Applications
Seagate launches terabyte drive for digital music
MUMBAI: Putting more terabytes in the hands of consumers worldwide, Seagate has announced the launch of what it says is the world’s first 3 Terabyte (TB) external desktop drive.
The 3TB FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive helps to meet the explosive worldwide demand for digital content storage. With 3TB of capacity, people can store up to 120 HD movies, 1,500 video games, thousands of photos or countless hours of digital music.
The 3TB GoFlex Desk external drive couples capacity with the flexibility to adapt the drive’s USB 2.0 interface to a USB 3.0 or FireWire 800 connection to meet varying performance and transfer speed needs. Consumers can create, store and access content from either a Windows or Mac OS X computer on the GoFlex Desk external drive, thanks to an included NTFS driver for Mac.
Seagate Technology country manager India and Saarc Rajesh Khurana says, “Consumer capacity demands are quickly out-pacing the needs of business as people continue to collect high-definition videos, photos and music. Seagate has a tradition of designing products that break into new storage frontiers to meet customer requirements and the 3TB GoFlex™ Desk external drive is no exception–delivering the highest-capacity storage solution available today.”
A recent report by Parks Associates indicates the average consumer household will see its digital media storage needs grow to nearly 900GB by year-end 2014, driven in large part by video downloads, managed copies of Blu-ray Disc, and increasing use of DVR recording capabilities.
The GoFlex Desk external drive delivers unconstrained, high-capacity storage and automatic, continuous backup with software file encryption to help keep all data safe and secure. The standard USB 2.0 interface can be upgraded to USB 3.0 or FireWire 800 by coupling the drive with the appropriate GoFlex desktop adapter to increase file transfer performance by up to 10x for easier copying or sharing of files.
Parks Associates VP, principle analyst Kurt Scherf says, “As the definition quality of digital cameras increases, playback devices such as digital photo frames and MP3 players proliferate and the use of the Internet for downloading music and video continues to grow, more files accumulate in the home. Consumers who are active in digital media creation and consumption will witness their digital media storage needs grow nine-fold by 2014, driving the demand for higher capacity, easy-to-use storage solutions.”
The GoFlex Desk external drive is compatible with both the Windows operating system and Mac computers. Each drive includes an NTFS driver for Mac, which allows the drive to store and access files from both Windows and Mac OS X computers without reformatting.
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.
