Posted on

The Digital Age May Not Be the Utopia Millennials Thought It Would Be

Millennials are the generation of racially accepting, diverse, progressives who are obsessed with technology and only have wonderful things to gain from the digital age.

That’s the idea of the younger generation that has been packaged, pitched and sold for years.

It’s also a perception that may not be as accurate as it initially seemed.

A report published by Al Jazeera proved that millennials aren’t as progressive as they claim to be and now Kentucky journalism professor David R. Wheeler is suggesting that the digital age has a clear message for the young people in its workforce.

“Drop dead.”

That’s what Wheeler says Silicon Valley is really telling millennials.

For years, the technology industry has been perceived as a saving grace for graduates and those who want to be CEOs rather than employees.

Young mobile app developers have high hopes of becoming the next emerging tech billionaires and the unemployment troubles for the younger generation will soon be nonexistent. Right?

Not quite.

“Silicon Valley is tossing millennials aside like yesterday’s laptop,” Wheeler writes in a blog post for CNN.

He lists some troubling and true statistics.

“But despite falling unemployment, college grads age 22 to 27 are stuck in low-paying jobs that don’t even require a college degree,” he adds. “The percentage of young people languishing in low-skill, low-paying jobs is 44 percent, a 20-year high.”

He adds that only 36 percent of college graduates are even working jobs with salaries of at least $45,000.

After adjusting for inflation, it marks a severe decline from the 1990s.

Statistics also revealed that more and more graduates are getting paid less than $25,000, and other studies suggest the younger generation is rarely given the benefits expected from full-time employment.

These numbers aren’t new. In the past, they have been used to suggest that the labor market is more competitive than ever and reveal the lack of value placed on young hires fresh out of college.

That’s always where Silicon Valley promised to be different.

Where other industries failed to value young, innovative minds, the world of tech was supposed to cherish them.

Wheeler says that’s not what’s happening.

The younger generation is not rushing off to become tech entrepreneurs or successful app developers, although that’s what their dreams may have been.

The rapidly growing digital age is actually forcing many young workers into “sharing-economy jobs.”

“The sharing-economy jobs are even worse than minimum wage jobs because they offer no stability or protections for workers,” Wheeler writes. “Sharing-economy jobs aren’t really jobs at all; they’re freelance gigs.”

Gigs like becoming Uber drivers.

Gigs where the major corporation receives the greatest economic benefit from a young worker’s service while the actual driver pulls in shockingly low amounts of revenue.

There are also those long-standing concerns with technology snatching jobs from blue collar workers.

It all points to a bleak reality of more high-tech jobs for some, while many current middle-class workers would be out of work.

It’s certainly something to consider and all the more reason why technological progression must come with balance and caution.

Tech’s limitations should also be defined by ethics and not merely by what is technologically and scientifically possible.

At the same time, one must understand that as time passes, certain jobs will certainly be replaced as other new types of jobs grow in demand.

Hey, at one point men and women were being paid to set up the pins at bowling alleys rather than having machines take over and reset the game in a matter of seconds.

When it comes to a happy relationship between tech and the middle class, Silicon Valley and all those involved will have to work hard to maintain a certain level of economic and ethical balance.

Posted on

The Childhood Disappointments of a Young African Girl Give Birth to the Super-Powered Black Teen Hero of the Future

At some point, nearly every child had dreams of being a superhero.

The most compelling conversations on the playground centered around what superpower would be the coolest to have or debating the end result of an epic Superman versus Batman battle.

It was action and fantasy that drove most children to have superhero-filled dreams.

For Milumbe Haimbe, that wasn’t the case.

Haimbe also shared a deep desire to become a superhero, but it wasn’t about a cool costume or unleashing vengeance on the evil villains of elementary school.

It was about the possibility of creating and defending a world of peace, a world of economic equality, a world free of stress and depression. She wanted to be the heroine who created a world that was essentially the exact opposite from that of her own.

“I grew up in Zambia in the 1980s, an era that marked the beginning of the country’s worst economic crisis,” she wrote in a special post for CNN. “My childhood memories are of a prolonged state of emergency that was characterized by acute food shortages and an economic decline where the basic needs of the average Zambian family were barely met.”

That very real universe that created Haimbe’s reality left her, her siblings and her close friends working to develop an extraterrestrial language that might be able to reach some of the most popular superheroes of the time.

“Our goal was to send an SOS out to the superheroes in the galaxies,” she added.”…[P]erhaps a spaceship would come down to Earth to save us from our dreary lives and carry us into outer space.”

With so many popular heroic figures to choose from, Haimbe had no idea if it would be Superwoman or the Incredible Hulk rescuing her and her siblings from their “dreary lives.”

What she did know was that the hero would probably be a male and would definitely be white.

At least that’s what mainstream America would want her to think.

The creative spirit inside her grew into an impassioned woman who knew it was about time that younger women in Africa had a young, Black super-powered girl to aspire to be like some day.

So Haimbe created Ananiya.

Ananiya is a 17-year-old girl who joined a fictional resistance at the age of 13 in Haimbe’s graphic novel “The Revolutionist.”

“The Revolutionist” is still described by Haimbe as a “work in progress.”

The series will follow Ananiya as she navigates the complexities of a distant future that is still far too much like the past.

“As the masses are thrust into a state of emergency, Ananiya’s world is characterized by curfews police raids, censorship and propaganda,” Haimbe continues. “Will the revolution overcome? With this literary and visual offering, I describe a world that is both like — and at the same time very much unlike — our own. As a young, Black female, my protagonist, Ananiya, is the most unlikely hero for the revolution.”

Posted on

10 of the Most Incredible STEM Programs for Black Youths

SEEK

National Society of Black Engineers’ Summer Engineering Experience for Kids

Every summer, this program gives 300 students between the third and eighth grades the chance to participate in the National Society of Black Engineers’ camp, known as SEEK. The program takes place in different cities across America and provides a free resource for students interested in STEM careers. Students are given the opportunity to work with Black college students who are on the path to obtaining their own degrees in STEM-related subjects. It’s a particularly stellar program considering the economic disadvantages that leave many Black parents unable to afford to send their child to science camps over the summer.

smash

Summer Math and Science Honors Academy

The Summer Math and Science Honors Academy, known as SMASH, gives students of color guidance and exposure to STEM subjects. Many students of color don’t have such classes available in their schools, but academies like SMASH help give them the foundation they need to excel in STEM careers even if such programs are missing from their daily curriculum. The program takes places every summer for three years for each student but also offers benefits throughout the school year. SMASH students have access to special college counselors and receive tailored SAT prep classes.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Posted on

SXSW Interactive Reminds Young Blerds of the Racial Disparities Facing Black People in Tech

Tech lovers, designers, creatives and many more convened in Austin, Texas, to join the South by Southwest interactive experience.

These innovators were prepared to find investors, share their unique ideas with business veterans or just mingle with other entrepreneurial hopefuls who were ready to become a part of the ever-expanding technology industry.

Unfortunately, Black and Latino members of this crowd were met with disappointment.

While the crowd of attendees has been more diverse than it has ever been, according to multiple reports, the diversity of investors and venture capitalists in the space is still just as whitewashed as ever.

Joshua Mitchell was one of the Black innovators whose trip to SXSW was also a bleak reminder that constant conversations about diversity in STEM are no promise that change has actually taken place.

Mitchell was hoping to link with a Black venture capitalist firm that would be interested in funding his start-up jeniusLogic, a company that focuses on building mobile apps for people in the music and entertainment space.

With so many aspiring musicians and entertainers paving their own paths to Hollywood, it’s an app idea that could certainly prove to be a major success.

That potential still wasn’t enough to overcome the racial barriers for Black people like Mitchell who are interested in the tech space.

“There’s a big disconnect between people of color’s culture and the technology industry,” he told USA Today. “Right now, it’s a little difficult to navigate.”

The lack of diversity in tech would never be considered breaking news at this point.

Consumers caused quite the uproar when tech giants released diversity reports back in 2014 that revealed that less than 5 percent of their employees were people of color.

Many of the companies had workforces that were less than 2 percent Black.

When it came to management positions, the numbers were even more troubling. Black leaders in the tech space were nearly non-existent.

It has caused tech leaders, major companies and national programs to shift gears to focus more on boosting diversity, but the team behind SXSW never had to bother with a major shift — they had always focused on discussing diversity in STEM.

This year, SXSW hosted more than 100 sessions that focused on diversity in tech and that number was only a slight increase from their usual numbers, proving that they have always found diversity in STEM to be an important topic.

SXSW is also one of the few major events that is being more direct with its approach to diversity.

Despite million-dollar plans and national initiatives being announced to boost diversity in tech, there are many cases where the details are murky and unreliable.

SXSW, on the other hand, is making a particular effort to not only discuss the issues but to discuss plausible solutions.

“We want to have a lineup that reflects what we think should be a more diverse tech ecosystem,” explained Hugh Forrest, the head of SXSW’s Interactive section, to USA Today. “We still have a long, long way to go.”

That’s the unfortunate part of many of these conversations. The realization that throwing money at the problem is not enough and that the path to diversity in Silicon Valley and beyond is still a long and winding one.

One key element to embarking on a successful journey, however, is realizing that tech success is not all about skill.

“The Silicon Valley perspective is that everyone’s here because they deserve to be here and they’ve worked hard and that’s really bull,” Hank Williams, the founder and chief executive of Platform.org told USA Today. “The reality is everyone who is successful had someone who helped them get there.”

When so few Black people are in leadership positions, it becomes increasingly unlikely that Black people can enter an industry that is reliant on someone giving a young talent a chance that could catapult them to success.

Studies show that leaders and hiring managers are attracted to what’s familiar, and when white males are dominating the tech industry, there is no mystery as to what it is exactly that seems comfortable and familiar to today’s biggest tech executives.

Posted on

New Technology Could Make Communicating With Deaf-Blind People as Easy as Texting

It’s easy for conversations about advancing technologies to become oversaturated with discussions of new smartwatches or weighing the pros and cons of the latest cellphones.

The true heroes of technology, however, have always been the innovative creators who make strides in the medical field, revolutionize communication or help create a better understanding of the world around us.

That’s what makes the Mobile Lorm Glove from the Design Research Lab something truly worth getting excited about.

The lab, located at the Berlin University of the Arts, is continuing to develop the Mobile Lorm Glove, a comfortable glove that may forever revolutionize communication for the deaf-blind community.

The basic purpose of the glove is to translate text into a tactile alphabet known as Lorm that deaf-blind people frequently use to communicate with people around them.

In that sense, it is a new-age translator. An impressive feat, but not necessarily adding up to the “revolutionary” claims.

It’s the glove’s implications, however, that are truly groundbreaking.

The glove isn’t just a way for a deaf-blind person to talk to their friends without them having to learn Lorm. It’s a way to expand their freedom, social circles and even their economic opportunities.

The glove mocks the very barriers that used to be frighteningly hard to surpass without such technology — the barriers that once capped a deaf-blind person’s access to the rest of the world.

Pressure sensors on the glove create a sensation of touch on a person’s hand so they can feel the same sensations they would get if someone who understood Lorm was trying to communicate with them.

Since the glove can decode text messages and emails as well, it also makes it possible for deaf-blind people to have interactions with people who aren’t standing right next to them. This means they can receive text messages from a friend, respond to business emails and even dive head first into the digital comedy that rules Twitter.

The glove even comes with features that are similar to auto-correct.

The BBC explains that in Lorm, the letter ‘S’ would be represented by drawing a circle in one’s hand. If the user accidentally draws a square or triangle instead, the glove still recognizes an ‘S’ as the closest letter.

The glove will also allow its wearer to control how quickly the messages are translated in Lorm. So a younger person who may not be efficient in Lorm just yet could choose a slower pace while an adult who has communicated via Lorm for their entire life can use a faster pace.

These features alone make the glove a truly admirable technological feat, but researchers went a step further.

The glove could actually become a key tool for deaf-blind children in school.

“It supports mobile communication over distance… and it enables parallel one-to-many communication, which is especially helpful in school and other learning contexts,” a report by the Design Research Lab explains.

This means a teacher could send messages to an entire class of deaf-blind students rather than be forced to only use one-on-one communication.

Researchers say the glove is still considered a prototype, but based on its early stages, the glove could be one of the greatest technological achievements and finally create a convenient method of communication that will allow deaf-blind people to socialize more, take on certain careers and not feel quite as closed off from the world around them.

Posted on

Yahoo Unveils New Password-Free Login, But Does It Really Keep Your Email More Secure?

For years now, warnings about weak passwords have fallen on deaf ears.

Despite a plethora of stories online that boast the power of new age hackers and highlight the dangers of having strangers digging through your email, it is rare that people actually take additional steps to keep their online accounts and digital information secure.

Well, Yahoo is hoping to create a new password-free login system that would aim to make their users’ information more secure.

Rather than having one password, typically something personal or easy to remember that can be guessed by the right malicious tech-savvy foe, Yahoo’s new approach is to give users many one-time only passwords.

Here’s how it works.

First, you toss out the old wrinkled piece of paper hiding under your keyboard that has a list of your passwords written down on it.

Next, you attempt to log in on your Yahoo account and keep your cellphone close by.

Yahoo would then send a one-time only password to your phone that you would use to log in.

Once the password is used, it can’t be used again.

It seems a like an efficient way to keep hackers and nosy visitors out of your email.

As perfect as the plan may sound, some tech lovers are concerned that the new method isn’t quite as secure as Yahoo users might hope it would be

The first issue starts with human nature and our ability to lose a cellphone in virtually any situation.

Even people who use their cellphones for everything including banking, GPS, as a smart remote, a voice recorder, a notepad and more have at least one frightening tale about when they left their cell phone unattended.

It’s the modern-age thriller story that has everyone desperately hoping for a happy ending.

You set your cellphone down in the grocery store, the gym, the book store, the coffee shop or wherever else you may find yourself in the midst of a busy day only to realize hours later that you never picked it back up.

That mistake, if you’re using Yahoo’s password-free login, could put your email in a compromising position.

Even when some phones are locked, a pop-up message will unveil the contents of new text messages.

That means if you send the one-time password to your phone without realizing someone else has it, they could essentially log in to your email.

It’s a concern that has been brought up by several tech blogs and message boards but also a warning that should come with a grain of salt.

Most people will likely go searching for their phone before they attempt to log in since they know their phone will be needed for the process.

Also, even if a person gets the one-time password, they might not know your actual username to log in.

Lastly, they would have to care enough about what you’re doing to go fishing around in an attempt to log in with the password they have received.

Unless you’re a multi-millionaire or a scientist on the brink of a groundbreaking medical breakthrough, the average person just won’t be too concerned about what’s hiding in your inbox.

If you’re anything like the vast majority of email users, your inbox is crowded with junk mail anyway.

So while that particular scenario doesn’t seem to pose a significant risk, there are still questions about the practicality of the password-free method since Yahoo already had a two-step process that appears to be more secure than the new method.

With a few quick alterations to your security settings, a Yahoo user can require that an additional password be sent to their phone only after they have first entered the correct password on the screen.

Both the password and the one-time code will have to be correct for anyone to gain access to the account.

The goal, however, is to eventually eliminate the need for passwords all together.

The desire to bid passwords farewell for good has also inspired the launch of many tech products that would allow consumers to log in to different accounts using their fingerprints or by having a device scan their eye.

While these products have shown great potential, they are also still riddled with bugs for now that make their designs impressive but their functionality underwhelming.

Posted on

10 Black Directors Who Should Take On Marvel’s Upcoming Black Panther Movie

ava-duvernay

Ava DuVernay

DuVernay is obviously one of the first directors to come to mind, and it’s not just because of her recent sweep of award season nominations. DuVernay’s Selma proved that she has the ability to navigate the complexities of the ever-present humanity that still lies behind a great hero, and that’s going to be key when it comes to Marvel’s Black Panther film. “Selma showed her ability to deconstruct the myth of a heroic figure like Martin Luther King and reveal his humanity,” The Mary Sue wrote of the director. “And not only does she reveal the man behind the legend, she shows how much the man who helped shape a movement could leave such a powerful legacy that would be elevated to mythical status. The tension between the man and the mythos is at the heart of most successful superhero stories, and is particularly crucial for the Black Panther, who is not simply a costumed crusader but a leader of a nation.”

Ryan Coogler

Ryan Coogler

Coogler has actually emerged as a crowd favorite on many online forums and in some social media circles. Coogler is the man responsible for capturing the emotionally charged, politically compelling social commentary that was present throughout Fruitvale Station. The film captured the tragic and heartbreaking story of Oscar Grant, the unarmed Black father who was fatally shot by a BART police officer in Oakland, California. “Coogler’s exploration of police violence avoids being simply a preachy drama focusing on a tragic moment in recent history,” The Mary Sue explains. “Instead, it is a deeply moving character study whose protagonist is far more than just a tragic victim, depicted as a deeply sympathetic and fallible human being who is instantly relatable.” That ability to leave the “preachy” approach behind while still pulling key social commentary and controversial discussions to light is exactly what Black Panther’s director would need to possess.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Posted on

The Future of ‘Green’ Technology Could Be Riding on a Solar-Powered Plane’s Round-the-World Flight

On March 8, a solar-powered plane called the Solar Impulse 2 began its attempt at a historic trip around the world. On board the futuristic aircraft are Swiss pilots Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard — and, possibly, the future of “green” technology.

The innovative plane began its journey in Abu Dhabi and has scheduled stops in India, Myanmar and China before taking the big flight of faith across the Pacific Ocean to North America.

If the trip around the globe is successful, Solar Impulse 2 will make history as the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the globe, Live Science reports.

If all goes according to plan, the global trip will be on its final leg in July or August.

Both pilots acknowledge that there will be a lot of challenges along the way.

Whether its battles with the weather or just administrative issues, there are a lot of factors that will come into play when deciding the success of the trip.

Before the trip round-the-world is even completed, however, the aircraft is already worthy of praise.

The solar-powered plane has the ability to harness energy throughout the day to keep the light aircraft operative at night.

Both scientifically and aesthetically, the plane is an intriguing work with serious potential to revolutionize the way consumers and corporations view sustainable energy and “green” technology.

About now is when many people begin to wonder, “How am I still watching gas prices like they’re lottery numbers when a plane can fly around the world without using a drop of fuel?”

Well, the trip across Earth could potentially drive more changes.

Let’s be clear. A successful trip will not get corrupt politicians out of bed with oil tycoons nor will it hack away at corporate greed that is keeping many companies invested in keeping the oil industry alive despite what it means for the environment.

What a successful flight could mean, however, is that consumers will be exposed to the reality that bidding farewell to harmful fossil fuels doesn’t mean they will have to shift their lifestyles to something mirroring that of the Flintstones.

Solar Impulse 2 could convince people on multiple continents that green energy is an attractive, affordable and realistic part of the future, especially when it comes to transportation.

Electric cars have not been the grand success consumers hoped for after charging stations seemed relatively inconvenient and the cost of the cars seemed a little pricey, but Solar Impulse 2 could deliver a positive perception of green energy that works with the Earth rather than destroys it.

It will prove to people that anyone suggesting the technology isn’t available for safer, more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly modes of transportation is simply a liar.

When it comes down to it, the transition to solar-powered transportation or electric vehicles that don’t rely on dangerous, costly fuel won’t happen without enough consumer backing.

Solar Impulse 2 could possibly, hopefully, encourage more consumers to realize they could very well be a few years away from efficient solar-powered modes of transportation. They just have to be adamant about making such demands.

Posted on

Writing the App Is Fun; LaunchKit Can Get You Through the Tedious Part

mobile app developers

Perhaps some of the most popular tech startup ideas come in the form of apps. From tech-savvy veterans to rookie mobile users, nearly everybody knows somebody who has hopes of creating and launching their own successful mobile app.

On the surface, mobile app creation seems like a fun task.

Find a problem that you care about and solve it with an app, right? It can’t be too complicated.

But it is.

Complicated, tedious and downright stressful — that’s how some of today’s most successful app developers might describe the process of getting their beloved app to market and onto the devices of mobile users all across the globe.

Successful app developers will let anyone with their own mobile app dreams know that the writing is the fun part.

Getting the app to market, on the other hand, can be a grueling task.

But in the world where there is literally an app for everything, there is also an app to help launch other apps.

Well, it’s not technically an app, but it does have a collection of tools that budding mobile app developers might find useful.

The website and genius brand is called LaunchKit.

The trio behind LaunchKit knows quite a bit about the troubles of getting an app to market.

Brenden Mulligan, Taylor Hughes and Riz Sattar are also the creators of Cluster app, which gives users a more private and personal way to share content with friends and family.

Think social media without the narcissism often associated with wanting strangers perusing through your vacation photos.

Mulligan explained that while creating the app was fun, there were tedious tasks throughout the process that were begging for more efficient, innovative ways to be completed.

One of those tasks was getting screenshots of the app and ensuring they were all in the high resolutions that Apple requires if one hopes to get past the pearly gates of the official App Store.

While the Cluster team didn’t have a more efficient way to tackle this problem when they were in the midst of the launch process, they are leading other new app developers to a better solution.

LaunchKit will grow to include more and more handy tools and services for people hoping to launch their own apps, and one of the latest additions is a screenshot builder.

“Create gorgeous images for your App Store page in minutes,” the LaunchKit website promises of the free service.

The free LaunchKit service comes after the team had already released an App Store template for Sketch earlier this year, but LaunchKit gives users access to such a tool without actually needing to pay $99 for the Sketch app.

“LaunchKit is the tool we wish existed when we were building Cluster, and stuff that’s helping us manage our Cluster apps,” Mulligan told TechCrunch.

There are only a handful of tools in the LaunchKit for now, but the company has plans of expanding the resources with time.

Other featured tools include a “Review Monitor,” to help creators keep up with the reviews their app receives, and a handy library that contains a collection of “writing and open source contributions” that could help out any budding tech entrepreneur.

While these services are free, LaunchKit will eventually start offering services that may have premium features attached to a free base version of the tool that users would have to pay for.

Posted on

‘She Leads Africa’ Gives Female Entrepreneurs the Resources They Need to Spark Change

As economic growth continues to flourish throughout the African continent, more opportunities are opening up for female entrepreneurs to make a difference.

It is all too often that tech and other corporate industries present a stunning lack of female entrepreneurs — not because women have been less competent but simply because prejudices still leave women at a disadvantage.

While this conversation has been extremely prevalent in America, it’s a problem that is plaguing the landscape for business all across the globe.

In Africa, however, two female entrepreneurs are working to change that by utilizing Africa’s rapidly growing economy and investing in the many bright female minds that have the ability to turn a new idea into a corporate success.

Yasmin Belo-Osagie and Afua Osei teamed up to create She Leads Africa, a startup that gives new life to other startups founded by women in Africa.

Back in 2014, Belo-Osagie returned to Nigeria after completing studies in the U.S. at Princeton University.

As she returned to the African country with a newfound understanding of business and entrepreneurship, she realized she finally had the knowledge and resources to help more women find their entrepreneurial voices in industries that are currently dominated by men.

“[This is] an opportunity to create a brand that’s an inspiration for women. …Women need to realize that their horizons are unlimited and they can go far beyond their expectations through hard work, grit and perseverance,” Belo-Osagie told CNBC Africa.

While the organization is fairly young, it has already allowed many women to take their own entrepreneurial ventures to the next level.

The organization has become well known for its pitching competitions, which give female business leaders the chance to present their ideas and startups to panels of esteemed investors and fellow entrepreneurs.

She Leads Africa also helped lead eight female entrepreneurs to the Diaspora Demo in Washington, D.C., in November.

The Diaspora Demo is one of the largest gatherings of investors and entrepreneurs from all across the globe and serves as a unique opportunity for women to network with business-minded professionals from different countries.

The women were also allowed to present their ideas to angel investors in hopes that they could receive a major boost to the funding they needed to grow their business ventures.

The duo’s desire to help other women become successful entrepreneurs came from their own experiences and observations growing up as young Black women.

“I remember growing up and thinking that there weren’t enough female role models who were achieving what I wanted to achieve,” Belo-Osagie added.

That was largely due to the fact that, according to Belo-Osagie, women are barred from certain entrepreneurial opportunities based on cultural stigmas about women.

She explained that in many cultures, women are seen “as vulnerable, but many of us are strong, smart, well-traveled and cosmopolitan.”

In addition to changing the overall perception of women entrepreneurs, She Leads Africa also aims to tackle other issues that put female entrepreneurs at a disadvantage, including unequal access to education, limited access to funding and limited opportunities to develop useful networks.