TECH CRUNCH – Feb 3 -Tinder Plus, the paid version of Tinder, offering features like an Undo button for errant swipes and a Passport option for searching outside users' current geographic region, is going to launch in the U.S. in March. Tinder Plus is rumored to cost $6.99 per month.
Category: Reporters – Sarah Perez
Zoosk Lays Off 15% Of Staff
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 15 – The move was made as part of a larger effort to lower expenses in many areas. News of the layoffs follows the exit of Zoosk’s founders from their leadership roles last month, and confirmation that the company was indefinitely delaying its IPO plans.
Hot Or Not Founder Returns With Cakey, A YouTube App For Kids
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 22 - Hot Or Not founder James Hong is a father of three. He wanted to keep his kids safe from the unsuitable, adult-oriented content on YouTube so he launched Cakey, a YouTube app for children. Cakey offers a basic interface to YouTube where kids can browse through pre-screened kid-safe video “collections” presented in a film reel-like interface.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Tinder Spammers Move To SMS
TECH CRUNCH – Oct 10 - Tinder for a long time had been flooded with spam bots – fake accounts that flirt with users in order to redirect them to adult sites and take their money. Tinder addressed the issue with a technical update. It cut down the in-app spam. However, it didn’t necessarily address the spamming activities themselves. According to a new report, Tinder bot spammers just moved to a new channel: SMS.
PlentyofFish Hit By DDoS Attack
TECH CRUNCH – May 20 – PlentyofFish was the victim of a DSoS attack that affected ~1M users for 5 hours. The 40 GBps attack, which affected the company's website and mobile apps, was much larger than the 8 GBps attack which took Meetup.com offline last month. The attacker demanded $2k to stop the attack. POF has successfully mitigated the attack and is back online.
Mingleton Is Tinder For Strangers In The Same Room
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 10 – Mingleton is a new mobile dating app that uses iBeacon technology to help singles connect only with people in their immediate vicinity. Users sign up with Facebook before being assigned a unique beacon configuration.
Tinder Hacked By Bots Promoting “Castle Clash” Game
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 2 – A number of Tinder users report being matched with fake profiles of women, who are actually automated bots promoting a mobile game called “Castle Clash.” It’s unclear who is behind these fake accounts, though of course the app developer, IGG.com, is immediately suspect.
Social Discovery App Sonar Gets New Investment
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 28 – Sonar, a social discovery service that was among the top apps at last year’s SXSW in Austin, is announcing new investment from Bing Fund. This angel fund and incubator program from Microsoft was publicly revealed this summer, allowing Microsoft to partner with entrepreneurs, which can then receive subsidies to use Bing APIs in their apps, as well as access the technologies developed by Microsoft Research. Sonar’s app uses check-ins on Facebook and Foursquare, plus geo-tagged tweets, to show you lists of nearby people, ranking them first by friends you know, then showing you other relevant people nearby.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch and InternetDatingInvestments.
Uber Partners With Grouper
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 21 – On-demand car service Uber is teaming up with Grouper. With a new program and promotional event called #UberGrouper, users can sign up for an exclusive deal in their city allowing them to use Uber as their luxury transportation of choice on their Grouper meetups. Grouper brings its members together for “Groupers,” which are basically like group dates.