Tom Merritt

Last updated

Tom Merritt
Tom Merritt (DTNS 3210) 1.png
Merritt in 2018
Born
Thomas Andrew Merritt

(1970-06-28) June 28, 1970 (age 52)
Greenville, Illinois [1]
Nationality American
Notable work
SpouseEileen Rivera
Website www.tommerritt.com

Thomas Andrew Merritt (born June 28, 1970) is an American technology journalist, writer, and broadcaster best known as the host of several podcasts. He is a former co-host of Tech News Today on the TWiT.tv Network, and was previously an executive editor for CNET and developer and co-host of the daily podcast Buzz Out Loud . [2] As of March 2023, Merritt hosts Daily Tech News Show, Cordkillers and Sword and Laser, among other programs.

Contents

Early life

Merritt was born in Greenville, Illinois, to Bill Merritt, [3] a food scientist who worked on the Coffee-Mate project. [1] Merritt received a BS in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and pursued graduate work in communications at the University of Texas at Austin. [4]

Career

Merritt's career in radio began in 1986 as a DJ for WGEL, a country music station located in Greenville, Illinois. [4] In 1993, he worked as an intern for National Public Radio's Morning Edition . [4] From 1999 to 2004, he worked for TechTV in San Francisco as an executive web producer and was a radio host with TechTV until 2003. [4]

CNET

Merritt started with CNET in 2004. [4] In addition to his duties as co-host of Buzz Out Loud with Molly Wood, he also had a regular column and podcast (co-hosted with Rafe Needleman) dealing with consumer technology. He also co-hosted the tech support call-in program CNET Live with fellow editor Brian Cooley, and was the host of CNET Top 5.

On April 16, 2010, Merritt announced that he would be stepping down as co-host of Buzz Out Loud, and that he would be joining the TWiT. Network as a full-time daily host on June 1, 2010. [5] During his last Buzz Out Loud episode on May 14, 2010, he announced that his main focus at TWiT would be a new daily show, Tech News Today. [6]

TWiT Network

Before joining TWiT as an employee, Merritt had a long-standing working relationship with former TechTV colleague Leo Laporte's network, having regularly appeared on This Week in Tech as either a guest or as a relief host. His independent general discussion podcast with Roger Chang, East Meets West, was also on TWiT Live. [7]

Tech News Today was launched on June 1, 2010. Merritt was a regular host along with Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell. [8]

On joining TWiT, Merritt brought with him two shows previously produced by the cartoonist Scott Johnson's Frogpants Studios. Originally started on July 7, 2009, Fourcast had Merritt and Johnson inviting guests to discuss the future and what it might contain in a so-called virtual fireside setting. [9] Meanwhile, Current Geek Weekly is a weekly discussion of geek culture stories and the companion podcast to the Current Geek podcasts still produced by Frogpants Studios. Merritt still appeared on the Frogpants Network for a segment called Tom's Tech Time on Wednesdays on the Scott Johnson/Brian Ibbott-hosted podcast, The Morning Stream.

On November 10, 2010, Merritt officially launched his second new show on TWiT, FrameRate. Focusing on video in its many and varied forms (television, film, Internet), Merritt co-hosted the show with the magician and NSFW podcast host Brian Brushwood.

On January 20, 2011, TWiT officially launched Triangulation, a new show with Merritt co-hosting with Leo Laporte and interviewing a notable figure in technology. In July 2012, he stopped co-hosting the show because he "wanted to work on other projects". [10]

In addition to these regular shows, Merritt hosted live breaking news coverage of major technology events on TWiT's live stream such as WWDC , Google I/O and the resignation and death of Steve Jobs. These ware later released as TWiT Live Specials podcasts. He has acted as a relief host for Laporte on TWiT, Windows Weekly, Security Now and other shows when Laporte has been unavailable.

On October 22, 2012, Merritt announced that he would be moving to Los Angeles to accommodate his wife's new employment at YouTube, but would continue to present on the TWiT network over Skype.

On December 5, 2013, Leo Laporte announced that Merritt's contract would not be renewed, stating that the decision was based on the need for an in-studio anchor for Tech News Today. [11] Merritt hosted his last edition on December 30, 2013.

Freelance podcasts

Since February 4, 2008, Merritt has hosted Sword & Laser, a science fiction and fantasy book club podcast, co-hosted with his former CNET colleague, Veronica Belmont. [12]

On June 22, 2010, he launched a new show for Tom's Top 5, [13] originally for Revision3. The show counted down a new Top 5 list every week released on Tuesday until November 1, 2011. He then did a similar show, CNET Top 5, for TechRepublic (part of CNET).

Merritt appeared in two early episodes of his Frame Rate co-host Brian Brushwood's Revision3 show Scam School.

On March 3, 2013, Merritt and Molly Wood began the It's a Thing podcast, described as a show grown from the brain of Molly Wood, derived from a regular segment on the CNET podcast Gadgettes.

In early January 2014, following his departure from TWiT, Merritt began co-hosting a podcast with Brian Brushwood called Cordkillers, [14] while also starting a new podcast, Daily Tech News Show (DTNS). [15]

Books

Merritt has written several books, mostly sci-fi novels. Boiling Point, which he later narrated as an audiobook, [16] describes a near future United States civil war. [17] Chapters of United Moon Colonies (2006) were posted on his blog. [18] Both books were published on Lulu.com with a Creative Commons license.[ citation needed ]

Foxconn

In 2012, newspapers reported calls by consumer groups to boycott Apple products in response to accounts of worker suicides and dangerous working conditions at the Foxconn plant in China. [19] Merritt, who has followed tech news since 2005, [20] responded by saying, "Boycotts of Apple might be good to nudge Apple into doing something to improve conditions, but, you're going to have to boycott buying electronics if you really wanted to punish China. I'm not sure that that's called for, necessarily." [21]

Citing a Forbes infographic [22] showing Foxconn with, reportedly, fewer suicides per million workers (18) than the number of suicides per million Chinese citizens (220), Merritt suggested it might be worth investigating whether the lower rate at Foxconn may be due to "the fact that people who are gainfully employed are in some way less likely to commit suicide". [21] There may be other reasons besides the working conditions at the plant for worker suicides.

Instead of boycotts, he advocated addressing the dangerous working conditions in a broader context. Comparing the conditions at Foxconn to American coal mines of the 1800s and early 1900s, he added, "There may be similar types of abuses going on at Foxconn, but we have those kinds of conditions arise because the conditions that the workers are in before they take the job are worse. That doesn't excuse the conditions, but you don't just want to get rid of the factory. You don't want to just get rid of the coal mine and send people back into abject poverty. What you want to do is put pressure on the coal mine or the factory or whatever to begin to change their ways and improve those conditions so that everybody wins." [21]

Bibliography

Personal life

Merritt is married to Eileen Rivera and they live in Los Angeles, California, [23] with their dogs Sawyer and Rey (another dog, Jango, died of natural causes on January 25, 2017), and formerly lived in Marin County and Oakland. He is a fan of Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals.

Related Research Articles

The Screen Savers is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005. The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV on May 11, 1998. The Screen Savers originally centered on computers, new technologies, and their adaptations in the world. However, after it was taken over by G4, the show became more general-interest oriented and focused somewhat less on technology. The final episode of The Screen Savers aired on March 18, 2005. Repeat episodes continued to air until March 25, 2005 when its replacement program Attack of the Show! began 3 days later on March 28, 2005. Two spiritual successors to The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech on the TWiT Network with Leo Laporte and Tekzilla on Revision3 with Patrick Norton, were started after the original show concluded. On April 19, 2015, Leo Laporte announced The New Screen Savers, which began airing on TWiT network May 2, 2015.

TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. At the height of its six-year run, TechTV was broadcast in 70 countries, reached 43 million households, and claimed 1.9 million unique visitors monthly to its website. A focus on personality-driven product reviews and technical support made it a cultural hub for technology information worldwide, still existing today online through its former hosts' webcasts, most notably the TWiT Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Dvorak</span> American journalist and radio broadcaster

John C. Dvorak is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. He was vice president of Mevio, and has been a host on TechTV and TWiT.tv. He is currently a co-host of the No Agenda podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Laporte</span> American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur

Leo Laporte is the former host of The Tech Guy weekly radio show and a host on TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology author. On November 19, 2022, actor, writer, musician, and comedian Steve Martin called in to Laporte's radio show to announce Leo's retirement from The Tech Guy radio show. Laporte's last new radio show will be December 18, 2022 with reruns for the remainder of the year. Rich DeMuro later appeared on the show to announce that he will be taking over in January with a weekly show, recorded on Saturdays, called "Rich On Tech."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amber MacArthur</span>

Amber Dawn MacArthur is a Canadian television and netcasting personality, bestselling author of two books, and keynote speaker. MacArthur is the former co-host of BNN's App Central and Bloomberg Brink, G4TechTV's Call for Help, and TWiT's The Social Hour. She was the most followed Canadian television personality on Twitter in 2008. In 2018, she was named DMZ's 30 inspirational women making a difference in tech.

<i>Internet Tonight</i> American TV series or program

Internet Tonight was a television program on the cable network ZDTV. The show combined the "effervescent moxie" of Michaela Pereira with the "dry wit" of Scott Herriott, to bring the viewers the latest in Internet trends, humor, and news. Due to the production value it was called the "absolute slickest show [TechTV] had" but was canceled when "Paul [Allen] took a dislike to the show ... and just killed it"

<i>This Week in Tech</i> Technology podcast

This Week in Tech–casually referred to as TWiT, and briefly known as Revenge of the Screen Savers–is the weekly flagship podcast and namesake of the TWiT.tv network. It is hosted by Leo Laporte and many other former TechTV employees and currently produced by Jason Howell. It features round-table discussions and debates surrounding current technology news and reviews, with a particular focus on consumer electronics and the Internet. TWiT is produced in the TWiT "eastside" studios in Petaluma, California, United States, since 2016, a few miles away from the former "brickhouse" studios where it had been produced for 5 years, and earlier TWiT "cottage", where it was produced for over 6 years. The podcast is streamed live on Sundays at 2:15 P.M. PST.

Glenn Rubenstein is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California.

<i>Buzz Out Loud</i> Technology podcast

Buzz Out Loud, "CNET's podcast of indeterminate length," or BOL, as it is affectionately titled by its fans, was a podcast about technology produced by CNET. The podcast was released daily on weekdays for the majority of its run, and weekly on Thursdays near its end. At its inception, the show was hosted by Tom Merritt and Molly Wood. Later in the shows life, other hosts, producers and guests appeared on the show although throughout most of its life, the show had either Tom, Molly or both hosting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Wood</span> American journalist

Molly Kristin Wood is an American venture capitalist, podcast host, and journalist.

<i>MacBreak</i> Technology podcast

MacBreak was an internet television show hosted by Leo Laporte, Kendra Arimoto, Alex Lindsay, iJustine and Emery Wells from TWiT.tv and the Pixel Corps. The podcast was dedicated to Apple's Macintosh computers and other Apple products such as the iPod.

<i>FLOSS Weekly</i> Technology podcast

FLOSS Weekly is a free and open-source software (FLOSS) themed netcast from the TWiT Network. The show premiered on April 7, 2006, and features interviews with prominent guests from the free software/open source community. It was originally hosted by Leo Laporte; his cohost for the first seventeen episodes was Chris DiBona and subsequently Randal Schwartz. In May 2010, Schwartz took over from Laporte as lead host. May 2020 saw Doc Searls take over the host role in episode 578.

CNET Video is a San Francisco and New York based network showing original programming catering to the niche market of technology enthusiasts, operated by Red Ventures through their CNET brand. CNET Video originated as the television program production arm of CNET Networks in the United States, producing programs starting in the mid-to-late 1990s. It was CNET Networks' first project. Technology-themed television shows produced by CNET Video also aired on G4 in Canada. CNET Video is a 2012 Technology People's Voice Webby Award Winner. On July 24, 2013, CNET Video launched a new CNET Video+ app for iOS, Android and Xbox SmartGlass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TWiT.tv</span> Podcast network

TWiT.tv, which is the operating trade name of TWiT LLC, is a podcast network that broadcasts many technology news podcasts, founded by technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte in 2005, and run by his wife and company CEO Lisa Laporte. The network began operation in April 2005 with the launch of This Week in Tech. Security Now was the second podcast on the network, debuting in August of that year. The network hosts 28 podcasts though the number had fallen in half to only 14 regularly scheduled shows by January 2021. Podcasts include The Tech Guy, This Week in Tech, This Week in Enterprise Tech, Security Now, FLOSS Weekly, and MacBreak Weekly. In addition to shows on technology news, TWiT also has podcasts like Hands-On Photography".

<i>The Tech Guy</i> Technology radio program

The Tech Guy was a widely syndicated US radio show hosted by Leo Laporte, formerly of TechTV and later with TWiT.tv. The show, which was first exclusively broadcast on KFI 640 AM in Los Angeles, was picked up for syndication by Premiere Networks in February 2007. Laporte streamed video of his side of the show on TWiT Live, including caller audio. The show was available live on Saturdays and Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Johnson (cartoonist)</span> American cartoonist and podcaster

Scott Blaine Johnson is an American cartoonist, illustrator, game designer, and podcaster. He lives in South Jordan, Utah, with his wife and three children. In 2008, Johnson launched Frog Pants Studios, LLC, an illustration and audio production company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natali Morris</span> American podcaster, writer, television/cyber journalist

Natali Terese Morris is an American online media personality and co-founder of Morris Invest, a real estate investment company. She was formerly a technology news journalist with CNET and CBS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veronica Belmont</span> American journalist and media personality (born 1982)

Veronica Ann Belmont is an American online media personality. She was formerly the co-host of the Revision3 show Tekzilla alongside Patrick Norton. Belmont was the co-host of the former TWiT.tv gaming show Game On! along with Brian Brushwood, and the former host of the monthly PlayStation 3-based video on demand program Qore. Additionally, she was the host for the Mahalo Daily podcast and a producer and associate editor for CNET Networks, Inc. where she produced, engineered, and co-hosted the podcast Buzz Out Loud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Robert Young</span> American podcaster (born 1983)

Justin Robert Young is a podcaster, journalist, comedian and writer. Young writes and publishes the Politics, Politics, Politics! podcast, and co-hosts the weekly comedy podcast Great Night with magician Brian Brushwood.

<i>Security Now</i> Technology podcast

Security Now! is a weekly podcast hosted by Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte. It was the second show to premiere on the TWiT Network, launching in summer 2005. The first episode, “As the Worm Turns”, was released on August 19, 2005.

References

  1. 1 2 Molly Wood and Merritt (September 18, 2007). "Buzz Out Loud 577: Steve Jobs' pants" (Podcast). CNET. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2007.
  2. ↑ "CNET launches Podcast Central". The Online Reporter (494): 10. May 27, 2006. Retrieved November 23, 2007.
  3. ↑ Dwoskin, Jeff (March 27, 2023). "Classic Conversations w/Jeff Dwoskin Podcast". Classic Conversations.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Resume / CV". Thomas Merritt. July 21, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2007.
  5. ↑ "I'm changing some things. UPDATE". Thomas Merritt. April 16, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Coming June 1- Tech News Today with Tom Merritt". Thomas Merritt. May 14, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  7. ↑ Roger Chang and Tom Merritt (October 21, 2007). "East Meets West". Subbrilliant (Podcast). Retrieved October 21, 2007.
  8. ↑ Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell. "Tech News Today". TWiT.tv (Podcast). Retrieved June 10, 2021.{{cite podcast}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt. "FourCast". TWiT.tv (Podcast). Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  10. ↑ Leo Laporte and Tom Merritt. "Triangulation". TWiT.tv (Podcast). Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Changes at TWiT, Part 1". TWiT.tv. December 5, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Sword & Laser".
  13. ↑ "Tom's Top 5: Most wanted products – Tom's Top 5". Revision3.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Cordkillers: Ep. 1 - Distributors gotta distribute — Cordkillers".
  15. ↑ "DTNS 2140: My car has lasers". Daily Tech News Show. January 2, 2014.
  16. ↑ "SuBBrilliant Blog » Boiling Point". Subbrilliant. July 15, 2006. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  17. ↑ Merritt, Tom (August 2007). Boiling Point. Subbrilliant Media. ISBN   978-0-615-15790-0.
  18. ↑ "SuBBrilliant Blog » UMC". Subbrilliant. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  19. ↑ Harris, Paul (January 28, 2012). "Apple hit by boycott call over worker abuses in China". The Observer. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
    - Curtis, Sophie (January 31, 2012). "Apple faces possible boycott over Foxconn investigation". Techworld. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Host: Tom Merritt". Daily Tech News Show. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  21. 1 2 3 Colanduno, Derek (February 14, 2012). "Skepticality #176 – A Midsummer Night's Foxconn". Skepticality. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  22. ↑ Worstall, Tim (January 30, 2012). "The Apple Boycott Graphically Explained". Forbes. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
    - Worstall, Tim (January 29, 2012). "The Apple Boycott: People Are Spouting Nonsense About Chinese Manufacturing". Forbes. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Twitter / acedtect: Traffic in San Francisco was". Twitter. January 3, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.