The Tech Jawn: Black Tech Enthusiasts Covering The Week's Tech News And How Tech Affects Black Culture

What legal and moral responsibilities do social media companies have to remove violent content from their platforms?Does Elon Musk really want to buy Twitter? The deal is currently on hold and public spats with the CEO have analysts wondering.USB-C may be coming to the iPhone 15 next year.And we dive into Google i/o. Google announced new hardware, new software, and the company seems to be for real for real when it comes to inclusivity in image processing.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI used in a Northwestern study of police departments is showing that a small percentage of officers own a disproportionate share of the misconduct.The “Chip Shortage” is actually making the chip shortage worse because chip manufacturers can’t get the chips they need to make the chips we need.The Amazon union saga is far from over as it fires managers who “didn’t prevent” the Staten Island warehouse from organizing right as that union’s leader meets with the president and appears in front of Congress.And the fall of Roe v. Wade could have big effects on Big Tech. We discuss some of the ways tech companies are scrambling to protect employees, end-users, and the massive amounts of data it collects. Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What things should we do to manage our digital footprint after we die? We probably should have a plan for all of our data, all of our accounts, and all of our financial information to make things easier for the loved ones that we leave behind.No one really likes them, but, ads in our media, social and traditional, work better than you might think they do.And, Apple’s Self Service Repair is not for the faint at heart.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elon Musk secured financing for his $46.5 billion takeover bid of Twitter and Twitter’s board has reconsidered and accepted his offer.Patreon creates the new “Pull Up” incubator for creators of color and offers resources, training, and funding for marginalized small business owners.The recently launched CNN+ streaming service calls it quits barely 3 weeks after its debut. And, the EU has passed the Digital Services Act which will force big tech companies to take greater responsibility for the content that appears on their platforms and can fine them up to 6% of annual turnover for non-compliance.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Details on how Twitter’s upcoming edit button might work have surfaced and we all have different takes on how we feel about it.Slack-like communities are coming to WhatsApp Messenger and this could give the super-popular messaging app more of a social media app look and feel.Flossing on the Gram is not really a good idea right after you have just filed for bankruptcy.And we interview Jeremy Butler, founder of Savage Kingdom, and he dives into just what NFTs are and how his company is providing dope artwork and teaching the community about the blockchain and financial literacy.Link To Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elon Musk and Twitter had a heck of a week.  Musk buys 9.2% of the stock becoming the biggest shareholder, is offered a seat on the board, but turns it down. Twitter also announces that it is adding an “Edit” button to the platform.  They’ve been working on it for over a year and the feature will first come to Twitter Blue subscribers.Dall.E is a neural network AI that can create images from concepts expressed in natural language.  You tell it what to draw, it draws it, and it is actually pretty good at it.And we interview Afua Bruce, Adjunct Faculty at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and author of the book “The Tech That Comes Next”.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facebook’s News Feed was doling out misinformation for months due to a bug in its ranking algorithm that affected as much as half of all views.Elon Musk purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter becoming the company's biggest individual shareholder.Apple and Meta shared user personal data with hackers pretending to be law enforcement.And Amazon workers on Staten Island voted to form a union.We’ve got all this, our spotlight, and more in episode 29 of The Tech Jawn.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Smith smacking the taste out of Chris Rock’s mouth at the Oscars isn’t necessarily a tech story, but it needs to be discussed. Proposed EU legislation may require messaging platforms to interoperate, but the bigger issue may be getting the carriers to roll out a standard like RCS.Is an Apple hardware subscription plan a good thing for consumers? And Tesla is straight buggin when it comes to racism in the workplace and Google has a new class-action lawsuit to contend with for alleged racist practices.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facebook locks a bunch of users out of their accounts for not turning on Facebook Protect.  The problem was that Facebook’s email notification looked like a phishing scam which was largely ignored.The global chip shortage is getting real and it's getting worse.  First it was graphic cards that became impossible to buy.  Now some SUVs are shipping without the chips that control seat warmers.The toy company that first created transformers is now working on a moon rover, and yes, it actually transforms.And, is the digital divide literally killing us?  Studies show a link between internet access and Covid-19 deaths.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Instagram introduces Enhanced Tags which should make it easier for professional accounts and influencers to receive credit for their work. Apple Announces the M1 Ultra, the new Mac Studio, and the 5K Studio Display, and they all sound kind of awesome.And we interview Gary Joanis, Pharmaceutical Consultant for Viral Vaccines & Advanced Therapeutic Medicines for Sequoia Consulting Group, where we discuss the Covid-19 vaccine and try to dispel some of the misinformation.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apple’s Privacy Update wiped out over a quarter trillion dollars in market cap from 4 of the big social media companies. Google is thinking about privacy too, but it ain’t going quite as hard as Apple.Michael Jordan and son’s NFT project Heir is doing “OK” out the gate but it did have to pull back from initial projections.YouTube is offering up $50,000 in cash to popular podcasts to convert from audio to video. Hey YouTube, holler at The Tech Jawn right fast. We got you.And we wrap up the show with streaming services talk. Disney Plus is adding an ads tier. NBC is pulling its day after air content off Hulu. And is a cable subscription starting to look like a better option when it comes to bundles?We’ve got all this and more in episode 25 of The Tech Jawn.Link To Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We kick off this week’s episode of The Tech Jawn with talk about TikTok and its new 10-minute time limit on videos.Is it time to move beyond passwords?   We discuss efforts to get rid of passwords completely and if everyone should be using password managers until we get to that day.A social media star with nearly 150,000 followers has been charged with armed robbery, after his very colorful sneakers worn while robbing convenience stores were recognized by the FBI in his viral TikTok videos.And big tech is playing a major role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Elon Musk’s companies are doing what they can to help, but racism doesn’t take a break even in times of war.Link to Show Notes  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some people are outraged that the New York Times has added ad tracking to Wordle, but, should they really be though?Privacy settings on your social media won’t protect you from snitching on yourself as authorities in Wisconsin use Facebook to identify suspects in acts of property damage after the Jacob Blake police shooting protests in Kenosha.And what is the proper protocol for online redemption? Who gets to determine your penance? Does the internet owe it to you to allow you back in its good graces after you’ve committed an offense?We discuss all this and we’ve got an awesome Spotlight in episode 23 of The Tech Jawn.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was Superbowl weekend and although we weren’t blown away by many of the commercials we did notice that Google is putting real marketing behind Real Tone.A black couple opens the world’s first autonomous grocery store in Atlanta, and it even has delivery robots that keep your food hot or cold.TikTok missed the mark with its Black History Month event leaving black creators out of the conversation.And, the Netflix doc, “Tinder Swindler”, showcases how a prolific romance scammer finessed women out of millions.We’ve got all this and more in episode 22 of the Tech Jawn.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode of The Tech Jawn, we interview Ekow Sanni-Thomas, founder of Inside Voices, an online platform that helps job-seekers figure out how companies treat people of color by hearing from current employees.But, before we get to the interview we talk about how Atlanta is becoming quite the Tech Hub and why Yelp has only used its Racist Behavior consumer alert twice in 16 months.Link To Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Black History Month and, for at least the second year in a row, Apple is highlighting black voices throughout the month of February. Meta might want to change some of its policies and controls in the Metaverse as it relates to sexual harassment. A 43-year-old British woman claims she was virtually groped by a gang of male avatars within a minute of logging in.Flexible Work from Anywhere policies might be a key to fixing Silicon Valley’s diversity problems.And Spotify might have a Joe Rogan problem as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legends pull their catalogs from the platform because of Covid misinformation promoted on his show.Link to Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We kick this episode of The Tech Jawn off with a tech story or two, but, we’ve got a special guest interview for you this week.We chop it up with Shawn Gunn, co-founder and CEO PLLAY, an Artificial Intelligence-driven wagering and data analytics platform for video gamers. Shawn has also played a key role in helping multiple companies successfully exit, having raised over $50 million in venture funding and creating over $1 billion in exit value for investors.We cover everything from what it’s like starting a tech company with black and female founders to how venture capital is not always the route startups should look to when getting off the ground. Shawn gives an overview PLLAY and how his company is changing the game wagering in e-sports, and he leaves us with his view of where the metaverse is headed.Link to book Shawn mentioned during the interview: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Amazon Affiliate Link Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is a new game word game taking the internet by storm.  It’s called Wordle, It’s completely free, and, by design, it’s not a time suck.Is the next wave of watching sports a courtside VR experience?  With the Oculus Quest 2, you may be able to “be at the game” without actually being at the game.Rebundle, a black-owned, women-founded, haircare startup that creates plant-based hair extensions gets $1.4 million in pre-seed venture funding.  And, have NFTs jumped the shark?  We’ve got three different opinions from  3 different voices and we’re all probably kind of right.Link to our Show Notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Google is concerned that Apple allows iMessage users to bully Android users.  If true Google is probably just as much to blame.Timnit Gebru launches the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute to focus on how bias in Artificial Intelligence harms marginalized groups.Due to the pandemic CES this year still wasn’t the CES of old, but, that didn’t stop the auto manufacturers from showing out.And in our TTJ Spotlight, we showcase another hidden figure that was mathing the heck out of stuff for the US military.Follow The Tech Jawn on Twitter, Instagram, FacebookShow Notes: Click here... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The cast of The Tech Jawn is just coming back from our holiday hiatus but we wanted to present you with something special before we get back to live shows in the second week of January. Back in episode 8, we had the honor of interviewing Professor Tonya M. Evans, Forbe’s 50 Over 50 member, Faculty at Penn State Dickinson Law, host of the Tech Intersect podcast, and blockchain and cryptocurrency expert. We still get Tweets, IG comments, text messages, phone calls, etc. from folk asking about this episode and what many of them don’t know is that they only heard about half of the full interview.  Patreon members of The Tech Jawn get pre and post-show bonus content by way of a live stream and, after the podcast ended, Professor Evans continued to drop gems about the world of cryptocurrency in what we are calling The Aftershow.We are bringing you the full interview so, get ready and buckle up because we jump right into just over an hour of awesomeness with Professor Tonya M. Evans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

African Americans are being arrested, charged, and held on faulty ID matches.Twitter favors faces with lighter skin tones… Even “Black Twitter”Autonomous vehicles even be out here pedestrian bowling with kinfolk. Facial recognition, Artificial Intelligence, and algorithms in general really ain't feeling us, and, in the first episode of The Tech Jawn, we’re going to discuss why. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

YouTube TV almost lost a customer before working things out with Disney to bring ABC, ESPN, and other channels back to the platform.Many security analysts are saying that the Log4j exploit that has been dominating tech news for the last week may be the biggest cyber security vulnerability ever. If it’s not the biggest, it’s definitely up there.If you are the designated tech support specialist for your extended family we’ve got a list of tech tasks you probably should complete when you see your kinfolk over the holidays.And although Chrismas is just a few days away we’ve got some last-minute tech stocking stuffers that you still may have time to get.We’ve got all this and more in episode 15 of The Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amazon had a major outage last week disrupting services for companies all across the US. Even The Tech Jawn was affected. Would you were a mask that glows if it detects Covid?  The Tech Jawn crew probably would but we’d feel some kind of way about it.Apple Watch Owners file a class action lawsuit for expanding batteries that crack the screen. Tech Life Steph has fist hand knowledge of the issue. And black audiences are cutting the cord at an alarming rate. The usually loyal cable and satellite TV customer base has dwindled 25% in less than 4 years.We’ve got all this and more in episode 14 of the Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Tech Jawn we talk about Apple’s anti-sexting tool and if not notifying parents is the right call?Is Black Twitter The New Green Book? We know you can get the tea but is it also keeping us safe out here in these streets.What do you think about a DEI company that uses digital blackface to make Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion videos? Yeah, we thought that too.And is getting paid for your data the new wave. It probably should be, but, it’s, for real though, going to take a minute.We’ve got all this and more in episode 13 of the Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Black Friday Shopping was Mid, Meh, and just a bit down this year but we did get to talk tech to the elders over the holiday.Buying real estate together in groups with friends, family, and even a few strangers may have gotten just a bit easier.The NNPA and Digital Mind State team up to bring Tech This Out News to a network of over 230 black-owned newspapers that engage an audience of 43 million people per week.And, is the payday for black creators finally here?We’ve got all this and more in episode 12 of The Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TikTok settled a $92 million class-action lawsuit for collecting your personal data without asking you.Tesla Owners get locked out of their cars due to “accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic”.  This is a reason why you should probably keep a key card close by.3G wireless service is being shut down next year.  This won’t mean much to smartphone users but roughly 30 million Americans are still rocking flip phones.And, Facebook knew that its algorithms are biased against people of color but chose not to adhere to its own policies on hate speech due to fear of backlash from its conservative partners.We’ve got all this and more, in episode 11 of the Tech Jawn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Black Americans have caught the podcast bug and have become one of the most avid and engaged listening demographic groups.Stackwell Fintech and other financial industry services like Greenwood bank work to close the racial wealth gap.President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda provides an additional $3 billion in funding to HBCUs to boost STEM-related programs. Hopefully, some of the funds help schools like Howard address their aging infrastructure and make dormitories “livable”.And, we kick the show off with talk about the Netflix movie “The Harder They Fall”. Don’t worry no spoilers.We’ve got all this and more in episode 10 The Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Social media, Facebook, in particular, is shown to be harmful to a sizable percentage of its users. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. “In Distress” hand signals learned on popular TikTok memes may have saved a missing 16-year old teen.  BlackTag aims to be a streaming media platform for black audiences around the world. The crew discusses the importance of this platform and others like it in democratizing content as well as some of the pitfalls players in this space might face.23 and Me had much more in mind than just allowing customers to research their ancestral roots. The company is using its massive database of the human genome to make better drugs.And we debut our new segment, The TechJawn Spotlight, where we showcase a Black pioneer in the field of technology. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Tech Jawn Episode 08.We've got a bit of a different vibe this week as we interview Professor Tonya M.Evans, crypto expert and host of the Tech Intersect podcast,but first, we kick off the show with the dad tax on Halloween candy and a couple of tech stories. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facebook reports its quarterly earnings. Everything looks good, financially, but, the company still has a difficult road ahead.Apple releases Mac OS Monterey and iOS 15.1. BrothaTech digs into the details.Google Releases the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Android has come a long way, but, what impresses us most is Real Tone, Google’s camera technology initiative to make darker skin tones look beautiful. And is TikTok causing Tourette Syndrome like ticks in teen girls?We’ve got all this and so much more in episode 07 of The Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Gruden was forced to resign as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders because of racist, homophobic, and misogynistic emails. Maybe he didn’t know or just didn’t care that email is forever.Apple has new M1x processor-powered hardware coming out. BrothaTech has already copped two MacBook Pros just to be safe and make sure that he gets one. And, Facebook is hiring 10,000 EU workers to build an open-source, augmented and virtual reality-based metaverse. We clearly see the business benefits but we also can see anarchy and mayhem for consumers.We’ve got all this and more in episode 6 of The Tech Jawn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facebook, technology-wise, has recovered from the configuration change that caused the biggest outage ever, but the social media giant is still reeling when it comes to its reputation.The Central Bank of Nigeria is set to, soon, launch eNaira, a state-backed digital currency making the country one of the first to adopt digitization of its currency.  A jury orders Tesla to pay A former contractor $137 million because of rampant workplace racism. Full-time Tesla employees are suffering as well. They just can’t sue.And Terrance convinces Stephanie to keep watching and Robb to start watching Squid Games on Netflix.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facebook suffered its biggest outage ever on Monday, but, the damage done via configuration changes on backbone routers may pale in comparison to the damage control Facebook does in an effort to not become regulated.Amazon held its Fall Product Event and announced several new devices including 15” Echo Show, a $1000 two-foot-tall robot that can bring you drinks, and an autonomous flying security drone called the Always Home Cam.Twitter is back on in Nigeria after being banned by the country back in June after taking down one of President Buhari’s Tweets.  And we dive into what receipts Facebook Whistle Blower, Frances Haugen has provided to the SEC and what she might say before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Fugee’s concert started 3 hours late. Can’t say we didn’t see that coming. Microsoft announced new Surface Devices. They all sound kind of awesome.Google security escorts a black employee with a badge off campus because “someone” didn’t believe he was an employee.And the conditions some food delivery contractors work under in big cities like New York aren’t just miserable, they are downright dangerous.We’ve got all this and just a little bit more in this episode of The Tech Jawn... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apple announced iOS 15, a new iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. We unpack all the new hotness and let you what’s what before you upgrade.TikTok limits kids 14 and under in China to just 40 minutes per day.Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (F.A.S.T.) for short, is kind of awesome even if you aren’t a cord cutter.And for most people, particularly Black and Brown folk, teleworking just isn’t an option, but, for sistahs that can work remotely, it might actually be safer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Tech Jawn is a second look at the week's tech news headlines delivered from a different perspective. African Americans, demographically, are the biggest users of consumer technology in the country and The Tech Jawn aims to showcase how technology affects them as well as how they affect technology. IYIQk8xEPEu2lKeHOYbY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.