Bumble, a dating app that revolutionized the industry a decade ago by introducing the concept of women initiating talks, is now allowing males to engage in chats on its platform.

Bumble is introducing a new tool dubbed “opening moves” that allows female users to establish a prompt for male suitors to reply to to start a conversation. The function overturns the app’s long-standing mandate that women initiate the first message to their matches. Bumble claims this change empowers women by granting them greater control over their dating experiences.

Dating App Bumble Will No Longer Require Women To Make The First Move

Lidiane Jones, the new CEO of Bumble, unveiled the new feature on Tuesday as part of a comprehensive app redesign. Jones took over the reins from creator Whitney Wolfe Herd earlier this year. This decision comes at a time when dating apps are striving to maintain their relevance as some users are feeling fatigued from online dating and are craving more in-person interactions.

Jones perceives the Bumble redesign as an opportunity for the platform to respond effectively to the current situation.

“There is an increasing demand for genuine human connections,” Jones stated in an interview with CNN before to the launch. “I expect that the number of people using online dating will increase rather than decrease, but there is a higher standard…” Therefore, focusing our attention on our objective is a significant call to action.

According to Jones, adding the new “opening moves” feature is a means by which Bumble is progressing while remaining faithful to its initial objective of empowering women. Now, female users can either keep starting discussions with their matches or establish an initial move, such as asking a question about their match’s ideal dinner guest, to indicate that they prefer their match to make the first contact. (Non-binary users or those interested in same-gender pairings have the option for either person to initiate and reply to an initial action.)

Bumble’s makeover incorporates enhanced “dating intentions” badges that enable users to specify on their profiles whether they are seeking a “life partner” or simply “fun, casual dates.” Bumble has implemented a new policy mandating members to provide more photographs in their biographies.

Dating App Bumble Will No Longer Require Women To Make The First Move

The application will prioritize and emphasize shared interests at the beginning of potential matches’ profiles to facilitate connections between individuals and increasing the likelihood of finding compatible companions.

The modifications have the potential to be crucial in restoring Bumble’s profitability, as the company, which also possesses dating applications Badoo and Fruitz, recorded a net loss of $1.9 million in the previous year. The company’s stock price has experienced a significant decline of 86% since its first public offering in February 2021.

According to Wall Street experts, Bumble is projected to profit $12 million for the first quarter of this year when it releases its earnings on May 8. This is a significant improvement from the $2.3 million loss recorded during the same time last year. The company anticipates a 14% increase in paying consumers, reaching over 3.9 million.

Dating App Bumble Will No Longer Require Women To Make The First Move

“We are extremely fortunate to possess robust financials that enable us to invest in the company’s expansion while also ensuring profitability for our shareholders,” Jones stated. “We are currently at a significant turning point where we have achieved a substantial level of growth and have ample opportunities for further expansion. At this juncture, we can effectively pursue both objectives simultaneously.”

SOURCE – (CNN)

After seven years, 130 million systems, and over 1 billion games sold, Nintendo is apparently preparing to release new hardware. In this article, we’ll review everything we know about the Switch 2 (or whatever the next console is named) and guess at Nintendo’s next system.

It discusses the system’s likely form factor, the Switch 2’s release date, price, launch games, backward compatibility, and more. For the purpose of convenience, we’ll refer to the new system as the Switch 2, though based on Nintendo’s history, it’s probable that the console will be given a new, original moniker.

Some predict Nintendo to unveil and ship the Switch 2 around 2024, although a more recent source suggests that a 2025 release date is possible. The Switch, released in 2017, was a well-received and economically successful console, but fans are constantly looking for something fresh and exciting, and Nintendo is known for delivering.

In 2021, Nintendo executives stated that the Switch was in the middle of its lifetime. Well, it’s now 2024, and it’s reasonable to presume that the Switch has reached a later stage in its existence, possibly reaching the end. There are still a lot of unresolved questions about the Switch 2, but for now, here’s what we know.

Nintendo Switch 2’s rumored release date

We do not know for sure. The Switch debuted in March 2017, but there is no assurance that Nintendo will follow the same strategy with its next piece of hardware. The Wii and Wii U, for instance, were released in November.

One notion is that Nintendo would release the Switch 2 in the first half of 2024 to address any potential stock shortages before the crucial holiday shopping season when Nintendo wants to ensure adequate supply in the market.

Earlier this year, an official press release from GameShark’s most recent encounter revealed a September 2024 release date for the Switch 2. However, this is unlikely to be authentic.

According to one analyst, Switch 2 will come in 2024 with an 8-inch LCD panel, presumably a step down from the smaller OLED screen in the previous edition.

According to recent sources, Nintendo has postponed the debut of the Switch 2 until 2025. Following the revelation of these predictions, Nintendo’s stock price collapsed. Industry watchers observed that if true, it would present a “fairly devastating” picture for the gaming sector in 2024.

 

Switch 2: Potential Specifications

One of the most unknown aspects of Nintendo’s next piece of hardware is what it will be. According to former Nintendo employees, the new device would be similar in size to the Switch and may be used as a handheld or docked to a TV.

Nintendo has not revealed any details regarding its upcoming system, stating that it aims to “surprise and delight” people. For now, we can only speculate and make predictions.

According to Digital Foundry, the Switch 2 may employ Nvidia’s new custom version T239 CPU. The site built a PC based on what it thought the Switch 2’s specs will be and discovered that it could run Death Stranding at 1080p with an average frame rate of 35 fps.

Switch Two Games with Backward Compatibility

Nintendo is widely expected to develop a new Mario Kart game for their next home system; there are few safer bets in gaming. According to a report, Mario Kart 9 will include a “new twist,” which fans are excited to discover.

If a new Mario Kart game is in development, it would appear to be a good financial decision to make it the launch title for the next platform.

According to a 2023 rumor, several developers have already started developing games for the new Nintendo console, but no official announcements have been made yet.

Fans want to know if the next Nintendo console will accept Switch games. We do not know. However, Nintendo’s past statements regarding the Nintendo Account system transferring over to the next generation may indicate that the company plans to provide some kind of backward compatibility.

A former Nintendo employee believes the Switch 2 will be backward compatible with digital eShop games.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for more details on the next Nintendo console. We’ll update this story as new information becomes available.

Switch 2 Price.

Everything is conjecture at this point because the Switch 2 has not been released. One analyst predicts the Switch 2 will cost $400, with top-tier titles selling for $70. The original Switch cost $300, and its inexpensive pricing undoubtedly contributed to the system’s outstanding commercial performance.

It is unclear whether the next Nintendo system will have a single SKU or many variants at different price ranges.

The projection that game costs will rise to $70 is hardly surprising. After all, Nintendo already paid $70 for Tears of the Kingdom, which was a smash hit at that price point.

Nintendo stated that the current Switch game pricing was a one-time event. However, charging $70 for Switch 2 games would align with the pricing of top firms such as Microsoft, Sony, and third-party publishers.

Switch 2 News.

Nintendo’s earlier consoles featured separate account systems, and players had to create new accounts for future hardware releases. The new Nintendo Account could smooth the move to the next Nintendo console.

Additionally, it “allows us to communicate with our players if and when we make a transition to a new platform, to help ease that process or transition,” Doug Bowser, Nintendo’s CEO, stated.

“Our goal is to minimize the dip you typically see in the last year of one cycle and the beginning of another,” he said. “I can’t speak to the possible features of a new platform, but the Nintendo Account is a strong basis for having that communication as we make the transition.”

Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa stated in 2023 that the future console would have the same Nintendo Account system as the Switch, so Bowser’s suggestion is not surprising.

Yijia Zhai of Macquarie Group Ltd. told Bloomberg that the next Nintendo system will not be as successful as the Switch.

“We do not think the new console will be as successful as the Switch, and we see potential profit-taking after the announcement,” Zhai said, adding that Macquarie had lowered Nintendo’s stock analysis to “neutral.”

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analyst Minami Munakata predicted that the latest Nintendo hardware would not improve Nintendo’s total addressable market. However, the company isn’t committed to that idea and says its projection might change if the system “turns out to be new concept hardware rather than a successor along the same lines as the Nintendo Switch.”

A platform that isn’t as successful as the previous one may not convey the full story, and it’s not necessarily bad news for Nintendo. The Switch, of course, did extraordinarily well in terms of hardware and software sales. And this accomplishment is all the more evident given the Wii U’s poor performance.

Nintendo has not stated when it plans to introduce new hardware, but some speculate that an announcement could coincide with Nintendo’s fiscal schedule.

Nintendo’s new fiscal year begins on April 1, thus some are expecting an announcement shortly before then to assist boost the stock price and generate momentum for the following quarter. Nintendo’s stock recently hit a new high, and some analysts predict even better gains if the company does indeed announce new hardware shortly.

Free SEO Tools for Freelancers: A freelancer must understand his or her market, competitors, and customers to consistently earn a sustainable income and maintain an edge in the race for freelance talent.

The competition is fierce, and the freelancer market is becoming saturated, making it more difficult to secure gigs and attract clients. With more than half of the U.S. workforce turning to side hustles as a primary or secondary source of income to help manage soaring living costs, there are approximately 1.57 billion freelancers worldwide.

Because of this, freelancers should have SEO tools in their toolkit to gather useful data that will assist them in making informed decisions.

Using this technology allows freelancers to identify new product or service ideas, assess search trends to identify new product or service ideas, and remain relevant in today’s conversations to keep their audience (for their brand) and customers engaged on social media and their websites daily.

Nevertheless, you decided to become a freelancer because you can barely make ends meet, and with the recent spike in mortgage prices, you are in a tough spot financially.

If you are starting and trying to launch your side hustle (or main hustle) with as little capital as possible, investing in comprehensive SEO packages such as Semrush may not be your first move.

It is good news that there are free SEO tools that can be just as effective, at least to begin with- depending on what they are being used for.

To begin with, what exactly is SEO, and why is it so important?

What Is SEO And How Does It Work?

SEO refers to ensuring your web pages and content are well-optimized for search engines, particularly the most popular ones, such as Google and Bing.

Once you learn how to use SEO effectively, you can position your brand in front of thousands, if not millions, of potential customers. Google dominates the search engine market, processing approximately 8.5 billion daily searches.

If you tap into this pool of potential leads, even if you have less than 1% of the market share, you can secure many high-paying gigs and projects as a freelancer.

Obtaining the coveted top spot in Google search results takes significant effort, but once you develop an SEO strategy and use tools to interpret the data and analytics behind it, you will see results.

These results can include:

• An increase in website traffic – more clicks and visits that may result in paying customers

• You will become more credible as a freelancer if you consistently rank well on search engines

• Leads that are pre-qualified since they are people who are already interested in your products or services

• The ability to compete with other freelancers and even companies

• In comparison with paid advertising, it is cost-effective and sustainable over the long term

To optimize your SEO strategy as a freelancer, you need to understand who your target audience is, where they hang out, and what they search for. When you understand their needs, you will be better positioned to appear in their search results on Google or Etsy, for instance.

Free SEO Tools For Freelancers

The following 10 free SEO tools will provide you with useful insights as a freelancer by providing data, research, and analytics. These tools have all been ranked highly by tech review sites such as Trustpilot, Capterra, Product Review, G2, and others, and many offer forever free plans/features, free trials, and paid upgrade options. AI-enhanced features are also available in some cases.

1. Serpple
2. Google Trends
3. Google Search Console
4. Google Analytics
5. Similarweb
6. Rankwatch
7. EtsyHunt (for SEO research if you sell digital or physical products on Etsy)
8. Moz Keyword Explorer
9. Keyword Surfer (by Surfer)—free Chrome extension
10. Keysearch (has a collection of free SEO research tools for Etsy, Amazon, eBay, and others)

As with any new tool you use to grow or build a business venture, it is important to evaluate the pros and cons of each, experiment, and determine which tool is most effective.

You might decide to stick with one or use a combination of tools. What is most important is to remember that, ultimately, research of the customers you are serving is essential to being a successful freelancer. You won’t stand out if you cut corners here.