Ronin Journalist. Reluctant Social Media User. Pie Enthusiast. Past: @VentureBeat @dailydot, @gigaom. Occasionally: @AustinChronicle.
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Articles by Tom Cheredar
Molly White, Web3's most visible skeptic, is busy debunking myths about tech before the next bubble
The face of tech skepticism: Molly White, the creator of Web3 is Going Just Great (Courtesy of Molly White) Cryptocurrency, NFTs, blockchain, and miscellaneous Web3 projects: Expect interest in them all to be in deep decline at this year’s SXSW thanks to an extended crypto winter that evaporated trillions of dollars from investors large and small, destroyed companies overnight, and even altered the name of an NBA stadium.
Dispatches From the Center of Alt-Reality With Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW
The Meta CEO beams in to predict his future and little else By Tom Cheredar, 12:45PM, Fri. Mar. 18, 2022 While the world watches in horror as Russian forces continue to pummel the unyielding Ukrainian people, billionaire Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided to grace SXSW with his presence (well virtually anyway) to discuss what the future holds for the metaverse.
SXSW Panel Recap: Mark Cuban Sees Live Podcast Communities as the NFT Gateway Drug
It starts with Joe Rogan, ends with non-fungible token By Tom Cheredar, 2:56PM, Tue. Mar. 15, 2022 Mark Cuban at this week's South by Southwest (Photo by Tom Cheredar) The biggest obstacle preventing NFTs from transforming society into something more efficient, advanced, and evolved, is that not enough people are using them. But people aren’t using them because of many obstacles.
SXSW Panel Recap: Mark Cuban See Live Podcast Communities as the NFT Gateway Drug
It starts with Joe Rogan, ends with non-fungible token By Tom Cheredar, 2:56PM, Tue. Mar. 15, 2022 Mark Cuban at this week's South by Southwest (Photo by Tom Cheredar) The biggest obstacle preventing NFTs from transforming society into something more efficient, advanced, and evolved, is that not enough people are using them. But people aren’t using them because of many obstacles.
Cast and Crew of The Boys Tackle Toxic Masculinity at SXSW
Preview of new season features dicks, dancing, and superhero dildos By Tom Cheredar, 2:40PM, Mon. Mar. 14, 2022 Courtesy of Amazon Studios Superhero television is proving to be an ideal vehicle for raising awareness about toxic masculinity, which apparently translates to copious instances of male genitalia on screen and elaborate choreographed dance numbers.
Solving the Mystery of the Nicolas Cage Superfan Posters at SXSW
Enigmatic movie star's new movie blurs the lines of reality at the fest By Tom Cheredar, 2:38PM, Fri. Mar. 11, 2022 Nic Cage superfan poster in the wild (i.e. near the Convention Center) (Photo by Tom Cheredar) SXSW is the kind of convention where attendees are predisposed to expect a lot of clever viral marketing.
Archives - March 11, 2022 Issue - The Austin Chronicle
Zeke Barbaro / Photos via Getty Images features SXSW 2022 news Austin At Large: We Didn’t Demand a Recount But maybe we should have?
Austin Biotech Startup Colossal Wants to Bring Back Lost Species
The team behind Colossal, the firm that wants to bring back the woolly mammoth (Photo by John Davidson) One small step for Mammuthus primigenius, one giant leap for humankind. Tell the world your bioscience startup raised $75 million for renowned genomics pioneers to resurrect woolly mammoths, and you’re likely to get a plethora of comparisons to Jurassic Park.
Small Screen, Big Games at Zynga
Star Wars: Hunters (Courtesy of Zynga) Among the city's growing list of big tech companies, few have helped more people escape massive surpluses of boredom in our post-pandemic society than game developer Zynga. Its popular games, many produced in Austin, offer life buoys of sanity while sitting idle in waiting rooms, testing lines, grocery store lines, and literally every damn Zoom meeting that could have been an email.
Zinio shares digital magazine usage data ahead of rumored sale (infographic)
It’s no secret that digital magazines are gaining a foothold among consumers, and thanks to some new consumer data released today digital magazine storefront Zinio we have a small window into how people are consuming these digital publications. The company says it’s put over 120 million digital magazine issues in the hands of consumers in the last year, which I’m assuming includes both paid and free promotional magazines.
Russian classifieds startup Avito.ru grabs $75M
Avito.ru, the biggest site for online classified ads in Russia, has closed a new $75 million round of funding, the startup announced today. It’s easy to write off classifieds as something people used to pay for before the advent of Craigslist, but in Russia it’s still big business. Avito’s service helps both individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses (traditional retailers, real estate agencies, car dealerships, etc.) generate additional revenue at very little cost.
How Austin’s new contact tracing tech aims to curb the pandemic
"We really went from concept to implementation in less than three weeks," said Chris Merdon, NTT Data's senior vice president of public sector. (Bobboz/Adobe Stock) Returning Austin from pandemic lockdown to some measure of normalcy will require improved contact tracing, the practice of identifying and isolating anyone infected with COVID-19. But with an insufficient supply of testing kits and a limited amount of manpower, this is easier said than done.
Groupon acquires e-commerce 'big data' startup Adku
Group deals company Groupon has acquired e-commerce data firm Adku for an undisclosed price, the startup announced today. Adku provides a service that attempts to “optimize” a person’s shopping experience by providing product suggestions on sites like Zappos, eBay, and Amazon. It does this by using various data about each shopper such as location and hot news trends.
Austin Startups Join the Techstars
Entrepreneurs train the next gen at Techstars Austin Demo Day By Tom Cheredar, 3:35PM, Tue. Mar. 10, 2020 Techstars Austin Demo Day (photo by provided by Candidly Photos) Aiming to provide products and services for everything from VR emergency response training to a “LinkedIn” for gig workers, a crop of startup founders gave presentations to a crowd of investors and entrepreneurs at the 10th Techstars Austin Demo Day last week.
Meet Accomplice, the Austin Startup Paving the Way Toward an Immersive Future
Accomplice co-founders Ben McCraw (l) and Tyler Guidry (Photo by John Anderson) These days, the label "interactive experience" doesn't seem nearly as exciting as it used to. Marketing has hijacked the term whenever the use of digital experiences ham-fistedly intersects with something that must be done in person.Stand in front of this Instagram-esque mural and download a mobile app to tweet augmented reality visuals from your smartphone.
Whurley, Physics, and the Strange Work of Quantum Computing in Austin
William "Whurley" Hurley in his office at Strangeworks (Photo by David Brendan Hall) Because it shares a city block on Cesar Chavez with a hookah lounge and a hipster bar, you'd be forgiven for assuming the two-story building with the impressive "Strangeworks" sign is yet another trendy coffee shop. But you'd be wrong. It's actually a quantum computing startup with a name seemingly ripped from an H.P. Lovecraft novel, tasked with creating tools that could remake the world.
Quantum Computing 101: A Beginnerâs Guide to the Mind-Bending New Technology
By Tom Cheredar, Fri., April 19, 2019 Have you heard the term "quantum computing" thrown around thousands of times over the years, without having a clue what it means? Fear not. You are in good company. Classical or traditional computing architecture processes data and calculations that occur in a binary state, aka "bits" or values of 1s and 0s, to make decisions about the data it's processing. It's sort of like a light switch, which can only exist as off or on.
Apple App Store reaches a whopping 40 billion downloads
People have downloaded over 40 billion apps from Apple’s iOS App Store (not counting re-downloaded apps), the technology giant announced today. The App Store, which launched about four years ago, currently features more than 775,000 apps for various device platforms (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) across 23 categories. And while the 40 billion download milestone is impressive, what’s more impressive is that about 20 billion of those downloads happened in 2012, according to Apple.
SXSW 2019: 'Good Omens' Has The Potential To Kill The Predictable American TV Era - Geeks of Doom
SXSW 2019: ‘Good Omens’ Has The Potential To Kill The Predictable American TV Era By Tom Cheredar | Thursday, March 14th, 2019 at 4:40 pm The delightful chaos wrought by Amazon Studios’ new Good Omens TV series at SXSW cannot be denied or ignored, literally. With such an enormously immersive marketing strategy, you’d expect it was being positioned as the next Game of Thrones or Westworld, both of which saw HBO employ similar tactics in years past. But, you’d be utterly and completely wrong.
Xbox as a set-top cable box? Microsoft in talks with Comcast and Verizon
Microsoft is committed to securing a spot in your living room. The technology giant is in talks with both Comcast and Verizon to make its Xbox 360 gaming console a set-top cable box, according to a report from Digiday that cites anonymous sources familiar with the company. Microsoft first announced that a live TV service would be coming to the Xbox at E3 in June, but the company didn’t offer up many details.
As the cryptocurrency bubble looks ready to burst, developers and innovators at SXSW see new uses for the underlying tech
I can has digitally distributed records? Games like CryptoKitties are the next step in blockchain applications. Depending on who you ask, blockchain technology is either the solution to many of the world's problems or an area of overly hyped tech that is often incorrectly referenced interchangeably with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Lots of people still seem to get lost in just trying to understand how the technology works.
SXSW 2019: Defining The 'Infinite' Value Of Marvel Comics (aka Why The 'Disney Shutting Down Marvel Comics' Rumor Is Insane) - Geeks of Doom
SXSW 2019: Defining The ‘Infinite’ Value Of Marvel Comics (aka Why The ‘Disney Shutting Down Marvel Comics’ Rumor Is Insane) By Tom Cheredar | Monday, March 11th, 2019 at 11:15 pm Sometimes I’m left dumbfounded that many people covering the comic book industry couldn’t understand how Marvel Comics, the publishing arm of the organization, fits perfectly into the overall business strategy for Marvel Entertainment and its parent company Disney — that it is the central hub that connects the dots...
SXSW 2019: Good Omens' Nuns Crash All Of SXSW (While Terry Pratchett Presumably Smiles From Heaven) - Geeks of Doom
SXSW 2019: Good Omens’ Nuns Crash All Of SXSW (While Terry Pratchett Presumably Smiles From Heaven) By Tom Cheredar | Monday, March 11th, 2019 at 1:00 pm Austin, Texas feels like the center of a nonsensical apocalyptic event of biblical proportions, with random people floating around dressed in vivid white angel wings and evil dark suites characteristic of a demon.
SXSW 2019: Amazon's 'Good Omens' Is Packed With 'Doctor Who' Easter Eggs - Geeks of Doom
SXSW 2019: Amazon’s ‘Good Omens’ Is Packed With ‘Doctor Who’ Easter Eggs By Tom Cheredar | Monday, March 11th, 2019 at 5:06 pm Bringing together creator/showrunner Neil Gaiman, seasoned British television director Douglas Mackinnon (Sherlock, Jekyll), and fan favorite actor David Tennant for Amazon Studio’s forthcoming TV series Good Omens not only means the show will impress, but also that it’ll be chock-full of references to Doctor Who.
SXSW 2019: Good Omens' Nuns Crash All Of SXSW (While Terry Pratchett Presumably Smiles From Heaven) - Geeks of Doom
SXSW 2019: Good Omens’ Nuns Crash All Of SXSW (While Terry Pratchett Presumably Smiles From Heaven) By Tom Cheredar | Sunday, March 10th, 2019 at 9:49 pm Austin, Texas feels like the center of a nonsensical apocalyptic event of biblical proportions, with random people floating around dressed in vivid white angel wings and evil dark suites characteristic of a demon.
SXSW 2019: 'American Gods' Kicks Off Season 2 With An Immersive God Bar - Geeks of Doom
American Gods, the Neil Gaiman novel adapted into a Starz TV series, is properly represented at this year’s SXSW event to hype up fans ahead of the season 2 premiere tonight, March 10. The world got its first glimpse of the series at SXSW in 2017, where Starz assembled much of the insanely large cast for a panel discussion following a screening of the first episode.
SXSW 2019: Amazon's 'Good Omens' Gives Fans A Real Garden Of Earthly Delights - Geeks of Doom
SXSW 2019: Amazon’s ‘Good Omens’ Gives Fans A Real Garden Of Earthly Delights By Tom Cheredar | Friday, March 8th, 2019 at 7:56 pm I have been to the Garden of Earthly Delights, and it is stocked with good beer, puppies, and free manicures. By that I mean the adaptation of Good Omens to the small screen is going to make massive waves when it premieres later this year, at least if the show’s presence at this year’s SXSW is any indication.
The End (Final Episode)
It’s never easy when the Doctor loses a companion during her/his travels, and the same is true of close friends in real life. As we previously reported, dear friend and longtime Geeks of Doom contributor Greg Davies (also known as cgt2099), passed away suddenly last week. For 124 episodes, Greg and I delved into complex discussions to deliver a critique of Doctor Who via the TARDISblend podcast.
Farewell and Dilligaf, Old Friend
RIP Greg Davies: Farewell and Dilligaf, Old Friend By Tom Cheredar | Friday, February 1st, 2019 at 8:00 am Greg Davies, a long-time Geeks of Doom contributor and friend, passed away Tuesday. He was one of the first internet friends I made at the dawn of the social media and news-sharing era over a decade ago. He went by the handle cgt2099 and regularly used a silver alien head as his avatar.
5 things that should be on new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson's "To Do" list
After several years of floundering and a four-month search for a permanent leader, Yahoo has appointed former PayPal president Scott Thompson as its new CEO. While Thompson doesn’t officially start until next week, we’ve compiled a handful of tasks worthy of appearing on a hypothetical “To Do” list of things to bring Yahoo back to the level of titanic power it enjoyed a decade earlier.
Comcast plugs in to Facebook, Intel to make TV more interactive
The television is getting more interactive, at least for Comcast subscribers. The cable company on Tuesday announced partnerships with Facebook, Intel and others to bring social media integration and application support to its content service, Xfinity TV. “This new experience transforms the way consumers watch television with a new guide and user interface that makes the TV screen more interactive, personal and social,” Comcast stated in an official release.
Apple's rumored iTV: Analyst outlines three content scenarios
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has reaffirmed suspicions that Apple is on track to launch a company-branded television set by late 2012. His latest comments came in a note he sent to clients Tuesday. While Munster has predicted the debut of an Apple iTV product for years, his claims have only recently started gaining credibility thanks to comments that appeared in the official Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.
AOL's media business is in trouble, says major investor
One of AOL’s largest shareholders, Starboard Value LP, has warned Chief Executive Tim Armstrong that his strategy of transforming the company into a media powerhouse isn’t working. Over the past few years, AOL has attempted to shift away from its roots as a dial-up internet service provider in favor growing its media and advertising business.
SXSW 2018: ‘Gym Buddies’ Celebrates Ridiculousness Of Fitness Culture
I think we can all agree, the rise of fitness-minded products, services, and trendy exercise activities (like goat yoga or punk rock aerobics) is a topic that’s rife with potential for ridicule and humor. That’s also the basis behind new web series Gym Buddies, which follows the tale of Aparna (Nikita Redkar), a social-media obsessed millennial stereotype in her 20s, as she sets out on a huge healthy lifestyle change prompted by a recent breakup.
SXSW 2018: DC Creators Talk Superman's Future Ahead Of 'Action Comics #1000'
SXSW 2018: DC Creators Talk The Future Of Superman Ahead Of Action Comics #1000 One huge benefit of reuniting Superman with his iconic red trunks is the amount of attention it creates, which is very useful for DC Comics as it embarks on a brand new era for the Man of Steel. Case in point, the promotion pairs red underwear featuring #thetrunksareback hashtag on the back as well as a wall of Voodoo Doughnuts in the shape of Superman’s shield at this year’s SXSW (see photos above and below).
SXSW 2018: Journalism Is A Central Theme In Brian Bendis' Upcoming Superman Run
While past reboots of Superman have put a greater focus on the Man of Steel’s life as reporter Clark Kent, newly hired DC Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis’ take on the character will be closely tied to the ideals of good journalism, the scribe explained during a panel at this year’s SXSW.
How Syfy’s Superman-Less ‘Krypton’ Will Still Embody The Man Of Steel
SXSW 2018: How Syfy’s Superman-Less ‘Krypton’ Will Still Embody The Man Of Steel Creators of the upcoming Syfy series Krypton were on hand at DC’s pop-up SXSW store this weekend to share what fans can expect from a Superman TV show, which doesn’t actually include Superman himself.
DC Comics Popup Is Filled With Batmobiles, Kryptonian Statues & Fun
The thing about SXSW is that it makes you superhumanly exhausted. It’s why DC probably pulled out all the stops with its presence at the event this year, including showing up with Batman’s signature ride(s), a sneak peek at Syfy’s upcoming Superman prequel series, free coffee (because of course), and so much more. Check out details from the event here below. DC Comics did not disappoint at SXSW this weekend, having staged a huge pop-up booth that featured not one, but three glorious Batmobiles.
Wickr, a self-destructing messaging app, picks up $9M from Alsop Louie, Knight Foundation
The idea of self-destructing messaging applications is nothing new, but no one has really mastered the concept yet, which means there’s lots of room for innovation. Wickr is an app that lets you send messages in many different forms, including text, photos, images, and videos. The encrypted messaging data is tied to a device rather than a person or a user account, and that data is set to “self destruct” once you finish a conversation.
Secure-messaging app Wickr offers security tools for other social apps
Self-destructing messaging startup Wickr rolled out a new business-to-business “security suite” today that will let other social media and messaging apps take advantage of its security technology. Wickr‘s app lets you send messages in many different forms (text, photos, images, and videos), but differs from other competitors thanks its security.
Brands are seeing a greater impact with online video, says 33Across
Brands across multiple industries are seeing more customers respond to online video than ever before, according to the latest report from research firm 33Across. 33Across measures the consumer behavior for brands, tracking things like blog consumption, search engine usage, content sharing, video watching, and more.
Forget piracy, U.S. government is going after Bitcoin
Not satisfied with eliminating digital piracy from the world, two U.S. senators want to crack down on Bitcoin, an open-source digital currency. Senators Charles Schumer and Joe Manchin are pressing officials to take action against Bitcoin, which Gawker recently claimed is being used on underground black markets to purchase illegal drugs. The senators expressed their concerns in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart, Reuters reports.
SXSW 2017: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7 Will Feature An Ed Sheeran Cameo
SXSW 2017: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 7 Will Feature An Ed Sheeran Cameo Die hard Game of Thrones fans will know that there have been several instances throughout the run where well-known musicians made subtle appearances. And at SXSW 2017 today, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed that this season is no different. While neither made mention of the exact episode or scene, it was confirmed on stage that musician and adult-Ron Weasley lookalike Ed Sheeran will be making his way to Essos.
SXSW 2017: ‘Game of Thrones’ Showrunners Want To Do An Episode Of ‘Rick and Morty’
SXSW 2017: ‘Game of Thrones’ Showrunners Want To Do An Episode Of ‘Rick and Morty’ At the Game of Thrones panel at this year’s SXSW, showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff said they’d love to do an episode of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty once the HBO series concludes. The response came from a question about what the pair’s plans are beyond the show.
SXSW 2017: ‘Game of Thrones’ Showrunners Tease Season 7 & 8 Details
With HBO announcing the premiere date for the highly anticipated seventh season of Game of Thrones, the series showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss joined an anxious crowd today at SXSW in Austin, TX, to talk about what’s to come. Normally, fans are treated to new seasons of the show in April soon after SXSW is held. However, due to a more intense filming schedule that required utilizing seasonal weather, we’re having to wait until July for Season 7.
SXSW 2017: ‘American Gods’ May Very Well Be Your Next TV Obsession (Spoiler-Free)
SXSW 2017: ‘American Gods’ May Very Well Be Your Next TV Obsession (Spoiler-Free) You’ve probably heard quite a bit of buzz about the forthcoming big-budget television adaptation of American Gods coming to Starz this April, but unless you’re a fan of author Neil Gaiman himself, it’s likely you aren’t prepared for the onslaught of fandom that will come when the show debuts.
SXSW 2017: Ridley Scott Talks Up ‘Alien: Covenant’ and Why It’s Worth A Watch… Probably
SXSW 2017: Ridley Scott Talks Up ‘Alien: Covenant’ and Why It’s Worth A Watch… Probably It seems that despite the mixed review that 2012’s Prometheus endured, nearly everyone who is a fan of Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien is cautiously excited about his new film Alien: Covenant.
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 FCC is now prohibited from imposing fines and sanctions of any sort for verbal obscenities and indecency.
Are microservices just SOA redux?
Sinclair is CEO and cofounder of Apprenda, a leader in enterprise Platform as a Service. It seems like every conversation related to cloud-native software projects these days involves microservices. During those conversations, someone inevitably draws a comparison with service-oriented architecture (SOA) or hesitantly asks the question, “Aren’t microservices just SOA?” While it might not seem important on first glance, this is actually a pressing question that gets little attention.
People-based marketing is key to humanizing the consumer experience
Tim is CEO at DataSift. Cookies were once the kings of the advertising industry, but times are changing. Once upon a time in the world of online marketing (or five years ago), every time you visited a website, a pixel would drop a web cookie into your browser. Cookies served as a tagging device to identify your computer among the millions of other users browsing the Internet, tracking your activity as you visited pages online.
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