Breaking News for Black America » Google

“Generation Google” Offers Scholarships For Minorities

cganemccalla — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:20:45 +0000

Google is offering scholarships to African Americans, Hispanics and women who are interested in the field of computer technology.

Google will be offering $10,000 a year to students planning on attending 4-year universities in fields related to computer science and computer engineering.

SEE ALSO: Young Futurists Of 2012

Black Web 2.0 Reports:

Applicants should demonstrate leadership and a commitment to and passion for computer science and technology through involvement in their community. In addition, applicants should have a strong academic record, be from an underrepresented group in computer science and demonstrate financial need.

Winners will receive $10,000 each year for up to four years.

To apply for this scholarship and find more like this offered from Google go to their online application page. The Generation Google Scholarship is due on February 20, 2012.

White Supremacists Hijack MLK On Google

cganemccalla — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:53:41 +0000

For some time now, white supremacists have been buying web domains relating to Martin Luther King. Now they have managed to get one of their site into the first page of Martin Luther King’s Google ranking.

On site that disrespects King has even managed to outrank the official Martin Luther King Site on Google.

The Root reports:

“My hands are shaking with anger as I type this. A sick, cowardly, and racist website (hereafter referred to in insult-laced bold type) that trashes the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr is outranking the official Martin Luther King Jr website on Google. I will not provide a link to the racist site, as I will not directly contribute a single visit to them. However, I will show exactly how the official Martin Luther King website (found at http://www.thekingcenter.org) got beaten in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) battle. My dream to improve The King Center’s SEO and Google Rank may not be as lofty and inspirational as Martin Luther King Jr’s, but I do have a dream … “

Discussion: Black Strippers Discriminated Against Because They’re Not Hispanic

Nicole Hardesty — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:31:51 +0000

A strip club in Houston discriminated against Black dancers and waitresses because they did not appeal to their Hispanic customers. Check out more evidence for the discrimination suit and join the discussion.

Reviews around Google+ have been hitting blogs and websites over the past few days. One Social Media consultant blogged about the 2 reasons why you should avoid Google+. Check out his reasons and some of the comments on the BP News Page.

Yesterday, law makers fell short on the debt deal. BP members are now wondering just how serious are the Republicans about reducing the debt. Stay updated with Obama’s debt battle and read what others are saying about it.

Read other news stories shared by BP Members.

Meet The Black Man Behind Lady Gaga’s Music Success

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:25:53 +0000

While Lady Gaga is known across the globe as a pop superstar, little is known about the mastermind behind the “Gaga machine.”

Troy Carter, the manager of Gaga, has been influential in the entertainer’s rise to stardom. Utilizing the advantages of technology, Carter spearheaded business deals that have led Gaga to 10 million Twitter followers and 36 million Facebook fans.

According to The Root, Carter has been triumphant in bridging music and technology, which has led the singer to promotional deals with Google, Zynga and Gil. Gaga’s new album, “Born This Way,” debuted last week with 1.1 million record sales. Much of that success has been attributed to digital promotion.

“There was a time when radio stations wouldn’t play Gaga’s music because it was considered dance,” Carter said. “Outside of live performances, the Internet became our primary tool to help people discover her music.”

Protestors Criticize Google Over Lack Of Black Employees

NewsOne Staff — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:30:13 +0000

California — Saying Google and Silicon Valley have failed to hire Blacks, Latinos and Asians into the tech industry, the local Black, Latino and Asian coalitions in Northern California protested at Google’s headquarters.

The groups are filing a federal complaint claiming that 34 of the groups they requested hiring information from, only 12 provided them with such.

“The available data demonstrates that Google’s Black employees, for example, could be at just one percent, Latinos at two percent and women at the 20 percent level. In contrast, Stanford, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, has an entering freshman class that has 17.2 percent Latinos and 11.1 percent Blacks.

Rappers Wiz Khalifa And Nicki Minaj Among Top 10 Googled People In 2010

cganemccalla — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:16:58 +0000

Los Angeles — Rapper, Wiz Khalifa was the 3rd most googled person on the internet this year after singers, Justin Bieber and Kesha. Rapper Nicki Minaj was the number 4 most googled person of the year and rapper Kid Cudi was number 8, ahead of Kim Kardashian.

Dr. Boyce: Nicki Minaj And Lil Kim Should Be Allies, Not Enemies

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Usher gets kicked in head by female fan trying to be sexy video[from Hellobeautiful.com]

Nicki Minaj talks her butt, alter egos, and being a boss on “Chelsea Lately”[from Hellobeautiful.com]

Natalie Nunn says she likes Wiz Khalifa [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

Jamie Foxx to receive entertainer award at BET Honors [from Theurbandaily.com]

Court Rules Google Must Reveal Negative YouTube Commenter’s Identity

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:40:58 +0000

NEW YORK — A business consultant who wants to know who’s been anonymously disparaging and fixating on her online has gotten a court to force Google to tell her.

As she joined a growing number of people who have persuaded courts to unmask troublesome cyber ciphers, Carla Franklin said Wednesday she hoped her case would help others combat similar problems.

“The Internet cannot become a safe haven for harassers and stalkers,” she said in an e-mail.

Google Inc. declined to comment. The Mountain View, Calif.-based online giant says it doesn’t discuss individual cases to protect users’ privacy, but it follows applicable laws.

A Manhattan court ruling issued Tuesday gives the company a couple of weeks to provide Franklin with identity and contact information for the person or people who posted denigrating comments and unauthorized videos of her, beginning last year.

The videos, posted on Google-owned YouTube, were clips from an innocuous student film in which she had appeared years before, coupled with personal information about her to create an unsettling online shrine, she said. Franklin did some modeling and acting before becoming a consultant to nonprofit organizations.

The comments, made though another YouTube channel, featured a sexual slur and were posted alongside videos she made for Columbia Business School while earning a master’s degree there, she said.

The postings were humiliating, creepy and potentially hurtful to Franklin’s professional prospects, she and her lawyer have said.

Franklin said in a blog post of her own this month that she believes she knows who’s responsible, but she went to court last summer to get proof so she could potentially pursue further legal action. Her court case didn’t involve Columbia.

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Nas says it’s too early to name a G.O.A.T. [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

Brandy says she hasn’t had sex in years [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

How to stop behavior problems at a young age [from HelloBeautiful.com]

Gabourey Sidibe to join Eddie Murphy in upcoming comedy [from HelloBeautiful.com]

Tyler Perry Cries On Oprah [from HelloBeautiful.com]

Today Google Honors The Late Dizzie Gillespie With Logo

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:15:37 +0000

Google quite often changes the doodle on its homepage to mark special occasions such as famous people’s birthdays, and we’ve seen some great ones over the past few months. This includes the 50th anniversary of The Flintstones and both Oscar Wilde and John Lennon’s birthdays.

As many of you will have already noticed, Google has changed its doodle again today to celebrate what would have been the 93rd birthday of American jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie, who according to Peter Hutchinson at telegraph.co.uk was born John Birks Gillespie on October 21st, 1917.

Dizzy Gillespie – who was well known for his puffed-out cheeks – was one of the major figures in the development of the bebop and modern styles of jazz. He was also involved in the development of Afro-Cuban jazz, which went on to become quite popular in the United States.

Read entire article at OnlyKent.com

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Skillz responds to BET Cypher invite, preps new
album [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

Shyne said
Jay-Z said not to sign to Def Jam [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

2010 Hennessy Artistry
Series Finale in NYC [from HelloBeautiful.com]

T.I.
gets 11 months in prison for violating probation [from
HelloBeautiful.com]

Alicia Keys gives birth to Baby Boy!
[from HelloBeautiful.com]

New ‘Google Instant’ Doesn’t Censor Plethora Of Racist Searches

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:50:59 +0000

Sites from The Huffington Post to Gawker have done scathing stories on the so-called “Google Blacklist,” but perhaps no site should be more disgruntled than TheBVX. Now that all the other top sites have touched on the issue, it’s time for the African American perspective. But first some background.
In case you haven’t heard, Google recently released Google Instant, a function of the search engine that will bring up results automatically as you are typing. Basically, the program behind the search engine will populate the page as you type in real time based on popular searches that match the first few letters of your search term. That is — some search terms.

There is a plethora of search terms for which Google Instant will NOT respond. You can type in the words or phrases, and what you will get is a blank screen. Users have to actually click the search button to get the results to come up — no big deal, right? Google is just practicing a certain level of sensible censorship we assume. Well, we have assumed wrong. The list of terms that don’t bring up automatic search results, thus connoting a certain shame to related sites, seems to be only vaguely related to a real-word sense of what is offensive. And the terms related to racial stereotypes and sites for African Americans, for the most part, miss the mark.

So what words are on this Google Blacklist? First let’s take the ones that make sense:

-nigger
-white power
-hardcore
-porn
-dick
-titties
-stormfront (a popular white power site)
-darkie
-two girls one cup

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Read entire article at TheBVX.com

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Skillz responds to BET Cypher invite, preps new
album [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

Shyne said
Jay-Z said not to sign to Def Jam [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

2010 Hennessy Artistry
Series Finale in NYC [from HelloBeautiful.com]

T.I.
gets 11 months in prison for violating probation [from
HelloBeautiful.com]

Alicia Keys gives birth to Baby Boy!
[from HelloBeautiful.com]

Google Builds Car That Drives Itself

NewsOne Staff — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:25:43 +0000

The car is a project of Google, which has been working in secret but in plain view on vehicles that can drive themselves, using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver.

With someone behind the wheel to take control if something goes awry and a technician in the passenger seat to monitor the navigation system, seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. One even drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the nation. The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light.

Autonomous cars are years from mass production, but technologists who have long dreamed of them believe that they can transform society as profoundly as the Internet has.

Robot drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or intoxicated, the engineers argue. They speak in terms of lives saved and injuries avoided — more than 37,000 people died in car accidents in the United States in 2008. The engineers say the technology could double the capacity of roads by allowing cars to drive more safely while closer together. Because the robot cars would eventually be less likely to crash, they could be built lighter, reducing fuel consumption. But of course, to be truly safer, the cars must be far more reliable than, say, today’s personal computers, which crash on occasion and are frequently infected.

Read entire article at HuffingtonPost.com

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Woman Let The Doorknob Hit Her Where The Good Lord Split Her [from TheUrbanDaily.com]

Nas blasts Def Jam in email: “I’m not your slave”[from TheUrbanDaily.com]

Toni Braxton files for bankruptcy; Owes $50 Million [from HelloBeautiful.com]

Chelsea Handler says she’s not dating 50 Cent [from HelloBeautiful.com]

New Google-Verizon Deal May Shut Out Black And Latino Web Users

NewsOne Staff — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:07:46 +0000

On August 9, it was announced that a long-rumored deal between Google and Verizon will happen. Under the agreement Google’s content will have priority on some parts of Verizon’s networks. So what does this mean for African American and Latino web users?

If Verizon is your Internet service provider (ISP) and you want to check your AOL email account, it means you’ll have to get in line behind Google’s Gmailers. If you want to update your Facebook status, too bad. Users of Google’s social networking program, Orkut, go first (you can use the extra time to figure out just what the heck Orkut is).

The agreement has sparked new debate over the issue of net neutrality-the idea that all content is equal, from the mightiest Web portal to the most obscure viral video. Critics of the move fear that casting neutrality aside could further marginalize groups like African Americans who for mostly economic reasons are cut off from the information superhighway via a digital divide.

Click here to read more at The BVX

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Verizon Google Merger Protested By Consumer Advocates

NewsOne Staff — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:06:43 +0000

So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it.

News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that’s seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users calling on Google to live up to its “Don’t Be Evil” pledge.

But cut through the platitudes the two companies (Googizon, anyone?) offered on today’s press call, and you’ll find this deal is even worse than advertised.

The proposal is one massive loophole that sets the stage for the corporate takeover of the Internet.

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Pics Of The Week: 08.09.10

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Top 10 Rush Limbaugh Racist Quotes

Google Suggests “Why Are Black People So Ugly?” Search After Hack

Smokey D. Fontaine — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:55:31 +0000

Google search suggestions can often provide a pretty funny window into the human mind by revealing the bizarre questions people frequently ask. Just typing “why” into the search box yields such gems as “Why can’t I own a Canadian?” and “Why is my poop green?” But amid the comedy, Google can also reveal the host of racial curiosities searchers have, as typing in just “why do b” leads to suggestions like “Why do black people love fried chicken?” and “Why do black people have weird names?” even alongside the more innocuous “Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear lyrics.” So even though this latest racial search suggestion was caused by a hacker, it’s doubtful anyone was terribly surprised by its appearance. – NewsOne Staff

From the Telegraph:

Google offered “Why are black people so ugly?” as a search suggestion after hackers avoided the firm’s filtering process.

The question appeared when internet users typed in the word “why” and Google offered the question in full as one of its suggestions for what you may be about to write.

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Slavehouse to the White House

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The firm has extensive filters which are intended to remove offensive suggestions but hackers appear to have got around the controls and web users picked up on it.

Warren Degallerie, 23, said: “I was helping my nine-year-old niece with her homework. Before she knew it that line had appeared. We are both black and I couldn’t believe how something like that could be allowed to happen.

“I had to try to explain to a young girl how Google could let it appear.”

He contacted The Sun newspaper which alerted Google and the glitch was fixed.

By Monday morning the automatic suggestion had disappeared. Users typing in “why” were offered options including “why am i tired” and “why do cats purr”.

However, there remained the race-related question “why are michael jackson’s kids white”.

Click here to read more.

Google Explains Offensive Michelle Obama Image Results Via Ad

Smokey D. Fontaine — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:26:29 +0000

From SFGate.com:

Confronted with the return of an offensive image of First Lady Michelle Obama to the top of its image search engine, Google is now using some of its own ad space to offer an explanation on how its results are determined.

Search Engine Land reported that Google first dealt with the image last week, when the company removed it saying that the Web site hosting the picture was a conduit for malware. But the image is back and ranking high, this time hosted in a different Web site. The fact that it hasn’t been taken down suggests that this time the Web site is not in violation of Google’s removal policies.

Stuck again with an unpleasant situation, the Mountain View-company wants to wash its hands and, to do so, it is using a valuable piece of its online real estate space to tell users that “sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree.”

“The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results,” the company wrote.

“[...] Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it.”

Click here to read more.

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