Month: October 2017

Tonight Is A New Dating App Optimized For Real Dates

Posted on October 27, 2017

Tonight screenshotTECH CRUNCH – Oct 26 – When Whim launched two years ago, it was based on enabling real dates, rather than chatting. But there was one problem: Whim asked users to identify the days in a given week when they'd be free for dates. "Planning ahead was hard for people," said Founder and CEO Eve Peters. So after raising money through equity crowdfunding, Peters and her team have launched a new iOS app called Tonight. The app preserves the most distinctive part of Whim – as soon as two people show interest in each other, the app tries to set them up on a date, no messaging required. With Tonight, users are no longer scheduling those dates ahead of time. Instead, they sign on when they're free for a date that very evening. They will need to sign in by 6pm. In addition, they get penalized for flaking out, and they're eventually removed if they keep doing it.

by Anthony Ha
See full article at Tech Crunch

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The Return Of The Chatbots

Posted on October 27, 2017

Chatbot-1KOUNT BLOG – Oct 25 – Chatbots combine Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and natural-language processing to handle routine customer inquires quickly and accurately. Chatbots are still evolving, which can result in humorous exchanges between humans and machines. Unfortunately, there is a less humorous side to chatbots, including exposing organizations to new and unusual fraud attacks. One hacker recently gained access to hundreds of companies through their help desks. In this case, he was a bug bounty hunter seeking cash rewards for penetrating supposedly secure corporate systems. As of September 10, the bug was still out there and the vulnerability still existed. That's quite concerning when you consider that 80% of ~800 IT decision makers recently surveyed said they are already using chatbots or planning to implement them by 2020.

The full article was originally published at Kount Blog, but is no longer available.

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Funky Feature Requests From OKCupid’s Users

Posted on October 27, 2017

Okcupid funky requests vaultOKCUPID BLOG – Oct 26 – OkCupid's support team is always receiving unsolicited requests for new OkCupid features. Here are a few of the funkiest feature requests.

  • Filter by hair or eye color
  • Taking someone to "OkCupid court"
    The idea was that if someone rejects you – or ignores your messages – you could pay a fee to take them to an OkCupid 'court' – or otherwise punish accounts for not responding.
  • Auto-block people with "taco" in their username
    Every so often, someone will spot the 'trend' that members with 'taco' in their username might actually be spam accounts, and sometimes they are. However, plenty of awesome people on OkCupid have this word in their username.
  • Yelp-style reviews of members
    Why it didn't make the cut: Revenge reporting
  • Deleting drunk messages from another person's inbox

See full article at OkCupid blog

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Gay Clubs Raided And Dating App Shut Down In Belarus

Posted on October 27, 2017

Belarus mapPINKNEWS – Oct 26 – LGBT people in yet another former Soviet state are facing an "alarming" crackdown. Two clubs popular with the LGBT community in Belarus were raided this weekend, with customers harassed and detained by police. A popular dating site for gay men has also reportedly been shut down by the government. The move was apparently taken on the direct orders of President Alexander Lukashenko, a dictator who is the country's only ever president. Lukashenko has previously responded to accusations that he was running a dictatorship by saying that it was "better to be a dictator than gay".

by Josh Jackman
See full article at PinkNews

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Nominate For The 9th Annual iDate Awards

Posted on October 26, 2017

Idate awards 2018 logoWEBWIRE – Oct 26 – Nominations for iDate Awards ("the Oscars for the Dating Industry") are still open. You can nominate at www.iDateAwards.com until October 31, 2017 in the following categories.

  • Best Dating Site Best Matchmaker
  • Best Software Provider
  • Best Mobile Dating App
  • Best Dating Site Design
  • Best Dating Coach
  • Most Innovative Company
  • Best New Technology
  • Best Payment System
  • Best Affiliate Program
  • Best Marketing Campaign
  • Best Niche Dating Site
  • Best Up and Coming Dating Site

There is no cost to participate and self-nominations are accepted.

The awards have the following schedule:

  • Now to Oct 31 – Nominations Accepted.
  • Nov 13 to Jan. 5, 2018 – Voting
  • Jan 25, 2017 – Awards ceremony and winners announced.

See full article at Webwire

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Besedo, Data-Driven Content Moderation Service & Solution Provider, Advise Online Safety Regulations During National Bullying Prevention Month For Site Owners And Users

Posted on October 26, 2017

Besedo logo smallerPRWEB – Oct 26 – Besedo, the content moderation expert, analyze global classifieds to identify a "swear word index" to help online marketplaces protect users from common cyberbully attacks. Here are the most used swear words:

  1. B****
  2. F*****g/Idiot
  3. A**hole/F***
  4. F*g/Sh*t/Stupid
  5. D*ck/Slave/Son of a b***

Percentages of people experiencing cyberbullying has doubled between 2007 and 2016. Besedo works to protect users and owners of online forums, dating sites and online marketplaces. Their filter automation tools give site owners a sturdy base when beginning in content moderation practices. Besedo customers can build custom filters to target and repeal unwanted content.

See full article at PR Web

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Paris City Hall Condemns “Sugar Daddy” Mobile Advert

Posted on October 26, 2017

Richmeetbeautiful billboard franceASSOCIATED PRESS – Oct 26 – Paris city hall has called an ad for a dating site linking students with rich men and women "shameful," and said officials will work with police to remove it from the city. The RichMeetBeautiful site has been displaying a large mobile billboard across Paris, encouraging students to get in touch with "sugar daddies" and "sugar mamas" to subsidize their studies. It reads: "Romance, passion and no student loan, go out with a sugar daddy or sugar mama." Paris police said that they had opened an investigation and that the vehicle carrying the billboard had been stopped.

The full article was originally published at Lancaster Online, but is no longer available.

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The Future Of Online Dating Is Unsexy And Brutally Effective

Posted on October 26, 2017

Loveflutter with receptivitiGIZMODO – Oct 25 – When users give the dating app LoveFlutter their Twitter handle, it rewards them with a 28-axis breakdown of their personality. The app works with the language processing company Receptiviti.ai to compute the compatibility between users based on Twitter feeds. It's true that we reveal more of ourselves in Twitter posts, Facebook likes, Instagram photos, and Foursquare check-ins than we realize. Researchers already think they can predict how neurotic we are from our Foursquare check-ins. Algorithms could also use our online behavior to learn the real answers to questions we might lie about in a dating questionnaire. Just as dating algorithms will get better at learning who we are, they'll also get better at learning who we like – without ever asking our preferences. Already, some apps do this by learning patterns in who we left and right swipe on, the same way Netflix makes recommendations from the movies we've liked in the past. Today, dating apps don't (openly) mine our digital data as nearly much as they could. Maybe they think we'd find it too creepy, or maybe we wouldn't like what they learned about it. But if data mining were the key to the end of the bad date, wouldn't it be worth it?

by Dale Markowitz
See full article at Gizmondo

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Japanese Dating Services Received ~2,000 Complaints

Posted on October 26, 2017

Ncac logoSCMP – Oct 25 – In a nine-page report released earlier this month, the National Consumer Affairs Centre (NCAC) said it had received 1,983 complaints against dating companies. The report cited a number of specific cases as a warning to consumers.

by Julin Ryall
See full article at SCMP

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Report: The Internet Habits Of Swedes

Posted on October 26, 2017

SwedenIIS.SE – Oct 25 – The number of Swedish Internet users continues to increase, as now 94% use the Internet, while 85% use it on a mobile phone, according to "Swedes and the Internet 2017" report. 11% of Swedish Internet users have used online dating the past year. 15% of those who use dating services or dating apps ended up cohabiting or marrying.

See full article at IIS.se

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team