Category: Uncategorized

HALIFAX DAILY NEWS — June 4 — Glad Simmons opened Better Half Matchmakers after being certified by the The School of Matchmaking and Relationship Sciences in New York.  It's aimed at people who don’t frequent singles functions and don’t have the time or inclination for Internet dating.  She uses information from profile interviews to find potential matches and makes all the first-date arrangements.  Better Half also offers life coaching and image consulting: “I tell people what other people are too afraid to tell them.”  Women pay a $50 registration fee.  Men pay $500 (3 months, 3+ matches) to $1,300 (1 year, 12 matches).  Simmons says it’s a bargain, compared to the alternative. “By the time you go through 30 dates online, you could have gone to a matchmaker and been matched up almost instantly.”

Mark Brooks: The movie, Hitch, was a good pitch for real world matchmaking services.  Still, they draw from a limited pool.  I'd like to see matchmaking services that pull from the online personals pool.  It would behoove online personals companies to consider working with real world matchmakers and offer them enhanced services.

NEWS 14 CAROLINA — June 2 — There are plenty of websites out there that can help.  Here are a few free-bees.  Friendster.com has 17 million members.  MySpace includes a lot more extras, like different groups, look up/post events and birthdays, classifieds, music section, play games.  At Hi5.com you can look up old classmates, browse and comment on journals, join groups and talk in chat rooms.  bebo.com has a unique feature; create quizzes, even one to see how well your friends know you! 

The full article was originally published at News 14 Carolina, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Some of the newer social networks are getting significant traction.  Hi5 has an Alexa rank of 143 no less.  bebo is at 600.  bebo also offers to help members stay in contact and pings it's userbase once a quarter for contact info updates…a version of Plaxo and Good Contacts in essence.

THE REGISTER — June 2 — When you sleep with someone, you are sleeping with everyone they ever slept with, and everyone those people slept with, and so forth. Accordingly, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that you have in fact slept with Sharon Stone, even if you weren't aware of the fact.  Now a website is seeking to build the world's biggest database of previous sexual partners.  http://www.shagster.net users register their profile and enter the details of those they have slept with. Stats such as 'performance ratings' are also listed.  FULL ARTICLE @ THE REGISTER

Mark Brooks: An interesting amusement that is probably a viral marketing ploy for 7 sins game.

MANITOWOC — May 31 — There’s a right and wrong way to approach online dating. Clinical psychotherapist Diane Berry shares common mistakes and tips for success in her new book, “Romancing the Web: A Therapist’s Guide to the Finer Points of Online Dating.”   She sets a one-month rule of thumb and recommends e-mailing each other for about a month, then moving to telephone contact for about a month. 

Mark Brooks: Two months before meeting?  I’d have chewed off my left leg in that time.  Good advice for women…Guys will have a hard time with that kind of advice.  A quick meet at the local Starbucks is the way to go, after a couple weeks of IMing and a week of talking on the phone.

INQ7 — May 29 — After offering users more ways to connect with the launch of its blogging service, MSN Spaces (8.5 million users), Microsoft is now looking at adding more social networking features to its current suite of communication solutions,  including MSN Messenger.  Adrian Lee, lead for MSN Southeast Asia’s Information Services, said we are witnessing a “generational shift in the way we communicate.” MSN reaches 180 million users on Hotmail and 155 million users on MSN Messenger.  

The full article was originally published at INQ7, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: MSN (and Google) on one side and MySpace on the other.  Friendster has it's work cut out.

PRWEB — May 28 — Getogethersafe members can choose to do background searches, free of charge, but are only allowed access to specific information which would keep them safer.  Users are encouraged to use law enforcement databases  (such as Bureau of Prisons) where records can be perused for previous criminal interaction of potential suitors.  False picture posting is also discouraged through a picture rating 'check and balance' system.  Rating cannot occur until a special client password is supplied, following a first date.  This causes the client to actually have visual contact, which induces most participants to post real pictures to the site. 

Mark Brooks: If users are inclined to do background checks wouldn't they rather pay a few bucks more and have the site do the background check for them.  Interesting photo check system, but how many users will actually remember to bring their passwords on a date.

MONTEREY HERALD — May 27 — Four years ago Paul Henry (now 82), 50 pounds overweight, twice widowed and alone. A few hundred miles away in Carmel, widow Jen-Chi Anderson (now 83) had an empty house and an empty heart.  They cast their nets worldwide on the Web and soon the sweet tones of a modem heralded the beginning of their octogenarian affair. They met face-to-face three months later and were living together within a year.  "When you get up near 80," Henry said, "you don't mess around."  The spirit of their relationship — sweetness spiked with humor.  Despite their differences, Henry and Anderson are members of a growing club: senior citizens who are going online. According to the Pew Internet & American Life project latest survey, 27% of seniors were wired.  "It might be a bit surprising for people your age, but we have a real love affair," said Henry. "I don't feel like I'm in my 80s."  Henry has lost 50 pounds with his partner's help.

The full article was originally published at Monterey Herald, but is no longer available.

WIRED — May 27 — When dorkbot decided to host a presentation for its members about the current state of teledildonics, they asked Violet Blue to step into the spotlight for a hands-on demo of the Thrillhammer, the first commercial teledildonic sex machine, housed at the Museum of Sex in New York.  While Blue has written articles and lectured on the history of teledildonics, this is her first public demo.  One of the factors hindering the development of internet-facilitated sex is that no one has yet figured out how to serve a basic consumer level, although HighJoy and Sinulate are both trying hard.  Tribe should make social-networking with a really easy interface for anonymous sex that involves teledildonics. 

The full article was originally published at Wired News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Might be time Woody Allen made a sequel to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex.  I'll keep an eye out for the first (adult) online personals site that is 'teledildonics enabled.'  Lest we forget, online dating sites are in the business of love…which means, by default, we are also in the sex business.  Public sex awareness is becoming ever more open, and sites like www.passion.com (a FriendFinder co-brand of AdultFriendFinder) are reaping the reward.

AFP NEWS AGENCY — May 26 — US regulators obtained a court order shutting down a spam operation that sent out millions of e-mails urging recipients to "date lonely housewives." The operation violated nearly every provision of CAN-SPAM.  A federal court froze the assets of California-based Cleverlink Trading and Real World Media which control more than 180 websites including wiveswhocheat69.biz and hookuptomorrow.com.  Messages look like they come from an internet dating service containing lonely housewives who want casual sexual relationships.  In a four-month period alone, the defendants took in nearly $700k in membership fees.

Mark Brooks: Ashleymadison.com ("when monogamy becomes monotony") specialises in hooking up married people.  An abhorrent but very profitable niche.

LA INDEPENDENT — May 25 — Enter qjew.com, an online dating service that caters solely to Jewish gays.  “I went on tones of dates,” recalls the Founder, Shubert, a New York native who moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to work in the entertainment industry.  Making its debut in March, the free online dating service — the first of its kind catering to Jewish gays — created with former college comrade Mickey Rapkin has largely met with success, averaging 15,000 hits a month, Shubert said.  qjew.com has a kitschy, playful and humorous touch. 

The full article was originally published at La Independent, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: OK, that's it, I think we can now officially say every niche has been covered.