Apple has said it wants to add more ethnic diversity to the little cartoon characters, called emoji, available to iPhone and Mac computer users. The characters, which are like graphically-enhanced emoticons originated from Japan and, while the graphic icons often many things from Japanese culture, there are no emoji Latinos or Black people.
As we've previously reported, Latinos are one of the fastest growing demographics in the U.S. and, as consumers, have widely been considered "ahead of the digital curve." But Latinos are still vastly underrepresented in future-forward careers and educational fields associated with high-tech, which will be the focus of a panel discussion at the Latino Education and Advocacy Days summit at Cal State this year.
America's first full-term, accredited university focused specifically on Latinos will close its doors at the end of the academic calendar next year. The National Hispanic University in San Jose, California announced on Thursday that its run is over, after recent online initiatives failed to improve its finances.
A new province of the World Wide Web intended for Spanish speakers launched Wednesday, March 19. The ".uno" domain, one of the Internet's new web address suffixes helping to sort out the ever-expanding web, is looking to become the one place for "El Internet en Español." We talked with Shaul Jolles, CEO of Dot Latin LLC, the company behind .uno.
Sprint wants to get in on the prepaid wireless action - more than it already is. On Friday, the company announced a new prepaid plan, including some lower prices, and some other cool new features.
Hispanics are interested in three main things from their mobile service: social media, video content, and streaming audio, says T-Mobile's senior vice president of brand and advertising Peter DeLuca. As the fastest growing population in the United States, Hispanics are becoming a key focus group for politicians and advertising firms alike, and DeLuca recently shared his take on Hispanic trends in the mobile market with Latin Post.
A new Latino startup is on the scene, with the aim of taking the power of crowdfunding to Latino communities across the Western hemisphere. HIPGive is a new crowdfunding site by Hispanics in Philanthropy, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
The internet is about to get a lot bigger, come mid-March, when another batch of gTLDs (generic top level domains: various alternatives for the ".com" or ".org" that follows a web address) hit the public. On March 19, one of those gTLDs up for grabs is .UNO, the first dedicated domain for Spanish-speakers.
Latinos in technology had a presence at South by Southwest Interactive this year, with varying degrees of turnout and success. Sessions at the SXSW Latinos in Technology pre-conference focused on how modern technology affects Latino communities, while at the same time feeling a little left out of the SXSW community.
The recent row over the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet rules, and net neutrality in general, isn't the only thing going on in the world of cable and its government regulator. Recent regulatory changes signaled by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler have been positive signs beyond the Open Internet kerfuffle, and a Latino watchdog is happy.
Cable giant Comcast is extending its program to give low-income households cheap broadband internet access, as part of a public relations campaign leading up to the possible merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
With dirt-cheap international messaging apps like WhatsApp coming to prominence, thanks to Facebook's not-so-cheap acquisition of the company, the pressure is on telecoms to keep their customers, like many Latinos, who frequently communicate across borders. Time Warner Cable (which also provides phone service) is responding with free calls to Mexico.
The technology industry, and Google in particular, has been the target of community rage in the San Francisco area resulting from the economic and culture clash between well-moneyed tech workers and average, long-term residents. Google is seeking to lessen the strain - and perhaps the hard feelings - by recently donating millions to provide low-income youth in the area free transportation.
The Hispanic Chamber of E-Commerce, which launched a business network last year to support Latino entrepreneurs, has announced that the Hispanic social business network has grown quite a bit in just a few months.
With the World Wide Web turning 25 this year, the Pew Research Internet Project unveiled a massive study (with more to come) looking at how Americans' lives and attitudes have changed over the course of the Web's life.
AT&T's HACEMOS, a Hispanic/Latino Association hosted its annual National High Technology Day across the U.S. on Thursday to help get Latino and other minority high school students excited about careers in high-tech fields.
