Sony Group has announced the establishment of the Sony Innovation Fund: Africa (SIF: AF) to support the growth of African entertainment businesses. Sony Innovation Fund The Sony Innovation Fund invests in technology-driven transformational companies shaping the future of business, entertainment, and society. Since 2016, Sony has been participating in the ecosystem of new business creation worldwide, with SIF specifically investing in seed to early-seed companies. The fund invests in startups bringing creativity and promising innovations to the world who’d benefit from partnering with Sony. Sony also has the Innovation Growth
Grammy-winning artist John Legend has co-founded his first-ever tech startup, It’s Good, to give users personalized food, travel, and experience recommendations. The company, co-founded by tech entrepreneur Mike Rosenthal, recently raised $5 million in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Legend previously co-founded Cravings – a food e-commerce site – with his wife, Chrissy Teigen. The “It’s Good” App It’s Good is an invite-only platform that delivers travel, food, and experience recommendations from people you know and critics, celebrities, and influencers. Launched in March with a select
A South African digital bank, Bank Zero, has expanded into commercial banking with the launch of its zero-cost business banking app. Disrupting Traditional Banking Bank Zero was founded by tech entrepreneur Michael Jordaan, banking innovator Yatin Narsai, and five other co-founders. Founded in 2018, the company entered the South African market three years later and is now 45% Black-owned and 20% women-owned. The co-founders have a combination of deep and diverse banking and technology skills, with extensive experience in and knowledge of banking through previous roles. Bank Zero aims to disrupt
Elon Musk’s X – formerly Twitter – has been accused of illegally firing an employee after she challenged its return-to-office policy. The complaint, the first filed by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against X, accuses the company of violating US labor law. Fired Over A Tweet? In November 2022, Elon Musk reportedly ordered workers back to the office, saying, “If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted.” In response, Yao Yue, then a principal software engineer at X, tweeted, “Don’t
Spotify has launched a pilot of Voice Translation for podcasts, using OpenAI technology to translate podcasts into other languages in the original podcaster’s voice. While making English-language podcasts more accessible to global audiences, there are concerns about the growing use of AI translation and voice generation technologies. Voice Translation Spotify announced they are piloting a new feature that translates English-spoken episodes into other languages, such as Spanish, French, and German. The feature is powered by OpenAI’s voice generation technology to clone the original podcaster’s voice. Spotify stated it would match
This Hispanic Heritage Month, POCIT spoke with Marcos Navas, the CEO of Latinos in Coding, about his work to empower Latinx communities in tech and make coding more accessible. By 2045, the minorities of the US will make up the majority of the workforce, with the Latinx community playing a pivotal role in this shift. Despite making up 17% of the workforce, Latinx people currently account for only 8% of workers in STEM. Coding is the language of the modern world, Navas argues, with the COVID-19 pandemic shedding light on
A coalition of 65 UK politicians and 31 leading race equality and human rights organizations have called for an “immediate stop” to live facial recognition (LFR) surveillance. The campaign, led by privacy advocate Big Brother Watch, calls for the police and private companies to stop using the technology in public spaces. Signatories include former Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti and Liberal Democrat party leader Sir Ed Davey. Amnesty International, Institute of Race Relations, Liberty, Race Equality Foundation, and Human Rights Watch also joined the campaign. Accessing Passport Database The call
Following complaints, YouTube has restricted a popular channel that posted videos calling for the ‘elimination’ of Black men by terminating pregnancies. YouTube stopped monetizing YouTube influencer Cynthia G’s channel and removed one video calling for Black male abortions for violating the platform’s hate speech policy. However, other videos with similar content remain, renewing scrutiny over the platform’s content moderation policies. Who Is Cynthia G? YouTube influencer Cynthia G joined the platform in July 2016, describing her channel as a place to start the conversation on reforming Black women. “This is
Atlassian has agreed to acquire video communication platform Loom for $975 million. The acquisition will ramp up Loom’s asynchronous video collaboration tools to tap into the demand fueled by the adoption of hybrid work. The journey to unicorn status Loom is an asynchronous (async) video messaging tool that helps users communicate through instantly shareable videos. Founded by Vinay Hiremath, Shahid Khan, and Joe Thomas in 2015 in San Francisco, CA, it boasts 25 million users in 1.8 million workplaces. The platform became increasingly popular during the pandemic, with a $1.53
The PGA Tour, the world’s premier membership organization for touring professional golfers, posted AI-generated headshots of their players on Instagram. While the white players appeared against gray neutral backdrops, the players of color appeared against “rugged” and delipidated backdrops, reigniting concerns over racial bias. What Happened? The PGA Tour released 12 images of players on Instagram, with the caption: “We asked AI to expand our player’s headshots… Here’s what happened.” The photos included 10 white players and 2 players of color, Tony Finau and Collin Morikawa. Finau is of Tongan
