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Can This New Initiative Spark the Next Generation of Black Male Entrepreneurs?

The U.S. Black Chambers Inc. has launched an initiative to nurture the next generation of young Black male entrepreneurs, with a focus on closing the economic gap and providing positive role models in the community.

On Tuesday, Howard Jean, chief engineer of Young Black Male Entrepreneur Institute; Keith Benjamin, chief organizer/connector of Young Black Male Entrepreneur Institute, and Ben Carter, CEO of Manager Your Damn Money and former participant in the institute, joined Roland Martin on NewsOne Now to talk about the initiative aimed at developing new Black male entrepreneurs.

Source: www.newsone.com

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Scientists Reveal Nanocell That Mimics Human Memory

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have developed nanocell technology that could restore the memories of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. Professor of electrical and computer engineering Dmitri Strukov, lead researcher Mirko Prezioso, research assistant Farnood Merrikh-Bayat and researcher Gina Adam make up the research team.

The nano memory cell is estimated to be 10,000 times thinner than the width of a person’s hair strand. At this point of its development, the cell has the capability to store and process data simultaneously like a real brain cell. There are 100 different synapses that also are able to  perform image classification. In the near future, the cell will be expanded to act like the human brain.

According to writer Ellie Zolfagharifard for Dailymail.com, “in the latest demonstration, the circuit with artificial neural network was able to successfully classify three letters; ‘z’, ‘v’ and ‘n’. It analyzed the letter by their images, each letter stylized in different ways or saturated with ‘noise’ in a process similar to how we humans pick our friends out from a crowd.”

The cell is comprised of memristors that act like neurons and transmit electricity. These memristors were created in the 1970s by circuit theorist Leon Chua, and memristors are still vital to this type of research and innovation.

Writer Emma Tiller for the New Hampshire Voice believes “ethical issues involved in experimenting on the brain could be minimized by replicating a brain outside the body.”

The fascinating thing about this research is that millions of people can live a healthier and happier existence. Only time will tell if technology like this is feasible on a large scale.

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6 Blerd-Created Web Series and Films You Should Watch

Creator(s): Written and directed by Stefan Dezil

What you need to know: At only 19, Dezil brought Dwayne McDuffie’s creation to life. It is surprising the Static Shock Blackout only has about 200,000 views. The cinematography is great and the acting top notch. Check out more of Dezil’s work on his YouTube channel.

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Military Tech and a 19th Century Engine Could Revolutionize Solar Energy

A new way solar energy will be harnessed could change how people worldwide get their electricity.

“In the remote Northern Cape province, huge mirrors reflect the sun across the brown Kalahari sand. This is the test site for Swedish company Ripasso, which is using the intense South African sun and local manufacturing know-how to develop their cutting-edge kit,” explains Jeffrey Barbee for The Guardian.

Work on the project began in 2011. The South African team is led by Jean-Pierre Fourie who has overseen the project in the extreme desert temperatures for four years.

The system works by taking sunlight that is directly hitting the satellite-dish-like apparatus and converting it into electricity. The 100-square-mile apparatus has solar panels that do the work. While most other solar energy generators with photovoltaic panels only get 23 percent to 25 percent of the sunlight, this machine gets 35 percent.

All of the sunlight is focused into one hot point that then turns the energy into electricity to power a 19th century engine created by Swedish inventor the Rev. Robert Stirling. The engine was created for steam-powered boats. Ripasso has been using updated models of the engine for submarines.

“The technology looks good to me. I’ve seen it working, and I believe it meets the efficiency goals. The technology is proven with years of performance in the navy,”  according to Paul Gauche, director of the Solar Thermal Energy Research Group at the University of Stellenbosch.

The problem with new tech is that it is very difficult to get funding from financial institutions. Ripasso will have to learn to adapt in order to continue this project.

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11 Black Male Directors Besides Spike Lee Who Have Established A Respectable Career Behind The Camera

out-of-time-2003-tou--02-gCarl Franklin

Notable Works: House of Cards (2013-present), Out of Time (2003), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

Impact: Franklin was a former actor working on the hit 1980s show The A-Team. He has directed Denzel Washington in two neo-noir films that show off his flair and style for directing crime drama and action scenes — Devil in a Blue Dress and Out of Time. In the 2000s, he became a major TV director, working on House of Cards and 2014’s The Affair for Showtime. Franklin is making a Tupac Shakur biopic.

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Ernest R. Dickerson

Notable Works: The Walking Dead (2010-present), Juice (1992),
The Wire (2003-08)

Impact: Dickerson began his career in film and TV as a cinematographer shooting most of Spike Lee’s early films. He is the most prolific TV director on this list. He has worked on many Showtime, HBO, FOX and ABC TV shows since the 2000s. Aspiring television directors should look at his body of work.

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Meet Two Best-Selling Black Indie Authors

Meet New York Times and USA Today best-selling fantasy writers Terah Edun and Lola StVil. These two African-American women are taking the indie publishing world by storm. It sounds so simple. Write a book and upload it on Amazon for free, then wait for the money to roll in. Unfortunately, indie publishing isn’t the gold rush many thought it would be. In fact, in today’s overly saturated indie publishing market, less than 10 percent of writers can make a living crafting a story. Of that 10 percent, only a handful of them are writers of color.

Edun and StVil are not only defying the odds but these women are managing to thrive. In the past three years, they have sold over 500,000 copies of their respective fantasy series by being among the new group of indie authors: savvy, businesspeople with the goal to make their books as well-known as Amanda Hocking and Veronica Roth or, dare we say it, the next black J.K. Rowling.

Yet for these two women, what’s more important than ranking, or even royalties, is the satisfaction of knowing they are adding diversity to an otherwise homogenous landscape that is indie publishing. They insist on adding diversity throughout their fictional worlds and making sure that people of color are represented.

Often readers hear about the next big Black authors through word of mouth. If you ask your mother she might suggest you read one of Steve Harvey’s books or if she’s really into science fiction then Octavia Butler is the next name to come to her lips.

But what about the young, hip authors? Where do you find these authors when your shelves are dry? Goodreads! Amazon Bestsellers Lists! But word of mouth can also be gold. StVil and Edun are here to talk about their stories with diverse casts of characters and success as self-published authors with 500,000 books sold between them.

But before we get to the special one-on-one interview between these two authors, here’s a little more about these women and their journeys.

They’ve hit The New York Times and USA Today best-selling lists and managed to enrapture readers in the process. The idea of writing and publishing a book sounds so simple. But it’s not. Not anymore. Not with the advent of self-publishing where the author is either in charge of, or working with contractors to complete, cover design, formatting, editing, accounting, social media and publishing. Not to mention the primary task – WRITING.

After you upload the final production onto your retail distributor … well then comes the hard part. You can’t just wait for the money to roll in. Being a successful self-publishing author is about being a multi-faceted entrepreneur day-in and a day-out.
Read the interview and more at www.blackgirlnerds.com

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Google’s Self-Driving Cars Are Coming to Consumers in 2020

Google’s self-driving cars are just a few of the “top secret” projects the mega company has been working on in the past decade. The first working prototype hits the roads this summer to show the world Google’s commitment to the project.

According to The Associated Press, “This prototype is the first vehicle built from scratch for the purpose of self-driving, Google says. It looks like a Smart car with a shiny black bowler hat to hide its sensors, and it can drive, brake and recognize road hazards without human intervention. It has more capabilities than the prototype Google introduced last May, which was so rudimentary it had fake headlights.”

The prototype has been involved in 11 accidents. Though these incidents have been minor, there is clearly more work to be done.

The news of the prototype began Wednesday when Google showed it to the public during a demonstration on its campus in Mountain View, California.

“With 360 degrees of awareness, the self-driving cars are gaining new insights into dangerous driving behaviors, including drifting lanes and red light running,” reports ABC News digital reporter Alyssa Newcomb.

The fascinating aspect to the project is that 20 self-driving cars has gathered an estimated 100,000 miles driving in urban areas.

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Georgia Tech Highlights Black Men in STEM

For almost a decade, the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics degrees awarded to Black males has not increased nationwide.

So Georgia Tech put together a national panel May 5 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the issue and provide solutions to increase the graduation rates of Black men in STEM fields. The panel was led by Gary May, dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech. In fact, the majority of the panel was made up of Black men working in STEM.

According to Georgia Institute Technology News, “joining May on the panel were: Rodney Adkins, former senior vice president of IBM and a Georgia Tech alumnus; Reginald DesRoches, Karen and John Huff School Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech; Jeremy Feaster, Ph.D. candidate in chemical engineering at Stanford University; Darryll Pines, dean of the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland; Guy Primus, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Virtual Reality Company; Karl Reid, executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers; Cedric Stallworth, assistant dean for outreach, enrollment and community for the College of Computing at Georgia Tech; John Silvanus Wilson Jr., president of Morehouse College; and Kyle Woumn, computer science major at Georgia Tech.”

The panel discussed reasons why many Black males fall behind in STEM fields. The panelists discussed how they succeeded and what solutions could help increase numbers. They also emphasized the need for mentors, hands-on STEM programs in K-12 programs to get young people interested, and they wanted corporations and parents to get involved.

Blerds has covered STEM, discussed solutions for the issues and provided examples of successful Black men and women of all ages in STEM.

Georgia Tech is one example of Black people helping Black people to expand STEM careers to younger people. It is quite possible other institutions of higher learning will discuss and take action to include more Black males in STEM.