Technology
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Issa Rae Takes the Plunge Into Tech With Investment in Streaming-Media Data Startup, Streamlytics
Data is big business. Ask Facebook, which has transformed being in your business into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Looking to cash out on this trend is multi-hyphenate Issa Rae, who Variety reports has become a minority owner in L.A.-based startup Streamlytics, a streaming data, and analytics company founded by tech entrepreneur Angela Benton that aims…
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Your Disdain for Facebook Messenger Is Warranted. Social Network Comes Clean About Transcribing Your DMs
Everybody hates Facebook Messenger. Since its debut in 2011, it has been accused of being clunky, intrusive and untrustworthy, while its billions of users have kicked and screamed at being bullied into having to use it. But despite its glaring flaws, it also serves as a convenient method to engage with obnoxious relatives or to…
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App Developer Responds to ‘The Racist Nextdoor’
The company behind a widely used neighborhood networking app has responded to claims of rampant racial profiling and bigotry following The Root’s examination of racism on the increasingly popular genre of neighborhood-based social media. Nextdoor is used to connect residents in over 198,000 neighborhoods in the U.S. alone, according to the company’s website. The app…
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YouTube to Remove Thousands of Channels, Ban Hate Speech and Supremacist Content in Order to 'Tackle Hate'
For better or worse, the digital age has allowed anyone with an iPhone or a high-speed Internet connection to express their thoughts, opinions or share their abysmal music to millions of people throughout the world. It’s also provided the same opportunity for racists, homophobes and elected officials to assail our peace of mind with their…
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Can’t Visit Stonewall in NYC? You Can Still Get Get There Via a ‘Living’ Pride Monument
Today, New York City’s LGBT Community Center, Google and the National Parks Service launched Stonewall Forever, a “living” monument to 50 years of Pride, to half a century of resilience, and to many more years of resistance. When one enters the site, which went live on Tuesday morning, a camera pans over the Manhattan with…
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Chamillionaire, E-40 Join Forces to Invest in Minority Startups: 'We Have to Create More Diversity in This Industry'
While recording artist and entrepreneur Chamillionaire might be laying low these days on the Billboard charts, he’s been making plenty of noise as an angel investor. And with a portfolio that includes investments in Lyft, Ring (acquired by Amazon for $1 billion), Cruise (acquired by General Motors for $1 billion) and Maker Studios (acquired by…
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Chicago’s New GPS-Tracking Ankle Monitors Can Record Kids Without Their Consent
As cities and towns across America come to grips with the country’s mass incarceration problem, many jurisdictions are looking to digital surveillance, particularly ankle monitors, for solutions. But as a new report detailing Chicago’s use of electronic monitoring reveals, these technologies can be every bit as harmful to the people wearing them as putting them…
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Did NYPD Spy on Black Lives Matter Protesters? Judge Rules Police Must Disclose Surveillance Data
A New York State judge ruled on Monday that the NYPD has to disclose whether it spied on Black Lives Matter protesters and interfered with their ability to use their cellphones at protests. The ruling, which came after the New York Civil Liberties Union and protesters affiliated with the Movement for Black Lives were denied…
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Facebook Offers a Million-Dollar Solution to Fix Its ‘Black People Problem’
Last week, former Facebook manager Mark Luckie dropped a 2,500 word sermon excoriating his previous employer for its “black people problem.” Initially released internally as a “fuck you” of sorts prior to his departure, Luckie identified a myriad of ways in which Facebook has condoned, fostered and demonstrated discriminatory practices and behavior within the workplace.…
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Report: Tesla Takes Racism in the Workplace to Another Level
The New York Times took a look into the workplace dynamics at Tesla’s Fremont, California factory and just in case you thought it was going anywhere, racism appears to be alive and well. In speaking with over two dozen current and former black Tesla employees, their complaints include racist taunts, swastikas being drawn in bathrooms,…