Applications
Ricoh Innovations launches mobile visual search platform
BENGALURU: Ricoh Innovations Corporation (RIC), a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of Ricoh Company, has launched Ocutag mobile visual search platform. Ocutag is the first product from its newly formed Visual Services and Solutions Business Unit.
“Mobile search will be a US$ 15 billion by 2017. How much of this will be through visual search is difficult to predict at present. The mission for our new Visual Services and Solutions Business Unit is to understand and interpret the world’s visual information to provide an enhanced human experience. High-performance, large-scale mobile visual search plays an important role in realizing that mission,” stated Ricoh Innovations president and CEO Dr. Nikhil Balram.
The first implementation for this technology has been done with Disney UTV Digital’s new smartphone app in India says RIC. The augmented reality feature called Snap Search connects users to their favorite Bollywood stars and allows them to click a snap of a movie poster to provide easy access to customized content like movie trailers, behind the scenes videos, Tweets, pictures and more.
RIC plans to leverage the shift in consumer entertainment consumption and cumbersomeness that one experiences using a mobile phone virtual keyboard and the limited usability of mobile voice interactivity. It says that its platform can be used to create applications by branders and marketers for smart as well as feature phones and is operating system agnostic. UTV created apps for Windows, iOS and Android phones.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
