Applications
Quick-start, long-play internet television arrives with Zattoo P2P IPTV
MUMBAI: To date, television on the Internet hasn‘t been like television at all; video streams tend to skip, stutter and break, image quality is low, and very little content is live. That‘s about to change. |
The first Zattoo P2P IPTV broadcasts begin in Switzerland with the availability of every action-packed minute of the 2006 soccer world championship (known globally as the FIFA World Cup(TM)), streamed live to Swiss viewers starting with the first match in June and culminating with the championship match on 9 July 2006, states an official release. “Advances in broadband, video compression, and multicast streaming technology are rapidly lowering the technical hurdles for Internet and television to merge on a PC. However, there is still the matter of cost. Our streaming network solves that problem by reducing broadcasters‘ costs by a factor of ten, making it compelling for them to switch to our technology and broaden their service offering,” says CTO and co-founder of Zattoo Sugih Jamin. “Also, Zattoo‘s proprietary P2P streaming technology ensures a video delivery and smoothness that has until now been impossible to achieve.” |
Developed by researchers and software engineers from University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Zattoo offers a DRM-secure, commercial peer-to-peer network optimized for streaming video that is uniquely capable of serving the needs of consumers, broadcasters, content owners and advertisers, adds the release. “End users are tired of islands of content. They want a single place to go where they can switch channels as easily as pressing channel up and down on their current TV remote,” says CEO and co-founder of Zattoo Beat Knecht. “Zattoo offers such a single point of access to the widest variety of content, delivered with the highest possible quality and reliability. Users may watch news at work, educational programs at school, or movies in the privacy of their room, all without set top box, as long as they have broadband access.” |
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.
