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OnlyFans is no longer just only for adult content. The streaming service wants a new reputation that pushes a different agenda for its creators — starting with its app. According to several reports, OnlyFans — which has only previously been accessible through its website — created a brand-new app earlier this year that offers videos with some of its biggest creators. What comes as a surprise from the notoriously explicit platform is that its new app shows no nudity. That’s right, OnlyFans is getting wholesome to add its services to Apple and Google app stores. The ad-free app is called “OFTV” and it officially launched back in January, but this week OnlyFans says that it’s marketing the app to attract those who aren’t already subscribed to the streaming service. It reportedly offers a library of over 800 videos that includes original content from chefs, yoga instructors, podcasters and more. It even features an original series called “Unlocked” that shares conversations with...
Aug 18, 2021
When the Relief app announced that it had received $2 million in seed funding via a press release, people beleaguered with the burden of credit card debt breathed a sigh of relief. Led by Collaborative Ventures with participation from such prestigious investors as Brand Foundry Ventures, Interplay Ventures, Necessary Ventures, and The Fund, as well as backing from notable angel investors including Twitch founder Justin Kan, Elliot Tebele, and Ben Kaplan of Jerry Media, the Relief app is poised to usher in a new era of debt, well, relief . For co-founder Jason Saltzman, however, the focus is not necessarily on the debt relief itself, but on creating a holistic environment that benefits all users. “I consider myself a social impact entrepreneur who is deeply motivated to help as many people as I can,” he told AfroTech. “I am an adjunct professor at FIU in Miami where I also sit on the foundational board of directors as the Vice-Chair of Enterprise Growth. My latest venture, Relief, is...
Jul 30, 2021
The singer-songwriter is honoring Mental Health Awareness Month with an all-new meditation program. This week, Forbes reported that Alicia Keys announced a partnership with self-care guru Dr. Deepak Chopra’s Chopra Global to launch an integrated 21-day meditation experience titled, “Activating the Divine Feminine: The Path to Wholeness,” which focuses on “collective healing through accessing The Divine Feminine” and restoring joy in users’ lives. “I believe the Divine Feminine is an extremely powerful force within all of us,” Keys says according to ESSENCE. “It helps you grow, it helps you create, it cultivates who you are. There’s a major imbalance in our world, and we can all feel it. To counteract it, we have to open the door to the Divine Feminine in us and its ability to repair and create.” The outlet shares that Keys’ new free program — which exists within The Chopra App — aims to help listeners find the balance between their feminine and masculine powers and “return to peace...
May 13, 2021
A Tennessee first-grader proved that anyone can make a difference and inspire change, no matter how old they are. Earlier last month, seven-year-old Morgan Bugg of Brentwood, TN was using educational app Freckle, a gaming platform that allows students a chance to win coins while completing reading and math enrichment activities. During virtual class, she noticed its online store didn’t have any hairstyle options for Black girls like her to style her avatar. According to Bugg, she told the Tennessean that “I felt kind of sad and jealous that there wasn’t any girl hair for me.” Kelley Anne Joyner — Bugg’s teacher at Edmondson Elementary School — then noticed how visibly frustrated Bugg was and pulled her into a virtual breakout room to chat one-on-one. “She had some heartfelt tears,” Joyner said to the Tennessean. “She then said that it’s not fair that they have one Black boy hair, but they don’t have any Black girl hair.” In an effort to find a solution to her problem, Bugg suggested...
May 5, 2021
Most people probably want to ask Courtne Smith about her time spent as Drake’s personal assistant and member of his management team. Working closely with one of the biggest pop stars and successful businessmen as his friend and right hand probably yields some inspiring, lifelong knowledge (and we get to that). But the more interesting thing about Courtne Smith, the co-founder and CEO of the polling app NewNew, is her ability to evolve her businesses and fearlessly meet new challenges along the way. It should be noted, this isn’t Smith’s first rodeo in business or tech. A serial entrepreneur, Smith previously launched the prize giveaway app Suprize in 2018. Users were given chances to win cool items, including concert tickets, Kylie cosmetics, and Nike sneakers. Then, Smith and her business partner Filip Diarra decided brands wouldn’t give away free goods forever, so they evolved Suprize into NewNew, which allows users to personalize polls around various topics using videos, popular...
Jan 14, 2021
Silicon Valley’s next tech come up, Clubhouse is quickly becoming a hub for the biggest key players in the music and entertainment industries, and celebrities on the app are tapping into its infrastructure to build up their own digital endeavors. The game-changing, invite-only audio app has grown to be quite popular over the last few months, even while in beta testing. Now users like Grammy-nominated Hip-Hop producer Sonny Digital are putting themselves in a position to lead the app’s buzziest cultural conversations. Sonny — who joined Clubhouse two months ago — has quickly asserted himself as a leader on the social platform with his self-branded Clubhouse space, “Club Digital,” which has gained a large following for his viral “Book Club” and appreciation rooms — both of which he initiated on the app. Photo Credit: Decat / (@shotbydecat) Just like any other user who joins Clubhouse, Sonny learned the power of the app’s inner workings and has made the platform work in his favor to...
Dec 15, 2020
Live music is an immersive experience that many believe they can only enjoy after trekking to a 20,000-seat arena or flying out to a middle-of-nowhere desert. However, what if you could bring that experience to you? GoghNow is a music app that allows users to book live music performances on-demand, empowering music fans to create smaller, intimate gatherings and control the way they want to hear their favorite musicians. As a result, the platform can connect musicians to folks for dinner parties, birthday soirees, or intimate proposals—you name it. Founders Ajalon Elliott and Chance Smith developed this concept after attending a local performance and witnessing a musician pass the hat. For Smith, the idea of having to leave home to have fun is a fading thrill. Growing up together in Roanoke, Virginia, Elliott and Smith first connected through basketball camps then shared a mutual interest in technology. As Elliott rebuilt computers and produced beats, the two would attempt to get...
Dec 4, 2020
With the renewed interest in Black-owned businesses during protests for racial justice, apps that act as guides for such brands are getting a major boost. According to CNN , Google searches for Black-owned businesses saw a 300 percent spike in the first two days of June plus searches for Black-owned restaurants tripled. Due in part to general curiosity about minority-owned businesses, support has also grown because of the influx of resources circulating the internet. Google docs, Twitter threads, and Instagram infographics are now widely shared to identify where to spend your money. Also, apps that are hubs for this type of information are becoming a popular go-to. However, the co-founder of EatOkra, Anthony Edwards, hopes commitment to buying Black continues beyond the moment. “We’re hoping that, in retrospect, this moment will have felt like the tipping of the iceberg and not just a trend that quickly came and went,” said Edwards, whose app has seen increased traffic. Similarly,...
Jun 8, 2020
As the digital age continues to take over our everyday lives, we must stay in tune with reality and connect as a community. Tech founder and CEO of Squad , Isa Watson is helping drive this initiative by pushing professionals in the tech industry to connect online as well as offline in a notable way. Watson has devoted her time to building a culture within tech through her app, Squad, a highly-functioning connective app that allows young tech professionals to network and better connect with their peers in real life. In this day and age where people feel more connected to those while online, Watson and her app are helping to bridge the gap between technology and humanity. “We’ve been so complacent in the way that we connect on social media. But those connections are very loose. And quite frankly, when you look at the increase in social media use it’s actually parallel with the increase in loneliness, depression, social isolation, and especially in the millennial and Gen Z...
Mar 5, 2020
Mental health and wellness are often unspoken of in the African American community, especially amongst Black men. However, what was once a taboo topic of discussion is slowly being addressed and those suffering in silence can finally get the help they need. getelevateapp.com Globally, nearly 350 million people will struggle with depression this year. Women are largely diagnosed with depression, while men are commonly diagnosed with chronic stress. Mental health issues impact people of all ages. It’s no doubt that stress, depression, and anxiety are indeed difficult to deal with. However, with the help of therapy, self-care, and a strong support system, the road to mental health is closer than you think. That’s where the new black-owned self-care app, Elevate , comes in. Aaron Warrick, Greg Wilson, and Dante’ Wade, Created by Aaron Warrick, Greg Wilson, and Dante’ Wade, the Elevate app serves as a personal guide to mental, physical, and emotional success. It equips users with the...
Feb 22, 2020
Every day social media platforms and smartphones help abusers stalk and carry out domestic violence on their partners. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their life. There has been more than 20,000 daily calls made to domestic violence hotlines each day. Now, one Dallas-based founder is hoping that her app can provide safer options to help victims escape. On the outside, My Beauty Fill is a typical beauty service booking app. Customers can schedule makeup, hair, and wax appointments with professionals in their area. However, within the app, customers who are domestic violence victims can reach out to organizations that will provide them with resources to leave their respective situations. Anthara Carr, the founder of My Beauty Fill, said she got the idea for the app after working in beauty marketing for years and having her own bout with domestic...
Jan 7, 2020
The holiday season has arrived, and perhaps, no one knows the joy of giving more than Nicholas Buamah. The eight-year-old phenom has recently developed an app to help children broaden their educational horizons through their vocabulary. The app serves as an extension of Buamah’s book series, “Kayla and Kyle the Walking Dictionaries,” enabling young readers to experience animated versions of their favorite twin characters. Buamah’s new app is one of many firsts for the young Georgia native, who was inducted into the Library of Congress Catalog for his first book of the series, “Kayla and Kyle, the Walking Dictionaries: Election Day.” Since then, Buamah has joined the daytime television show circuit, appearing on ABC’s “The View” and NBC’s “Steve Harvey,” and has met other famous faces, such as former President Jimmy Carter. Buamah was also recognized in his hometown when he received a proclamation from the Mayor of Snellville and Snellville’s City Council last August. Buamah wrote...
Dec 18, 2019
This piece has been edited since its original publish date of March 29, 2019. Persisting stigmas around mental health can make it difficult for Black youth to receive the help they need. They’re often forced to navigate misconceptions within their communities and anti-Blackness within the medical industry. One North Carolina based grad student is using tech to erase some of those barriers. Henry Willis, a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Clinical Psychology Graduate Program, is developing a mental health app for Black youth. Finding ways to provide Black youth mental health resources is an absolute necessity. Everyday factors of being Black — like exposure to racism — can drastically impact people’s mental health. This is something Willis himself noticed in his own research. “I’ve published papers that have looked at how things such as online racial discrimination can lead to increased PTSD symptoms, or how positive racial identity beliefs can lead...
Oct 15, 2019
Mental health apps have grown in popularity, as people use them to track moods, substance use, and more. The data gathered by these apps is personal, so it’s really important that it stays private. However, a new study has found that some mental health apps are sharing data without permission. The study found that out of 36 mental health apps, 29 were sharing data to services provided by Facebook or Google. Out of the 12 apps transmitting data to Facebook, only six disclosed what they were doing, while 12 out of 28 Google-linked apps did the same. For the study , researchers searched the Android and iOS app stores in the United States and Australia using the terms “depression” and “smoking cessation.” Due to the nature of the apps, they included information like health diaries and voluntary tracking of substance use — which some apps shared. The sharing of health data opens up a lot of concerns for some physicians. Steven Chan, a physician at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care...
Apr 22, 2019
Google announced today that it will be removing a controversial “conversion therapy” app from its store after pressure from civil rights groups. Google was suddenly willing to cooperate on the same day of losing an endorsement from a top LGBTQ rights group over its failure to pull a conversion therapy app. The app in question is Living Hope Ministries, and it can no longer be found in Google’s store, as confirmed by TechCrunch and Axios . The controversy around the app came early on. Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft all removed the app from their own platforms after Truth Wins Out, an organization opposing conversion therapy, launched their own petition. Then, it became the subject of a Change.org petition with over 142,000 signatures urging Google to remove it. Previously, Google maintained that the app didn’t violate its Play Store terms of service. Now, Google reportedly told Axios, “After consulting with outside advocacy groups, reviewing our policies, and making sure we had a...
Mar 29, 2019