A new augmented reality (AR) app, Looking Glass, is offering Pittsburgh residents and visitors a unique way to explore the city’s rich Black history. The Looking Glass Launched this summer by technologist Adrian Jones, the Looking Glass app turns historical archives into interactive, location-based experiences. Users can explore various Pittsburgh neighborhoods and uncover the stories that have shaped these communities over time. The app’s first focus is East Liberty, a neighborhood that has undergone changes over the decades as it faced a sharp decline in the 1960s due to an
BlackRhino VR, a leading Kenyan extended reality tech company, has launched MediAR. The groundbreaking augmented reality (AR) platform aims to revolutionize how creators engage with AR technology, empowering them within Africa’s burgeoning creative economy. Empowering Creatives, Democratizing Tech BlackRhino VR was founded by in 2015 by medical student-turned-filmmaker Michael Ilako and deejay-turned-brand manager Brian Afande. The company’s no-code AR cloud editor and publishing platform, MediAR, is positioned as Africa’s first. As a no-code platform, creatives can produce AR content without any previous coding or programming experience. MediAR features an intuitive
As part of the Signature Series, the Kinfolk Foundation is placing four new Augmented Reality (AR) monuments throughout New York to celebrate Black culture and identity throughout the city. AR technology creates interactive, immersive, experimental experiences where our real, physical world is digitally augmented. The Kinfolk Foundation Kinfolk Foundation is a non-profit digital and educational platform that uses art and emerging technologies such as AR to re-center the stories and lives of African-American figures. This aims to highlight the contributions and success of communities of color, uprooting systems and reimagining
Wicked Saints, a Black woman-led video game studio, has secured $3.5 million in seed funding. The funding round, co-led by Riot Games and Oregon Venture Fund, brings the studio’s total funding to $4.6 million Jessica Murrey, Wicked Saints’ founder and CEO, also joins the small group of Black women founders who have raised over $1 million. Learning Real-World Skills Through Gaming World Reborn is Gen Z’s take on Pokémon Go, offering a unique blend of storytelling, real-world activism, and location-based play. The studio’s flagship game, “World Reborn,” merges the digital
This article was first published by Zaria Gunn on Medium. As a black female futurist and artist, I spent time working in VR at Google’s HQ in Mountain View. My team, Spotlight Stories was a part of Google’s R&D lab for hardware called A.T.A.P. (Advanced Technologies and Projects) though the workplace had international diversity, the African American woman population was just me. And though I’ve always wanted to be the first at something, I had never imagined that I would’ve been the first black woman in ATAP eight years after
Edtech startup Kai XR has raised $1.6 million in seed funding to expand its virtual reality (VR) educational resources to one million kids across the US. Kapor Capital led the oversubscribed round, which included Mitchell Kapor Foundation, American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, and others. The Oakland-based edtech startup is making education more accessible through inclusive mixed-reality spaces that allow children to explore, create, and learn. From education to innovation Kai Frazier founded Kai XR in 2018. Through her time as an educator in the classroom and in museums,
Dr. Tori Brown, the founder of Fresh Digital Media, is the latest founder to join Apple’s Entrepreneur camp. Fresh Digital Media, founded in 2018 by psychologist and business consultant Dr. Tori Brown, is a social tech enterprise providing business education to children and families. The company works to engage and support communities’ business education and financial literacy using augmented reality (AR), interactive learning content, and music and art entertainment. Dr. Tori Brown will join a cohort of 17 developers as part of Apple’s Entrepreneur camp and gain insight and inspiration from top
Indianapolis-born actor Mike Epps has announced new plans to open an entertainment venue in downtown Detroit featuring Black-owned spirit and wine brands. The instability of our economy has forced many people to look for new innovative ways to increase their income and help others. As a result, celebrity entrepreneurship is rising, and comedian Mike Epps’ latest business venture exemplifies that. One Mike Detroit is a multi-faceted entertainment venue designed to celebrate the people of Detroit. According to Detroit News, the site will host live music, stand-up comedy, spoken word, and a VR experience. The
Morehouse College has become the first college to offer classes in the metaverse. By donning a headset, students at the Atlanta-based liberal arts HBCU can immerse themselves in past, present, and future worlds. Dr Muhsinah Morris PhD spearheaded Morehouse College’s metaversity campus in partnership with VictoryXR, with funding from Meta, Southern Company, Unity, T-Mobile For Business, National Science Foundation (NSF), and Qualcomm. Immersive learning Morris taught an advanced inorganic chemistry lab virtually to a dozen students as part of a pilot last spring. She believes the metaverse’s experiential and active learning environment will
25-year-old Iddris Sandu is a technologist and founder of Spatial Labs (sLabs) an organization committed to reshaping the future of commerce, Blockchain technology, and fashion. The technologist, born in Accra, Ghana, moved to Los Angeles when he was three years old. After teaching himself how to code and partaking in a range of internships and consultancy programs, Sandu set his sights on reshaping the way technology exists in the world. Additionally, he stuck to his word and became one of the youngest founders to enter Black Enterprise’s 40 under 40 list. The
