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Google will spend $150 million this year to diversify its workforce
Last year, Google released internal data revealing that almost all of its workforce was male, and nearly all of them were from either white or Asian backgrounds. In an attempt to make itself more diverse, the company is putting $150 million into programs to help increase the number of female, Black and Hispanic employees. In the run up to having this year's figures released, Google's Nancy Lee sat down with USA Today to talk about what the search engine is aiming for.
'Minecraft' finally has a free girl character
Lots of girls play Minecraft, but you wouldn't know it from the default character options. Unless you've been willing to pay up or install a mod, your only real choice so far has been Steve, the game's male mascot. At last, though, things are opening up -- Mojang is giving builders the choice of a free girl character, Alex. She's been around before as a randomly assigned character in the computer version, but the move will help female players on all platforms sculpt their dream worlds using a character they can identify with. PlayStation and Xbox gamers will get Alex as of April 29th, while mobile users playing the Pocket Edition should see her this summer.
Daily Roundup: Chromebook Pixel, Apple's App Store woes and more!
In today's Daily Roundup, we review the new Chromebook Pixel, look at Apple's App and iTunes Store connection issues and learn that Minecraft may be banned in Turkey for being too violent. Read about these stories and more past the break.
Apple invests $50 million to get more minorities working in tech
Just like Intel, Apple is also pledging millions of dollars to various initiatives in an effort to make its workforce a lot more diverse than it has been these past years. When its diversity report was published in 2014, Tim Cook promised to be "innovative in advancing diversity," and now Apple's VP of Human Resources has revealed some of the company's plans. In an interview with Forbes, Denise Young Smith said Cupertino is earmarking $40 million for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which supports students enrolled in historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The non-profit will create a database of computer science students studying at HBCUs, so Apple can offer them training, scholarship and even paid internships.
Apple's newest iOS and Mac betas let you use diverse emoji
If you're disappointed that current emoji characters don't reflect your skin tone, don't worry: Apple is getting ready to accommodate you. Both the latest betas of iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3 include modifiers that let you choose the skin color of some icons. There are more flags, too. And Apple couldn't resist being cheeky -- you'll now see an Apple Watch in place of an ordinary timepiece, just as it already replaces generic phone pictures with an iPhone.
Gaming while black: Casual racism to cautious optimism
NPR's Planet Money reported last year on a culture shift in 1984 that drove many women away from pursuing computer science degrees. Computers were more readily available at stores that catered to men and advertisements pushed the narrative that these new-fangled home devices were made for men. Pop culture followed suit, depicting men as computer geeks in movies, books and journalism. One thing that Planet Money found notable about computer ads in the 1980s was that they featured "just men, all men." Another aspect the ads shared was that they overwhelmingly starred a specific type of man: white.
Teachers in diverse areas are learning how to promote programming
If you want a wider range of kids learning how to code, it's not enough to encourage the students; you have to train the teachers, too. Accordingly, Code.org is launching a training campaign to help teachers promote programming in 60 high-diversity public school districts. The goal is to expose pupils from different cultural backgrounds to coding and make them comfortable with pursuing an education in computer science. It'll take years before it's clear how well the initiative works, but it won't be surprising if tech companies eventually have an easier time recruiting candidates from minorities that typically go underrepresented. [Image credit: Kevin Jarrett, Flickr]
The most important news at CES is a $300 million response to GamerGate
The most important news from CES 2015 involves hundreds of millions of dollars and a titan in the tech industry. It has its origins in a movement that scarred the latter half of 2014. It's not a gadget. It's not a service. It's not something that's for sale at all, actually. The most important news at CES 2015 comes from Intel of all places, which announced its Diversity in Technology Initiative on Tuesday evening: an ambitious $300 million investment, intended to "increase the representation of women and underrepresented minorities in the workplace and our industry" through partnerships, hiring and oversight. As Intel CEO Brian Krzanich puts it, "This isn't just good business; this is the right thing to do." For a company that's over 75 percent male, it's about time.
Intel pledges to hire more women and minorities
It's not all chips and wearable sensors at Intel's CES press conference. CEO Brian Krzanich just announced a far-reaching diversity initiative, promising to hire, promote and retain more women and underrepresented minorities. In particular, he said the company intends to invest $300 million in diversity initiatives, with the goal of reaching "full representation" at all levels of the company by 2020. It remains unclear how exactly Intel will determine what the appropriate ratio is, or what number of employees in a specific demographic might indicate success. Intel simply said in a statement that it "full representation" means "representative of the talent available in America."
Emoji characters are getting skin tones to reflect human diversity
Remember how companies were working with the Unicode Consortium to get more diversity into the emoji characters you use? Well, there's now a clue as to how those more accommodating characters are likely to work. A newly proposed update from Apple and Google would build a skin tone modifier into Unicode; you'd only have to add it to existing emoji to change skin color and better reflect your identity. The technique would be easy to implement on a phone (a press-and-hold button would work), and it would fall back gracefully when you're chatting with someone whose phone can't handle the new code. The Consortium still has to accept and implement the new emoji before you'll see them, but it's hard to see the organization turning down such a straightforward approach.
Unconscious bias is why we don't have a diverse workplace, says Google
Statistics don't lie: If you're working at a Silicon Valley tech company, you're probably a guy. It's a big problem -- most corporate-diversity reports show a male-dominated industry, and colleges are struggling to find new ways to enroll women in computer science and technology programs. It's not just a matter of attracting minorities to technology, however. Google says part of the problem is in our mind: a shared, unconscious bias that not only affects the makeup of Silicon Valley's workforce, but also affects what markets technology company's products reach.
Apple announces two $10K diversity scholarships for minorities in technology
Following a recent diversity report that revealed Apple employees are predominately white males, Apple revealed two Product Integrity Inclusion and Diversity Scholarships aimed at minority college students who are looking to pursue a career in technology. The scholarships would provide eligible students with $10,000 for their education. Applicants must meet the following qualifications in order to apply: To be eligible, applicants must be women, black/African American, Hispanic, or Native American students who are attending an accredited U.S. university and continuing their education in Fall 2015. Applicants must be in at least their sophomore year of college pursuing a bachelor's degree, or enrolled in a master's degree or PhD program in mechanical engineering, materials science, or a related field. Apple posted the scholarships on its job listings site and detailed the scholarship application guidelines, which require students to submit a project proposal along with their resume. One scholarship requires students to submit a proposal for "the design of a test track for a vehicle that will transport astronauts on Europa (one of Jupiter's many moons)," while the other listing asks students to develop a new sensor for an Apple product. Students who submit a proposal will automatically considered for an internship at Apple, regardless of whether they are awarded the scholarship. [Via AppleInsider]
Blizzard donates to bring back GaymerX
It takes a lot of money to throw a gaming convention, which is why second-year LGBTQ gaming convention GaymerX wasn't certain there would be a third year of the event -- especially after NIS America backed out of a sponsorship deal (though the company eventually came through). Now the GaymerX crew is working on a third convention, which they're calling GX3, and they've pulled together some impressive financial backing in advance. The biggest donor on the list -- besides dating app Hornet, which donated ad space -- is Blizzard Entertainment, which has pledged to chip in $10,000 to the convention. Blizzard doesn't have the best track record on supporting diversity lately -- especially where women are concerned -- and this seems like a solid move to change some of that public perception... and help keep an awesome gaming con going. If you'd like to attend GX3 yourself, it will be held in November or December 2015 in San Francisco and you can pick up early tickets -- and other goodies -- on Kickstarter. Editor's Note: Our moderators have bedded down for the night, so we're disabling comments on this post. [Thanks, Orkchop, for the tip!]
Apple releases a new video celebrating the diversity of its staff
Apple recently released statistics touting the diversity found among its employees which, when compared to other tech companies, shows the company is working hard to mix up the makeup of its workforce. The same day Apple released that info, the company debuted this video celebrating the varied backgrounds of its employees and the importance that different life experiences play in growing the company. Narrated by Denise Young-Smith, the company's VP of Human Resources, the clip features employees from the various parts of Apple's business from Apple Stores to product development. Apple still has a long way to go to create a truly diverse company, even by Tim Cook's own admission. The CEO said as much himself in a statement issued along with the report. Let me say up front: As CEO, I'm not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They're not new to us, and we've been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we're committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products. It's good to see Apple recognizing where it needs to improve socially as a company. This video and Tim Cook's public commitment to improving the company's mix of employees are a good start. You can watch the video clip below.
Comparing Apple's diversity report to the rest of the tech industry
In case you missed it, Apple yesterday released a report detailing employee diversity across the company. Apple's diversity report comes hot on the heels of a number of other big name tech companies that similarly released data breaking down employee positions across gender and ethnic lines. With 55% of Apple employees being white and 70% being men, Apple unquestionably has a lot of work to do on the diversity front. Indeed, Tim Cook himself didn't mince words on this topic in a statement released alongside the company's diversity report. Let me say up front: As CEO, I'm not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They're not new to us, and we've been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we're committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products. Still, the diversity numbers in Apple's report are, overall, more encouraging than those revealed in reports from other top tier tech companies. To that end, Nick Heer of Pixel Envy put together some interesting charts comparing the diversity stats released by Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, and LinkedIn. For instance, here's data on ethnic diversity across varying companies. Make sure to check out all of Heer's post for quite a few more interesting comparisons.
Schools find ways to get more women into computer science courses
Technology giants like Apple and Google are frequently dominated by men, in part because relatively few women pursue computer science degrees; just 18 percent of American comp sci grads are female. However, at least a few schools have found ways to get more women into these programs. Carnegie Mellon University saw female enrollment jump to 40 percent after it both scrapped a programming experience requirement and created a tutoring system, giving women a support network they didn't have as a minority. Harvey Mudd College and the University of Washington, meanwhile, saw greater uptake (40 and 30 percent) after they reworked courses to portray coding as a solution to real-world problems, rather than something to study out of personal interest. Harvey Mudd's recruiters also made an effort to be more inclusive in advertising and campus tours.
Apple releases diversity data; 70% of employees are male and 55% are white
Following in the footsteps of other high-tech companies, Apple today released a report detailing employee diversity across the company. Some of the more noteworthy data includes the following information compiled from Apple's 98,000-strong employee base. Overall, 55% of Apple employees are White, 15% are Asian, 11% are Hispanic, and 7% are Black. Within tech oriented positions, the numbers shift a tad, with White employees holding 54% of positions and Asians holding 23% of positions. With respect to leadership positions within the company, 64% of employees are White, 21% are Asian, 6% are Hispanic, and 3% are Black. With respect to gender, the divide is 70% male and 30% female. The numbers skew a bit more when looking solely at tech positions where males account for 80% of positions. The report was accompanied by a note from Tim Cook, which reads in part: Apple is committed to transparency, which is why we are publishing statistics about the race and gender makeup of our company. Let me say up front: As CEO, I'm not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They're not new to us, and we've been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we're committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products. Inclusion and diversity have been a focus for me throughout my time at Apple, and they're among my top priorities as CEO. I'm proud to work alongside the many senior executives we've hired and promoted in the past few years, including Eddy Cue and Angela Ahrendts, Lisa Jackson and Denise Young-Smith. The talented leaders on my staff come from around the world, and they each bring a unique point of view based on their experience and heritage. And our board of directors is stronger than ever with the addition of Sue Wagner, who was elected in July. Also worth mentioning is that Cook explains that diversity at Apple extends far beyond race, gender, and ethnicity. At Apple, Cook adds, diversity includes "personal qualities that usually go unmeasured, like sexual orientation, veteran status, and disabilities." With Tim Cook committed to improving company-wide diversity going forward, Julia Love of the San Jose Mercury News relays that Jesse Jackson applauded Cook's candid remarks. Just talked to Jesse Jackson, who pointed out #Apple's diversity stats are better than those of other tech co's who've gone public so far. - Julia Love (@byJuliaLove) August 12, 2014 For those interested, Google's report on diversity can be found here while Facebook's can be viewed here.
eBay is winning at gender diversity in technology
Online auction service eBay has followed in the footsteps of other tech companies and published a diversity report of its own -- one that indicates that it's winning at gender diversity in the workplace. According to the report, 42 percent of its 33,000 employees all over the globe are women. Among those firms that shared their diversity percentages recently, Pinterest comes the closest with a 40 percent female workforce, and then Yahoo whose female employees make up 37 percent of the total. Google and Twitter tie for the last place, as women make up 30 percent of all employees in both companies (though to be fair, Google has projects to encourage more women to take up careers in technology).
Riot Games promises to increase diversity in League of Legends
League of Legends features a lot of diversity among its male champions, but the female champions all feature a fairly uniform body type. That's something the developers at Riot Games are keen on changing. In response to a fan question at SDCC, producer Omar Kendall said that the company has been introducing new ways of looking at body types and shapes, with the end goal of making female champions who don't look like the others. Kendall went on to specify that the call for more diversity is one that players should see represented soon in a new character coming out. He also noted that diversity is being strongly considered with further character designs and any new champions. Game designer Brian Feeney noted that it would be a net boon to the game as a whole -- as Riot is very concerned with distinctive silhouettes, a more robust selection of body types makes it easier to tell champions apart.
Blizzard's Morhaime responds to player concern for diversity in WoW
Diversity is certainly a hot topic everywhere in the world today, and MMO communities are no exception. In particular, World of Warcraft has been under the microscope several times in the last few years for an imbalance of gender representation. When WoW player Starcunning wrote an open letter to Blizzard president Mike Morhaime that questioned the studio's treatment of its female players, including then-CCO Rob Pardo's statement that diversity isn't something that Blizzard is actively trying to do, she probably didn't expect a real response. Interestingly enough, Morhaime did respond with some real promise about making diversity a priority for the team. "We are very conscious of the issues you raise and are discussing them more than ever, at every level of the company, in an effort to make sure our games and stories are as epic and inclusive as possible," Morhaime promised. "Blizzard's employees form a broad and diverse group that cares deeply about the experiences we are creating for our players. And we know that actions speak louder than words, so we are challenging ourselves to draw from more diverse voices within and outside of the company and create more diverse heroes and content."
