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Pinterest’s augmented reality Try On feature, through which you can virtually try on makeup via the Lens function, supports skin tone searches too. That way, you can see how different products look on people with skin tones similar to your own.

Try On now includes more than 10,000 “shoppable shades that are discoverable across 48 million beauty pins,” according to Pinterest. NARS, Cle de Peau and Thrive Causemetics are among the latest brands whose products are available for you to virtually test out though Try On.

Along with those updates, Pinterest just expanded skin tone searches beyond the US to the UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

According to the report released today, Snap is overwhelmingly staffed by white men. Women made up 32.9 percent of Snap’s global workforce in 2019, less than a single point increase from the year before with women making up less than a quarter of Director level employees and only 30 percent of VP-level positions. Despite constituting more than 16 percent of tech team employees, barely six percent of those teams were actually led by women.

People of color got an even shorter end of the stick. “Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx remain underrepresented in Snap’s US workforce: 4.1 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively,” the report claims. “In 2019 overall Black/African American representation at Snap increased 0.6 percent, and Hispanic/Latinx representation increased 0.5 percent.” Native Americans make up less than one percent of the entire company’s workforce.

In leadership roles, forget about it. More than 70 percent of Director-level jobs were held by white people with 16.5 percent held by Asians, 2.6 percent held by Black/African American employees, and just 2.6 percent held by Hispanic/Latinx workers.

91 percent of employees in tech roles were either white or Asian. Ninety one percent.

In response to this imbalance, Snap took the obvious corrective path. They hired Oona King, a British Labor Party politician and former chief diversity officer of Channel 4, for their newly-invented VP of DEI role.

“We also collected a more inclusive DEI data set: Our first DEI Self-ID Survey enabled US-based employees to self-identify as LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, veterans, or first generation in their family to attend college. The Self-ID data collection is voluntary, and 60 percent of our US team completed the survey. Later this year, we will begin a global rollout of this expanded data collection,” the company reported.

“We will first continue to improve within Snap, and then work to open-source the future of DEI,” Snap continued. “We want to collaborate on solutions that work and share them with our peers as well as tomorrow’s startups, including our growing network of developer partners.” Which basically means that they’ll continue to do the absolute bare minimum to avoid being called to the carpet so long as we continue buying their ridiculous sunglasses.

It’s been a while since Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell left Facebook, and now it’s clear what he’s doing next. TechCrunch reports that Mitchell has launched a new game studio, Mountaintop, with the help of industry veterans who’ve worked at Double Fine, Fortnite creator Epic Games, Hidden Path, Respawn and The Last of Us’ Naughty Dog. It’s too soon to outline Mountaintop’s first project, but the developers are focusing on “multiplayer games for players who crave a challenge.”

They also hope to toss out some of the baggage of established game makers. The company will be “remote-first” even after the pandemic, and aims to both be more inclusive and avoid the crunch time that plagues many studios. Mitchell didn’t make specific commitments about staff (there are just five employees so far), but he told TechCrunch that a brand new studio could have the “right foundation.” Ideally, Mountaintop won’t succumb to the toxic workplace culture that has threatened to consume other companies.

“Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space. Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology,” Bridenstine said in a statement.

Jackson was born in Hampton, Virginia, and earned a dual degree in math and physical sciences from Hampton Institute in 1942. She worked as a math teacher, bookkeeper and US Army secretary before joining the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the Langley Research Center. In 1951, she was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which was later succeeded by NASA.

Jackson worked as a “human computer” for two years. After which, she conducted experiments in the 60,000-horsepower Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, which blasted models with winds nearly twice the speed of sound. Jackson was encouraged to take a training program that would allow her to advance from mathematician to engineer. But because the classes were held at the then-segregated Hampton High School, she needed special permission to attend.

Jackson did complete the training, and in 1958 she became NASA’s first Black female engineer. She authored and co-authored numerous reports and joined Langley’s Federal Women’s Program, where she worked to address the hiring and advancement of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers and scientists. She worked alongside Katherine Johnson, Dororhty Vaughan and Christine Darden, also featured in Hidden Figures.

Jackson retired in 1985 and was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal posthumously in 2019.

“NASA facilities across the country are named after people who dedicated their lives to push the frontiers of the aerospace industry. The nation is beginning to awaken to the greater need to honor the full diversity of people who helped pioneer our great nation… We know there are many other people of color and diverse backgrounds who have contributed to our success, which is why we’re continuing the conversations started about a year ago with the agency’s Unity Campaign. NASA is dedicated to advancing diversity, and we will continue to take steps to do so,” Bridenstine said.

The company also wants to help make its non-Black employees better allies. Starting in the company’s fiscal 2021 year, Microsoft will mandate mandatory training on allyship and privilege for all employees. Part of the course material will touch on understanding the experience of Black communities. 

Outside of its own walls, the company plans to double the number of Black-owned businesses it works with over the next three years. It will spend $500 million with both existing and new suppliers. The company says it spent more than $2.9 billion in its 2019 fiscal year working with women-owned suppliers, along with businesses run by people identifying as minorities, disabled, veterans and LGBT.

Some of the other investments Nadella announced today include a $50 million fund dedicated to supporting Black-owned small businesses and the creation of a $100 million program that will assist minority-owned depository institutions. The company will also make a five-year, $50 million investment in its existing justice reform initiative.

Microsoft’s efforts could go a long way towards making it more inclusive to the Black community. However, like most tech giants, the company still has a long way to go. In its 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Report, Microsoft said 4.5 percent of all of its employees and 2.7 percent of its executives are Black. In the same report, the company said white individuals make up 53.2 percent of its workforce. The overwhelming majority of Microsoft’s employees — 72.3 percent — are also men. But at least for now, Microsoft appears committed to changing things.

“This is not a one-time event,” wrote Nadella. “It will require real work and focus. We will listen and learn. We will take feedback and we will adjust. But it starts with each of us making a commitment to do the work, to help drive change, and to act with intention.”

Facebook is also building a “new space” in the Facebook app called Lift Black Voices, which will highlight stories from Black people, share educational resources and encourage people to donate. Some of Facebook’s other plans to address racial inequality include providing free training to Black and Latinx individuals through a program called Elevate, giving 100,000 scholarships to Black students in its Facebook Blueprint program and donating $5 million to over 250,000 Facebook Fundraisers created for the Equal Justice Initiative, Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Innocence Project. It’s also continuing a push to diversify its workforce by 2023.

While fighting racial inequality and injustice is important work, Facebook doesn’t have the best record when it comes to supporting Black communities. It has been accused by its own employees of empowering a racist company culture, and critics have said it isn’t doing enough to increase diversity. A few years ago, Facebook claimed it can’t watch for racist language in every post, and more recently, Instagram’s anti-spam tech was incorrectly stopping some posts with the #blacklivesmatter hashtag. Now, with pledges like Facebook’s $200 million promise, there’s fear that the big tech community is offering charity, not meaningful change.

The internet giant is also promising $3 million to address gaps in computer science and STEM education. It’s widening an awards program to 16 more universities to tackle gaps in computer science research, and bolstering representation in AI with $250,000 toward Black in AI.

Representation within Google will matter as well. It’s aiming to increase Black representation at senior levels by opening senior positions to outside candidates and investing in cities like Atlanta, Chicago and London. It’s aiming for underrepresented groups to make up 30 percent of leadership by 2025. Google is setting up a talent liaison to mentor and advocate staff from underrepresented groups regardless of level, and will launch a task force to generate “concrete” solutions for accountability in areas like hiring, performance management and retention. That group should have its first proposals in 90 days, Pichai said.

There will also be anti-racism and health programs, as well as broader attempts to boost inclusion and belonging.

The efforts could go some distance toward improving Black access to Google and the tech industry, and appears to do more than provide lip service to racial equity. With that said, Google has struggled to improve its diversity in the past — money and programs can help, but they’re no guarantee that Google’s cultural demographics will change.

Microsoft didn’t break down the Inclusion Index by demographic, so it’s unclear which groups are included in that unhappy 12 percent. Are they minorities who feel overlooked, majorities that disagree with the initiative, or a combination of groups? However, it did pledge to use the findings to “better understand” those who are upset and determine whether or not its campaign is having the “intended impacts.”

This latest report also showed signs of general progress, including a newly expanded equal pay section that covers Microsoft’s presence in the five largest markets outside the US (Canada, China, Germany, India and the UK). The wider data suggests the gender pay gap is virtually non-existent, with women typically making $0.999 for every $1 men make.

Representation also improved, although not by much. Women now make up 29.2 percent of Microsoft’s core workforce (not including divisions like LinkedIn or game studios), up from 28.1 percent in 2018. In the US, the black community has climbed from 4.0 to 4.4 percent, while 33.3 percent are Asian versus 32.2 percent a year earlier. There were also very slight increases in Hispanic and multiracial workers.

You can expect Microsoft to keep this up in the near future. The company portrayed diversity as a practical benefit, not just a feel-good initiative — it cited a study showing that people process exclusion the way they do physical pain, impeding their productivity and social interaction. A more representative workforce theoretically helps staff reach their potential on top of leading to products that truly reflect society.

The new program will send students to Los Angeles for two semesters, the second of which will include a fellowship in the industry. Students interested in all aspects of entertainment — project greenlighting, PR and marketing, entertainment law and finance — are encouraged to apply. The coursework will be taught by Howard University professors with support from Amazon Studios employees and other industry professionals invited by Amazon. Students will have to compete for spots, and credits will apply toward their graduation requirements.

The program will benefit students looking to get into the entertainment world, an industry in desperate need of diversity. But it will also benefit Amazon and its customers. “As we strive to delight our Prime Video customers, we’re ensuring there are diverse perspectives and experiences around the table to help us make the best decisions in all aspects of the business,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. The program is set to kick off in January 2020.

To get there, Facebook plans to double its female employees globally and its Black and Hispanic employees in the US. “It will be a company that reflects and better serves the people on our platforms, services and products,” Facebook said in a blog post. The company says the goal is both ambitious and important, and it claims that it will track its progress carefully.

Like other tech companies, Facebook has faced criticism for its lack of diversity. At times, its efforts to boost diversity have been hindered by its own hiring practices, and hiring more women, for instance, hasn’t always led to an increase in female leadership. While it’s important that Facebook is keeping track of its diversity stats and setting goals to drastically increase minority representation, we’ve been hearing the same message for years. It’s hard to predict if Facebook will have better luck now.