Jilted in United States, a site will find love in India

During the first year of the company, the three founders — Kevin Owocki, now 26, Daniel Stev, 29 and Adam Sachs, 28 — hustled to get the word out, hosting parties, blitzing college campuses with flyers and doing a big push on Facebook.

By the end of 2008, Ignighter.com had 50,000 users registered in the United States — a decent number, but not big enough to put on the digital map dating, which is crowded with competitors.

"People just don't get what the site was when we told them about it. They thought it was a site for Orgies, "says Mr. Sachs, who is responsible for business development and media relations for the site.

Then, in April 2009, while the control statistics on visitors to the site, Mr. Stev, who is responsible for marketing, noticed that there was a lot of traffic from Singapore, Malaysia, India and South Korea.

Mr. Sachs recalls: "we don't pay any attention to it at first".We thought, ' that's interesting — now let's plan our next event in New York. " ”

But by June, they couldn't ignore traffic from Asia — and in particular India, who then had more visitors than any other Asian country. Ignighter was earning hundreds of users per day, mainly from New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

"In January 2010, we made the decision that we are an Indian dating site," Mr. Sachs says. And now, with nearly two million users — and signature more than 7,000 daily — Ignighter is considered the fastest-growing dating site of India.

To put it another way, gets as many users in a week in India as it did in a year in the United States. Next month, Ignighter will open an Office in India and take a dozen local employees. The company has continued to develop its American site, even if it remains online.

As funding heats up for Web start-ups in General, some investors have taken note of Ignighter and its potential in India. This month, the company has closed a $ 3 million round of financing. Forty percent of its investors are based in India, including Rajan Anandan Thursday, Google top executive in India. In the United States, Ignighter is supported by point Judith capital, founder collective and GSA Venture Partners, among others.

"We are here, a few guys Jews sitting in Union Square, and we might accidentally have revolutionized the dating scene in India," Mr. Sachs says of himself and Mr. Stev. They and Mr. Owocki, which is the cost of Web development and programming to Ignighter, have never been in India — although they now plan to make frequent trips there.

Isn't all that unusual for start-ups find that their market is not what they intended, said Sean Marsh, co-founder of point Judith capital in Providence, R.I. and an investor in Ignighter. But not all business owners choose to listen to what the market is telling them, says.

Although an Indian dating site was not their original concept, Ignighter founders decided to move in a crucial moment, he says: "you must be flexible as an entrepreneur and bend the feedback of the market and consumers".

As was the case this happy accident?

Mr. Stev suspects who read the blog service like Mashable and TechCrunch technology in India. From there, has grown in part because the dating in India is still in a somewhat embryonic stage. Happens in big cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad, but in many less cosmopolitan parts of India is still considered taboo for unmarried men and women to be seen in public collection. Many couples, as they have for centuries, through arranged marriages that meet their relatives they orchestrate.

But for some in this generation — those raised on a diet of MTV and social networks — there is a desire to find new dating script, or just to hang out with a group of Coed.

The dynamics of Group makes even come out easier sell to parents who are concerned about the security and accuracy. Here's what led Rohan Bhardwaj, 23, to set up a profile on Ignighter last month. Working in New Delhi to Exclusively In, an online store that sells Indian luxury goods, and, as the majority of his peers, he lives with his parents. Ignighter has heard from her boss in the United States — the CEO of Exclusively., who shares office space with Ignighter in Manhattan — and his cousin in Canada.

Broadband Falls Short in the United States

Large swaths of Western and southern United States do not have access to broadband fixed wireless or wired, according to a new national broadband map released by two US agencies on Thursday.

First national broadband map the nation show that between 5% and 10% of the US population has no access to broadband that supports basic applications, including downloading of Web pages, photos and video, said information Administration (NTIA), and United States ' national telecommunications. The NTIA released the map in collaboration with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

The broadband map was developed using open source software, such as the OpenGEO Suite, WordPress and agencies will provide the map API (application programming interface) for all developers and entrepreneurs who want to offer services related to the map, NTIA and FCC officials said. The agencies will update the data in the map every six months, and the map includes a feature where users can report information about broadband provider in their area.

The map will help broadband providers and Government agencies to target areas where broadband services and service consumers compare and speed, Julius Genachowski, said Chairman of the FCC. The first version of the map is "just the beginning," said during a press conference.

"Millions of Americans live in areas where they cannot get broadband even if they wanted to because the infrastructure is not simply there," he added.

The NTIA has also announced new information broadband adoption Thursday. Approximately 68.2% of residents of the United States now Subscribe to broadband, compared to 63.5% a year ago, said Rebecca Blank, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce, NTIA's parent Agency.

Growth is "good news, but when you dig deeper into the data, it is clear that we still have work to do," Blank said.

White families have an adoption rate of around 20 percent higher than families African-American or Hispanic, he said. The adoption rate in rural areas is about 10 percent behind urban areas, he added.

The broadband map also shows that schools and libraries slower broadband speeds they need, added Larry Strickling, administrator of NTIA. Schools with 1000 students should have broadband speeds from 50 to 100 Mbps, but two thirds of schools in the United States have speeds of less than 25 Mbps, he said. Only 4 percent of libraries have speeds of up to 25 Mbps, he added.

Some critics of the American recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in early 2009, said that the draft law must have authorized the NTIA and the rural utility service of the United States to award approximately $ 7 billion in grants for broadband deployment and loans before the map was successful. The legislation required the two agencies to award the money by the end of 2010, while the deadline for the map will be available was Thursday.

Strickling said he suspects the map broadband will confirm that the choices of NTIA facts, even if the Agency more focused on building access middle-mile broadband and bringing to the Community institutions with respect to residential broadband service map exhibition.

The map allows users to search for address. The map that shows the area around the FCC's headquarters in southwest Washington, D.C., has 14 wired or wireless broadband providers that offers download speeds of 768 Kbps or faster, but only one provider that offers 10 Mbps at 25 Mbps and no one offering speed.

Fessenden, North Dakota, a rural community with approximately 600 residents have two wired and two mobile telephony providers, although one wired service provider offers 25-50 Mbps, according to the map. Riverside, a city with about 60 residents in South-central Wyoming, has a speed of broadband provider offering 1.5 to 3 Mbps.

The project map, which will cost approximately $ 200 million in five years, includes money for States to update their data. Data from broadband providers around 1600 are included in the map, officials said.

Verizon Communications has praised the broadband map, saying it will be beneficial to consumers.

But some critics have challenged the accuracy and usefulness. NTIA has created a "good map" with a lot of useful information, but no solid data on broadband speeds, said consultant broadband Community settles Craig.

"It's a shame that the potential value of the map is severely crippled by the incumbents ' refusal to provide the unique element of data that are the key to the primary reason for having the map--accurate speed," he said. "In general, this map will always be incomplete. The two pieces of data needed from Governments federal, State and local to create useful broadband policy and spending money effectively for broadband projects are actual speeds plus a true picture of the competitive landscape within any given area. "

Crowd sourcing capabilities of the map will update slowly Settles added. "More importantly, if a community does not have a broadband connection crowd sourcing data from them will be a bit difficult," he added.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecommunications policy in the Government of the United States for the IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. E-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com of Grant.

ZTE intends to sell the first Smartphone in the United States. This year

Chinese handset vendor ZTE plans to launch its first smartphone in the United States this year, a move that follows the success of the company's most recent increased tightness of the mobile market.

ZTE made big gains in the mobile market in 2010, becoming the fourth largest supplier of telephone ahead of Apple, according to research firm IDC. During the year, the company has seen laptop shipments rise of 94%, up to 20.4 million units.

Now the company wants to increase sales of smartphones in 2011 by five times, up to 10 million units. For the North American market, ZTE said will more than double the portfolio of the device. The company adds that hopes to sell Tablet devices in the United States this year.

ZTE, a supplier of networking equipment, compiles even phones for mobile operators. The company has historically focused on developing smaller and mid-end laptops. But on Monday, the company announced a new development strategy that would move towards the higher end, by building more smartphones, tablets, and devices of Internet TV box.

While ZTE has yet to launch a smartphone in the United States, the company has seen one of its low-end phones offered by Verizon Wireless last year. Called the greeting, the device is available now for $ 20 with a two-year contract.

Earlier this week, ZTE has inaugurated a new low-cost smartphone called the skate at the Mobile World Congress. The device has a 4.3 inch screen and runs the operating system Android 2.3. The phone will start shipping globally during the month of May. The company is also preparing to launch a tablet running Android 3.0 in the third quarter.

Sony Music Unlimited by Qriocity goes live in the United States today

Sony expanding its influence in the game as a digital music Music Unlimited, Qriocity powered by, goes live in the United States, Australia and New Zealand today.

The cloud-based service maintains a library of over six million songs. Users get unlimited access to all content and allows you to synchronize existing personal libraries through their accounts on multiple devices.

Music Unlimited was launched in December in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, followed by France, Germany, Spain and Italy, at the end of January. With the expansion of today, which brings the total count of nine countries in two months.

After getting a sneak peek of unlimited music service running on a Sony PlayStation 3, yesterday, it seemed more like a Netflix for music, rather than a direct competitor to iTunes Music Unlimited. However, this is what will be called and known as, which is probably still correct.

Officially launching at noon EST, Unlimited Music will be available for PS3s with Bravia, HDTV and Blu-ray disc player Blu-Ray, PC and Mac. The only problem with the Mac version is that personal information synchronization library is not yet supported, but that should be solved by a software update later.

President of Sony Entertainment Network Tim Schaaff has informed me that Sony has plans to expand the coverage of music at the same speed above the rest of this year. In addition, an unlimited number of music app for Android and other mobile platforms are under development. But when home entertainment is the primary objective.

If you already have a PS3 or other Qriocity account, which will work with music unlimited. Applications are free, but subscription plans start at $ 3.99 for the basic plan, which operates more like a radio station as users only able to transmit content and move backwards and forwards. The premium plan costs $ 9.99 per month, which gives full access to creations of the playlist and search large library through half of channels organized by genre, mood, artists and more.

If you are not convinced yet, you can register for a free 30 day trial. I'm going to do that with my PS3, so expect a hands-on review in the future.

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Rachel King is a freelance journalist based in New York and San Francisco.