty of design cues from Pinterest and adds some new functionality.

Comcast says the free ride is over for basic cable — encryption is coming

Years ago you could just connect a coaxial cable to your television for access to a ton of cable channels, which eventually was disabled after cable providers decided to start encrypting the bulk of those channels. And now, they're all going to get encrypted.

Internet Archive beefs up its free software museum

Aside from its Wayback Machine that gives you a peek at websites from years pasts and its archive of broadcast news content, the Internet Archive is also home to a bevy of old software through its Software Museum.

YouTube adds a ‘crappy VHS’ mode to its video player

YouTube is known for doing quirky things, such as adding a rainbow loading bar to the original Nyan Cat video or making its website do the Harlem Shake. So its latest gimmick isn't a huge surprise.

Turntable co-founder explains Piki’s ‘recipe’ for people-powered smart radio

The team behind Turntable debuted a new smart radio service called Piki that offers yet another spin on music discovery.