The browser is called Blackbird, and it's built on the same framework that runs Mozilla's Firefox web browser. It looks like the latest version of Firefox, but with a black and red color scheme. The browser's chief feature is a news ticker that runs across the top of the window and displays content pulled from Google news that's of interest to African-Americans.
The browser also offers a video section that collects content from sites including UptownLiveTV, NSNewsTV, DigitalSoulTV and ComedyBanksTV. Other prominent features include a search engine and a bookmarking tab that are aimed at delivering African-American-related content.
There's also a donate feature designed to help users give to various partner nonprofit organizations. The creative team behind Blackbird also plans to donate 10 percent of its earnings to the partner organizations, as well.
Blogger Mike Street of GreasyGuide.com reviewed Blackbird and didn't see enough to recommend it as anyone's default web browser.
"Blackbird is cute in theory," he wrote. "But as a business model, I don’t understand why any business would want to compete with Windows IE, Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera, but we’d like to know more. I’d love to hear why they entered into the browser space, their plans for distribution and adoption, community building and retention."
Tech writer Robin Wauters noted that Blackbird bears a resemblance to the Flock web browser, a Firefox clone that includes powerful tie-ins to various social-networking websites. Blackbird allows its users to communicate with each other through social-networking features that are built directly into the browser. The team behind Flock offers different versions of its browser, including a version called Gloss that delivers fashion and entertainment news.
For more information or to download Blackbird, visit the official website.
