Analogue Pocket’s first major update arrives in July

The Analogue Pocket is finally getting some of the important feature updates promised at launch. As The Vergenotes, Analogue has promised a Pocket OS 1.1 beta in July that will add the expected Library, Memories and FPGA development features. You can expect advancements to arrive “regularly” after that, according to the company.

Library will amount to an encyclopedia for classic games. Insert a cartridge and you’ll ideally learn everything about your specific copy of a game, including play guides and publisher details. Memories, meanwhile, lets you create save states and screenshots. Although Analogue hasn’t fully explained the development expansion, this will likely let programmers use the Pocket’s second FPGA. They’ll have access to the OS, hardware and features like Memories.

There’s no mention of why 1.1 is taking so long. However, the delay was substantial. Analogue said in December that Library and Memories would be ready in January, but they’re now appearing several months later in a rough form. Not that the wait will matter if you aren’t already an owner. New pre-orders won’t get their Pockets until 2023, so this is is more a kindness to early adopters than anything else.

Grindr is going public with a $2.1 billion valuation

The LGBTQ+ dating app is going public through a blank check firm or Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) called Tiga, Bloomberg reports. They’re merging to form a combined entity with a $2.1 billion valuation, which will give Grindr access to $384 million in funds to be used for debt payments, as well as to support growth areas and to launch new endeavors.

Grindr Chief Financial Officer Gary Hsueh told the media organization in an interview that the company had been approached by several SPACs in the past. It ultimately chose the SPAC route instead of a traditional IPO, he said, because it makes more sense. “[I]t had certainty and that’s even more important today than it was a year ago when the market was different,” Hsueh explained.

As Bloombergnotes, SPACs became hot over the past couple of years after the pandemic made traditional IPOs much riskier than usual. They offer better returns and protections and could provide an easier route to become a public company. However, the market has become oversaturated of late, and at least one analyst told CNBC that the SPAC bubble is bursting. 

At the moment, Grindr’s revenue mostly comes from subscription, though it does earn some money from ads. It remains to be seen if a recent report that it sold user data would affect its future earnings: According to The Wall Street Journal, Grindr location data was for sale for at least three years, putting users’ privacy at risk. 

Tinder brings back Festival Mode now that in-person events are a thing again

Tinder is bringing its Festival Mode out of mothballs as in-person music events return in earnest. As of today, you can use the mode in Tinder Explore to match with people up to a month before festivals start. The initial mix of festivals includes well-known American gatherings like Bonnaroo, EDC and The Governors Ball, but also includes international events like the electronic-focused Sónar (in Barcelona) and Lollapalooza’s outings in Berlin, Paris and Stockholm. This weekend’s Coachella is conspicuously absent, however. 

If your event of choice isn’t listed, you can still visit a “Festival Goers” area to hook up with users either going to other festivals or simply interested in the scene. Festival Mode is available to people worldwide.

The relaunch was virtually expected. Tinder unsurprisingly took a sharp hit when the pandemic made in-person dating risky or impossible, and scrambled to introduce video dates and other features that helped remote love blossom. Festival Mode could help Tinder revive interest in its core business. And there’s evidence to suggest that might work. Tinder noted in 2019 that app usage surges during large events, and that might be particularly true given two years of pent-up demand.