Blackbird is a new browser built on top of Mozilla technology that is supposed to make it easier for African Americans to discover relevant content on the web and to interact with other members of the African American community online by sharing stories, news, comments and videos via the browser.
The browser displays a pre-set news ticker on top, pulls in news content from Google News that might be of interest to African-Americans, and features a section with video content from online TV sites like UptownLiveTV, NSNewsTV, DigitalSoulTV and ComedyBanksTV. Other than that, there’s a lot of integration with the most popular social networks, a ‘Black Search’, preset ‘Black Bookmarks’, etc. There’s also a ‘Give Back’ program that streamlines donations to a number of non-profit organizations (Blackbird intends to donate 10% of its 2009 revenue to these partners as well).
In a way, Blackbird feels much more like a skinned edition of Flock (who also created versions for specific audiences in the past, see the women-targeted Gloss for example) than anything else, especially because of the heavy tie-in with social networking websites and applications. And just like I wondered when I came across Flock’s Gloss edition, I’m not entirely sure if it is enough of a proposition for African Americans to download and install a completely new browser, with all the customization tools that are already built into most recent builds of the popular browser applications.
Then again, I’m definitely not the target audience, so hard to judge. Any African American readers who want to try it out and come back to weigh in here in the comment section? Note that it only runs on Windows machines.
(Hat tip goes to Mike Street, who also penned a review of the browser)
So, when is the white version coming?
Never. Its racist of white people make products that appeal to whites only. Where have you been?
Exactly, its racist of…people to make products that appeal to (insert color here) only.
SO BET is racist
Life channel is sexist
and the animal planet is racist towards humans
calm down it is just a niche
if i made a WET channel or a WHITEBIRD browser id be considered racist.
white man = less rights then all.
Actually Mr. Bailey it isn’t too farfetched to call Animal Planet racist towards humans considering the large group of people who believe in speciesism.
You guys are missing the point.
The “white” version is the standard default version in America.
Mozilla is white. Regular TV is white. Most of government is white. Mayonnaise is really white.
There’s no need for a white version because the original version is designed for the average white person.
Jake. You don’t read the news much do you? Most government is white? Most government is local… and definitely not mainly white in this day and age.
Mayonnaise? Wow. Stupid.
Its just a niche … Whats the Big Deal ?
The point is, in the US, products are generally designed with the majority in mind, which happens to be white. That’s why it doesn’t make sense to make a niche product for Caucasians in the US.
Also, Parker–Jake wasn’t serious about the mayonnaise comment. Don’t call someone else stupid because you didn’t realize a comment was a joke.
There is a website dedicated to allowing White people the optimal web browsing experience.
http://www.whit...birdbrowser.com
This was created in direct response to Blackbird, since they inadvertently requested the browsing experience to be separate but equal.
Mozilla should just quit before they lose market share and start a big controversy. I’d rather browse in IE than try this browser out.
I can’t wait for the launch of WHITEHEAD!
omg, hilarious!
According to Gizmodo, WhiteHead will be out in 24 minutes.
When I was at NIH (National Institutes of Health) I met two researchers who were best friends. One was black, one was white. They were literally best buddies, inseparable around the campus and organizing social events together, and had been for the last ten years. I say this to make sure you know how much they like each other when they still have this conversation.
One day J, the white one, was complaining about all the ethnic days at NIH. “When will have a white middle-aged man day?” he asked.
“EVERY day is white middle-aged man day,” replied C, the black guy.
I think that sums up nicely the problem with the comments about racism. They all assume everyone is supposed to be equal, so having something for African-Americans means discriminating towards that group.
Reality is a little different, IMHO. (I speak as an Arab in the UK.)
The President elect of the United States is Black. There is no racism against blacks, only against white heterosexual males.
Imagine that it is more difficult for a white or asian male to get into a top university.
Imagine that a black medical student, who scores much lower on his exams, will become a doctor but not a white student with slightly better results.
This is the truth – at least in the United States.
No, “EVERY” day is white middle-age man day if you think it is. That’s where the racism is coming from. The other side thinks all whites are against blacks. So blacks have their special day because blacks seem to assume every non-black day is a white day.
Follow?
This browser is a slap in the unified cultural face of the US. Somebody needs to make a “Whitebird” just to prove this point.
Make a browser that directs to the African culture. Make a shows directed towards the African culture. But African-American? There isn’t such a thing. FYI — Not all “African-Americans” are black.
Sam,
How is it more difficult for white males or Asian males to get into top universities when the vast majority of university students (especially in the top universities) are white or Asian? Asians aren’t discriminated against in university admissions. All the top universities are disproportionately Asian. For example, fourteen percent of Yale University undergraduate students are Asian while only 8% are. Fourteen percent? That’s pretty high for a group that only makes up 4% of the country’s population. And Harvard? Eighteen percent Asian. In any case, find me one top university that has more black students than white or Asian students and then I’ll agree you’re right.
I’m Asian, btw.
@ Ed,
Asians are disadvantaged because they need higher test scores than average to enter into competitive colleges.
If those schools simply selected students based on grades and tests, then there would be even MORE Asians.
Here’s some more info that states “in the absence of affirmative action laws, admission rates at public universities have risen for Asian-American students, while numbers for white, black and Hispanic students have declined…”
http://media.ww...e-3206465.shtml
“…replied C, the black guy”
Oh, PLEASE tell me their names were Lenny and Carl!
This makes me want Jewgle.com a Jewish search engine that filters out anything not Jewish (less than 2% of pop makes us a serious minority
.
omg! Jewgle is taken, but that would be hilarious. It’s hosted at the webhosting company I work for. Even funnier.
The white version is the standard Mozilla.
Don’t you realize they always make the white version first?
White? Really?! I always thought Mozilla’s colors were blue and red.. Hmm
Any blue and/or red people out there feel they’re superior to white, black or brown people?
A good metaphor of this is the content on network television. A show may feature a black supporting character (usually to be P.C.) but the landscape it is based in is very culturally “white” indeed. The world of network television can be considered “white”.
Most of the internet in the US leans culturally toward young white males. Other groups (the elderly in particular) are under-represented.
When was the last time TechCrunch had a story about websites catering to the black demographic?
Yea, like that crap show “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”. Which, according to that pricks commercials, is “The Greatest Sitcom of All Time”. Pretty Arrogant, being that its only been on for what, 2 years? Is it really better than Seinfield, Friends, or any other show that ran for 10 + years? And yes those are cast by white people, but I’m talking about the longevity.
Although I wish “Good Times” was still on. DYNOMITE!!!
Yeah, the white version is called every other web browser. Ha!
That’s Google
Seriously I can’t believe the three developers were black themselves. There is no color in human interests.
Is this the future? Instead of social networks we all use browser shells that enforce our social demographic?
There is something about this that just seems backwards and a little silly.
The internet has no junctions and city limits true, but it is still a reflection of the silly “real” world we live in, with neighborhoods and peer groups… I agree, it is backwards, but so is offline society
Like a browser shell that makes it easy for people who can’t read small text in menus and toolbars?
How about one that makes it ’safe’ for kids?
My browser is built for 18-34 white males. But the majority of the web (no, I don’t mean the US) doesn’t care about cool features that this demographic seems to care so much about.
What’s useful to one demographic may not be so useful to another.
I agree backwards, life is 2 short 2 fight & argu, we should be enjoying it & if someone wants 2 make a site that suits them, then do it, but dont point a finger if someone else also does it.
I’m sorry, but it’s things like this that perpetuate racism. How can the black community demand equality then turn around and build a web browser just for themselves? This is ridiculous…
Hello, where have you been? This has been going on for a long time. Probably a major reason racism still exist as strong as it does.
Its un4tunately a bad human traight that will never go away, if its not racism its religion or its sexicism or its rich & poor or fat & thin, in one way or another we all have or do judge others. Humans or own worst enemy.
I would like to believe it is someone trying to fill a niche, like BET, rather than try and compartmentalize and monitize traffic based on demographic.
Like Shamess said, you can’t just take an entire race of people and call it a niche. It’s plain ignorant to assume all black people have the same interests…
Give it a rest. We talk about relevance all the time. Google is all about relevant ads and searches. How is this any different? It acknowledges the fact that the issues and news a black person would be interested in are different than a white person, an Asian person or a Latin person. It isn’t rocket science. It is common sense.
It’s different than Google because Adwords targets ads based on a user’s query, so they are showing intent. It’s not targeting the ad based on your race. With a web browser, you are mashing up a bunch of crap that you assume black people will be interested in.
I also find it offensive you telling me to “give it a rest.” These comments are meant for us to have a healthy discussion, we don’t all have to agree here.
I disagree! Interests people have in things are not releated to their color!!
Give it a rest was in reference to the fact that this promotes racism. There are far bigger issues that promote racism than a browser. People are giving a browser way too much power.
My whole point was they are trying to isolate based on some shared characteristic. I wasn’t making a moral judgement on if you can do that or if it was right. I was pointing out what they are trying do. My whole point in reference to google was all companies try to match relevent content to viewers.
I don’t know if this is possible. Are their issues that would matter mostly to minorities? I think there are.
Do you actually think all black people got together and asked for a web browser Steve? You’ve got to be smarter than that.
AGREED! THIS IS INSANE, and only fuels the fire. What a step backwards for global equality and technology. The people who developed this obviously lack any sort of *real understanding of moving people together and technology forward in a productive, unifying way….stupid.
*BET, same thing.
Is a Japanese restaurant the same thing? Is a Mexican restaurant the same thing? Chinese food?
I know, let’s all chastise them because they serve “non-American” food and are a step backward for our homogeneous, Hitler-esque society.
Hahaha. They should just serve Velveeta shells and cheese and stop being so separatist!!!
Sowande,
You make a good point. There is definitely a thin line between racism and being cultured.
This is a prime example of reverse racism. Had a white person come up with a “white browser”, it would’ve been all over the news screaming racism. I believe in equality for all races, but you have to keep in mind that blacks only make up only 13 or 14 percent of the U.S. population.
So proportionately, you’re not going to have an equal number of blacks and whites in every school or company, or anything else.
Did any African Americans happen to be on the team that created this?
“Blackbird is operated by 40A, Inc., a company founded by three African American entrepreneurs, Arnold Brown II, Frank Washington, and H. Edward Young, Jr.”
Still doesnt answer the question, the company was founded by African Americans but was the actually browser or was it outsourced with instructions to do this or do that.
this april fools day joke is WAY late. (unless it’s real, in which case… it might actually be funny…)
Oh… Umm. Right. Why are black people _trying_ to segregate themselves? I thought equality meant trying to stop that.
It’s also fairly racist. All black people have the same tastes, do they? They’re all interested in the same topics just because they’re black? What the hell, this is just stupid.
Because sometimes you need a “safe space” – a place where you can drop your guard and be who you are without reproach. It happens that for a lot of black people – or anyone else who spends their life in an environment where they are outnumbered – safe spaces are usually among people who are like you. This is as true for goth kids or ultra-conservatives as it is for black people.
Also, equality assimilation.
That being said. I don’t think this is racist, as much as short-sighted. (And this is only going by what I’ve read here and elsewhere – I have not used the browser and do not plan to.) There *is* a shared experience when you come from the same ethnic or racial group, and assumptions can be made about what one would possibly find interesting. But you are right – black people are not monolithic, and this does not help change that assumption.
Just want to make sure a distinction is made between comparing someone’s race with a lifestyle choice (ie, Ultra Conservatives, Goths, etc…). The color of your skin, your sexuality, or even where you were raised doesn’t really define your interests. However, you have chosen to define your interests when you choose to become a liberal, conservative, goth, Christian, etc… There is a big difference. If this was a browser geared towards Liberal 15 year olds then I doubt there would be much concern.
so you’re saying a black person would feel safer using this “blackbird” browser than he would be using firefox?
that’s absurd.
ummm WE need safe space TOO! oh thats right, it’s racist.
Excellent observation Shamess!
My heritage is from Africa, and I am proud of it. However, I bristle with outrage at attempts to stereotype me, and that includes attempts from fellow African Americans.
We do not all listen to hip-hop and walk around using “yo” to end every sentence. We do not all play basketball or care to watch it on TV. All brothers do not idolize Tupac, and all sisters do not want to walk around looking like Mary J. Blige (or Beyonce for that matter).
My ancestry is from Africa, and my skin is dark, but I was born and raised in America (3rd generation)! I like Judas Priest, Stargate Atlantis, and eating Italian food! WTF!
Everyone, including my brothers and sisters, should try this statement on for size: “Black people, are as diverse a people as any other people on the face of the earth.” – keep repeating this til’ it sinks in!
We should not need a special browser to find content on the Internet for African Americans. Web sites geared toward the interest of Blacks should be as available and discoverable as any other site on the Internet by the currently available technologies.
Nuff Said!
I agree 100% with your comment.
I get so upset with people try to assume who I am and put me in a box.
OMG dude, you nailed it so hard! You love Judas Priest…I’m killing myself laughing out loud. (10 years old I went to the record store asked the chick for the HARDEST ROCKING RECORD THEY HAD -she handed me ‘Unleashed in East’. Hell yeah. Stand back for exciter baby.)
Please, please, please my friend, whatever you do in life, please step up as a voice in the ‘black’ community to say this kind of stuff. It SO needs to be said.
One of my heroes -MLK- said his dream was that people would not be judged by the color of their skin. Isn’t this kind of stuff a sorted of twisted way of turning that judgment into some form of backwards special treatment that inadvertently has similar if not the same result?
Of all responses here – this is perfection related to the topic at hand.
Absolutely nailed it.
Yeah, well tell me you can get on a bus with non-black women in the city, and have them treat you as such a “diverse” black man by not clutching their purses, or choosing not to sit next to you because they are scared.
You are deluded to think that just because you listen to rock, you are accepted and not judged by the way you look. Try that in the majority of America. Try living in small-town America.
You like Judas Priest, great, I like Philip Glass. But that doesn’t keep me from being watched like a hawk in department stores because of the color of my skin.
Don’t knock attempts to create something useful to some people, because in doing so you are judging what they should be entitled to.
If you do nothing wrong in the department store then ur good…rite?
This race based web browser idea is stupid. Everything a black american does is apart of american culture just like everythone else in this country. The digital age made information nuetral because its accessable by anyone that includes news, sports, music, etc. Using a webbrowser thats targeted to a specific race has no beneficial gain for any user.
Ok, as a member of the black community, I must say this is not the way to go and I haven’t even tried it out. We must stop creating a “black” this and a “black” that! Can’t we figure out another way for the tech community to recognize our presence? Just because you slap “black” on something doesn’t make it automatically accepted. What’s next? A browser for black basketball players, podcatchers for blacks… Please stop the madness… Ok, stepping down off the soapbox…..
Seriously man, the web is beyond this. This feels like a pretty big step back…
Brandon you’re absolutely correct. No one needs to build a “black” browser. There isn’t any reason why someone couldn’t just download a browser and customize it to suit their tastes. Why does the *browser* need a racial identity? I’m disappointed today but I think we’ve made alot of progress towards equality and eliminating prejudice in this world. We just have to keep on striving everyday to make the world not like how we see it but how we want it to be…
It’s April again from AroundHarlem.com.
The #1 reason I don’t like filtered browsers because I see it a step backwards in technology.
Anybody get their start online with AOL? Remember at one time lots of people thought AOL was the internet?
Once you control content through a browser you control access to information.
The web is about equal access to info and for all.
I don’t want African Americans to go into a web black hole with content choose by other people.
Remember, the browser is your main access to info.
Okay, as a member of the white community, I totally agree with you. The civil rights movement heroically fought to end segregation, yet this site is totally self-segregating. It is counter productive to an integrated society.
MLK just rolled over in his grave…
Where is my Pajaro Negro? The Mexican American’s browser, with futbol rss feeds, the latest lucha masks on flickr, links to Jarritos on Amazon, and dubs for my lowrider.
I feel discriminated against.
(sarcasm warning, for the humor impaired)
If a white person tries to use this browser, does it uninstall itself from whitey’s system? In a few years, will it go to whitey’s children asking for reparations?
Give me a break… This is what’s wrong with the world. That’s always been the great thing about the internet: nobody cares what you look like or what race you are. And for the people that do care, you realize that most of the “hotties” you’re chatting with are lying, right?
“In a few years, will it go to whitey’s children asking for reparations?”
I can’t believe this is not seen as racist… if there were a ‘Whitebird’ or ‘the music of white origin awards’ there would be uproar!! Good to see it is getting rightly slated by all…
‘the music of white origin awards’
Errr, never heard of the Country Music Awards?
What hell, did you just call all the white people rednecks?
Not all white people are white trash, you racists idiot
Darius Rucker, Charlie Pride, and Ray Charles all beg to differ.
As a black person I’m kind of shocked that you would be upset that someone called white people rednecks to later turn around and use “white trash” which is just as demeaning to a marginalized group of whites who exist in a cycle of poverty. So some white people are okay, those that live in a suburbia and up and all others forfeit their chance at dignity just because they fall below the economic line. This country focus all their time on race politics when it should be class politics.
u know what i think is funny.. i mean.. no really.. i light up with joy everytime i hear it.. when black folk call each other niggas. whats the other spelling?
I don’t get the point? How can this release not be taken as segregationist?
Because Chinese restaurants aren’t seen as segregationist.
Use your brain.
Now see if their was a white person browser it would automatically be racism. There argument for this is going to be well Mozilla was obviously just designed for white people so we had to make our own. God this is retarded and is taking society one giant step backwards.
Targeting a specific demographic: check
Slippery floor logo: check
Techcrunched: check
Mission statement includes “making internet experience better for everyone”: check
According to my calculations, this will be IPO somewhere Q3/Q4 2010
(linkback) Fair or Foul? Blackbird: a custom web browser for African Americans [VOTE] – http://www.thri...rfail.com/b5254
Really? Really? I am black and I find this to be a complete waste of time and a set back for what they believe they are trying to achieve. People scream about equality but continue to separate themselves from the pack.
I look forward to the web browser for light skinned African Americans, dark skinned African Americans, bald headed African Americans, African American doctors, etc. You know, I really think we can dig down deeper and segregate the African American community a little more.
My boss asked for the gay pride version for Christmas! Who’s working on that? Double income households. Should be a better demographic for advertisers!
Just installed it this browser looks like it was created by the Marketing department of a company; you find links to basically anything that has the word black in it.
One good thing I can see it has a bookmarks to most Historic African American Colleges everything else looks like this was put together by a focus group which was asked a bunch of question and they built it from the results and that way you would never gets things right, because there asking a limited group and some of the things I doubt African Americans would care about stratch that I doubt any human would care about.
If you remove a few toolbars and bookmarks after installing it looks pretty good.
@Shamess I think you mean African Americans because everybody Black is not from Africa or has any connection to Africa or cares about this product like Australians , Pacific Islanders, Indians, Southeast Asians etc.
Where is my Honkey Browser? Oh wait, I must be using it now? WTF? This is confusing to me. Does the browser know the difference in content? Facial recognition for the imagery, looking for definitive slang terms in the textual content? I know I guess I could go get it and install I am being silly but Flock tried this. It just seems so 2003.
I will be releasing Mulatto Browser next week, following that will be Whitebird, Asiandragon, Africanlion, Americananaconda Browsers
not couple
http://www.eskibirsaat.com
I find this absurd. Doesn’t something like this just reinforce the exact thing we are trying to get AWAY from in society?
And for those that are curious why Whites don’t do something similar? It’s because Whites are still perceived as the “majority” in many aspects of the law, not just statistically speaking. Blacks are a “protected class”, just like Gays and and Obese people are. For some reason, any time Whites join hands to have a “white moment”, every other social class in America cries bloody murder.
And for the posters that say “we have different interests”? What a bunch of crap. So there is a distinct difference in the likes of Blacks and people of other color? I’m throwing out the bull-shit card on that one. That statement alone is stereotypical.
I’m glad to see we are heading right back in the wrong direction, and there is nothing these three guys can say that would be able to defend this.
“And for those that are curious why Whites don’t do something similar? It’s because Whites are still perceived as the “majority” in many aspects of the law, not just statistically speaking.”
And there for products and services are generally designed for whites first and ever one else is expected to adjust.
Having said that, I don’t know if a dedicated browser helps blacks. Id much rather see time spent bringing more blacks onto the Internet.
Because having black skin means you have no mind of your own and you need to be guided to the right web pages that naturally black-skinned people would want to read.
Should have called it Condascendr.
Condascendr = total hilarity
Next up.. The browser built just for Asians.. Then out comes the AngloFox browser.. Then the….
Nope.. I don’t see this as progress..
Hey, might as well practice “affirmative action blogging” when you can.
‘ I’m definitely not the target audience, so hard to judge. ‘
You doth protest too much?
Blackbird wins the dumbest idea of the day award, when information sharing come with a color code. Any testing of this browser is a pure waste of time!
When is the Gay Jewish Physically handicapped version for those with blood goup AB+ coming out ?…..
Just one more piece of proof that the world has gone nuts !
Does this mean at sometime in the future we well EACH have our OWN browers ?…
…and dont get me started on the vegetarian version !!
This kind of browser is really racist
.exe?
Looks like Mac users are still being discriminated against regardless of their melanin.
I tend to agree with the vast majority of commenters on this issue. Building an “African-American” browser is one of those stupid ideas which probably seemed brilliant at the outset but should have been squashed after some proper analysis and review. I guess the analysis and review parts never happened. It’s a clear case of what some have termed “reverse-racism” but it’s hidden under the guise of “minorities” never being seen as racist. There’s enough racism in the world as things stand, this product will definitely go the way of the dinosaurs.
hmm…
how the heck is this racist??
might be stupid… might not attract much of an audience.. might lose $$$. on the other hand, it might be enough of a success, to generate a good chunk of money.. time will tell.
hell, you have all kinds of “things” that are created for pervieved specific groups. you have mags/sites for gays. are all gays the same? nope, but i’m sure some of the sites make $$$. youhad BET.. did all blacks listen to the same shows/music/videos/etc… nope.. but it generated enough $$$ to make a few people billions…
so relax.. and if you want to create the “white.hispanic/blue people” browser.. go for it…!!
and if you start to have enough traffic/revenue, you’ll have 10 copycat sites in a few weeks!!
peace…
oh,. by the way. racisim is really alive and well in the US/tech arena. if you’re interested, let me know and i’ll post a series of emails that i exchanged with a guy to demonstrate my point.
You make a great point. There is a lot of exploitation based on over segmentation of the population. Doesn’t make it right. Doesn’t make this browser right either. But, you don’t have to be right to make money. In fact, usually it helps if you’re a little wrong.
Coming to a mall near you… colored drinking fountains with enhanced water that makes you stronger than everyone else.
Holy crap. What’s next – special beds for gays and extra-safe electric ovens for Jews?
While the actual content recommendations may be a bit questionable (as noted by the target audience comments above), I see nothing wrong with attempting to target a particular culture. If people on here would stop making offensive quips about affirmative action and vegetarians (???), they could maybe start discussing why they believe there is no relatively cohesive black culture to target in the first place.
I could see myself using a relatively-well-off-liberal-urban-dwelling-computer-geek customized version of flock
“I could see myself using a relatively-well-off-liberal-urban-dwelling-computer-geek customized version of flock”
Oh… wait…
Why didn’t they preship this browser with a user-css that resets all sites to #000-colored background… In the context of a black browser all these web 2.0 pages – loads of whitespace (aargh) – look awfully anti-African-American!
I like the black firefox theme! It’s a pity such a cool theme was marketed to the black only! It has a much bigger potential than just the small american black community. I’m white non-american myself!
I was thinking the same thing… gonna see if I can find a black firefox skin…
Does look great.
Yep! Just downloaded and applied Aero Fox theme from http://www.virtusdesigns.com/ – lots of other black Firefox themes too. very cool looking.
Just to respond to Sam… It’s one thing to build CONTENT targeted at particular target audience. The internet is already full of websites that target specific groups, and that’s absolutely fine. It’s another thing to build a TOOL that essentially implies that the standard tool (regular Mozilla) is somehow “too smart” “too white” or otherwise not good enough for blacks. That’s just insulting.
hi max…
hate to disagree with you. i’m black, older, in my 40s.. was spit on for being black as a kid.. this isn’t racism.. and i don’t really find it insulting..
i do think it’s possibly limiting in it’s reach.. but who the hell knows what will sell…
from your vatage point, you only allow for different content in order for a site to be able to target different audiences.. I don’t see this step to be that different. But like I said.. it might be somewhat limiting, as you can find the same thing from any other browser.. but then who knows what has been built in the guts of the browser.. it might have logic to refine your searches, and thereby serve up more specific targeted ads…
I think you read waay tooo much into the mozilla browser as not being good enough!! but those are your words..
AOL didn’t really do anything that the vast number of sites on the ‘net didn’t do. But it was quite successful for awhile.. it’s all in the pacakging sometimes..
peace..
YES, THANK YOU!!!! Exactly, Sam. Sometimes it IS in the packaging.
Why are so many people offended when someone tries to create something good for themselves? They want to argue about this, then I’ll say, “well remember when we always said that when someone does something good, ‘you people’ always try to keep us down?”
All one need do is read the comments and soak in the chastisement for trying to create something positive for ourselves.
I hate to make it “us and them”, but that’s what they are making this into.
Thank you for your comments.
People calm down! Think about it there is a reason that BET black entertainment television has been around & has worker for years. The content on MTV or VH1 doesn’t cover enough of the BET interests that’s why it has worked. The bottom line is we all have different interests & mainstream media well, it’s mainstream. Which means at times content is not always reflective of everyones interest. I agree that black this & black that can pigeon hole things. However maybe they should have come put with a different name & just focused on the content then, so when u browser if u were interested in it’s content then u stay on the site if not u move on. But stop making it sound as if “black” content of Asian content or Hispanic content is already covered in the mainstream ITS NOT & that’s factual! If it wasnt the why is thete Univision cable tv for hispanic content or migente.com or for asians theres AsianAvenue.com & why is therecan organuzation called UNITY that is made up of journalists representing sep organizations (asians, hispanics & blacks)! Next tome yoi watch tv scan for content that seems to be focused on other cultures youll quickly realize there is not alot! STOP being emotional & think this thru the real problem is that unfortunately what wee see online is really a reflection of what’s happenig offline. Until that’s fixed some not all but some minorities feel they have to create places on & offline that appeal to specific audiences. That’s all there is too it. LASTLY, when any other news cones on techcrunch the focus is typically on the post & the biz model, the bit potential, marketability, usability etc. NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT race. So can we get back to what the blogger asked of us which was to share comments about the site – so let’s focus comments on the aspects of this site just like any other techcrunch news.
You make good points. However a browser is not content. It is more like a TV, not a TV station. What would happen if Sony came out with a TV for blacks? No one is saying that there should not be CONTENT aimed at blacks. That is fine. We are talking about a browser here. That is what makes no sense.
I like that analogy.
Would the TV have direct buttons to the African-american stations as well? and if you were watching a normal (er… sorry “white”) channel does it surround the edge of the screen with African American channel icons?
This is EXTREMELY silly.
And in my opinion is racist, its just so stupid.
Equality shouldnt be about making EVERYONEs race/creed/skin colour and ethnic origin special, it is (or should be) about it not mattering, to me equality means you dont think o this is black this is why this is asian its just thats a person hes a person shes a person thats a thing, the exact thing goes for all other “minorities” like homosexuals, religions etc.
Personally i think when you see things where people of minorities complain that they are not featured in tv etc as much as the majority its stupid, they are a minority and it is there-fore only representing the world as it is, if you see a program where its set in india im sure your going to see a lot of idians… If anything TV has been made unequal in that now TV networks seem to work on a forumla now – add 15% black males, 5% black females, 10% gay, 35% other minorities and top it up with some whites – stir and bring to boil.
I have ranted enough
I love dumb ideas like this because they make me smile.
This will be a total failure. I can see the attraction an African American might have to the information. But why this should translate into yet another browser is beyond me.
I vote for the donut maker browser “DonutHole”. Should there be a browser for the bald community as well?
Wow. It’s amazing how many White people have opinions about the browser for Black people. DId any Black people actually leave reviews as the post asked? I lost interest in the comments after the first 20 I read said that it was racist for Black people to want relevant content.
It is a bit of a silly idea, but then it was obviously dreamed up by marketeers rather than developers.
The sooner we stop thinking about “the ‘insert your label here’ community”, the better.
And if it’s about content, just create a web portal and give people the URL. This just gets sillier the more I think about it.
Exclusive social networks and browsers have a short shelf life. What’s great about the Internet is the fully diverse content. Self restricting information will get old real fast.
Michelle,
I disagree with you that exclusive social networks and browsers have short shelf life; after all, BlackPlanet, AsianAvenue, MiGente, JDate, etc have all been alive and kicking for quite some time. While I (as a black person), have no interest in using this browser, I can definitely see the appeal for a certain segment of the African American population.
It’s always interesting to me to see the reaction of techies in a situation like this. In fact, my first reaction to this was instant sarcasm and laughter… but I almost identify myself as a techie first and everything else second (until I get profiled and stopped by a cop for merely WALKING in an upper-class white neighrborhood – true story). So the techie in me laughed.
However, after thinking about it some more, it’s not such a far-fetched. It will probably appeal to a small segment of the African American community, but there is an appeal out there for this. For those of you who think this perpetuates racism, I have to disagree with you. For a people (any people) who have been continuously oppressed (whether overtly or covertly) for years, something like this is an empowerment tool. Just as BlackPlanet and AsianAvenue are empowerment tools, this one brings a community together online to bond over the issues that truly really only affect African Americans.
Look, I’m not saying that we aren’t as diverse a people as every other culture out there. I can sing all the words to Pour Some Sugar On Me just as easily as I can recite the words from Award Tour by Tribe Called Quest. But there are definitely issues that affect only black people; and there are issues that really only affect white people… and Jews, and Asians… you get my point.
The reason I love the tech industry is because it’s one of the few industries out there that’s about capability more so than anything else. That’s not to say we don’t have our fair share of -ism issues (racism, sexism, age-ism, blah blah blah). But the reactions on this board show the beauty of technologists. I wish we lived in a world where everyone could just be accepting as the tech industry is.
But we don’t. And until we do, browsers like this aren’t such a bad thing.
I think much of you are missing the bigger issue. A few on here are getting close. The Internet now is simply an extension of our everyday lives. The greatest thing about the emergence of the Internet into our lives was that it was the great “equalizer”. It provided non-filtered, unbiased access to information, content and all sorts of other resources. As long as you had access to a computer and the Internet, everything after that was on equal ground. This is where we should be and have been focusing – making sure every demographic has equal access to the Internet.
There is nothing wrong with having niche content or social networks available (although I do argue that “black” is not a niche but rather there exist sub-cultures whose demographic tend to weigh heavily toward those of certain ethnicity or color). The thing is everyone has a choice to navigate to those niche sites if they are seeking filtered content. These are very helpful sites/tools. No one is going to convince me that Google is White by default unless you want to argue that being simple, quick and useful is “white”. LOL. The thing is that from an ideal perspective when a user logs onto the Internet they are starting from a “unified” and “unfiltered” position and choose to navigate toward targeted content.
The difference here is that someone has developed a “tool” that controls and filters the “experience” right from the start. They’ve found a way to create a segregated experience. Someone earlier used an analogy to a “black” tv. This is a good analogy. This reminds me of the old days before civil rights movements when we had “separate but equal”. You go back to the early 1900’s and you will find there existed very prosperous but isolated black communities. They weren’t exactly equal but the attempt was to create an equal but filtered life experience. But then as Americans we realized this was not the ideal culture we wanted to define for ourselves and movements were created to integrate our societies to create a blended but diverse “American” culture. This was MLK’s dream. To me filtering the experience from the start is antithetical to this dream. I don’t get it and don’t see how anyone would want this in this day and age especially right after we’ve elected a black president which demonstrates how far we’ve come to achieve this dream. You want to create tools to help people find niche content? Build a cross-browser plug-in or something to help people find targeted content. This way people can still start from a “unified” and unfiltered position.
I think this was driven entirely by money. Someone is trying to leverage the remaining sub-culture of black isolationism to make money. But it is a losing proposition as that sub-culture is waning and rightfully so.
I’m black. African American, West Indian…all that good stuff. I’m also a Technology Officer & have a BBA in MIS from Howard University which is an HBCU (historically black college/university). IMHO the name sounds cool, it has a cool skin over the firefox browser…the only cool feature is the give back…which should be a plug in for firefox. Outside of that….im not downloading it…if i do…its just to say i supported the effort. Thats it! I pray they dont come out with a version for midgets or something like that…who cares…add your own skin….All Hail FIREFOX!!!!
Yes, I agree too. All this should (not could) have just been a Firefox plugin.
This is a stupid idea {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/K3sygZm8Rf_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”This is a stupid idea ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/DOIakEA5CY”}}}
Just when you finally began to say something interesting (about Obama) you wouldn’t elaborate on your thoughts…
Yeah, my thoughts were smashing into each other like the 4th of July. I know I didn’t appear very frustrated, but mentally, I was. I have a lot of thoughts about Obama and they’re no longer positive ones and I’ve resisted going public about them as not to alienate people.
Oh, Ronald… I can just feel the pain in your voice and your manner. It is clear that you have suffered the pain of feeling “less than”. Is this what has changed you from that thoughtful, intelligent little boy on your profile photo to the disillusioned young man I see in your video?
I agree with you that race is a pseudo-scientific notion created by supporters of social Darwinism and promoted by supporters of eugenics, including German scientists.
But please don’t get discouraged by this. We have so many more challenges that face us as a nation. We DO need to stick together, regardless of “race” or religion. Be patient with our new President. Let’s give him a chance to organize us into a unit.
Thanks for your video. Keep them coming.
The day will come. The fact that so many people — of all skin colors and ancestry — are even taking the time to talk about this post.
I haven’t tried the software so I don’t want to totally dismiss it, because, obviously, social niches do exist and each one warrants as much attention as it can garner. But there’s a big difference between, say, a social niche (e.g. rap/hip-hop, which all types of people can be into) and ancestral niches as a complete filter on how ones views the world.
Yet, I don’t think it’s inherently racist to be so into one’s own “culture” or “race” as to want to “celebrate” it and perhaps be saturated in it — whether you’re Chinese, S. African, Nordic, French Canadian, WHATEVER. Even so, a “browser for {insert ancestry}”, if it’s used enough, will keep the segregationist mentality alive longer in the US and around the world.
Anyway, I’m optimistic. The world is getting smaller thanks to the free-flow of information. Some day we’ll all think of each other as the human race of Earth.
Well I won’t be using this browser, but it does sound like self-segregation. Minorities only get mad about segregation when you do it to them, when they do it to themselves, they call it “__________ culture”. As a non-straight, non-Christian, non-white male, I have a lot of observational experience of it happening over and over.
The comments here are painfully predictable. There is ethnic media because ethnic issues aren’t covered in the mainstream/white dominated media. This is largely documented by journalists themselves, by the way. Ethnic/relevant media has been around probably for as long as there has been paper and diaspora any country.
The need for black media wasn’t created by Blacks and it didn’t start this year. The lack of serious coverage of Black issues also didn’t start this year. (Again, all documented throughout history and currently by the media itself)
I can see your point here and I think the larger issue is what it means to move toward serious coverage on non main stream issues.
It means revisiting Americas past to learn why we are here today.
This is a large part of why we things branded as black!
People are seeking identity, recognition and a way to disprove the lies that blacks have been branded with for ever.
The price for this is that some will be made to feel quilt and will lash out blaming the very people that didn’t create the issue to begin with. The result is this cycle of finger pointing that you can find on any online forum whenever race is mentioned that may never end.
I agree with you…
While there are so many comments calling this a stupid idea, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Keep in mind, there is such a thing as “black communities” while all blacks aren’t the same or have the same interest, blacks are still a targeted audience by some marketers period – you can argue that all you want, but it’s true.
do I think the browser is offensive and stupid? No! what’s wrong with a browser for people with a certain interest? instead of making stupid comments, I know there’s a browser somewhere that is filled with contents about Africa American interests if I was ever curious what African Americans are interested in.
And to all that would like to see a white browser, sorry, that’s just the way it is, minorities are able to have products and services that caters to a certain group of people only, just like there is a feminist group and we men can’t even dare create an all male group. Don’t blame no one for it, it’s society.
I don’t think the browser is mean’t for all black people, it’s meant for people that find it interesting whether black or white.
I agree, and I think one of the issues is that too many comments are overlapping race with culture here. If I were an X living in a Y nation, and all my searches came up things that are of the Y culture, I’d be very much interested in results that targeted & appealed to my X interests. In this sense the African American community is considered a culture and thus catering to things that are of interest to them. Sounds like a plan to me. If they had a half german half british dual american-euro female search engine I’d be all over it.
What do you feel are the 5 most important issues that are specific to African Americans.
Do you really expect to see an equal amount of white and black news? Blacks only make up about 13 to 14% of U.S. population, so wouldn’t it be fair to say that it would be normal to see only 13 to 14% of black related news in the media?
It’s just a numbers game people…most of the country is white, so naturally you’re going to see the most exposure on whites. It’s not rocket science, and I think people should let nature take it’s course.
Over time, we will see a change in the percentage of ethnic groups.
Raceware
Hey I just coined a new term.
Software made for a specific race (is there really such a thing) of the human species.
Sad….
It’s interesting to note that demographic-specific browsers would make it easier for website owners to target content and ads.
Assuming of course that the browser uses it’s own unique user agent and not the default Mozilla one.
And id bet you wont find a single advertiser that thinks the idea is a problem.
For all we know, that was the real intent behind this browser.
Awesome. Now blacks have a dedicated browser for the equally stupid idea for a website, wuchess.com that TechCrunch covered a while back. Genius.