Tinder Prompts to Help Express Yourself and Increase Match Potential

Did you hear? There’s a new way to put your personality front-and-center on Tinder.

The world’s most popular app for meeting new people has new Prompts that display among your profile photos. Writing the perfect bio can be nerve-wracking, so they’ve introduced a way to share bite-sized glimpses into your personality that can also be great conversation starters. 

“With Text Prompts, we’re excited to give our members a way to freshen up their profiles, highlight their personalities, and bring out their creative sides with just a few words. We hope that these will lead to more connections and spark conversations during a time when many of us are craving a change in routine and someone new to talk to” added a Tinder spokesperson. 

Here’s how it works. 

1. It just takes three taps to access Text Prompts: 👉 Profile icon in the top right corner of your app 👉 Add Media 👉  Text Prompt

2. Pick your fave(s): The dice in the top left of the screen to see more Prompts. Pick the one(s) that speak to you and provide a response. These will display as a photo, so when potential matches through your profile, they’ll be front-and-center. Here are some of our favorites that really show who you are: 

Song I’m singing while I wash my 👐

I’m finally binging 📺

3. That’s it: once you tap “Add”, then your Prompt response will be added to your profile photos. You can rearrange the order photos, Loops and Prompts are displayed - or remove them - at any time. 

4. Check back 👀

New Prompts will appear as weeks go by. So if you’re looking to refresh your profile as the world dates digitally, look no further than Prompts. After all, we know we aren’t going anywhere to take new photos. 

JioSaavn Releases Multi-Platform Experience with Living Search, Elevated Podcasts, and Video Experience

JioSaavn, the largest streaming platform for South Asian music and audio entertainment, is today announcing a series of updates to its User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) across platforms. Users of JioSaavn will notice several new design and functionality elements today, with more to be released in the coming weeks. The product changes reflect smoother interactions and a cleaner look. 

Updates that are currently live include a new homepage navigation, faster AI-powered recommendations, new artist profiles, and a more dynamic browse screen. A series of more comprehensive product updates are launching soon, such as a new smartphone playback experience that includes music videos; new Web and Desktop products will be more reflective of the smartphone experience; and Jio Set Top Box will be fully redesigned and loaded with new features. 

One of the most exciting updates is the app’s AI functionality. JioSaavn is augmenting classical collaborative filtering approaches, such as Matrix Factorization and Word2Vec, with deep learning based models. The result is vastly improved recommendations and discovery platform by using a hybrid system of audio similarity and users' listening patterns. This also helps the app serve quality recommendations across all regional languages in addition to Hindi and English.

“We’re constantly thinking about ways to provide listeners with the highest quality streaming technology and the most enjoyable experience possible. Discovery of new music continues to be an important component to streaming, so we wanted to prioritize a sharpened engine for relevant recommendations and track suggestions. We’re also excited to announce product updates across all of our platforms that make for a seamless, intuitive experience. In these uncertain times, simplicity and music are wonderful gifts,” Clint Balcom, Chief Product Officer and SVP of Design at JioSaavn said.  

DBS Bank India's Custom API Solution Empowers TCIL’s Truck Drivers

DBS Bank India has introduced a completely digital and innovative payments solution in the Indian transportation and logistics sector. Taking forward DBS’ commitment to support lives and livelihoods, the bank has partnered with TCIL for empowering truck drivers by facilitating real-time payments through the DBS RAPID (Real Time APIs by DBS) solution, thereby enabling them to receive payments instantly.

Given the large volumes of transactions, and round-the-clock nature of the operations, the bank proposed setting up a UPI-based real-time payments solution which is available 24x7x365. The solution has been set up under the aegis of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). DBS RAPID (Real-time APIs by DBS) and UPI payments, provides a seamless integration with the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. With this solution, TCIL truck drivers receive an instant credit into their bank account, which they can then swipe at terminals or withdraw cash using ATMs.

TCIL is among India's leading integrated supply chain and logistics solutions providers, with revenues over INR 3,200 Cr and an extensive pan-India network. Established in 1958, it has developed a vast bouquet of product offerings encompassing multimodal freight management, supply chain design-cum-implementation, and coastal movements, thus operates a large fleet to manage its business demands. This further increases the need to make advance payments to the truck drivers for expenses such as fuel requirements, payment at tolls and, other miscellaneous expenses. Earlier, these payments were primarily made by cash or prepaid cards resulting in physical engagements and unwarranted delays.

Divyesh Dalal, Head - Global Transaction Services, DBS Bank India said, “At DBS, we anticipate customer needs and offer solutions that meet their end-to-end requirement. We follow a pre-emptive approach and create customized offerings to bring more convenience and value to our customers. DBS RAPID can be seamlessly integrated into our corporate customers' systems or platforms, to facilitate payments and banking transactions in real-time. In the case of TCIL, it enables truck drivers to live hassle-free and manage their expenses with ease, thereby aligning with our commitment to supporting lives and livelihoods.

Ashish Tiwari, Group CFO, TCIL said, “At TCIL, we have immense focus on customer-centric approach and State-of-Art technology. The DBS RAPID solution has strengthened internal controls, reduced our cost, and increased our pace of business. We are proud to have partnered with DBS Bank, which has enabled us to contribute to digital India in a meaningful way and drive India towards a digital economy.”

Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI said, “We, at NPCI, are happy to collaborate with DBS Bank for the UPI-based innovative digital solution - DBS RAPID. We believe, this initiative will empower truck drivers as they can now receive money real-time with UPI, to manage their day-to-day expenses. We aim to provide a convenient and safe UPI transaction experience to all sections of society. DBS Bank’s real-time APIs-driven solution will enable seamless and contactless payments, which is the need-of-the-hour. This aligns with our overall mission, as we urge organisations to adopt robust digital solutions and manage transactions virtually.”

DBS RAPID has enabled TCIL to improve customer experiences through a reduced turn-around time and quicker mobilisation of goods. The dependence on cash has reduced significantly, and lower digital transaction costs have ensured higher acceptability of the solution among fleet operators. DBS RAPID has also been adopted by companies such as Mahanagar Gas, Lykos, Herbalife, and Zolo Stays. This solution was also recently recognized by Corporate Treasurer as one of the Best Treasury & Finance Strategies in Asia-Pacific.

Vestige Dedicates the Campaign on ‘Potential Lies Within Us’ to Support the PM’s Vision of ‘Self-Reliance’

Direct Selling

* Vestige celebrates 16 years of enabling self-reliance of distributors

* Online ordering up by over 300% in the lockdown phase

* Vestige is the only Indian direct selling company among Global Top 30

 

Vestige Marketing Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading direct selling company, is celebrating 16 years of providing hygiene, health, and wellness products to more than 2 crore distributors. On its 16th anniversary celebrations, Vestige rolls out the campaign ‘Potential Lies Within Us’ to support the honourable PM’s vision of ‘Atma Nirbharta’ (self-reliance). The 16th anniversary is being celebrated with a complete focus on how the direct selling industry can generate livelihood for people and help overcome the COVID- 19 crisis by providing them economic independence.

Commenting on the campaign, Mr Gautam Bali, MD, Vestige Marketing Pvt. Ltd. said, “Our success over the years has been the result of our emphasis on creating an eco-system to facilitate people becoming economically independent, and to help them pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Our distributors have believed in Vestige since its inception and their support has been phenomenal in building the institution. In this journey, the 16th anniversary has become very special because of two reasons. Firstly, Vestige has been recognised in top 30 list of global direct selling companies. Secondly, our model of economic independence is in line with the honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s call for being more vocal about local and self-reliant.”

COVID 19 crisis has posed huge challenges to the world at large however it has also taught us new ways of doing business. We have taken our operations online and our distributors have shifted seamlessly to the virtual platform. Specifically, during the lockdown period, the company exhibited its technological prowess to keep in touch with its distributors every day through regular training and skilling sessions across India and international markets.

Mr Gautam Bali further added, “Through our online platforms, we ensured our distributors have the access to right products at right time. Online ordering of products increased by over 300% since March. Our employees ensured efficient service by opening up various touch points across the country following stringent safety measures. Not only this, we successfully launched one of our key products in healthcare category – Vestige Prime Metamind – through the digital platform. It is our aim to keep distributors engaged and motivated everyday through various e-training and management talks as well.

The Indian spirit of resilience and of winning in the face of adversity has been exemplified by direct sellers, who are well versed with building successful businesses from scratch.

Vestige has an extensive range of more than 300 world-class products. The hygiene, health and wellness range comprise of over 90 percent of the product portfolio. True to their mantra of being self-reliant, Vestige is the only direct selling company in India with its own manufacturing plant, that is  GMP certified in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. All the hygiene, health and wellness products of Vestige are sourced and produced locally. 

BCT Digital Launches First Ever ‘Real-Time Early Warning Systems’ to Tackle Non-Performing Assets

BCT Digital, a global FinTech company specializing in BFSI, Predictive Analytics, and Risk Management, has announced the launch of their specialized ‘Real-Time Early Warning Systems for credit monitoring’ - the first-ever real-time monitoring solution to tackle Non-Performing Assets (NPA). As a FinTech specialist in risk management solutions, BCT Digital has been helping banks and financial institutions through their pioneering product “rt360 - Early Warning System”. The product is currently running in the top public and private sector banks in India and across the globe. “rt360- Real-Time Early Warning System for Credit Monitoring” is their AI-based innovative upgrade to their current EWS product suite. “Real-Time EWS has the potential to detect and prevent suspicious or fraudulent transactions, effectively paving way for a transition from detective to preventive credit risk monitoring’’.

There has been an alarming increase in the number of bad loans, frauds, and non-performing assets in banks in recent times which have resulted in a critical imbroglio in the Indian banking system. The lack of due diligence before and after loan disbursal is the single largest contributing factor to these frauds apart from defaults, economic slowdown, and lax lending practices. With the help of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and streaming, data- lenders will be able to “detect suspicious transactions in loan accounts on a real-time/near real-time basis, which will positively contribute to the overall health of the credit portfolio.

“When we launched the first EWS product way back in 2016, our goal was to make in India - i.e. make it local for the global marketplace. Our EWS implementations have yielded the maximum ROI - for instance even if banks can reduce 1% of the NPA for a bank of asset size of 50 B with an average NPA of 10%, will bring back at least 500 M per bank/per year. Now, with Real-time Early Warning System for credit monitoring banks have the opportunity to prevent bad loans at the disbursement stage itself. We aim to empower every financial institution to be risk-free and provide them with a technologically robust and cutting-edge risk management ecosystem to rely upon. With the current NPA situation in the country and the way the banking industry is changing due to COVID-19, our focus has been on disruptive technologies like - AI, ML, predictive analytics and blockchain, to catapult India into the next generation of banking. Through the real-time EWS, we want to empower banks by helping them make the right decision, stay ahead of the competition, and prevent possible NPAs and banking frauds with the help of real-time data.” said Dr. Jaya Vaidhyanathan, CEO at BCT Digital.

Today’s early warning systems are more effective in not just monitoring and detecting red flags, but also putting banks’ interests ahead of individual interests by measuring and monitoring risks, placing banks back in control of their data and decisions. In this current unprecedented situation with the pandemic, real-time monitoring of transactions in the loan portfolio will provide yet potent ammunition for banks to keep the risk profile of the credit portfolio, reeling under the impact of the situation, under check. 

A real-time EWS works on three core principles - integration with source systems, real-time scanning of transactions, and issuing reverse feedback. EWS will monitor some of the major transaction types on a real-time basis from originating through intra-bank transfers, inward & outward cheque clearing, etc., from the point of initiation to completion. A powerful and configurable rule engine facilitates the system to recognize potential fraudulent or suspicious transactions as and when they get initiated on a real-time basis and warn the bankers, giving them the option to approve or reject the transaction. 

BCT Digital’s strength lies in identifying a yet-unsolved business problem and leveraging emerging technologies, such as AI and predictive analytics, to solve it. The company’s mission has been ‘reverse innovation’ - making products in India, for India, and the global market. 

L&T Technology Services Joins SRT Alliance and Is Recognized as SRT Ready Partner

L&T Technology Services Limited (NSE: LTTS), a global leading pure-play engineering services company, has joined the SRT Alliance and has been recognized as an SRT Ready partner providing customers with cutting-edge cloud-based video transport technology.

The SRT Alliance, founded by Haivision in April 2017, already has more than 300 members. Its mission is to overcome the challenges of low-latency live streaming by supporting the collaborative development of SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) through the SRT Open Source Project, the fastest growing open source streaming project.

SRT is a free open source video transport protocol and technology stack originally developed and pioneered by Haivision that enables the delivery of high-quality and secure, low-latency video across the public internet. Some of the world’s top broadcasters and operators are already part of the industry pervasive SRT Alliance.  LTTS is one of the latest additions to the alliance as an SRT solution provider.

LTTS’ in-house platforms such as its next-gen digital signage solution Flyboard, combined with its expertise in SRT and cloud transmission, open up a plethora of possibilities for the industry. Some of these include reducing transmission time by up to 75% in remote area defense communications, cloud-based production workflows to reduce transmission costs from the field to broadcaster studios, live coverage of far flung events without the need of satellite links, and enhanced viewing of sporting events through multiple angles for commentators and fans alike.

Samir Bagga, Chief Marketing Officer at L&T Technology Services said, “LTTS has been at the forefront of creating engineering solutions over the cloud that are fast, reliable and dramatically enhance efficiency for the media industry. By combining our cloud expertise with SRT and Flyboard, we are delivering digital solutions that cater to the entire live streaming value chain – from media contribution to production, distribution and delivery.”

“SRT is an industry-leading protocol that solves the challenges of live video transport across the internet,” said Suso Carrillo, Director SRT Alliance at Haivision. “LTTS’ suite of high-end secure engineering solutions, both linear and over-the-top (OTT), combined with the powerful features of SRT, stands to redefine the live video value chain.”

Scientists Assert Increase in Forest Connectivity is Crucial for Movement of Mammals in India

We are happy to share with you the release of a new scientific paper by Anisha Jayadevan (Centre for Wildlife Studies), Rajat Nayak (Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning), Dr. Krithi K. Karanth (Centre for Wildlife Studies), Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy (Ashoka Trust For Research In Ecology And The Environment), Dr. Ruth Defries (Columbia University), Dr. K. Ullas Karanth (Centre for Wildlife Studies), and Srinivas Vaidyanathan (Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning).

The study titled Navigating paved paradise: Evaluating landscape permeability to movement for large mammals in two conservation priority landscapes in India was published in the journal, Biological Conservation (Volume 247).

As one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, India’s infrastructure is undergoing rapid expansion. As a consequence, forests are increasingly impacted with fragmentation of critical habitats, reduction in animal movement and mobility, and disruption of connectivity in many ecosystems.

This collaborative research effort focuses on two priority conservation landscapes in India – the Western Ghats and Central India to assess landscape permeability for multiple mammal species. Importantly, the study finds that natural areas constitute only 20-55% in the Western Ghats and 50-70% in Central India of unrestricted, increased and channelled movement areas. The detailed landscape permeability maps can be used to identify key areas that facilitate movement for multiple wide-ranging animals. The study’s spatially explicit results will help prioritize areas where restoration or mitigation efforts should be planned to improve permeability of movement for large mammals.