By by Michael Liedtke Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – Google isn’t making much headway diversifying its workforce beyond white and Asian men, even though the Internet company hired women to fill one out of every five of its openings for computer programmers and other high-paying technology jobs last year.

The imbalanced picture emerged in a demographic breakdown that Google released Monday. The report underscored the challenges that Google and most other major technology companies face as they try to add more women, African Americans and Hispanics to their payrolls after many years of primarily relying on the technical skills of white and Asian men.

“Early indications show promise, but we know that with an organization our size, year-on-year growth and meaningful change is going to take time,” said Nancy Lee, Google’s vice president of people operations.

Just 18 percent of Google’s worldwide technology jobs were held by women entering 2015, up a percentage point from the previous year. Whites held 59 percent of Google’s tech jobs in the U.S., while Asians filled 35 percent of the positions, according to the report.

The slight uptick in women stemmed from a concerted effort to bring the numbers up. Google said 21 percent of the workers that it hired for technology jobs last year were women. The Mountain View, Calif., company added 9,700 jobs last year, although it declined to specify how many were for programming and other openings requiring technical knowledge.

Overall, Google employed 53,600 people at the end of 2014. In the U.S., just 2 percent of Google’s workers were African American and 3 percent were Hispanic. Cutting across all industries in the U.S., 12 percent of the workforce is African American and 14 percent is Hispanic.

The latest snapshot of Google’s workforce comes roughly a year after the company publicly disclosed the gender and racial makeup of its payroll for the first time, casting a spotlight on a diversity problem vexing the entire technology industry. Other well-known technology trendsetters, including Apple and Facebook, subsequently released data revealing similar diversity problems.

Mortified by the disclosures, Google and most of its other technology peers have been pouring more money into programs steering more women, African Americanss and Hispanics to focus on science and math in schools and have stepped up their recruiting of minority students as they prepare to graduate from college.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who has been spearheading the drive to diversify the tech industry, applauded Google for releasing its workforce data again to help keep the pressure on the technology industry to change the composition of its payroll.

“Tech companies must move from the aspiration of ‘doing better’ to concrete actionable hiring to move the needle,” Jackson said in a statement. “We aim to change the flow of the river.”

By

When we connect to our favorite websites, apps and online entertainment services, we’re often immediately immersed in a convenient and unique experience tailored to our interests. Based on criteria like previous purchases, custom settings and demographic information, our experience is streamlined, from product recommendations to speedy checkouts.

Now imagine a grocery store where you can receive personal recommendations and offers the moment you step in store, your checkout takes seconds and you can pay for groceries without ever taking out your wallet. Sound far-fetched? It’s closer than you think.

Though technology has fundamentally transformed the way industries such as music, books and videos operate, change has been more evolutionary than revolutionary in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. But digital is redefining what it means to “go” grocery shopping. Lines between the physical and digital worlds are blurring. Shoppers are growing accustomed to the benefits of digital in other retail settings and are beginning to expect them in grocery as well. Savvy retailers are winning by leveraging technology to enhance the shopping experience and meet consumers’ evolving desires.

“The connected commerce era has arrived,” said Patrick Dodd, president, global retailer vertical, Nielsen. “Consumers are no longer shopping entirely online or offline; rather, they’re taking a blended approach, using whatever channel best suits their needs. The most successful retailers and manufacturers will be at the intersection of the physical and virtual worlds, leveraging technology to satisfy shoppers however, wherever and whenever they want to shop.”

Across the globe, we’re seeing a resurgence of the home-delivery model from the past-with a twist. Consumers aren’t just picking up the phone to order; increasingly, they’re pulling up the retailer’s webpage or using their mobile app. In fact, one-quarter of global respondents in Nielsen’s Global E-Commerce and The New Retail Survey say they are already ordering grocery products online for home delivery, and more than half (55%) are willing to use it in the future.

Increasingly, retailers are introducing e-commerce models that make it even easier for tech-savvy, time-crunched consumers to get the items they need. Fourteen percent of global respondents say they use an automatic online subscription service, in which orders are routinely replenished at a specified frequency, and more than half (54%) are willing to do so in the future. In 2011, Tesco (Homeplus) introduced the first virtual supermarket in a South Korean subway system, and the model has spread to other markets. Today, 13% of global respondents say they’re already using a virtual store and nearly six-in-10 (58%) are willing use them when they become available.

A smaller number of consumers are using “click and collect” services, which allow them to order groceries online for pickup at a store or other location. Just over one-in-10 global respondents say they presently order groceries online and pick them up in-store or using a drive-thru (12% each). Slightly fewer (10%) order online for curbside pick-up. More than half of global respondents, however, are willing to use these online options in the future (57% for in-store, 55% for drive-thru and 52% for curbside pickup).

The report also discusses:

oThe product categories best positioned for e-commerce success.

oThe generational age groups driving online grocery sales intentions.

oThe technology-based convenience options most used, both in-store and out.

oHow the share of in-store retail trade channel differs by channel in developed and developing regions.

(For more detail and insight, download Global E-commerce and The New Retail Report.)

By by Jazelle Hunt NNPA News Service

WASHINGTON – As education, jobs and the national and global economy go digital, people without broadband (high-speed Internet) access risk being left behind. This disparity in who’s online and who isn’t is often called the digital divide – and African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be in the latter group.

But people access the Internet in different ways. African Americans are more likely than their counterparts to own a smartphone and use it for Internet access. At the same time, 12 percent of African-American people are smartphone dependent – they have few or no other options for accessing the Internet at any given time. This is compared to 4 percent of whites and the 7 percent national rate.

“Even though low-income households are over-indexing on smartphone use, I don’t think that’s how you want to type a paper, do your research, do your homework, apply for jobs, or apply for scholarships,” says Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner, speaking at a Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council (MMTC) event.

The divide can also be traced to educational outcomes, from elementary school up to college. It’s a problem known as the “homework gap.” In an effort to prepare kids for a digital world and workforce, teachers and schools are increasingly assigning homework that requires Internet access to complete – 7 in 10 teachers do, according to Pew figures. But many students, particularly students of color from migrant/immigrant or low-income families, do not have broadband access or any device at home.

“We have 29 million households in the country with school-age children. Of that, 5 million do not have broadband at home,” says John Horrigan, senior researcher on the Internet and technology at Pew Research Center. “And within that 5 million, African American households and Hispanic households are disproportionately represented.”

Among African-American households with less than $50,000 annual income and school-age children, 38 percent do not have broadband access. Above that income, the figure is 13 percent; among households earning below $25,000 per year, 46 percent do not have Internet access at home.

While students face the homework gap, job seekers who aren’t as comfortable using computers can face difficulty in securing a career and building wealth. As more industries require some level of computer literacy, and as jobs without these requirements become scarcer, it will become harder to earn a living wage without these skills.

“Our economic future depends on [getting people online],” Rosenworcel says. “Already, 50 percent of the jobs that are in the economy today require some level of digital skills. By the end of the decade, that number is 77 percent.”

Income inequality is both a cause and a byproduct of the digital divide. People with low income often cite cost as a barrier to getting or keeping Internet service at home. But there are other reasons people aren’t online. For some, it is a lack of comfort or familiarity, and poor access to training programs that could help. For others, it’s a simple lack of relevancy; what’s the point of putting money and effort into getting a high-speed connection, especially with serious socioeconomic realities to overcome?

Relevancy tends to be a primary reason among older Americans. According to a survey report from Project GOAL (Get Older Americans Online), 70 percent of Americans who aren’t online say they simply have no interest. Those who are interested primarily want to get news or information or use e-mail, and not much else.

“Trying to figure out what the value is in going online is still an issue for the older adult communities,” says Debra Berlyn, executive director of Project GOAL. “Then within that community there’s a huge difference between a 65-year-old and an 85-year-old in terms of how they may value going online. So those huge discrepancies mean that you have to show the value a bit differently.”

For seniors, the Internet can add a social dimension to life that can often decline in old age. One 2009 study from Washington policy think-tank, the Phoenix Center, found that seniors who use the Internet are 20 percent less likely to report being depressed. Another 2009 study from neuroscientists at the University of California, Los Angeles found that just one week of Internet use boosted brain function in middle-aged and older users.

Over the past few decades there have been many attempts to close these digital divides. The federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, for example, supports the establishment of better broadband infrastructure and public computer centers. The FCC’s E-rate program seeks to connect the nation’s classrooms and school libraries to the Internet. Another FCC program, Lifeline, which originally offered landlines for low-income families, is exploring a modernization to include broadband Internet.

But these programs are generally underfunded, not well-known, deprioritized when funds are allocated, or unable to evolve fast enough. Experts believe that getting everyone online will require prioritizing the Lifeline modernization, as well as creating an effective, inclusive plan to reach the people who need it most. Experts also believe that public-private partnerships will be key.

“One big takeaway is that these communities need to be heard,” says Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president and chief research and policy officer for the MMTC.

“Because what basically happens is once policy is created, in terms of cultural sensitivity, they’re not matched up to reality. So we end up…back here five years from now, still saying that broadband has not touched or changed the lives of individuals.”

(Follow Jazelle Hunt on Twitter at @JazelleAH.)

By By Mike Green

When Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao square off in the 16,500-seat arena at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2 in a much-anticipated legendary battle, every aspect of the fight will have been analyzed by experts, including fighters who have been in the ring taking punches from both of these living legends. There’s no consensus on who might emerge victorious, but there are three expected outcomes:

It will be the richest fight in history with a $300M split for the fighters (see breakdown)
To sit in the arena at the farthest edges will cost between $1,500 – $7,500
No matter who is crowned champion, social media voting will be the big winner

Whether you’re one of the lucky 700 fans who score one of few available public tickets at the lowest prices, or you have the deep pockets to purchase a couple of seats down front that top out at nearly $90,000 each, you’re likely to join millions of fans watching on pay-per-view that will also be watching their mobile screens and texting, tweeting and sharing their real-time thoughts and photos on Instagram, Facebook and other social media.

That’s the bet the founders of a new instant voting app called Bedloo are banking on.

What is Bedloo?

Bedloo.com is a popular voting platform for Android and iOS with more than seven million users that allows users to ask a two-choice question by comparing two photos, videos or audio files for a side-by-side comparison that can be shared on the user’s Facebook and Twitter. All votes are tallied in real time and can be shared on social media streams immediately. Boxing fans can easily download the Bedloo app, follow the fight, and then vote round-by-round with instant results.

Social Fandom

This will be the most watched fight in history and the first mega-fight of the Social Media Age. Everyone has an opinion on not only who will win the fight, but also who will win each round. The Bedloo founders have developed the platform for fans of any sport or activity to express those opinions quickly, in real time, and receive direct polling data from millions of voters.

“We built the Bedloo App for everyday use by individuals and brands,” said Daron Destiny, CEO of Bedloo. “But Bedloo is also great for groundbreaking events like this big fight, so everyone can vote for who they think will win and see the results in real time.”

Social solutions are ubiquitous and embedded in virtually every communications platform. Even as consumers are staring into a variety of screens, they are connecting with other users staring into screens. Audiences are engaging instantly with news media, entertainment, sports and a wide variety of activities using apps that capitalize upon our propensity to use mobile devices as an extension of our social proclivities. Social media is also opening up new markets of commerce. The “selfie” stick is an example of merchandise catering to new consumer behavior. Bedloo is poised to capitalize upon the next stage of progression in the evolution of consumer behavior. It empowers users to quickly and easily ask a simple question: “What do you think, this or that?”

That simple question is a powerful engagement tool for anyone to poll any audience about any two comparisons. Bedloo is currently being used by major networks, including Fox Sports, VH1, WEtv and CBS to poll their audiences in real time.

The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will be the largest audience participation event in the app’s brief history, which is chronicled in a full-length documentary film produced about the founding team and their effort to build Bedloo from idea to market introduction.

“Our app gives users the feeling that everyone in the world is sitting together on one big couch watching an important event unfold, giving their opinions in real time, seeing the results and knowing their input matters,” said Angela Brewton, VP of Marketing at Bedloo.

Will Bedloo succeed? Download the app and cast your vote.

Mike Green is an award-winning journalist, New York Times Leadership Academy Fellow, Co-founder of ScaleUp Partners and expert consultant on developing inclusive innovation ecosystems. He can be reached via Twitter: @amikegreen2 or email:mike@scaleuppartners.com.