Wednesday, April 27, 2011

How did you organize your iPhone screen?

Cloud Girlfriend Launches As A Dating Site, NOT A Virtual Girlfriend Service

TechCrunch


Cloud Girlfriend, service that created a lot of buzz by promising users that it could create the illusion of perfect girlfriend by setting up dummy profiles that would write on your Facebook wall and fool your friends into thinking you had a social life, has launched to the public today. However the site as is is not what it was originally conceived to be, unsurprisingly.

Described by founder David Fuhriman as a combination of Match.com and Second Life, the new Cloud Girlfriends lets you flirt as a fantasy character setting up Chat Dates with others who also are role playing. "We allow people to define their ideal self, find their perfect girlfriend or boyfriend and connect and interact as if that person existed. It can help in learning how to manage a real relationship, and they then take it into the real world," says Fuhriman.

Fair enough. Fuhriman's original idea of creating fake Facebook profiles would have rubbed many people the wrong way as personal Facebook accounts have to belong to an actual person according to the TOS. As it stands now the service uses Facebook Connect to verify the gender and language of its role players which Fuhriman thinks is a safety precaution. Fuhriman also thinks that people will eventually choose to interact as themselves with their Cloud Partners and eventually reveal themselves through their actual social profiles.

Fuhriman plans on monetizing the site by selling virtual goods, users can send each other Cloud Flowers, Cloud Diamonds or go on a Cloud Vacation. While the idea is admittedly far-fetched, I've been on the site for five minutes and already have a date.

Male TechCrunch readers interested in checking it out can use the code "techcrunch" up to the first 500. Women do not need a code. Unfair, I know.


Sent with Reeder

Friday, April 22, 2011

Your hands give away your hotness [Hormones]

Click here to read Your hands give away your hotness
The ratio of length between a man's second and fourth fingers (2D:4D) is thought to be linked to the amount of testosterone he received in the womb. According to new research, it also shows something else: How attractive a man's face will be to women. More »

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Why Twitter Might Be Ruining Your Love Life [Twitter]

Why Twitter Might Be Ruining Your Love LifeA new series of studies out of OKCupid's data-crunching love labs reveal daily Twitter users have shorter relationships than those who don't—five to ten percent shorter. This makes sense. Twitter might turn us into more annoying, vain mates.

Across all ages, the data—sampling over 800,000 OKC users—saw appreciable dips in relationship length among avid tweeters. So what's behind this trend? Does a fast-paced, wham-bam see ya never lifestyle just jibe with the 140 character interlocutor? Is it as simple as OKCupid cofounder Christian Rudder's assessment that "People who Tweet live their life in shorter bursts"? That's part of it. But it's not enough.

Yes, the internet is probably ravaging our attention spans, and those used to expressing themselves (and absorbing the thoughts of others) in tiny fragments might prove to be statistically more frustrating partners than those who, I don't know, write long letters to each other? But there's more to the story of Twitter's finger in the eye of the average love life. Anything you use every day transforms you—gradually, slightly, yes—but profoundly.Why Twitter Might Be Ruining Your Love Life

Twitter is, though at times a phenomenally useful tool, largely a society of vanity and attention-mongering. We tweet into an abyss, hoping, manically, to be noticed. To be retweeted. To be followed. The scoreboard effect of quantifying our popularity and influence on Twitter only makes it more addictive. The more self-affirmation we want, the more we crave—more followers, more retweets, more mentions, more attention. And so we continue to dump throwaway witticisms and rapid-typed quips, radiating them outward to an anonymous mass, just hoping to be noticed and appreciated in the most superficial manner. The genuine, personal, engaging conversations that occur on Twitter are the exception—naked self-affirmation and preening is the rule. Just ask John Mayer, who was reportedly axed by Jennifer Aniston over his incessant tweets.

So should it surprise anyone that 800,000 people who've taken to this habit might be training themselves to be worse boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, and friends with benefits? What do we want in a partner? Reciprocity. Mutual attention, mutual respect, mutual appreciation, and dialogue. Twitter is, for the most part, the antithesis of these things—unidirectional, cold, and vain.

Now, let's not get carried away. Twitter isn't going to wreck your relationships on its own. And the relationship difference between those who chase the hashtag and those who don't was only 10% tops. But as more and more of us use this technology more and more, it's important that we think of how it's shaping our brains—because really, results like this are unsurprising by now. [OK Cupid via DailyBeast]

Facebook Sues FriendFinder, Peeved Over FacebookOfSex.com

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Match.com Will Begin Screening Its Users Against Sex Offender Registry

Online Personals Watch

Match logo new ASSOCIATED PRESS - Apr 17 - Match.com will begin screening its users against the national sex offender registry after a woman filed a lawsuit against the company saying she had been assaulted by someone she met through Match.com. Mandy Ginsberg, president of Match.com, said the company had considered such screenings for years, but "their historical unreliability has always led us to conclude against it." "We want to stress that while these checks may help in certain instances, they remain highly flawed, and it is critical that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members", she said. Match said it expected to be able to implement the policy in 60 to 90 days.

See full article at Washington Post

See all posts on Match.com

Mark Brooks: This is MAJOR NEWS for the internet dating industry. The industry has only been considering background checks for the last 7 years, since TRUE launched them in 2004! 7 years! on Match is finally drawing a line in the sand.  Other dating sites will need to step up to the line. Free dating sites and social networks won't be offering background checks. Paid sites will need to in order to compete with Match. Your comments please..

Winkelvoss Twins Appeal Dismissal of Facebook Lawsuit

Wired Top Stories

The Winkelvoss twins, who claim they were defrauded by Facebook when the company settled their lawsuit over Zuckerberg stealing their idea for Facebook, appealed Monday a decision telling them to be happy with the $65 million payout 

Sex Offender Screening on Dating Sites Is Messy—But It Needs to Happen [Dating]

Click here to read Sex Offender Screening on Dating Sites Is Messy—But It Needs to HappenLast week, a California woman sued the mega-popular Match.com after a post-date rape. She later discovered the man was a convicted sex offender. Now the site will screen sex predators—and its competitors need to follow. More »

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Gay Kiss Photo Facebook Doesn't Want You to See


Last week, talk show host Richard Metzger posted a story to Facebook about a "kiss in" held at an English pub that had ejected two men for kissing. Facebook quickly removed the story—apparently because of the above photo. 

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Saving Relationships Through Tantric Tai Chi?

'Intimacy Retreat' Helps Struggling Couples Find That Sexual Spark

Jean Michel Foujols/Getty Images
Couples retreats can incorporate the martial art of t'ai chi and tantric sex techniques.

Whether they've been married for years or are just stuck in a rut, some couples find it hard to keep that sizzle in the bedroom, but two sex experts seem to have a solution for maintaining that sexual spark: a weekend away at an intimacy retreat.

Diana and Richard Daffner, both in their 60s, are the authors of the how-to book, "Tantric Sex for Busy Couples," and they offer weekend "intimacy retreats"out of their studio in Siesta Key, Florida. There's no nudity, just instructions on how to spice things up. All participants' last names have been withheld.

Watch the full story on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET

While one may conjure up the scene from "Meet the Fockers" when Ben Stiller walks in on his mother, played by Barbra Streisand, hosting a sex therapy class, this is no movie set. Couples shell out $600 to learn the Daffners' secrets for curing bedroom boredom.

And the Daffners are certainly experts. Married for 25 years, they said they have sex every day at 10 a.m. for at least 10 minutes. It's like clockwork, they said -- but don't mistake this for routine sex.

"We end all of our tai chi, and all of our lovemaking for that matter, with Namaste bow," Richard Daffner said.

After being together for years, the duo said they have cracked the code on what it means to have meaningful intimacy.