Dating

Tinder is getting a Blind Date feature

Find a date before Valentine’s Day

Published

February 11, 2022

Luigi Leonardo

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. If you don’t have a date yet, you can still turn to dating apps to find a special someone before Monday’s festivities. Right on time, Tinder introduced a new Blind Date feature to complement its growing slate of capabilities for would-be daters.

In today’s digital world, it’s almost impossible to go on a truly blind date. After a quick Google, you’ll know practically everything about a new date even before you meet them. However, dating apps are doing their best to maintain a sense of anonymity before new matches voluntarily share that information themselves. Traditionally, profiles only share someone’s first name, age, a short bio, and a few photos.

Tinder wants to change this even further with the new Blind Date feature. Instead of the usual swiping way to match up, users who opt into the feature will be paired with others based on common interests.

However, automatic matches won’t see each other’s photos yet. Instead, they’ll play short games and answer quirky prompts like “I put ketchup on _____.” If both parties like the other’s answers, they’ll get matched and finally see each other’s photos. If not, the feature will try again with another pairing.

The new feature is under Tinder’s Explore tab. Users in the United States already have the feature available. Meanwhile, global users will get Blind Dates “in the coming weeks.”

Dating

Hotel Sogo launches ‘AI’ concept rooms

‘The future of hotels’

Published

March 4, 2024

GadgetMatch

Popular short-stay accommodation Hotel Sogo has revealed its AI-tech concept rooms, showing guests the future of its hotel rooms.

In a video posted by Hotel Sogo on YouTube, the company showcased new services powered by AI technology.

Among them are a self-service kiosk which has a virtual assistant to speed up the check-in process. This kiosk allows guests to choose their room, length of stay, and check-in and check-out times.

Once the transaction has been settled, automated robots will guide the guests to their rooms, instead of porters. These machines are somewhat similar to Dunkin’s robot servers called Number 1 launched a few years back.

The rooms have also replaced keycard slots with scanners. Guests only have to scan the unique QR code provided to them to be able to enter and enjoy their stay.

Inside, the room supports a voice control system, so visitors can turn on the air-conditioning unit, television, and more. Furthermore, there is a wireless charging pod on one of the side tables.

To heighten the ambience, a ceiling projector is included to flash visual effects. To top it all off, even the bathroom has an automated body dryer with silver ion antibacterial treatment.

Hotel Sogo has not yet announced which branches will have such rooms, but it is definitely something couples, families, and groups of friends will look forward to soon.

Apps

Bumble introduces AI-powered feature to combat catfishers

The Deception Detector

Published

February 8, 2024

Her

Even dating apps have been utilizing AI’s capabilities too. Bumble has released a new AI-powered feature called Deception Detector to combat catfishers on the app.

As the name suggests, this feature uses AI to help identify spam, scam, and fake profiles so less users will be victimized. Within the first two months of the Deception Detector’s rollout, reports for such accounts reduced by 45%.

According to research from Bumble, fake profiles and risk of scams are among the top concerns when online dating. Moreover, 46% of women surveyed expressed anxiety over the legitimacy of their online matches on apps.

Thankfully, the Deception Detector has a fast and reliable machine learning-based model to assess the authenticity of profiles. The feature has helped in blocking 95% of spam/scam profiles automatically. Dedicated human support are also on standby to keep the community safe.

This latest release is just part of Bumble’s latest innovations across its products, and aligned with the company’s history of combating misogyny, harassment, and toxicity.

Previously, Bumble introduced Private Detector which also uses AI to blur lewd nude images. Best Bees, an AI algorithm that provides higher a level of curation for members, was also recently released.

Apps

Tinder now lets friends and family choose matches for you

It’s called the Matchmaker feature

Published

October 24, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

An essential part of the Tinder experience is getting your friends’ usually constructive critique of potential matches. If you’re someone who seeks a friend’s approval before swiping right, the dating service is making the experience official. Tinder users can now ask friends and family for matching suggestions.

Dubbed the Matchmaker, the feature will let a user’s close circle interact with their profiles in a meaningful way. Using the feature will generate a link which users can share with up to 15 different people. They don’t even need a Tinder profile to start recommending. Anyone, even those without Tinder, can participate in a Matchmaker session.

Once created, a session will last 24 hours. Participating matchmakers will go through a series of profiles for the user. As always, they can swipe right on profiles that they think will match well with their friend. After the 24 hours, the original user can review who their friends recommended to them. Recommended profiles will show up with a label. Notably, rejected profiles will still show but without any sort of mark.

To be clear, the Matchmaker feature will not replace the original user. No matter how many profiles a user’s friends recommend, only the user themselves have the final say on whether they swipe right or engage in conversation with the recommended profile.

At its best, the new feature gives users an additional filter when selecting a potential match on the platform. At its quirkiest, it allows family members to vet matches for their single loved one. And, at its worst, it’s still a bit of fun to come up with funny matches for a friend.

The Matchmaker feature is available now in 15 countries around the world.