New AP Poll Reveals That Black and Hispanic Millennials Are Just as Tech Savvy as Their White Counterparts

According to an Associated Press poll, Black and Hispanic Millennials are just as tech savvy as their white peers.

In a survey conducted by the Media Insight Project, 1,045 young adults from the ages of 18-34 reported their tech habits. This group which included 163 African-Americans and 162 Hispanics were the focus of the poll results.

“People of color are very wired and just as adept in using technology,” said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, which funded the study. “If you want a subject that hasn’t been covered in the mainstream, millennials have found ways to get at that information through community sharing more than traditional ways. The way they get news is heavily influenced by topic.”

The poll suggests that old trends do not apply to this new generation. Because of the increased availability of technology and devices  like smartphones, tablets, and cheap affordable laptops people with lower economic means will have access to the technological revolution.

From the poll’s results, 41 percent of Blacks compared with 29 percent of whites and 24 percent of Hispanics will get their trending news from Facebook. The numbers show that 38 percent of Hispanics compared with 33 percent of Blacks and 20 percent of whites  will go to Youtube for information and 30 percent of Hispanics compared with 45 percent of African-Americans and 19 percent of whites will go to Instagram.

These numbers show that Black people are extremely active on a variety of social media platforms.

“Streaming music, TV or movies is the most commonly cited online activity among African-Americans, while keeping up with what their friends are doing is the most commonly cited online activity among Hispanics. For white millennials, checking and sending email was most common,” reports Glynn A. Hill for the Associated Press.

This poll was created in January and February of this year and released this month.

Black Girls Code Addresses Diversity Problems in the Tech Industry

Black Girls Code was created to provide young Black girls with the necessary tools to become proficient in coding and computer science. As many people know, the tech industry lacks diversity in terms of race and gender, but this organization is chipping away at those barriers.

This summer, Black Girls Code (BCG) hosted the Summer of Code Camp that included project-based camps in the Bay Area as well as in Washington D.C., New York City and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Kimberly Bryant founded the organization in 2011 with the intention to teach and inspire Black girls to get into the tech industry. Since the organization’s inception, Bryant has taught more than 2,000 girls and has even started boys camps with the same mission.

The organization will be hosting a variety of events in August and well into September.  A common workshop BGC hosts for girls is the Build a Web Page Day, which teaches young girls from the ages of seven to 17 how to design their own web pages using HTML and CSS. There are also panels on diversity in tech, such as the Women of Color in STEM Career Panel on August 22.

One of the big events that BGC will have is the Robot Expo on September 19 in Memphis and the BGC Documentary Film Screenings and Community Meetups. There is still time to get involved with the planned activities.

Visit Black Girls Code for more information.

Vulkan Is the Next Generation for High-Efficiency Graphics and Computing

Google wants the newest and latest API Vulkan in its new Android phones.

“Like the other low-overhead APIs, Vulkan promises to improve performance by providing more direct access to the GPU — developers can manage memory and multiple threads on their own rather than leaving it up to the driver, giving them more work to do but also providing more flexibility,” reports Andrew Cunningham for Arstechnica.com.

APIs is an abbreviation for application program interface. The API is responsible for memory and is a set of routines, protocols and tools used by developers to build software applications.

The Vulkan API was introduced in March by the Khronos Group. This system is similar to Metal and DirectX 12 in that it will require the use of an operating system and hardware support.

“Hardware and software companies need an open 3D API to maximize market reach and minimize porting costs, and Vulkan is being forged by a broad consortium of industry leaders to do exactly that,” said Khronos Group President Neil Trevett.

Google is still in the early stages of developing and implementing the new API. Best estimates have the API coming with the Android M by the end of the year. If history is any indication, Vulkan will have to be released when a new Android version is also released.

Report: AT&T Assisted NSA in Spying on Internet Traffic

New York Times report released Saturday revealed that the communications giant AT&T provided assistance to the National Security Administration. The two spied on American citizens by getting access to emails and other private forms of communication over the past decade.

“AT&T has given the N.S.A. access, through several methods covered under different legal rules, to billions of emails as they have flowed across its domestic networks, ” reports The New York Times.

Documents from 2003-13 also reveal that surveillance equipment was installed in 17 different AT&T Internet hubs. That means that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was right. Snowden uncovered that the NSA was monitoring the United Nations Internet traffic at the AT&T New York headquarters between 2011-13. However, his leaks did not connect AT&T with the NSA.

The New York Times and Pro Publica have reviewed the documents granted to them by Snowden.

According to Reuters reporter Will Dunham, “AT&T started in 2011 to provide the NSA more than 1.1 billion domestic cellphone calling records daily after ‘a push to get this flow operational prior to the 10th anniversary of 9/11,’ referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the Times reported.”

The only response so far from AT&T comes by way of Reuters. The communications company’s spokesman Brad Burns told the news organization that AT&T does not release information unless a person’s life is in danger.

Customers are concerned that their Fourth Amendment rights have been violated; the United States is concerned that state secrets will become public, and AT&T is still relatively quiet on the matter.

This Neat Home-Locking System Will Allow You to Lock and Unlock From Your Smartphone

 

The August Smart Lock provides intelligent, secure access to your home. Now you can control who can enter and who can’t—without the need for keys or codes. And you can do it all from your smartphone. August Smart Lock’s encrypted technology is safer than keys that can get lost or codes that can be copied. You can still carry a key. You just don’t have to. August Smart Lock is powered by four AA batteries so it’s always on – even if the power, Wi-Fi, or cable go down.

This Amazing Device Allows You to Shoot, Edit and Upload a Movie Using Your iPad

 

The strong yet lightweight aluminum frame comes equipped with both 1/4-20 and 3/8-16 threaded holes lining all edges of the Padcaster. Attach external microphones, lights and other camera accessories to enhance filming with the iPad. A tripod thread and locking-pin hole let you easily connect the Padcaster to a tripod, monopod or shoulder mount for stable shooting and a solid feel.

Go Behind the Scenes and See What Technology Bryan-Michael Cox Uses to Make Grammy Award Hits

Native Instruments Maschine MK2 is the groundbreaking groove production studio combining the power and flexibility of software with the tactile immediacy of hardware. Its pattern-based sequencer, high-performance sampler, incredible suite of pro studio instruments and effects, exemplary drum synths, and acclaimed sound library deliver a complete system for fast, professional groove production.

This Evolution in Robotics Is Making Terminator-Style Robots a Possibility in the Very Near Future 

MIT robotics students have created a robot that can imitate human reflexes.

According to the project team member Albert Wang at MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, “[The team] decided that connecting the robot to a human operator was the easiest way to incorporate the kind of intelligence we need. It would take a computer a long time and a lot of programming to come to the quick conclusions that humans come to almost instantaneously through good instincts.”

Hermes is similar to the jaegers from the 2013 film Pacific Rim where pilots were connected to machines physically and mentally in order to operate the large humanoid-battle robots for combat. This tech is also reminiscent of anime fighting robots in Mobile Suit Gundam.

The setup is simple enough. A person wears an exoskeleton of wires and motors as a sensor suit. The suit makes Hermes balance and move very similarly to a person.

“An example is walking, which is just a process of falling and catching yourself. That’s something that feels effortless to us, but it’s challenging to program into a robot to do it both dynamically and efficiently,” says team member Joao Ramos.

Hermes will be part of the 2015 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency robotics competition.

The robot could be used to help people build houses, perform surgery or even give the elderly newfound strength. MIT released a video showing the robot’s capabilities for the public. Take a look below: