Bumble is ushering a new era of dating. The dating app has just rolled out a new brand design. This includes a new logo and user interface with bolder fonts and refreshed colors and illustrations. Along these are many significant updates to the app’s features, giving users better ways to connect with others.

For instance, Bumble has added hundreds of new prompts and have refreshed the prompts UI to help members show off their personalities easier. Shared interests have also been moved to the top of the profiles for users to better spot commonalities. This gives users a snippet of profiles for them to know right away what they have in common. Furthermore, the app has also increased the number of required profile photos to four to boost the likelihood of matches.

Among the new features on Bumble is Opening Moves. This allows women to set a post-match question for their connections to respond to within 24 hours. This facilitates a more meaningful connection and introduces another way to connect outside of Bumble’s Make The First Move. Of course, they may directly message their match even if they haven’t responded to the post-match question.

Meanwhile, Bumble has also expanded its Dating Intentions right from the setup. This is so users can answer the question “What are you hoping to find?” with more accurate choices. Among these are Long Term Relationship, Life Partner, Fun, Casual Dates, Intimacy without commitment, Ethical non-monogamy, and Marriage.

This change stemmed from a Bumble survey that saw 68% of women struggle with people not being upfront about their dating intentions. When browsing, the expanded dating intentions badges will show right below the person’s profile’s “About me” in a section called “I’m looking for.”

Moreover, Bumble has renamed Best Bees to For You. Bumble is employing a new machine learning model to give users their daily set of four curated and relevant profiles based on preferences and past matches.

The changes are part of Bumble’s mantra to empower women to make the first move, flip gender roles, and take control of their dating app experience and dating life in general.

People may now straighten hair without worrying about heat damage. Dyson has launched the new Dyson Airstrait hair straightener, ushering a new era in hair straightening. As the product name suggests, this innovative tool introduces a new way to straighten hair using just air.

The Airstrait has a simple wet-to-dry straightening process. Airflow is accelerated through the two arms’ 1.5mm openings, creating a high-velocity downward blade of air at a specific angle. This creates a controlled downward force to straighten hair simultaneously as it dries.

With the tool, stylers can achieve a naturally straight and shiny finish that maintains the hair’s strength and healthy look. The Airstrait also speeds the process up by about 25%. What’s best is there is no heat damage, unlike traditional straighteners.

Designed for multiple hair types

The Airstrait runs on a specifically-engineered Hyperdymium motor, a 13-blade impeller that spins up to 106,000rpm and generates 3.5kPa of pressure. Like Dyson’s hair care range, the Airstrait features intelligent heat control that measures the airflow’s temperature to ensure there is no damage.

Users may switch between two styling modes: Wet and Dry. The Wet and Dry modes are pre-set with specific heat and airflow combinations for the best results. A Cool mode is also available to set the style. Moreover, the airflow control has two speed settings, low and high. Drying, meanwhile, can be set to cold shot or root drying.

The science

Dyson has constantly invested a lot financially in research and technology development to craft innovative products in its specific industry. In creating the Airstrait, Dyson engineers studied every detail, from airflow dynamics to hair structure. They also considered thermal, mechanical, and chemical damage and their effects to hair health.

In the end, the Airstrait works based on one key principle. In styling hair to a new shape, hydrogen bonds from each hair strand are broken down. Traditionally, this is done through heat or moisture. But Dyson came up with a tool that just lets water weaken the hydrogen bonds, and then style hair with the optimum level of heat and controlled airflow.

Price, availability

The Dyson Airstrait is available starting April 16 in two colorways: Bright Nickel/Rich Copper and Prussian Blue/Rich Copper. It is priced at PhP 33,900.

Those interested in preordering may already do using this link: Dyson Airstrait

Filipina-owned CLOVER-FI Games is taking the next step to build more accessible mobile games through Google Play. One-woman developer and publisher Camilla Santiago is representing the country at Google Play’s Indie Games Accelerator (IGA) program this year.

Her CLOVER-FI Games studio is behind hit local game Window Garden. The idle game lets players plant and decorate their own virtual indoor garden while relaxing in chill vibes, lo-fi music, and a cottagecore aesthetic. It was released in October 2021, back when Santiago learned app development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Windows Garden has since amassed a million downloads. In almost three years, it has been received well by gamers with a 4.7 rating based on more than 8,200 reviews.

Google Play IGA

The Google Play IGA is a 10-week course designed for high-potential indie game studios. The program allows these startups to access the best of Google’s programs, products, people, and technology to be able to build and improve a successful organization.

The last Philippine representative in the program was Ranida Games, which had created one-on-one fighting game Vita Fighters. Through IGA, the title received benefits, allowing the developers to improve it.

Like Ranida Games, Santiago’s CLOVER-FI Games is just getting started. Her studio’s goal is to ultimately create more cozy-themed games that are accessible to everyone through mobile platforms.

With the help of the IGA, Santiago will be equipped with the necessary skills and experience needed to create another potentially successful title just like Window Garden. We can only wait as she empowers Filipinas through her craft.