TechCrunch reports that there is actually a service for those too busy to manage online dating profiles. A company called Virtual Dating Assistants will handle your online profiles using "advanced internet dating techniques and strategies" for $480 a month.
At a price of $480 per month, the company's virtual dating assistants will use "advanced internet dating techniques and strategies to create online dating profiles, interact with women and set up dates with them." The company says it will work approximately 40 hours per month for each customer and guarantees them a minimum of 2 dates per month (or their money back).
Co-founders Mark Anderson and Scott Valdez are overseeing a cherry-picked team of virtual assistants that are referred to as "007" Dating Assistants due to the "suave and sophisticated nature of their undercover interactions." Yes, they are actually called "007" Dating Assistants.
This service could certainly help the very busy but it might also take the fun out of finding a date yourself.
The ladies of the Internet talk show TMI discuss when to say "I love you" and their first loves. This article on Salon may have the right answer - everyone is different and when it is right will be a little different for everyone. Suite 101 has a list of 64 ways to say "I Love You."
Vivica A. Fox talks about The Cougar. Vivica is the host of the show with runs on TV Land. She says some of the guys were a little star-struck when they first met her. She says ladies will love the "man tears" on the show. Vivica also notes that she does not date only younger guys. Full episodes can be found online here.
A class on how to fall in love? Robert Epstein, a California college professor at UC San Diego, is teaching students about intimacy and how to fall in love. Some people could use the help. You might want to avoid anyone who gets a bad grade in this class. Hattie Kauffman reports for the Early Show.
Here's the trailer for VH1's reality-tv show Tough Love. Steve Ward of MasterMatchmakers.com is the host of the show. He tricked the girls at the beginning by pretending to be participating in a speed dating round. Each one of the girls has a specific problem. In the premiere episode, the girls also had to walk in front of three guys who gave their initial brutally honest and shallow thoughts about each girl. You can see the premiere here.
The Wall Street Journalreports that a free dating site called PlentyofFish is going to add a paid service. The paid option will be for "serious" daters.
In a February report, Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay called it "the most successful of a new generation of 'free' or advertising-supported dating sites," and one whose growth could pose a "Craigslist-like disintermediation” threat to established players like Yahoo Personals and IAC's Match.com.
By wading into the paid arena, it may lessen that disintermediation risk, but compete on more even terms with those sites.
According to a blog entry by its CEO, Markus Frind, PlentyofFish will sell "Serious Member" badges that will appear on members’ pages for three, six or 12 months. Serious members will be marked as such in search results, and their messages to prospective partners will be highlighted.
PlentyofFish's approach to a paid option is different from Match and Yahoo Personals, which charge users when they sign up or attempt to contact someone. "Paid sites monetize on impulse," Mr. Frind wrote. "PlentyofFish is going to monetize on user intent. I believe we will have far more members that are serious than paid sites."
Sometimes online service to do need a paid level to weed out those who are not serious about the website. We will see if it works for PlentyofFish. Some people do have more free time because they are out of work but at the same time they have less money to spend on dating or on paid dating websites.
Philadelphia local Steve Ward of MasterMatchmakers.com is the host of a new VH1 show called Tough Love. He will take eight women through something called a Tough Love Boot Camp. He will be joined on the show by his mom and founder of Master Matchmakers, JoAnn Ward. The show is promising "brutal honesty" but it's already offending some - see here and here.
It would have been a surprise if this study had turn out differently. WebMD reports that a new study from the department of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh found that happily married women tend to sleep better than women in unhappy marriages. The study examined date from 1,938 married women aged 42 to 52.
Participants were asked to rate their degree of happiness in their marriage from 1 to 7, with 7 being the happiest. They were also asked if they had difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or whether they woke early without being able to return to sleep.
The researchers looked at several other factors that might contribute to sleeplessness, such as a woman's social support network, depressive symptoms, economic hardship and employment status, alcohol and caffeine consumption, presence of children in the home, sexual activity, age, and hormonal status.
Even after taking these into account, the researchers found that women with higher reported levels of happiness in marriage had a lower risk of sleep disturbances, compared to women who report less happiness in their marriages.
It's easy to see how an unhappy marriage could disrupt sleep patterns. Sometimes happily couples can disrupt each other's sleep as well like when there is snoring involved. Lemon Drop also points to this study that found women sleep less soundly when they share a bed so maybe the best sleeper would be a happily married women who sleeps in her own bed.
Jennifer Aniston talks about relationships ahead of the release of her upcoming film, He's Just Not That Into You. Jennifer says she's never had to tell a friend he's just not that into you. Take a look:
CNN reports that Stony Brook University researchers recently looked at the brain scans of couples that had spent 20 years together and found 10% of them had brain scans similar to the scans of people who have just fallen in love.
Using brain scans, researchers at Stony Brook University in New York have discovered a small number of couples respond with as much passion after 20 years together as most people only do during the early throes of romance, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported.
The researchers scanned the brains of couples together for 20 years and compared them with results from new lovers, the Sunday Times said.
About 10 percent of the mature couples had the same chemical reactions when shown photographs of their loved ones as those just starting out.
The evidence somewhat contradicts earlier studies that found romantic love fades completely after 10 years. In this case it still faded for 90% of those studied, which seems like quite a bit.
Study Finds Romantic Comedies Can Take Fun Out of Real Relationships
The BBC reports that a study has found that watching romantic comedies can give viewers unrealistic expectations for real life relationships. The study involved student volunteers watching a romantic comedy.
The movies included You've Got Mail, Maid In Manhattan, The Wedding Planner and While You Were Sleeping.
The university's Dr Bjarne Holmes said: "Marriage counsellors often see couples who believe that sex should always be perfect, and if someone is meant to be with you then they will know what you want without you needing to communicate it.
"We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media play a role in perpetuating these ideas in people's minds.
"The problem is that while most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are still more influenced by media portrayals than we realise."
It would be interesting to see this study conducted on older subjects. Young people tend to be more idealistic and have less experience with relationships so it is possible romantic comedies have a bigger impact on them.
Julie Chen talked to Kathleen Bogle, an Asst. Prof. of Sociology at LaSalle University about the vague meaning of term "hookup" for young people who may or may not be having sex. Bogle says the meaning does not always mean sex and can be less harmful than people think. That said it is upsetting to hear dating being replaced by more random and casual encounters. Kathleen Bogle says some of these casual daters return to more typical dating later in life. See also, Charles Blow's op-ed for the New York Times on the "Demise of Dating."
One day humans may have "real" relationships with androids and fall in love. It remains to be seen if robots will ever be able to fall in or out of love with humans. A project called Project Aiko is underway to create the perfect companion. Designer Le Trung says Aiko is not a sex doll. In fact, Aiko will slap you if you get too frisky. Trung's project needs funding but with all the things Aiko can do already he's likely to get it. She recongize objects, speak English and Japenese, tell the weather and read the New York Times.
9-Year Old Boy Offers Advice on Getting Girls to Like You
Alec Greven, a 9-year-old from Colorado, has written a book called How to Talk to Girls. It's full of tips for getting girls to like you. One of this tips is that whatever happens, "Don't ask desperate." Some of this other tips include: "Comb your hair and don't wear sweats" and "Control your hyperness (cut down on the sugar if you have to)." He may be onto something here. You can read more of Alec's tips here in a New York Post article.
Youtuber Samantha Nicole offers some tips for how to get a second date in this YouTube video. Some of her tips include avoid too much cologne, turn off your cell phone and don't try too hard. She suggests a cafe or a lounge for a first date. She also gives some suggestions for ways to make it sound like you are listening and interested in what your date has to say.
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