E27.CO – Jan 22 – Paktor's CEO Ng Jing Shen believes that online dating is far superior to the traditional way of finding potential partners, that is, via a workplace or school. "The 'class-size' of the online dating pool is bigger," Ng says. On the Paktor platform, there are ~880K monthly active users, with 180K coming from Singapore alone. Founded in 2013, Paktor now has a presence in 7 markets across APAC.
Month: January 2018
Match Pulls Its Alexa Skill Giving Controversial Dating Tips
ANDROID HEADLINES – Jan 19 – Match.com pulled its Alexa skill for Amazon's Echo speakers and other compatible devices less than 48 hours following its launch and shortly after it became clear the service meant to provide users with dating tips delivers advice that many may find controversial. The skill itself provided general dating tips but also covered advice about sexual interactions. Inquiries about whether to have intercourse on the first date were often met with tongue-in-cheek responses such as "only if you must," as were questions on how many drinks to have, to which the skill suggested a user's alcohol consumption should be inversely proportional to the level of attractiveness of their date.
World’s First AI & Blockchain Viola.AI Raises 70% Of Pre-Sale Hard Cap With 2 Weeks Left
BITCOINIST – Jan 19 – Viola.AI, the first project that combines love and blockchain, has secured over 70% of its pre-sale hard cap, with ~5M tokens sold. Viola.AI, was created by the team behind Lunch Actually Group.
Matchpool Announced First Developer Challenge
THE MERKLE – Jan 20 – Matchpool has announced a $50K development challenge, in which entrants develop an MVP QTUM app for Matchpool's platform. A winner of the challenge will be announced on February 18th, 2017. After a successful launch, community and connections network Matchpool seek to develop their Asia outreach, developing the QGUP model specifically for this market. Asia is formidably important within the cryptocurrency market and Matchpool endeavours to expand operations in this huge market region. The team that develops the best MVP for the app will win a $50K cash prize as well as 5% of all QTUM tokens.
Justine Sacco, The PR Exec Who Was Fired From IAC For Her Tweets, Is Back At Match Group
RECODE – Jan 19 – Justine Sacco, the communications exec who was very publicly fired from IAC back in 2014 for an inappropriate tweet, has returned to the IAC family: She's now running all corporate communications for Match Group. Sacco was fired after she sent an inappropriate tweet right before boarding a flight to South Africa. "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" she wrote at the time. The post blew up on Twitter while she was in the air, and Sacco landed to a ton of angry tweets, and the fact that #HasJustineLandedYet was trending on the service.
Do I Date: The New Dating App That’s Like ‘TripAdvisor For People’
STANDARD.CO.UK – Jan 18 – The app, which is just eight weeks old, invites users to leave reviews of people they've dated (including a star rating). If they've got a big date coming up, they can search the app's database to see if the person has already been reviewed or, if they've just been on a date, they can create an account for the person. Users can only create an account if they have the person's phone number: at which point the date receives a text message, asking them to verify their account or request to have it removed. The reviews are anonymous.
2018 App Predictions: App Store Revenues Will Hit New Heights
APPANNIE – Jan 18 – Consumer app store spend will surge past $110B. 2018 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Apple App Store and Android Market. Tens of thousands of apps arrive in the app stores every months – roughly 50K in the iOS App Store and over 150K in Google Play in October 2017 alone – to the point where there are ~ 2M apps in the iOS App Store and ~3.5M in Google Play.
U.K. Appoints A Minister For Loneliness
NYTIMES – Jan 18 – Britain has a serious problem with loneliness, research has found. ~9M people in the country often or always feel lonely, according to a 2017 report published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. Government research has found that ~200K older people in Britain had not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month. The issue prompted Prime Minister Theresa May to appoint a minister for loneliness. Tracey Crouch, who is the under secretary for sport and civil society in the culture ministry, would lead a governmentwide group to build on Ms. Cox's legacy and establish policies on the issue.
Dating App ‘The League’ And CheapCaribbean Offer A Trip To Two Lucky Couples
AOL.COM – Jan 18 – Along with CheapCaribbean, the dating app "The League" is hosting an epic Valentine's Day bash called "Paired Up for Paradise." People looking for love in both NYC and San Francisco can attend the singles party to meet with potential suitors. One lucky new couple from each bash will be sent on a 5-star getaway to the Caribbean that exact night.
Too Busy To Date? There’s An App For That
TIMESLIVE.CO.ZA – Jan 18 – The South African dating app Predict has been given a face-lift to ensure that dates between potential matches actually happen. The new Predict Dating App now has a feature that identifies users' free time and if it coincides with their match's free time‚ both are alerted to possibly set up a date.