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Chinese Flock to Virtual Apartments for Dating
As any seasoned city-dweller knows, personal living space is valued at a premium. And as any warm-blooded human being knows, finding true love can present an even more harrowing task than locating a decent Manhattan sublet. Finding both? Crazy talk. The world's most populous country is no exception to this universal struggle. With over 1.3 billion people, China and its urban centers are becoming increasingly crowded, complicating the already thorny search for love and stability. A new site for young Chinese singles, though, purports to make the search for domestic bliss a bit easier.iPartment, the latest teenage online craze in China, is a social networking, gaming, and online dating site where users create their own virtual apartment (with pets, gardens, and games) and then spend their time looking for someone else to share it with. The idea is pretty simple: use the appeal of online accessorizing and homemaking to attract a bunch of young, single girls to the site, convince the guys that if they want to have a chance with the ladies, they'd better join, too... and voilà.
Finding Love With Twitter and Netflix
Successfully navigating the seas of online dating can be a daunting and, some would argue, impossible feat. Sifting through profiles and trying to attach human qualities to otherwise cliched online personas is often arduous enough to deter even the most hardy romantics. A new approach to online matchmaking, featured at NYTimes.com, hopes to revolutionize the game. Started by divorced entrepreneur Steve Odom, Gelato transforms the online dating convention of carefully manicured, pre-meditated personal profiles into more "real-time" displays that build personalities based on an individual's online activity (check out the "signing up" video after the break). Users create an initial profile by importing data from their Facebook or Twitter accounts. From there, they can then choose to "sync" their account to a variety of other sites, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, last.fm, or different social networking sites. The Gelato account will then track the user's activity on the selected Web sites, and make that information public. If you buy a book on Amazon, for example, or stream a certain TV show on Hulu, the activity will show up on your Gelato page, supplementing your basic information, and fleshing out otherwise static personal information. Gelato singles also have the option to search for potential partners based on shared interests or tastes.
Cell Phones, iPhone, Web, Social Networking
'Date Check' App Lets You Perform Background Checks on the Go
The Internet has put an unsettling amount information at our fingertips. Now that the Web is finally usable on our phones, thanks to devices like the iPhone and Palm Pre, we can draw on this vast well of information (that many people would likely prefer remain private) anywhere we are. One particularly creepy application appears thanks to Intelius, a company that provides a "people search" engine. The soon to be released 'Date Check' is a free app that lets you perform basic background checks on potential mates. While the app itself is free, the checks are not. After entering a person's name or cell phone number, 'Date Check' performs one of several types of searches, like 'Sleaze Detector,' which searches for a criminal background, 'Net Worth' provides details about a person's assets including property, and 'Interests' scours social networking sites for personal details.
17 Niche Dating Sites for Specialty Lovers
Two Kelly Hildebrandts Wed Thanks to Facebook
Sometimes, when it comes to whirlwind romances and soul mates, when you know, you just know. But every now and then, potential love needs some help, a type of sign, like, say, uniting a couple with the same name.
Everyone on Facebook has searched for themselves to see if they can find anyone else with the same name. But for the Kelly Hildebrandts, that search led to a love connection. A guy and gal, each named Kelly Hildebrandt, found each other over the social networking site, when female Kelly sent a message to a guy with the same name. According to NBC Miami, girl Kelly said, "I searched my own name and he's the only one who came up, and actually in the picture, he didn't have a shirt on, and I was like 'Oh, he's cute.'" Three weeks after the initial Facebook message, boy Kelly flew to Florida to see the woman that shares his name. The rest is history.
Man Sues Match.com for Hurting His Feelings
Rejection is a cold, hard fact of life. When it comes to dating, everyone's going to get dissed a time or two. While it's never fun, we here at Switched have found that keeping our heads up and moving forward (and watching a few rocket explosion videos on YouTube) works best.
However, some folks, like New Yorker Sean McGinn, do not share our enthusiasm for 'getting over it.' McGinn says Match.com, a popular dating Web site, caused him "humiliation and disappointment" when his message to another user did not result in a reply, according to a report from Metro International. McGinn filed suit in New York federal court Tuesday. He wants unspecified damages for what he calls Match.com's "deceptive practices."
Tips on Dating Nerdy Guys
Our friends over at Lemondrop.com have compiled a list of ten major faux pas for gals who are interested in dating nerdy guys. This, of course, is a major validation for us TI-83-toting, Linux-using, 'Batman'-issue-citing young adults who spent high school pretending we didn't know what a "Degobah System" was. We've always known what Hollywood is currently finding out; as Justin Long (pictured), Shia LeBouf in 'Transformers,' and the entire cast of 'Superbad' prove, being nerdy is awesome. So we applaud Lemondrop for pointing out some annoying assumptions and for deflating some stereotypes. But honestly, if you are dumb enough to ask anybody these questions, regardless of their pocket protector status, you probably need to start with someone a little less complex than a guy who is fluent in Elvish. Do you really need to ask someone, "Do you live with your parents?" or inquire, "Were you a nerd in high school?" Find us someone who wasn't a nerd in high school.
Here's the bottom line. Before we start fetishizing taped-up eyeglasses, we need to understand that being a nerd only means being absurdly interested in something that is semi-pop cultural. You could be, say, a 'Sex and the City' nerd, completely familiar with the canon of Carrie. In fact, we'd find that slightly more disturbing than someone who is obsessed with a fully realized universe that is filled with different races, languages and timelines, but just so happens to be in a galaxy far, far away... [From: Lemondrop.com]
Cameras, Web, Social Networking
Trans-Atlantic Couple Bridges Gap With Flickr and Photoshop
Welcome to the 21st century, where love knows no limits -- thanks to photo-sharing Web sites, that is. According to a profile in the Telegraph, aspiring British photographer Rosie Hardy met North Carolinian Aaron Nance, her professional photo retoucher boyfriend, through Flickr, where both participated in the Flickr 365 Days project.
Piquing each other's interest via the shared photo pool, they independently messaged each other about their similar styles -- allegedly on the same day. Romance wasn't far behind, and she snapped photos and he used his post production capability as a jumping off point, inspiring the two to start Photoshopping themselves as a couple, despite the ocean between them.
'21 Twitter Pick-Up Lines' Helps You Score With Tweets
Despite the media's portrayal of Twitter as a haven for celebrities, the microblogging service can be an invaluable information-gathering tool, as it hosts updates from the Center for Disease Control, NASA, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the White House. We've also previously explained how Twitter can provide a source of income for proficient twitterers. Now, on the heals of 'Flirtexting,' a guide to wooing via text message, YourTango has compiled a list of the 21 best Twitter pick-up lines (Flirtweeting, anyone?).The list contains some appropriate and creative selections, such as "Who cares about celebrities? You're the only star in my twitterverse," as well as expected, cheesy lines like "If twitter is a meat market, you must be the prime rib." The linguistically confusing "I'm twitterpated with you," though, seems to be more appropriate for someone who needs to add fiber to their diet.
YourTango provides enough fodder to begin a Twitter love affair, but it does omit some worthy candidates, including our favorite, "Your tweets are turning my software to hardware." Some "twaikus" also should have earned a mention, as Twitter, with its 140-character-or-less messages, lends itself perfectly to amorous haikus. Already tweeting-up romantic targets? Let us know what worked (if you don't mind sharing trade secrets), or, more importantly, what failed miserably. [From: YourTango]
Soldiers at War Finding Dates on the Web
According to USA Today, Internet dating site eHarmony is reporting that the number of military members joining its site grew by more than 50-percent between 2006 and 2008. It may not be Casablanca in the '40s, but the Web is turning into quite the place for deployed soldiers to fall in love.
These days, soldiers don't have to rely on letters anymore -- satellite phones, wireless networks, and war zone Internet cafés have allowed men and women on the front line to stay nearly as connected as they are at home. Aside from keeping up their Myspace and Facebook pages, many soldiers are giving online dating a try.
Facebook, Twitter -- Are They Messing With Our Love Lives?
For some, according to a recent article in the Washington Post, these advancements have resulted in more frustrations than they have infatuations. With a number of anecdotes from as many contemporary daters, the article pieces together a vision of the current, tech-savvy dating scene. One man opines over his partner's being without a cell phone. A woman bemoans a former flame's aversion to texting, and then rolls her eyes over another's obsession with Twitter. The article speculates that, while these myriad forms of communication might present the dating population with frustrations, it's just as likely that those tech-related impasses are just indications of deeper problems. Maybe a couple's technological incompatibility is representative of a general failure to effectively communicate, the article suggests.
For our part, we think that, if a relationship is meant to flower, it will do so with the requisite hard work and sacrifice. That was the case in the days of the horse-and-buggy, and it's the case in the days of Twitter-and-text, too. [From: Washington Post]
Dating Sites Boom as Economy Busts
A recent survey conducted for the popular eHarmony.com revealed that 25-percent of women cite the economy as making them more inclined to seek a long-term relationship, according to the Economist. The subscription-based dating site (known for its strict honesty policies regarding user profiles and pictures) currently has more than 20 million members and, apparently, sees its greatest number of visits on days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by more than 100 points. Also thriving is the free dating Web site OkCupid, which has seen its membership triple since September of 2008. The site skews towards younger users, perhaps drawn to its casual Facebook-style approach (profiles aren't subjected to confirmation like eHarmony), and, more likely, the fact that the site doesn't cost a dime to use.
We agree that it's nice to have someone to hold when we're not holding much cash, but you can bet we'll be going dutch when it comes time to hit the streets with our newly-matched online mates. [From: Economist, Via: Consumerist]
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MySpace Will Throw Your Wedding for the Price of Your Soul
We know what you're thinking... "It's my wedding day and it should be perfect." So, why not let millions of MySpace members decide on every detail? It seems that the Web 2.0 has finally hit weddings, although this one comes tethered to enough corporate sponsorships to field a PGA Tour event.
'Married on MySpace' is a new online reality show where voters can select one lucky(?) couple to win an all-expenses-paid wedding, courtesy of MySpace, wedding site The Knot, and Disney. The 13-webisode series begins on May 15th and will follow the chosen couple through the planning process, with every detail -- from the bachelor party to the dress -- determined by MySpace voters. The show is being produced by the same company that brought you 'Fear Factor,' 'Extreme Makeover,' and 'Big Brother,' so expect plenty of cheesy drama and dramatic music.
Think you and your fiance have the sweetest proposal story ever? You can submit a video explaining why, here. The shenanigans start in May with the announcement of the winning couple.
No amount of money would justify giving up our weddings to the masses, but there are plenty of people online who need the attention. Meanwhile, we'll keep our digital dating to sheepish Facebook pokes and Down to Earth memberships. [From: TechCrunch]
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Flirting 2.0 -- How to Make Your Move in the Digital Age
The guide shows how you can start with a Facebook poke to let that special person know you're interested and progress through steps of technological communication to meeting in person. So, please keep in mind that reblogging something on Tumblr might give people the wrong idea about your intentions.
While it's a funny and informative read, please note what the authors say at the end. Sure, it can be good to lay some groundwork online but don't use it as a crutch -- you might end up like that 'Second Life' couple that was in the news. That one still makes us shudder. [From: The Frisky]
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