Ricky Riley, Author at Blerds

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

New Features, Advancements Revealed for Apple’s New Operating System

Apple’s new OS could bridge the gap between your laptop and your phone.

The Yosemite Operating System will focus on sleek app design, speed and reliability that current operating systems may not offer.

According to Ian Sherr and Shara Tibken for CNET.com, “some of the key new features included advancements for its Spotlight search function, allowing users to ask it about the weather, for example, or find stock prices and sports scores. The company also enhanced its search functions in apps like email, where they can easily find messages they hadn’t yet responded to. Apple also made it easy for two apps to run on the screen at once, a function called ‘split view.'”

Some of these features are not new and have been introduced in the Windows operating systems like Windows 8 and 10. Apple is banking on brand reputation to sell its new product. The company wants it to be the most user-friendly OS on the market.

“It’s more of an upgrade to the feel of OS X. This means a lot more gesture control, continuing the tradition of making OS X feel more like iOS. For instance, El Capitan lets you swipe two fingers across the trackpad to delete a message. You can also kill unwanted autoplay music with a single tap. And you can also pull up Mission Control with a three-finger swipe. This kind of stuff is largely reminiscent of Windows 10, and the list of little improvements goes on,” reports Adam Clark Estes for Gizmodo.

The OS will also have widgets that connect users to news, sports and other informational sources. There will be a shared menu that allows developers to create blogs that will also enhance the user’s experience and build a rapport between developer and user. For more information on features check out Apple’s website.

Apple users can upgrade now via the Apple Store.

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

5 Impressive Facts About the First Black Woman Cartoonist

Jackie Ormes was the first Black woman to create, write and draw her own syndicated comic strip in the United States. For those who read and enjoy comics, you may realize that there are not a lot of female creators working on prominent characters for DC Comics and Marvel. However, in the 1930s, Ormes (born Zelda Mavin Jackson), was making a comic strip before Batman and Superman became the cultural icons they are now. She was a pioneer who deserves the same credit as Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, C.C. Beck, Joe Kubert and many others. Ormes was ahead of her time just like Orrin C. Evans.

Torchy Brown in ‘Dixie to Harlem’

Ormes’ first comic strip was published in the all-Black newspaper the Pittsburgh Courier from 1937-38. Above, you can see the extreme detail of her work. This strip showed the great migration of African-Americans moving to the North to escape the Jim Crow South. Torchy Brown is a teenage girl from Mississippi who goes to Harlem to find fame as a singer and dancer.

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June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

Schools Use Drones to Spy on Cheaters

Drone technology has come a long way in just the past five years. Companies like Amazon plan to use drones to deliver packages in the near future. We already know that various armed forces around the world are using them for reconnaissance or for offensive purposes.

According to Wired writer Katie Collins, “every year in China millions of students sit a higher education access exam that is so stressful it has been linked to spates of suicides and frequently results in youngsters fainting in the examination room. Known as the ‘gaokao’, the exam is taken over two days, is based primarily on memorization and determines the course of the young students’ lives.”

In the Chinese province of Luoyang, schools have decided to prove that they are a little smarter than cheating kids. The schools are aware that kids might try to use cellphones to find answers they just don’t know.

They plan on using drones to monitor examination rooms. This exam is essentially the SAT on steroids. It has been reported that many students have been so stressed about the test that they committed suicide to avoid shame.

In order to avoid cheating, the drones will hover 500 meters in the air over the test site. It can detect the cellphone and relay that message back to the test proctors via tablet.

June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

2015 ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Math and Science Scholarship Recipients Announced

Earlier this week, four high school seniors were selected by the Council of the Great City Schools to receive a $5,000 scholarship courtesy of ExxonMobil for perspective students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

The organization focuses on the needs of students attending urban area schools. The organization is composed of 67 different urban school districts in the U.S. that serve as a network to solve common issues and exchange information and problem-solving methods.

On June 3, the 2015 ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Math and Science Scholarship were announced: Matthew Guillory from Robert A. Millikan High School in Long Beach, California, of the Unified School District; Sofia Kennedy from the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, Texas, of the Independent School District; Summer Kollie of Girard Academic Music Program from School District of Philadelphia; and Nicolas Pena from Western High School of Broward County, Florida, Public Schools

The scholarship was created in 2010 by the first Black astronaut to walk in space, Dr. Bernard Harris. His foundation partnered up with ExxonMobil to give students in low-income districts a chance to prosper.

According to the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, Michael Casserly, “these highly competitive scholarships provide an enormous opportunity for talented urban students to pursue STEM post-secondary studies and careers. The generous support of Dr. Harris and ExxonMobil contributes to the growth of these young men and women as they begin the next stage of their lives.”

After a long application process, Harris decides who will receive the scholarships.

June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook Delivers Vital Speech on Encryption and Privacy

Apple CEO Tim Cook was honored at the EPIC’s Champions of Freedom event in Washington earlier this week for his leadership in the tech industry.

However, he took that time to highlight privacy and encryption practices. His speech was biting and clawing at Facebook, Google and the national government. In regards to Google, Cook attacked its recently launched photo service.

“Like many of you, we at Apple reject the idea that our customers should have to make trade-offs between privacy and security. We can and we must provide both in equal measure. We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy. The American people demand it; the constitution demands it; morality demands it,” Cook opened.

Cook went on to discuss the ways companies hijack personal information in order to create personalized ads and make money from your personal details.

“I’m speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information. They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that’s wrong. And it’s not the kind of company that Apple wants to be.”

According to Matthew Panzarino for Techcrunch.com, “this marked the first time that EPIC, a nonprofit research center in Washington focused on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues, has given the honor to a person from the business world. The hosts of the event included cryptographer Bruce Schneier, EPIC president Marc Rotenberg, lobbyist Hilary Rosen and Stanford lecturer in law Chip Pitts.”

Many would say that Cook has blood on his hands. His company had a major iCloud hacking fiasco late last year where many celebrity nude photos were released. Also, Apple has recently launched Google Photos on its iOS.

However, the speech was necessary.

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015

Transforming PC Tower Gives New Meaning to Robot in Disguise

The 2015 Computex Taipei conference is the largest IT trade show in Asia. According to Yahoo News, “the Taiwanese event is one of the key dates in the calendar for major announcements on the latest chip technology for PCs and mobile platforms, pointing to what we can expect in the year ahead for desktops, laptop hybrids, tablets, mobiles and even wearables.”

One of the more impressive products at the trade show is a transformed PC tower with the capability of showing off the inner workings of the machine. There is very little information released about this machine. At the moment, ASUS has partnered with In Win, a company that designs computer cases, towers, servers and power supplies for computers. This means that in the near future, a product of this magnitude will be on the market for mass consumption. However, the date and more details are yet to be released.

Here is a clip of the ASUS Tower in action:

Source: YouTube

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015

Oculus Seeks to Make Virtual Reality a Social Experience

Oculus wants to expand into 3-D animation and 3-D filmmaking as it continues to push the boundaries of virtual reality.

According to Engadget.com writer Edgar Alvarez, “Oculus Story Studio, arguably the Pixar of virtual reality, this is the first step in making the medium more social. And it’s using its short film Lost, introduced earlier this year at Sundance, as a test bed. Still, whether we’re talking about a cute movie or a fun game, most VR activities so far have one thing in common: They’re solitary experiences. Oculus wants to change that.”

Blerds reported that the Oculus Rift headset will hit store shelves for virtual reality enthusiasts everywhere to enjoy in 2016.

Oculus’ goal is to make story-telling and virtual reality as interactive as possible. The Lost short film allows people to be characters in the film. Two people wearing Oculus Rifts can be the fireflies in the film that interact with the story world and the other characters.

The end game is to convince filmmakers to make works that are flexible enough to have audience members interact in the story as actual characters.

“We think the future of VR in cinema is social, that you’re with your friends. You’re not in the same room, maybe; maybe you’re all going in together at the same time, and that’s where the lines between cinema and an MMO (massive multiplayer online) start to blur,” states Story Studio producer Edward Saatchi.

June 2, 2015June 3, 2015

Six-Part Web Series Illuminates Race and Gender Boundaries in Silicon Valley

Blavity is a San Francisco-based tech startup founded by Morgan DeBaun in 2014. The site is an interactive and thriving social engine that focuses on the lives, stories and shared experiences of Black millennials in the United States. However, the site is just the tip of the iceberg. It features listicles, curated videos and articles about Black current events and history in addition to providing resources for Blerds in tech.

However, there is much more.The startup created the Blavity House for women of color to stay at during the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. This house is for women interested in tech, brainstorming ideas and networking to change the very homogeneous industry that is technology. For more info on that, check out their site.

Their most current project is a web series that shines a light on the inner workings of Silicon Valley from the perspective of women working there.

According to Elon Evora for Blavity.com, “the six-part web series, premiering this Thursday, June 4, features entrepreneurial women who hold positions at Google, Facebook and a variety of emerging startups. The series delves into the unique experiences of professionals who range in age, background, career and workplace. Despite differences, each of their stories has one commonality, they are all black women working in Silicon Valley where they are a part of a scarce minority.”

For those who are interested, here is a trailer for your viewing pleasure:

Source: YouTube