It’s never too young to create your own online platform. Rapper and Actor, Ludacris’ third grade daughter Karma is proof of that. She has launched an educational, interactive website called Karma’s World, with a little help from her dad.

Karma’s World was an idea that Karma initially came up with to help make education more exciting for kids her age. She wanted to create an educational website that was interactive, full of good music and fantasy.

In addition to the games, lyrics, music and stories Ludacris helped his daughter create, Karma’s World deals with the significance of politeness, ethical lessons, rewards for working hard and the concept of karma itself.

It is a site that encourages children to learn in an atmosphere of fun, offering academic lessons as well as ethical ones.

Although created for kids, the site offers teachers lessons and parents educational tips too.

This is a great way to not only get kids involved online educationally, but also give them motivation to start their own businesses no matter how young.

Check out Karma’s World at KarmasWorld.com for some educational fun!

Hitch Radio provides access over 33,000 radio stations worldwide, allowing you to explore new music and listen to what you want when you want. You can search for content and share what you find with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. In addition to music, Hitch also covers news, talk, and sports stations.

Hitch Radio not only provides a way to access these regional radio stations, but makes it easy to find what you need. Data is organized in real-time and passed to the user. Instead of tuning into a station, you Hitch-a-Ride. If you like where it takes you, it’s easy to share with your social networks.

Facebook connect integration allows you to Hitch-a-Ride with a friend. This means they’re in the driver’s seat and you hear whatever they hear. From the Hitch Radio About page:

It’s a pretty cool way to sit back and relax while you stay in touch with your friends throughout the day. Ever hear a song on the radio and call up your friends to make sure they’re listening, too?

The site itself is simple to interact with. You search for what you need and the play buttons appear directly in the search results. Look for artists and songs, radio personalities or stations, or just search in a specific location.  Hit play in the results and a new window opens with the station info so you can listen in the background.

Hitch Radio, currently in private beta, is definitely a cool service if you’re looking for a way to occupy your ears. One of the most interesting features is the real-time nature of the search. Have you ever just missed your favorite song or news show on the radio? Doesn’t happen on Hitch Radio because you can just search for a different station playing the same thing.

Yesterday, Emory University launched a new website designed to bridge the gap between past and present. Using information from the Courts of Mixed Commission African Origins has created an online database of stolen Africans forced into the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The names, gender, and port of departure of 9,453 liberated Africans were uploaded onto the website in the hopes of being able to trace their ancestry back to their origin country.

The premise behind the site is that since African social groups and languages have remained somewhat consistent over the centuries, scholars can track down modern counterparts to the liberated Africans. From there, scholars are hoping to expand the database to the millions of Africans that were sold into slavery which would be a boon to the ancestors of slaves in the Caribbean and the Americas, the majority of which can only trace their bloodlines but so far.

The project scholars can not do it alone. African Origins plans to use crowdsourcing to fill in the missing pieces. Scholars are looking for people well-versed in African languages and naming protocols to share their knowledge. “By taking a few minutes to search and listen for familiar names and contribute a modern counterpart, language, and ethnic group, members of the public can help identify the language, ethnic and geographic origins of people listed in these registers, and subsequently the likely origins of millions of other unnamed Africans enslaved during this period.:

In addition to the website, African Origins has a Facebook page as well as a blog. For those interested in participating, you can visit the site or email african-origins@emory.edu. Even if you can’t contribute to the project, it’s worth giving the site a visit for the historical value. As the project grows, it could be the key to helping many of us discover a part of our heritage that we though was forever lost to the shadows of history.

There has been yet another addition to the highly successful world of Internet TV. Freshman site MyCulture.tv has launched its beta version and unveiled a new list of partnerships. The site focuses on not only outside content submissions and viral videos, but also on original shows. From their description:

MyCulture.TV is an Internet Broadcast Network consisting of high quality, culturally diverse web video content. The network is geared towards people of color in hopes of sparking an emergence of mature, ethnic based entertainment on the web. Videos included on the site will be judged based on their subject matter and quality to maintain the highest standards possible. In addition to creating a dynamic platform to showcase the best video on the web MyCulture also premieres original web shows and series produced by parent company Tyler New Media

There have been numerous comparisons of MyCulture.tv to the Moguldom’s recently launched 24Wired.TV. But after browsing through the video content on both, there are definitely some key differences between the two.

The primary focus of MyCulture.tv is spotlighting up and coming people of color in various industries. From relationships and business to film and music, the wealth of original programming gives them a unique edge. Their current original shows include Lamar Tyler’s “The Gatekeepers Are Gone” and “Honey Do The Web” series featuring bestselling author Denene Miller. Although there is also a section featuring new movie trailers and music videos, it is clear that they are not the primary focus of the site. Partnerships with sites like Clutch Magazine and Black and Married with Kids help to distribute this content to a more mature audience.

By contrast, 24Wired is clearly an entertainment site focused on distributing music videos and behind the scenes footage.  After browsing through the videos it is evident that 24Wired is staying (narrowly) in the music entertainment lane. They are also aiming toward a younger audience, which makes MyCulture.TV a welcome addition for those in their 30′s.

Overall, I loved the videos on MyCulture.TV and I’m happy that they are producing their own content. My only complaint is the look of the site, which is both hard to navigate and a bit disorganized aesthetically. For more info on MyCulture.TV click here or follow them on Twitter here.

Moguldom has been on a roll as of late.  Last year, they launched Moguldom Studios. Earlier this year, an exclusive partnership was announced with shopping website, Groupon. Today, the creators of Bossip, announced the launch of its latest digital property, StyleBlazer.com. Described as “a new website designed to deliver unique and fashion forward online content for the hip and trendy African-American woman,” the site is a one-stop-shop for beauty and fashion.

The site will feature original content in the form of written and video content and will be spearheaded by Collabsociety.com founder/creative director Geo Hagan. The former YRB Magazine Editorial Director is Moguldom’s latest high-level talent acquisition.

First impressions of the site are promising. The items featured are interesting and the videos are entertaining, but the overall layout of the site belies that its a fashion and beauty site. The drab gray appearance takes away from the images which can be a detriment, especially considering some of its closest competition – Clutch and BitchieLife. We can only hope that as the site progresses, it will receive a redesign befitting a fashion website.

What are your thoughts on StyleBlazer? Share your impressions in the comments section.

Although South by Southwest Interactive wrapped a few weeks ago, the relationships formed during the conference continue to reverberate through the black community of entrepreneurs.  Black Web 2.0 has already covered the launch of gokit, and another SXSW attendee, Adria Richards, won the AppSumo Lean Startup Challenge for her UseYourDeals startup.  I recently had the chance to speak with Aaron Bannister, another black entrepreneur who used SXSW to launch locaii, his location based app for the iPhone.

Locaii combines location based check-ins with group messaging.  Users of the app can share thoughts with people around them.  Bannister shared information about his educational background, being an entrepreneur, the future of location based services, and his future projects.

Bannister’s Background

Bannister’s education and work experience demonstrates his appreciation for the need for technology entrepreneurs to master both business and technology.

“I graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in Management Information Science,” Bannister said.  “For the past 7 years I have been doing some application development using primarily the .Net platform.”

His Journey to Entrepreneurship

Bannister observed the rise of social media and location based services, and this sparked a passion in him to launch his own company.

“I think the entrepreneur bug took over me after college, but I just hadn’t come across something that i was passionate enough about to pursue,” Bannister explained.  “With the social media industry emergence, I thought it was the perfect time since the location-based sector was so fascinating.”

With America still struggling with an overall unemployment rate of 8.8% (and 15.5% for African Americans), many jobless Americans are considering starting their own companies since the ones that exist aren’t hiring them.  Since Bannister had already made the leap into entrepreneurship, I asked him what most people don’t understand about starting a company.

He answered, “That it requires drive and passion.  If those two don’t exist then people don’t really get an opportunity to reach their goals and succeed.  It’s also not a real quick and easy process by any means.  Our team of 3 has poured a ridiculous amount of time and energy to create this product.  You can count on many sleepness nights while going the entrepreneur route, but the rewards will hopefully make those nights worth it.”

Coming Up with Locaii

I asked Bannister about the creation of the Locaii concept.

“We have always been social people and big travelers (except recently while working to get the locaii app out) and we continued to see people with their phones out during experiences,” Bannister said.  “We also strongly believe in the mobile computing revolution that is going on now. We put those two thoughts together and realized we could make something for people’s phones that kept them in the experience.”

The Future of the Location Based Sector

Since Locaii operates in both the location based and group messaging sectors, I asked him these sectors would evolve over the next five years.

“I’m actually excited as to where this location and group messaging space will take us,” he said.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of augmented reality was the norm in 5 years.  Our phones already can read barcodes so its just a matter of time that eye-readers emerge and you’ll be able to walk in places and see what was going on in the digital location.   More powerful group messaging technology will hopefully enable a broader spectrum of the type of data that will be able to be shared between group members.   For instance, wiring money to a friend, or buying a drink for another at a soda machine they are at using your virtual wallet.”

What’s Next for Aaron Bannister

Having been impressed by what I saw in the Locaii app, I wondered what was next for Bannister.

“After getting back from SXSW, which was an amazing environment to launch locaii, we identified what’s next for us,” he said.  “It really focused us down on our use case – providing a place to go for people pulling out their phones during experiences – and now we are heavily pursuing funding to help us grow more quickly.”

April 18 marks the launch of the African Immigrant Journal (AIJ), the first website dedicated to exploring the experience of millions of African-born immigrants and 1st and 2nd generation Americans of African descent in the United States. The interactive online publication will feature news, profiles, in-depth features, commentary, video, photos, discussion forums, and more.

“We view the site as an essential repository of information and a unique platform to shape, affirm and investigate the experiences of an emerging group that remains largely invisible to the American public,” says Henry. “We will locate our stories within the context of the larger American immigration narrative.”

In addition to telling the under-told stories of a largely invisible segment of the American population, the AIJ will give
voice to the concerns of African immigrants all across the United States. With an insightful eye and affirming voice,
the AIJ will celebrate the success stories, probe the problems and dispel common myths about African immigrants.

Founded by childhood friends and Maryland-based Liberian immigrants Lewis Kelley and Tanu Henry, the AIJ aims to tell the stories of a largely invisible segment of the American population. It will give voice to immigrant concerns across the United States, celebrating success stories, probing problems, and dispelling common myths about African immigrants.

Moguldom Media Group has recently launched a new web property. 24Wired.TV, Moguldom’s latest venture, delves into the world of digital video. Seeing that many people are interacting with increasing amounts of content on the web in regards to video, the company plans to stay ahead of the curve with the new site.

While 24Wired will feature licensed content from yet unnamed media sources, the ultimate goal is to produce original content targeting African Americans which is why Moguldom has also created Moguldom Studios. According to De’Juan Galloway, Assistant Director of Moduldom Studios, the newly created team will be charged with providing content for six categories that will correspond with the company’s existing properties including business, music, entertainment, and women’s lifestyle. As the push for original content begins, don’t be surprised to see some of your favorite Moguldom personalities making video cameos.

“Some people from the sites are definitely going to be taking on lead roles as producers and project managers on original content,” says Galloway.

Moguldom Studios already has some content in the works including How I Made It, She’s The Boss, an untitled dating series and a weekly program that’s scheduled to launch on Bossip.com. How I Made It is a business program with a focus on entrepreneurs. “We’re trying to give an in depth look at these entrepreneurs, business and thought leaders that’s going to give them a platform to tell their story.” She’s The Boss, is being billed as a spin-off of How I Made It featuring African-American women entrepreneurs while the Bossip weekly show will run in a week in review format recapping viewers on the latest in entertainment news. To tap into Bossip’s rabid fanbase,  the weekly show will have a high level of interactivity allowing viewers to comment on the show and call in via Skype. Galloway will be taking the reins of the dating show as the producer. Similar to the Bossip program, the show will have a weekly run and will be featured on 24Wired.

Moguldom is in the process of staging a three-pronged attack. In addition to written and video content, social media and mobile will play a great part in the company’s digital strategy going forward.  ”African-American audiences,” says Galloway, “need something more substantial than the average sit down interview format that we might see now. Having the interactivity exist so we know we’re on the right path with what we’re producing.” As of launch, 24Wired viewers won’t have the ability to upload their own video content, but there may be opportunities in the future for enterprising videographers and cinematographers to enter into a partnership with Moguldom Studio where the company will upload their content for them yielding shared revenue for both parties.

Have you visited 24Wired yet? Share your initial thoughts in the comments section.

As a woman or a minority-owned small business, it can be difficult to get the word out about your operation. Sure, you can attend networking events or hope that you’ll get some customers using word of mouth, but these methods are hit and miss at best. And if you’re in an industry where you have to submit bids to potential clients, it’s very easy to get lost among the many companies competing for the same job. So how do you get that oh-so-necessary edge?

Online platform connXus seeks to help small business owners expand their clientele using their unique platform. Acting as a matchmaker of sorts, connXus brings together prospective buyers  in the private sector with minority suppliers that fit the buyer’s purchasing needs. The process is simple enough, business owners register as supplier members and create a custom  profile page detailing their services and documentation important to buyers including proof-of-insurance, certifications or bonding.

Corporations register as buyer members and list the services or products they are in the market for. From there, connXus actively matches buyers with suppliers based on the information provided in the profiles. Corporations can also post jobs that interested suppliers can then bid on. In addition to searching by products and services, buyers can also weed out the competition via a supply member’s ratings. Similar to Yelp and other consumer-driven web services, supply members can be rated on their service.

The brainchild of Accel Advisors founder and managing partner Rod Robinson, the concept for connXus stems from Robinson’s experience as a supplier diversity consultant and procurement expert  to Fortune 1000 companies  and the desire to streamline the process of connecting corporations seeking to cut costs and work with minority firms

“I saw an opportunity to do a better job of leveraging technology,” says Robinson,  ”because just from my experience there were tools that were out there in the market, but a lot of the databases that were out there where you’re supposed to be able to find minority firms to do business with you found that some of the companies had changed names and the information wasn’t always fresh, making things very difficult and frustrating. I felt there had to be a better way to leverage technology to provide a real solution and make it easy not only for companies who want to engage minority firms by making it easier to find them, but also make it easier for minority firms to market themselves.”

Using his clientele from Accel, Robinson began the initial build last April, inviting Accel customers to test the burgeoning site. Receiving mostly positive feedback from testers,  ConnXus had a trial launch last December. Since then the service has posted over $10 million dollars in bidding opportunities and is on track to post $40-60 million by year’s end.

connXus is not a one man show however, Robinson has partnered with Chris Downie, founder and CEO of SparkPeople.com. In addition, Black Web 2.0 COO Markus Robinson has been contributing a significant amount of his tech expertise to ensure a quality product.

While the ability to quickly and easily locate a minority supplier or a job bid, connXus has a number of benefits that should not be overlook including:

Denene Millner, the co-author of Steve Harvey’s bestselling book “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” has co-launched an online bookstore whose proceeds will go to helping the black community. The new site, NorthParan.com, was founded with a simple plan: For every book purchased on the site, NorthParan.com will donate a book to a black child in need.

With the start of Black History Month, the site’s founders have set an ambitious goal: they would like to donate 100,000 books to black children during the month of February.

According to their press release, researchers have determined that a child who grows up in a home with at least 500 books will attain three more years of education than a student with no books in the home. But for millions of children in the United States and around the world, their access to age-appropriate books is limited or nonexistent. North Paran’s mission is to change that.

Neil Nelson, the site’s co-founder, is driven by the memories of his childhood in Jamaica, when his family only had five books in the house that he and his sister had to share. After starting DimeWars.com, a celebrity news site that reached nearly 30 million unique visitors last year, Nelson partnered with husband-and-wife authors Nick Chiles and Denene Millner to create NorthParan.com.

Chiles and Millner have written or co-written 19 books between them. Millner is the co-author with Steve Harvey of the #1 New York Times bestseller “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man,” which was the top-selling nonfiction book in the country in 2009. Chiles co-authored the book “The Blueprint” with gospel legend Kirk Franklin “The Blueprint.” In 1993, Chiles also won a Pulitzer while working on the staff of New York Newsday.

To make the book donations, NorthParan.com has partnered with non-profit organizations in the United States and abroad to find children who do not have access to new books.