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Major companies have quietly removed insights related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from their annual reports. NPR’s analysis discovered that at least 12 of the nation’s largest companies erased DEI references in their annual reports, most of which were filed within the last two weeks. The companies revealed were Disney, Google , GM, GE, Intel, PayPal, Chipotle, Comcast, 3M, Regeneron, Philip Morris, and Pepsi, which prides itself among investors for its belief that a “culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion is a competitive advantage” in 2024. According to CNBC, Amazon is another company that has followed suit. Its 2024 annual report referenced “inclusion and diversity” under a section labeled “Human Capital.” “As we strive to be Earth’s best employer, we focus on investment and innovation, inclusion and diversity, safety, and engagement to hire and develop the best talent,” the 2024 report read. That section was updated in 2025 and now reads, “We strive to be...
Apple has a new app on the market. On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, the tech company introduced Apple Invites, which allows Apple device owners to create custom invitations to round up friends and family for any occasion, the tech giant shared in a news release. The app lets users invite friends from their contact list to an event, share the invite with a link, add photos to shared albums, and interact with an Apple Music playlist. “With Apple Invites, an event comes to life from the moment the invitation is created, and users can share lasting memories even after they get together,” Brent Chiu-Watson, Apple’s senior director of worldwide product marketing for apps and iCloud , said. “Apple Invites brings together capabilities our users already know and love across iPhone, iCloud, and Apple Music, making it easy to plan special events.” While an iCloud+ subscription, which starts at 99 cents, is required to create invites, anyone — including Android users — can RSVP and view information...
UI and web designer Dacia Petrie is behind an app that makes it easier for shoppers to buy from Black-owned businesses. Black shoppers are looking for more ways to support some of their favorite brands beyond major retail. This comes after several companies, including Walmart and Target, announced plans to roll back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments. In fact, entrepreneur and graphic designer Danielle Coke Balfour pulled her products from Target shelves and directed buyers to her online storefront, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. “All products pictured are retired at this time except the Good Work Journal. My licensing agreement was with a vendor, not Target directly. Target has described their changes as ‘concluding’ specific DEI initiatives, which I’ve expressed my personal disappointment with. I stand by my message about the importance of supporting Black-owned brands and businesses,” Balfour wrote on Instagram. In a follow-up video, Balfour reveals that...
Publisher Seko Varner is making connecting with Black-owned businesses in the Hampton Roads area easier than ever. Varner, a multifaceted leader who serves as president and financial consultant for the entertainment and consulting company Positive Vibes Inc., has introduced The Hampton Roads Greenbook, a directory that spotlights and supports Black-owned businesses in the region. The Hampton Roads Greenbook was inspired by Victor Hugo Green’s Negro Travelers’ Green Book. Green, a postal carrier in Harlem, originally created the guide to help Black travelers navigate safely during segregation. Green’s original guide served as a crucial resource for Black travelers during the Jim Crow era, listing businesses, restaurants , gas stations, and lodging where individuals could safely stop without facing discrimination, the National Park Service reports. It remained widely used until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed “discrimination on the basis of race, color,...
Managing your finances effectively is more important than ever, and the right budget app can make all the difference. Whether you’re trying to track your spending, grow your net worth , or make smarter investing decisions, using a well-designed budgeting tool can help you stay on top of your financial goals. With so many options available, we’ve rounded up the best budget apps for 2025 to help you find the one that fits your needs. 1. Monarch Money Rating: 4.9/5 (App Store), 4.8/5 (Google Play) Platforms: iOS, Android, Web Cost: Free trial, then $14.99/month or $99/year Monarch Money is a rising star in the budgeting space, offering powerful financial planning tools for individuals and families. It allows users to track spending, set financial goals, and even monitor investments, making it an excellent choice for those looking to grow their net worth. Unlike many free apps , Monarch provides a premium experience with a clean interface, collaboration features for partners, and...
If you’ve been keeping up with the news regarding emerging technology such as generative artificial intelligence , you’re likely already aware of popular services such as ChatGPT and Meta AI. While these models have been disrupting the tech space for the last few years, one relative newcomer, DeepSeek, has recently made major waves and completely shifted the cultural perspective on the financial and computational requirements of artificial intelligence. Per reports, DeepSeek showcases a nearly identical generative capability when compared to GPT-4o, despite costing a fraction of the price to develop. Within days of hitting the American market, DeepSeek has decimated multiple major stock prices for companies including Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta. The headline-grabbing service has left investors and general consumers alike scrambling to catch up, asking questions about how this is all possible. Since DeepSeek is receiving such massive attention, now seems like as good a time as any to...
Entrepreneur and graphic designer Danielle Coke Balfour is pulling her products from Target shelves. Oh Happy Dani, a social media brand and online store that uses art to encourage advocacy, grew from designs Balfour started creating in February 2020 for Black History Month, according to her website. By that summer the illustrated infographics had found a larger audience for its digestible advocacy ideas around racism and equity . Today the business features a lineup of products that includes journals, cups, a workbook, and stickers. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Danielle Coke Balfour (@ohhappydani) Over the years, Balfour has been able to land countless collaborations with brands such as Coach, Old Navy, Adobe, Home Depot, TOMS, and more. She had also scored a partnership with Target but has recently decided to take a step away from the major retailer after it pulled back from its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments. As CNBC notes, Target put an end to...
Snoop Dogg is rapidly losing social media followers after his appearance at President Donald Trump’s Crypto Ball. As of Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, the “Gin and Juice” rapper — Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. — has 88.1 million Instagram followers, a drop of 571,800, and 20.7 million on X, down 17,177, according to the New York Post. Snoop Dogg’s performance at the pre-inauguration bash on Jan. 17, 2025, drew significant backlash from people who pointed out his previous anti-Trump position and speculated that financial incentives may have motivated him to take part. “For all the hate, I’m going to answer with love. I love too much,” Snoop Dogg said, addressing the criticism on Instagram Live. “Get your life right, stop worrying about mine. I’m cool. I’m together. Still a black man. Still 100% black. All out till you ball out or till you fall out.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) Per another report by the Post, in September 2018, Snoop Dogg...
U.S. District Judge Linda Taylor has halted the Trump administration’s proposal to freeze federal loans and grants. In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, January 28, Judge Taylor condemned the policy as “arbitrary and capricious,” pointing to language from the administration’s memo that failed to sufficiently justify the freeze or address its potential impact on millions of Americans. This decision is a significant development in a case closely watched by students, homeowners, and small business owners nationwide. According to the Associated Press, the White House memo, dated earlier this month, proposed suspending federal loan and grant disbursements to “mitigate fiscal risk” and “streamline budgetary concerns.” Judge Taylor, however, pointed to specific language in the memo that acknowledged the policy would lead to “temporary disruptions” in funding for programs supporting vulnerable populations. In her decision, she highlighted that the administration’s justification failed to...
We’ve all left a grocery store and saw someone pushing a shopping cart. One group pushes the shopping cart into cart corrals or marches over to the store employee who is collecting carts in the area. The other group pushes the shopping cart far enough away from them to be able to back their car out of the parking space and drive away. The latter group couldn’t care less whether the wind moves that cart along, denting someone else’s car, running over someone’s foot or causing a car accident by an unsuspecting driver. They’ve gotten what they needed, and they’re going about their day. In their mind, it’s the store employee’s problem to fix the shopping cart havoc. Observers watching this person are often participating in the shopping cart theory , judging those who don’t return carts as vigilantes who don’t care about others. How Does The Shopping Cart Theory Relate To A Business Owner Or Employee? The shopping cart theory is often brought up with the phrase, “If no one was looking.”...
South African billionaire Elon Musk is known for his desire to swallow up companies and rebrand them with his own trendy vision. The Tesla CEO previously used his familial wealth to purchase stakes in such businesses as PayPal, SpaceX and of course, X (formerly Twitter). Now, according to official statements made by the Trump administration cabinet pick, the emerald mine profiteer is considering buying the rights to Vine, a defunct app which predates TikTok . This would be a major development in the world of social media, since the latter is still potentially facing a long-term ban within the United States, unless the app’s parent company ByteDance can agree to divest to American financial interests. When prompted by a fellow X user about bringing Vine back into the fray to fill in the power vacuum left by TikTok, Musk simply responded, “We’re looking into it.” So, now seems like as good a time as any to examine what Vine is (or was), how Elon could bring it back to compete with...
Meta has released an alternative to CapCut. The popular video-editing app was temporarily shut down the night of Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, following a TikTok ban. As AFROTECH™ previously reported TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, had been mandated to sell its app to a company based in the United States or it would be banned. The U.S. had concerns over the spreading of misinformation and China’s possible access to user data . ByteDance has maintained a stance that it will not sell TikTok, and hours before the ban was to become active, several of its apps were removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The ban officially went into effect on Jan. 19 and impacted ByteDance’s subsidiaries such as TikTok, Lemon8, Marvel Snap, Lark, Hypic, and CapCut, USA Today notes. Apple shared in a statement on its website: “Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd . and its subsidiaries — including TikTok,...
As American social media users brace for the Jan. 19 TikTok ban , thousands have begun searching for alternative apps to satiate their doom scrolling fix. While many American-based tech CEO’s such as Mark Zuckerberg had hoped that the TikTok ban would encourage users to flock to other short-form video players such as Instagram or YouTube Shorts, it seems that the masses have stumbled onto an unknown gem called Xiaohongshu instead. The app, which translates to RedNote in English, is owned by a Shanghai-based company known as Xingyin Information Technology, and touts itself as a lifestyle, social networking and e-commerce service . Given that RedNote primarily serves a Chinese audience, it defaults to Mandarin upon download, and exposes new users to an audience of hundreds of millions of overseas subscribers. The sudden influx of so-called “TikTok refugees” has caused RedNote to skyrocket in popularity, taking it to the number one position among the free apps chart on both the Apple...
Apple is on the lookout for bright developers. The tech giant will soon be jumpstarting its 2025 Swift Student Challenge, which was created to empower rising developers, creators, and entrepreneurs. Its website mentions they will be tasked with scaling their ideas into an application leveraging tools that include Swift Playgrounds and Xcode. Previous winners include Keitaro Kawahara of Japan (PuzzlePix), Ruoshan Li of China (Deep Blue Tangram), and University of Alabama at Birmingham student AJ Nettles, who submitted an application named CryptOh. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, his app includes an interactive guide that explains the importance of password security and serves as a password manager and generator. “I wanted to make it easier for people to store their passwords and not have them on a random sticky note on the edge of their computer,” he told AFROTECH™. Nettles was among the 50 Distinctive Winners out of 350 winners of the challenge in 2024, and he was able to meet...
Walmart shareholders are urging the company to reconsider and adjust its approach to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. In November 2024, the company, which has 1.6 million workers, announced it would be scaling back on its DEI policies, notes AP News. They join a list of companies, including Amazon, McDonald’s, and Meta. “We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers, and suppliers, and to be a Walmart for everyone,” Walmart said in a statement, according to AdWeek. Walmart’s shareholders, which consist of over 30 individuals, admit to feeling “deep disappointment” in Walmart’s stance. They want to uphold Walmart’s work in DEI as it has led to a sense of belonging for associates, and “when associates feel like they belong, they’re more engaged and empowered to deliver great service to our customers and members.” Its...