Applications
Geodesic, Shoutcast in deal for Internet radio stations
MUMBAI: Geodesic, a provider of mobile and desktop solutions for instant messaging, VoIP and Internet radio, has announced a partnership with Shoutcast to provide users with anytime access to an unlimited number of Internet radio stations.
The Shoutcast Radio Directory features over 40,000 professional and community programmed radio stations from around the globe.
AOL Music, Winamp, AOL Radio and Shoutcast GM Lisa Namerow says, “We are pleased to partner with Geodesic to bring a significant amount of streaming content to iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian Mundu Radio users. Geodesic offers an affordable, intuitive way to listen to music and other content on-the-go. This is mobile entertainment at its best.”
Mundu Radio bundles music, content (such as news and sports) and personalisation for an easy-to-use, intuitive mobile entertainment experience. Users can either select and playback streams from existing Internet radio stations, or they can create and manage personalised play lists, enabling users to listen to their choice of music genres and songs whenever they like.
Geodesic senior VP of worldwide business development Arvind Venkateswaran says, “We are pleased to partner with Shoutcast to provide carriers and consumers with seamless access to tens of thousands of Internet radio stations on-the-go. Geodesic is unique in providing location-specific content globally, based on operators’ target demographics, geography and/or market focus. Our partnership with Shoutcast enables us to provide an enormous amount of music, sports, talk and community programming, specific to the US market.”
Mundu Radio has been deployed with leading carriers and handset manufacturers throughout India, Asia, Europe and the U.S. The Mundu Radio client supports more than 100 popular handsets based on J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Android, Apple, Blackberry and Palm OS platforms. For more information, visit http://mundu.com/products/mundu-radio/features.
The recording industry, which had $40 billion in annual sales 10 years ago, is now bringing in just half that amount. At the same time, digital downloads – which make up a fifth of those sales – is seeing slowing growth. This makes for an opportune market for Internet radio. Forrester predicts the number of U.S. subscribers for subscription-based cloud music services will rise from 2.1 million now, to five million by 2014.
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.
