Applications
Adobe signs multi-year distribution agreement with Google
MUMBAI: Adobe Systems Inc. has announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with Google Inc. to distribute the Google Toolbar with various Adobe products over the life of the deal. As a part of the agreement, Adobe and Google today will launch availability of the Google Toolbar with downloads of Adobe‘s Macromedia Shockwave Player. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The Google Toolbar will now be offered as part of the Shockwave Player installation process for Internet Explorer on Windows. Under the terms of the agreement, the Google Toolbar will also be offered as part of other Adobe product installations in the future, states an official release.
With over 200 million downloads to date, the Macromedia Shockwave Player is the Web standard for powerful multimedia playback. Available for free, the Shockwave Player allows users to view interactive Web content such as games, business presentations, entertainment, and advertisements from a Web browser. Hundreds of thousands of Shockwave Players are downloaded every day, and Shockwave Player is installed on more than 55 percent of Internet-enabled desktops. Additional information is available at www.adobe.com/products/shockwaveplayer.
The Google Toolbar is a free download that adds a Google search box to a Web browser, so users can access Google search capabilities from any Website. The Toolbar also includes innovative features that make browsing more efficient — such as instant suggestions as you type in the search box, a spellchecker, and a pop-up blocker. Users can also personalise the toolbar by adding buttons for their favorite sites.
“As leaders in our respective market categories, it‘s fitting for Adobe and Google to work together to improve the ways customers engage with ideas and information,” says Adobe president & COO Shantanu Narayen. “Our customers will benefit from the power and convenience of the Google Toolbar, and the popularity and reach of Adobe technology gives Google even broader exposure to a growing base of consumers. We expect the agreement to represent significant revenue to Adobe over a period of years.”
“Adobe customers are some of the most savvy, enthusiastic consumers of web content, and we think they‘ll love the fact that Google Toolbar will let them take the power of Google search with them anywhere on the Web,” says Google‘s Omid Kordestani . “Adobe and Google are teaming up to help users more easily and quickly find the ever-increasing sources of information that are important to them.”
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.
