Applications
Adobe wins Emmy Award for video recommendations system
NEW DELHI: Adobe announced the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will recognise the company with a 2013 technology and engineering Emmy award for the role of its technology in personalised recommendations for video discovery.
Adobe is receiving the award for developing the first recommendations system, which outlined the fundamental concepts of personalising information for consumers as they search for and discover video content. The company will be honored during a ceremony at the International Consumer Electronics Show.
“Today’s consumers count on and expect their interactions with brands to be extremely relevant and personal regardless of the channel or device,” said Adobe Marketing Cloud and Primetime engineering vice president Pritham Shetty. “This Emmy recognises the key role Adobe technology played in helping pave the way for recommendation systems, which enable the personalisation of video content across the Web and mobile devices.”
John B Hey conceived and deployed the first content and video recommendation system, later acquired by Adobe, in the mid-to-late 1980s. That work is credited with outlining the fundamental concepts of “collaborative filtering”, a pioneering technique that analyzes data on user behaviour and stated preferences in order to predict how a consumer will react to video content. Today, personalised recommendation systems for video are prevalent and drive tens of millions of streams each day.
Adobe has been honoured twice before by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Adobe Pass was presented with an Emmy Engineering Plaque in 2012, in recognition of outstanding engineering achievements for emerging technologies. In 2006, Adobe Flash Video was recognized with a Technical and Engineering Emmy Award for Streaming Media Architecture & Components.
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.
