tech

Analysis: Racial inequity in who takes career, tech courses

Emilee Geist 6 days ago

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ADVANCE FOR RELEASE OCT. 22, 2020 AND THEREAFTER — Alphina Kamara at Wesleyan University, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Middletown, Conn. Kamara, a junior at Wesleyan University studying English and sociology, says she was never encouraged to explore options like an engineering course while in high school.


Jessica Hill

AP

Alphina Kamara wonders what might have happened if she’d been introduced to science and engineering careers at her high school in Wilmington, Delaware.

Kamara, who is Black, was enrolled in an “audio engineering” course that taught her how to make music tracks and videos instead of a regular engineering course that she recalls was mostly filled with white students.

When she asked an administrator at Mount Pleasant High School about this apparent disparity, she said she was told that the audio engineering course was created for “regular students.”

“They thought we would be more interested in audio engineering than engineering,”

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Cooler Screens Shows Tech Can Make Money And Protect Privacy With ‘Identity-Blind’ Digital Advertising

Emilee Geist 1 week ago

Despite growing concerns about data privacy, most brands still rely on consumer information to make sure their ads get in front of the right people at the right moment in time. But change is coming. Consumers have taken note of the brands that are evolving their business practices and those that are not. The next generation of digital advertising will follow a new business model that delivers streamlined digital experiences without compromising customers’ personal information. This new world of advertising will come in the form of “identity-blind” ads that no longer need individualized, personal information to generate the same, or better, results. 

The New, Identity-Blind Advertising Model

Chicago-based Cooler Screens aims to prove this new model by bringing everything customers love about online shopping (and none of the tracking) to frozen and refrigerated food aisles across the nation. What exactly is Cooler Screens doing? The company is replacing old glass

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8 best work-from-home tech gadgets

Emilee Geist 2 weeks ago

Whether you’ve been working from home for the past seven months or seven weeks, your space could probably use a bit of an update by now. With kids at home for online learning and more video calls for work, technical difficulties and inconveniences are probably starting to get old — but there are some simple fixes to make the work-from-home life a little bit better.

Wouldn’t it be nice if people could actually see you on your Zoom calls or if your WiFi wasn’t lagging right when you had something to say on a call? Tech expert Steve Greenberg joined Hoda and Jenna to share some innovative products that can enhance your work-from-home experience, from a WiFi-boosting device to must-haves for better lighting.

If you’re ready to upgrade your home office with some of the newest items on the market, read on for the full list of Greenberg’s recommendations.

1.

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TECH TALK WITH MIKE: Add new life to online events with Hopin | News

Emilee Geist 2 weeks ago

When you think of an online event, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the lack of social interaction and limited connection. Perhaps all you see in your mind is PowerPoint slides or a monotone talking head. While this can be true to some extent, the convenience, flexibility, and reduced costs of virtual events can make them easier to embrace, and now with pandemic travel restrictions and challenges, they have become more standard, but will they become better experiences?

The answer is that they can be. Attendees want to be part of a virtual event where they have the freedom to be themselves. The freedom to express their thoughts systematically and courteously, and to be able to engage in more interactive, engaging experiences.

Until recently there haven’t been many virtual collaborative event tools that guarantee a near-perfect online event experience. Often the solution is to find the one

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Kid Tech Support Saves Parents $5,000+ Annually

Emilee Geist 3 weeks ago

Are you a parent or guardian who is constantly turning to your teenage kids for advice on how to handle social media, email, video editing, security issues, and even full-on graphic design (someone’s got to make the flyer for the bake sale!)? If so, be glad you don’t have to pay for that. Or on average, you’d be shelling out $5,294.54 per year.

In a bit of research undertaken by UK-based specialist IT consultancy Prolifics Testing, it asked 2,664 teens (also in the UK) between 13 and 18 years old how many hours they’ve spent helping parents with various tech tasks in the 12 months between September 2019 and August 2020. Prolifics took the average number of hours and multiplied it by the freelancer rates listed in the job database at UpWork. The result, above, shows how much the kids could have earned if they were paid the same as

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Tim O’Reilly, ‘the Oracle of Silicon Valley’ lets fly at Big Tech

Emilee Geist 3 weeks ago

“Tech’s addiction to addictive behaviour on the part of its users is actually part and parcel of the system we have built.”

If this reads like the lament of a washed-up old Leftie, O’Reilly is quick to defend and celebrate the role of capital and markets in building companies like Amazon and Tesla. It is because he sniffs something amiss that he is so passionate.

He doesn’t deny that there’s still “a lot of innovation” but worries that “we also have created a system where a lot of people can get rich without actually producing a lot of value”.

Many Silicon Valley companies, he fears, are no more than “the financial instruments that led to the 2008 financial crisis. Nobody actually has a clue about how a company is going to make money. It’s designed to be acquired. If it can go public without having profits, that’s just great. But

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Tech tips to cool off your hot laptop and help keep scammers at bay.

Emilee Geist 4 weeks ago

CLOSE

Setting up two-factor authentication for your devices is a good way to keep hackers at bay. (Photo: hanieriani, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A woman called her company’s tech support desk, and the technician asked for her password. She replied, “Snow White Cinderella Snoopy Dopey Pinocchio Harry Potter Ariel 5.” The technician said, “That’s a great long password.” The woman replied, “Thank you! I was told my password needs to have seven characters and one number.”

Jokes aside, you should never give anyone your password. As hacking methods get more sophisticated, there are new rules for creating hard-to-crack passwords. Tap or click here to make sure your passwords are up to snuff.

It’s also essential to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) on your accounts. If someone tries to hack your account, he won’t have access to the one-time code sent to your phone or email. Here is a step-by-step guide to setting

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Tech giants police their own online campaign ads as government disagrees on regulation

Emilee Geist 4 weeks ago

(InvestigateTV) – On websites and social media sites from Facebook to Instagram, political campaigns are trying to click with voters.

“Do President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump still have your support?”

“Did you see who Joe Biden picked for VP?”

“Who would Jesus vote for?”

All of those ads were designed to get potential voters to engage. Links route to surveys, campaign pages, blogs, online shops or email address collection and campaign donation sites.

Online ads are hugely beneficial to political campaigns. Instead of placing an ad in the biggest paper in a swing state or buying a slot during a primetime show with a possible demographic match to a campaign – strategists can drill down deeper.

These Facebook ads ran in September and attempt to get users to engage with campaigns. Often campaigns use interactive ads to get people to donate money, take surveys or provide contact information. Facebook has rules dictating interactive ads - including that anything that appears to work like a survey with clickable options actually works in the way it is portrayed.
These Facebook ads ran in September and attempt to get users to engage with campaigns. Often campaigns use interactive ads to get people to donate money, take surveys or provide contact
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David’s Bridal Is Betting On 3-D Tech To Get More Brides To Say Yes To The Dress

Emilee Geist 4 weeks ago

David’s Bridal is taking its digital love affair to the next level with technology that lets brides-to-be view dresses online in 3-D detail, and use augmented reality to virtually bring a gown-wearing mannequin into their living rooms.

David’s, which emerged from bankruptcy 20 months ago but is still burdened with debt, is on a mission to become a thoroughly modern, millennial-friendly wedding retailer that combines the best an online experience can offer, with the old-fashioned, bride-friendly, in-person services that a chain of 300 stores can provide.

Its online transformation has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic that shifted shoppers away from stores. While its stores have reopened, David’s, like other retailers, has continued to see online sales surge.

Last week David’s began showing off its

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Buying a new car? These tech features could drive your choice

Emilee Geist 1 month ago

What do automotive shoppers really want?

A few years ago, those who kicked the tires on new vehicles might have prioritized fuel efficiency, comfort, or perhaps horsepower.

Today, it’s all about the tech.

“The race never ends to develop ‘must have’ vehicle technologies,” says Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction and human machine interface research at J.D. Power. “New technology continues to be a primary factor in the vehicle purchase decision.”

“However, it’s critical for automakers to offer features that owners find intuitive and reliable,” Kolodge adds.

Automotive expert Nik Miles mirrors Kolodge’s assessment: “Besides price, tech plays a major role when considering a new car – interestingly, for every age group – but it has to be easy to use.”

Miles is founder and host of OurAutoExpert.com, an online magazine featuring the latest in automotive news and reviews. “Even inexpensive vehicles are loaded with tech, whether it’s tech

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