Tinder wants AI to set you up on a date

When I first met Sean Rad, back in 2013, Tinder
was a blossoming dating app. It was known
primarily for, how shall I put it, casual
relationships.
Back then he told me Tinder was “good for
humanity”, a line I instantly latched onto as being
faintly ridiculous, and wonderful for a headline.
But now when I think of how Tinder has
impacted my life, and those of several people
close to me, I start to see what he was getting
at.
Life-changing things have happened to millions
of people thanks to that simple swipe-yes-swipe-
no interface.
I know people who have married their Tinder
matches. I know many others who are in serious
relationships. And yes, I know many people who
have had casual hook-ups and one-night stands.
Yet why that last point is seen as a negative to
be joked about I’ll never know. People have been
doing that in bars for well over 100 years.
Anyway, Tinder is growing up. It’s now a serious
technology company tackling one of life’s most
important matters, and is by far the most
popular dating app worldwide.
After a lot of boardroom musical chairs , Mr Rad
is the chairman of both Tinder and Swipe
Ventures, the arm of the company designed to
buy other dating-related technologies.
One of which is artificial intelligence. And its
collision with dating might be the most intriguing
application of AI yet.
“I think this might sound crazy,” Mr Rad said on
Tuesday at tech conference Start-Up Grind.
"In five years time, Tinder might be so good, you
might be like “Hey [Apple voice assistant] Siri,
what’s happening tonight?’
“And Tinder might pop up and say 'There’s
someone down the street you might be attracted
to. She’s also attracted to you. She’s free
tomorrow night. We know you both like the same
band, and it’s playing - would you like us to buy
you tickets?’… and you have a match.
"It’s a little scary."
Also a little lazy, you might say. Part of the
dating process is surely assessing someone’s
tastes and idea of fun. If that’s taken out of the
equation, it’s a lot harder to understand a
person.
Still, even though it can be difficult to admit,
dating really is a numbers game, and right now
the data Tinder uses is primitive: age, location
and mutual friends - as well as a few mutual
interests as defined by what you “like” on
Facebook. Why not add a few parameters and
make it even more likely you will click?
Traffic light party
Anyone who has been a student will know about
“traffic light parties” (or stoplights if you’re an
American). A hideous concept in which you go
on a night out dressed in either red, amber or
green. Red means “in a relationship and happy”.
Green means “single and looking”. Amber means
you’re a bad human being.
The idea is that two “greens” can find each
other easily. Quite why anyone would go as a
“red” is anyone’s guess.
Now, this works (in theory) on university
campuses. But such a system would be bedlam
in the real world - particularly on St Patrick’s
Day, I'd imagine.
But you have to admit, a way of knowing
someone’s relationship status without having to
ask would be a very useful tool. Indeed, it’s what
made Facebook popular in its early days.
Mr Rad sees a time when Tinder could offer a
form of real-life traffic party through augmented
reality.
AR is the technology that overlays digital images
onto the real world as you walk around. So far
the only truly popular application of it has been
Pokemon Go, which, while bringing people
together, isn’t the relationship fast-track most
people are presumably looking for.
But what if you could use AR to meet potential
partners?
"That will definitely impact dating,” Mr Rad said,
noting Tinder is popular for so many people
because it allows us to show interest in a person
without the fear of rejection.
"You can imagine how, with augmented reality,
that experience could happen in the room, in real
time. The impact is profound as these devices
get closer to your senses, to your eyes, to your
experiences.”
That might make you deeply uncomfortable. I
don't blame you. As ever, it will be up to
technology companies - not just Tinder - to roll
out such ideas in way that doesn’t encroach on
privacy, or indeed, common decency and
manners. The key word here is, as always,
consent.
Tinder’s future lives and breathes on its ability to
remain the most popular app for getting people
together and into relationships. More recently,
rival services like Bumble have shown signs of
disrupting Tinder’s dominance. Bumble’s key
selling point is the fact women have to initiate
the conversations.
But there’s plenty of market to go round. Tinder
now has a far more global focus, Mr Rad said,
with approximately 600 million smartphone-toting
single people ready to find The One.

64GB Iphone could put an end to low storage iphones

Apple may dump its low-storage option on its
upcoming iPhone 8, which could start at the
64GB version, according to TrendForce.
It wouldn't be the first time. Apple ditched
the dreaded 16GB iPhone when it released
the iPhone 7, making 32GB the phone's
smallest storage option. Apple may continue
the trend by making 64GB the new smallest
capacity, and tossing out the 32GB option
altogether. The larger-capacity iPhone 8 is
said to storage 256GB of photos, video and
apps.
The move could play a part in the pricing of
the upcoming iPhone. A 256GB iPhone 7 will
already set you back $849/£799/AUD$1,379,
and the premium iPhone 8 is rumored to
cost over $1,000 with the introduction of
new technology like OLED displays . Limiting
the smallest size to 64GB instead of 32GB
could result in a higher price for the
cheapest iPhone 8 option, which could
dissuade some buyers.
While the 4.7-inch iPhone 7S and 5.5-inch
iPhone 7S Plus are believed to have a
maximum of 256GB storage, the report does
not offer their exact storage capacities.
What the report does say is that the iPhone
7S will be more economically priced to
compete against other smartphone brands.
That could mean less storage to keep costs
down.
All of the iPhone 8's rumored features
brought to life in a beautiful concept design
The TrendForce report also adds (or
supports) the following rumors:
Check out the full list of rumored iPhone 8
features here.
Apple did not respond to a request for
comment.
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MORE FROM CNET
The 64GB iPhone 8
could put an end to low-
storage iPhones
A recent report suggests 64GB and
256GB storage capacities, and that's
it.
0 Handy Abovergleich
8
We may see three new iPhone models: a
4.7-inch, 5.5-inch, and a high end 5.8-inch
version
•
The 5.8-inch version could get an
AMOLED display, 2K resolution and no
curved display
•
The 5.8-inch version could lose its home
button and increase its body-to-screen
ratio, making it around the same size as
the 4.7-inch version
•
The 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch versions may
both have LCD displays
•
The 5.5-inch and 5.8-inch versions could
have 3GB of RAM, while the 4.7-inch
version may stick to 2GB of RAM

Facebook confusion over fake cancer babies U-turn

Facebook has apologised for repeatedly restoring
an account that posted stolen photos of children
falsely claiming they had cancer.
The social network twice disabled the account
following complaints, only to re-enable it hours
later.
"These posts are clearly distressing for the
families and this content has now been
removed," a spokeswoman said.
"We apologise for the delay in taking them
down."
The social network acted for a third time after
the matter was brought to its attention by the
BBC. It has not explained the actions of its
complaints team.
One internet expert said the behaviour had been
"bonkers" and called into question Facebook's
safety procedures.
Fake appeal
The BBC reported on Tuesday the case of a
child from Cambridgeshire whose photos had
been used alongside a fake plea for help.
"This little baby has cancer and he need money
for surgery," the accompanying post stated.
It added that Facebook would donate money for
every "like", comment or share of the message.
The picture was posted at the start of February.
More than one million people responded.
Security experts said such tactics were often
used by "like farming" scammers .
Perpetrators attempt to engage as many users
as possible so that they can later target them
with follow-up messages and/or sell on the
profile page and its associated contacts to
unscrupulous marketers.
The mother of the child - Sarah Allen from St
Neots, Cambridgeshire - said she had been upset
by the discovery.
"We had people messaging saying they had
heard Jasper has cancer," she told the BBC.
"He doesn't. These were pictures from when he
had chickenpox."
Facebook eventually deleted this post but - after
overturning Tuesday's short-lived account block -
left similar fake cancer posts featuring other
children live.
The BBC determined they included an photo of a
three-year-old girl from England, who was injured
in a road accident in 2015. The image belongs to
her parents.
"I need the photo to be removed," said the
mother of the girl - who asked not to be named -
when she was informed of its misuse.
"I am extremely upset about it."
Other images showed:
a teenage boy from Texas in a coma with
viral meningitis. His family had run a
separate crowdfunding campaign to help pay
for his treatment
a young girl from Texas who has progeria, a
genetic disorder that causes premature
ageing. Her mother had blogged about her
life
a baby girl from Pennsylvania, who needed
an operation for omphalocele, a birth defect
of her abdomen. Her parents had shared
photos online of her surgery
a baby from Florida, who died after being
born with a defect of the diaphragm. The
image had been featured in the local press
In addition, the account featured several photos
of dead young children in coffins, claiming users
would have "76 year of bad luck" if they scrolled
past without liking or sharing the posts.
Facebook's community standards say it does not
allow posts featuring images that infringe other
people's copyright.
The company does not require each rights holder
to make a claim before acting.
'Bare minimum'
Facebook first disabled the account on 10
January after Mrs Allen had sent several
messages to its complaints team, only for it to
be made live again the next day.
The social network took the account offline
again on Tuesday afternoon, but it was active
again about five hours later.
The BBC questioned the decision early this
morning. But it was not until about 15:00 GMT
that the account was taken offline for a third
time.
Cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward said
Facebook did not appear to have scrutinised the
case closely enough despite the publicity it had
already generated.
"Clearly anybody should have the right to appeal
their account being taken down, but if it's
returned up that quickly it doesn't show much
due process has been taken in checking it out,"
said the University of Surrey lecturer.
"It's difficult not to conclude Facebook was
doing the bare minimum here."

Apple iphone 6S

NETWORK
LAUNCH Announced 2015, September
Status Available. Released 2015, September
BODY Dimensions 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm (5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 in)
Weight 143 g (5.04 oz)
SIM Nano-SIM
- Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified)
DISPLAY Type LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen,
16M colors
Size 4.7 inches (~65.6% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 750 x 1334 pixels (~326 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating
- 3D Touch display
- Display Zoom
PLATFORM OS iOS 9, upgradable to iOS 9.3.3, planned upgrade
to iOS 10
Chipset Apple A9
CPU Dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister
GPU PowerVR GT7600 (six-core graphics)
MEMORY Card slot No
Internal 16/64/128 GB, 2 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary 12 MP, f/2.2, 29mm, phase detection autofocus,
dual-LED (dual tone) flash, check quality
Features 1/3" sensor size, 1.22 µm pixel size, geo-tagging,
simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording,
touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/
panorama)
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps,1080p@120fps,
720p@240fps, check quality
Secondary 5 MP, f/2.2, 31mm, 1080p@30fps, 720p@240fps,
face detection, HDR, panorama
SOUND Alert types Vibration, proprietary ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
- 16-bit/44.1kHz audio
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.2, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
NFC Yes (Apple Pay only)
Radio No
USB v2.0, reversible connector
FEATURES Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity,
compass, barometer
Messaging iMessage, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email,
Push Email
Browser HTML5 (Safari)
Java No
- Siri natural language commands and dictation
- iCloud cloud service
- MP3/WAV/AAX+/AIFF/Apple Lossless player
- MP4/H.264 player
- Audio/video/photo editor
- Document editor
BATTERY Non-removable Li-Po 1715 mAh battery (6.9 Wh)
Stand-by Up to 240 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 14 h (3G)
Music play Up to 50 h
MISC Colors Space Gray, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold
SAR US 1.14 W/kg (head) 1.14 W/kg (body)
SAR EU 0.87 W/kg (head) 0.98 W/kg (body)
Price group 9/10
TESTS Performance Basemark OS II 2.0: 2195
Display Contrast ratio: 1481 (nominal), 3.783 (sunlight)
Camera Photo / Video
Loudspeaker Voice 66dB / Noise 64dB / Ring 65dB
Audio quality Noise -93.8dB / Crosstalk
Technology GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE

Apple iphone 6S plus

NETWORK
LAUNCH Announced 2015, September
Status Available. Released 2015, September
BODY Dimensions 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm (6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 in)
Weight 192 g (6.77 oz)
SIM Nano-SIM
- Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified)
DISPLAY Type LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen,
16M colors
Size 5.5 inches (~67.7% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~401 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating
- 3D Touch display
- Display Zoom
PLATFORM OS iOS 9, upgradable to iOS 9.3.3, planned upgrade
to iOS 10
Chipset Apple A9
CPU Dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister
GPU PowerVR GT7600 (six-core graphics)
MEMORY Card slot No
Internal 16/64/128 GB, 2 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary 12 MP, f/2.2, 29mm, phase detection autofocus,
OIS, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, check quality
Features 1/3" sensor size, 1.22 µm pixel size, geo-tagging,
simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording,
touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/
panorama)
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 1080p@120fps,
720p@240fps, check quality
Secondary 5 MP, f/2.2, 31mm, 1080p@30fps, 720p@240fps,
face detection, HDR, panorama
SOUND Alert types Vibration, proprietary ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
- 16-bit/44.1kHz audio
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot
Bluetooth v4.2, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
NFC Yes (Apple Pay only)
Radio No
USB v2.0, reversible connector
FEATURES Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity,
compass, barometer
Messaging iMessage, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email,
Push Email
Browser HTML5 (Safari)
Java No
- Siri natural language commands and dictation
- iCloud cloud service
- MP3/WAV/AAX+/AIFF/Apple Lossless player
- MP4/H.264 player
- Audio/video/photo editor
- Document editor
BATTERY Non-removable Li-Po 2750 mAh battery (10.45
Wh)
Stand-by Up to 384 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 24 h (3G)
Music play Up to 80 h
MISC Colors Space Gray, Silver, Gold, Rose Gold
SAR US 1.12 W/kg (head) 1.14 W/kg (body)
SAR EU 0.93 W/kg (head) 0.98 W/kg (body)
Price group 9/10
TESTS Performance Basemark OS II 2.0: 2261
Display Contrast ratio: 1382:1 (nominal), 3.530 (sunlight)
Camera Photo / Video
Loudspeaker Voice 65dB / Noise 65dB / Ring 64dB
Audio quality Noise -93.4dB / Crosstalk -71.1dB
Technology GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE