Swipe left. Or right. And get a match in minutes.

This one feature has helped Tinder grow exponentially in online dating

Making it ridiculously easy to decide on a whim if you liked a person at first glance.

That tapped into a deeply held belief. Love, or at least like at first sight.

It's what built momentum for Tinder. Giving it as many as 7.5 million swipes a day in India.

The UX made you believe that potential choices were almost unlimited

So, what would give a new entrant room to grow?

They couldn't have competed with the ease of use.

They could not have competed with choice. As fast as your finger can move.

So, they had to rethink the market altogether.

And Hinge, the new dating app went in the exact opposite direction.

They worked with permanence.

The commitment market not catered to

So, you don't get an unlimited choice of partners

They made an intriguing opening pitch

The dating app designed to be deleted.

Focusing on outcome and the promise of finding a partner for life.

It’s about finding a customer's struggling moments

And this is a perfect example.

Read this great analysis about Hinge: 

The app: https://hinge.co/

Photoshop Humour

James Fridman is a whiz at using Photoshop

And so are so many others, you would say.

But he does whacky humour.

People send him a photograph with a request.

And then he does what they ask but with a twist.

Here's an example.

A guy stands next to a nude statue in Hamburg and asked James if he could cover up the statue

Since his mom was religious, she might be offended.

And what does Fridman do?

He strips the guy's clothes and covers up the statue. Down to the coat covering the arms

And the guy's left with neon underwear

Another instance. A model with uneven eyebrows.

Could James match them?

James created a video with a tennis ball bouncing between the eyebrows.

The fun part is that he does exactly what he's been asked to do.

And changes the context altogether

He gets lots of requests every day and has only one condition.

That you should not have a problem with the results being made public.

It's good goofy fun.

He's done it for years and built up a sizeable following

And supports a foundation that cares for the social and emotional well being of young people.

Another twist.

The four legged Covid detectors

It seems like a far-fetched idea.

But now, it’s the first line of defence in detecting Covid at an entry point

Passengers arriving at Helsinki airport are asked to swab themselves with a tissue and deposit it in a scent beaker.

Trained dogs come in and sniff the line-up of beakers  through a stainless steel cone

They are not directly exposed to the virus.

In seconds, they detect Covid positive samples with close to 100% accuracy

They scratch the surface, bark or lie down after sniffing it.

The passengers are asked to take a regular Covid test to confirm what the dogs have identified.

Four dogs of differing breeds have been commissioned into service

No PPE, no elaborate procedures. No waiting hours for results.

And dogs have sniffed drugs out at airports for decades now.

The best part is that they are able to detect Covid before patients show symptoms.

We don't have a single test that does it with all the sophisticated technology at our command.

So, should we be simply using man's best friends to keep us safe?

UAE did this first. Now, Sweden is doing it at Helsinki.

Should the world follow suit?

Seems totally worth it.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with friends. Or Tweeting the link. The more people we can get to tune in every week, the merrier. Thank you.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ideascape.substack.com