ANGOLA PRESS–Cape Town, South Africa, 09/27 – Almost 250,000 South Africans have used online dating services – and those who engage in it take it very seriously, according to findings in the report "Online Dating in South Africa 2004". There are between 200,000 and 250,000 people who have tried online dating in South Africa." There are 11 substantial online dating web sites operating in South Africa, with three launched in the last year. About 10 percent of users become paying subscribers who shell out up to 130 rand a month for the privilege of connecting with like-minded individuals.

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

TIMES ARGUS-As online dating quickly expands into a modern-day scene that attracts millions of singles, a new cottage industry has sprung up to help those learning the ropes. For $59.99, you can hire an adviser from Personals-Trainer.com to do a "complete tuneup" of your personal ad. The advisers, who include a former writer from HBO's "Sex and the City" and radio relationship therapist Judy Kuriansky, stomp out cliches and spice up generic gab, delivering the redo within three days. (e-cyrano.com and profile doctore also mentioned)

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

GRAND ISLAND INDEDENT–For many singles in Central Nebraska the promise of romance can sometimes fall flat. Some have outgrown the traditional meeting places, some have limited nerve in pursuing dates and others are so busy that meeting people is almost impossible. (eHarmony, Match and Fastdater mentioned)

PLAYBILL–Ford’s Theatre opens its 2004-2005 season Sept. 24 with a new Mark Lamos production Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, starring Tony Award-winner Andrea Martin as Dolly and Tony nominee Jonathan Hadary as Horace.

ABCNEWS–…After being hounded and hounded, I reluctantly joined a few of these services and watched my personal network of associates grow. Pretty soon I was in enough circles to get invites from very obscure people….When you log on you get a listing of your network and the network of each person in your network. The first thing that happens is that you begin to notice that many, if not most, of these people have bigger networks than you have. You look like a total loser if your network is smaller. So you start to invite people….What makes matters worse is that because the networks are growing for no good reason except ego, most of the people on them never check in.

ADVOCATE–DowneLink.com, a gay takeoff of Friendster.com, will host its first official beta launch party this Friday. After having been up and running for only five months, DowneLink already has over 23,000 current users and is attracting about 100 new users a day.

JSONLINE–350 turn out at downtown club for the latest social gimmick: Hooking up with the lights off. Waitresses at Eve make their way through the party wearing military-style night vision goggles. Participants at Eve’s dark party are seated across from each other in the pitch-black “Nibble Room” Wednesday night. After 20 minutes, the lights came up, allowing everyone to see who they had been getting to know….Not everyone who paid the $5 cover charge participated in the dark dining experience. The not-so-brave giggled as they watched the dark diners on plasma screens set up around the club.

The full article was originally published at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but is no longer available.

STAR TELEGRAM–Sep 23rd–Ibrahim, a 50-year-old Egyptian immigrant cab driver, pulled out a small digital recorder and pointed it at Danka through the bulletproof partition. "Say hello to the girls," Ibrahim said, before recording a brief interview with Danka about his age (26), occupation (technology consultant) and whether he is "a player" ("no")…His system is simple. He records brief interviews with passengers who interest him and collects their cellphone numbers. When he thinks he has found a good match, he calls both passengers for permission and then passes along their numbers…."He's better than Match.com," says Danka, who got sick of online dating because women so rarely responded to his e-mails. "With Ahmed, the women actually call you back."

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

DAILEY BULLETIN–In the crazy, fast-paced world Southern Californians thrive in, just about everything from groceries to books is a mouse click away. But what about a soulmate? eHarmony, Match, Yahoo, True testimonials.