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Sony acquires Hawk-Eye
MUMBAI: Sony has announced the acquisition of Hawk-Eye, a UK based company that specialises in providing tracking technology to sports events and broadcasters.
Hawk-Eye‘s capabilities, based on vision processing and triangulation, coupled with Sony‘s established leadership in AV production and B2B solutions, will enable the delivery of leading managed services and innovative solutions for sports stadia and broadcasters.
Sony Europe VP Naomi Climer commented, “It is an ideal complementary offering to Sony Professional‘s existing portfolio of solutions for stadiums, venues and broadcasters, as well as bringing in specific expertise around managed services and sports software solutions engineering. We see strong opportunities on the technological, business and marketing levels to further Sony‘s leadership and engagement in the sports and broadcasting industry.”
Hawk-Eye founder Paul Hawkins said, “Over the last decade Hawk-Eye has become the reference standard technology for ball tracking and graphics in tennis, cricket and snooker. Our skills and established knowledge coupled with Sony‘s breadth of capabilities and technologies will create immense opportunities for the sports industry.”
Sony‘s acquisition of Hawk-Eye Holding will include all Intellectual Properties Rights, Hawk-Eye‘s current full time staff as well as its technology, software solutions and engineering capabilities. Hawk-Eye will become an integral part of Sony Professional, a division of Sony Europe.
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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.
