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Podcast: Tech tips to make dating, relationships and breakups easier
Our hosts are joined this week by special guest Harris O’Malley aka Dr. NerdLove to talk all about the ways tech affects dating, relationships and breakups.
Dating app Hinge ditches flings for relationships
Between Tinder, Bumble, OKCupid and the plethora of dating apps available, finding someone to hook up with has never been easier. But the endless supply of options has also made it much harder to connect with someone on a deeper, longer-lasting level. To tackle that problem, Hinge is rebuilding itself to focus on connecting people looking for relationships. It's also incorporating a new $7 monthly membership fee, in part to make sure that subscribers are actually invested in looking for relationships.
How to outsource your love life
It's 5PM on a Friday. I pour myself a glass of three-day-old white wine and wait for my wing woman to call. Her name is Ally. She has a soothing voice and a gentle demeanor. She lives in Temecula, California, somewhere between Los Angeles and the hyper-conservative, bleach-blonde beaches of San Diego. Over the course of our near-two-hour phone call she will grill me on everything from my favorite dishes to dating deal-breakers, from the time I was held at gunpoint in Mexico to my affinity for gin martinis.
MTV's first original Snapchat Discover show is all about sex
You'd think that MTV would have been quick to produce original shows for Snapchat's Discover portal (to be where the young people are), but nope -- it's only just getting to that now. The network has unveiled Pants Off, an eight-episode series that dishes out serious advice on sex and relationships in an accessible way. Sex educator and video blogger Laci Green hosts each of the short-form clips, which tackle everything from sex advice myths to dating apps. It's clear that MTV and Green aren't pulling many (if any) punches in the first episode. Although there isn't anything graphic on screen so far, you probably want to watch with headphones on while you're in public.
Tinder Social helps you and your crew mix and mingle
Tinder is working on a feature that will enable groups of friends to meet groups of new people while on a night out. The idea behind Tinder Social is that you and your chums will start planning your Friday night a few days in advance. The system will then try to match your #squad up with a similar one so you can all go hang out together. By making the connection ahead of time, you'll all be able to break the ice and call shotgun on prospective partners well before the festivities kick off. The feature is currently being trialled in Australia and the company is pledging to bring it to the rest of the world in due time.
There's no perfect equation for getting laid in the Tinder age
Last July, I joined Grindr and things started off strong. I had a few good screws, a handful of hot dates and an intense summer fling. I saw more action in six months than I'd seen in the past three years. I was winning and a computer was helping me do it. Then, after an eight-day trip to Las Vegas this past January, all the action dried up.
Panasonic pushes same-sex equality in Japan
Panasonic has revealed that it will recognize its employees' same-sex relationships from the start of April. The announcement was timed to coincide with the news that a third Japanese municipality will do the same -- it's the first area outside of Tokyo. You may be wondering why Panasonic's decision is newsworthy, but it's a groundbreaking move in Japan's socially conservative society. The firm is a large and respected player in the business community, and its decision could cause other tech outfits to follow suit.
Linked love: OKCupid offers options for polyamorous couples
One of OkCupid's biggest advantages versus other matchmaking sites is the seemingly endless amount of dating data its users provide voluntarily in an effort to find a compatible mate. The flip-side of that is OkCupid can use that information to tailor its site to emerging trends -- like offering the option for polyamorous folks to link their profiles to make finding like-minded people easier. Rather than awkwardly creating a joint account or hoping those 11 letters stand out among the rest of your profile text, The Atlantic writes that now those who list themselves as "seeing someone," "married," or "in an open relationship" can link their profiles (similar to Facebook) to eliminate any sort of confusion.
Junk technology: Why your penis pedometer is DOA
If all you want for Christmas is a penis pedometer, get ready to be disappointed. NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
Facebook has a cure for your broken heart: more Facebook
Your best friend, Facebook — you know the one who toyed with your emotions for personal gain; repeatedly brought up moments you'd rather forget; and refused to call you by your chosen name for, like, ever — really wants to help you get over your ex. That's right, yesterday the good vibes social network that wears its thumbs-up on its sleeve, started testing a set of features for the recently estranged.
In the App Store, love comes cheap
When you're a writer, people expect you to write. And when you're courting someone the pressure to write for them, and to do it well, is amplified. My most recent romantic conquest, a Mexican interior designer, lived in LA. He was a diehard romantic, hundreds of miles away, and despite a slight language barrier, he had a way with words that I struggled to match. He had the ability to make me melt with a single text. I, in turn, would sit for minutes at a time, wringing my heart and brain for just one drop of sweet sentiment.
Let's talk about sex: This is Computer Love
Computer Love is a semi-regular column exploring the weird world of human sexuality in the 21st century. That's me four months ago, emerging from the frozen tomb of a near decade-long relationship. OK, that's Brendan Fraser, but when I finally surfaced from the cold-comfort coffin of love lost, I was thrust into a strange new world, where courtship starts with a dick pic, dating is done by phone and text messages are the preferred mode of romantic communique.
Breaking up in the time of Twitter
For nearly 10 years, we shared everything, but it never occurred to me that sharing a four-digit PIN could ruin it all.
Cute robots make good filmmakers and maybe better companions
What is the last risk you took? Who do you love most in the world? If you died tomorrow, what would you regret the most? Posing those questions to your friends would probably net you a snide rejoinder, and a stranger would walk away in a huff (if you were lucky). Artist and engineer Alexander Reben wanted to explore what kinds of relationships could arise between humans and robots, so he did the only logical thing: he and his team build a legion of cute machines to ask those very questions.
Tinder's paid tier will let you undo costly dating mistakes
So you're furiously swiping left in Tinder to get rid of bad matches, only to realize that you accidentally dismissed a total dreamboat. Are you going to be stuck lamenting the romance that might have been? Not if you're using Tinder's upcoming paid tier. The dating firm tells TechCrunch that its Plus service will include an "undo" feature that lets you revisit date candidates you'd previously ruled out. Just how much this (and the previously mentioned away-from-home browsing) will cost you is up in the air. Tinder will test Plus with a portion of its users in the UK, Brazil and Germany, with prices ranging anywhere from 99 cents to $20; the official rollout will depend on what customers are willing to pay. Either way, you won't have to risk spending the night at home just because you were too quick to skip a potential partner.
These beautiful objects symbolize human contact using cold, hidden machinery
Ask anyone who's tried maintaining a long-distance relationship: it's hard, and video chats, text messages and phone calls don't always satisfy our emotional needs. A lot of human relations are indirect, subtle actions of body language or behavior that aren't easily captured in video or text. Capturing the feeling of these unspoken cues seems is the point of "Saying things that can't be said," two students' final project at the Holon Institute of Technology. The series uses a mix of technology and familiar objects to create an abstract sense of presence between two distant partners.
How to live happily ever after with a nongaming partner
So your beloved spouse doesn't play WoW. It happens. Sometimes you can tempt them into trying; an enjoyable duo is great for a relationship, after all. And if your spouse does decide to give the game a whirl, we can show you how to get off on the right foot. But sometimes, getting your partner to join you in WoW just isn't in the cards. And that's okay. You don't have to quit your hobby simply because your other half doesn't share your enthusiasm. You can play, and your partner can not play, and you can both be as happy together as two bugs in a rug. We'll show you how to keep grouping in Azeroth from ungrouping you in life.
Storyboard: For me, it was Tuesday
I want to tell you a love story. It's not a happy one. It's about Daniel and Rachel. Rachel loves Daniel. She didn't expect to fall for him, but she did. The problem is that Daniel doesn't love Rachel back. More than that, he can't even conceptualize feeling for Rachel what she feels for him. She acquiesces, acts as a friend, listens to Daniel talk about his true love Samantha. She watches Daniel date Olivia. She gets attacked by Olivia for her affection. She pays attention to the fact that Daniel still talks about Samantha when she's been gone for a year, even though Daniel doesn't mention Rachel at all if she's not around. This is not a happy dynamic for Rachel, but it is certainly dramatic. The problem is that Rachel and Daniel are characters, and Daniel's player is making a point of being aloof and dismissive toward Rachel because that's the whole point. So how do you ignore Rachel without making Rachel's player feel left out of roleplaying?
The Daily Grind: Would you get married in-game if you could?
In-game marriages are largely a thing of the past. Outside of outliers like RIFT, MapleStory and Final Fantasy XIV, most games don't and won't feature the option to tie the knot inside your game of choice. Which might be seen as a bit sad, but it also raises the question of whether or not you'd use the feature even if it were available. Maybe you enjoy roleplaying, maybe you want to have a tongue-in-cheek ceremony, or maybe you play with your spouse and want to be married on multiple levels. Or maybe you think the idea of being pretend married in a pretend game is kind of hopelessly silly to begin with. So today we ask -- if you had the option of getting married in your game of choice, would you take advantage of it? Or do you think it's more or less the apex of unnecessary fluff features in games? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
8 ways to stay in touch with all your old WoW friends
When it finally comes time for your ship to make a final departure from the shores of Azeroth, the lands you're leaving behind will almost certainly not be what your heart aches for the most -– it's the people. Skittering about atop superficial friendships with guildmates and situational acquaintances is easier than ever in the age of LFD and LFR, but we're sure it's unnecessary to remind you that lifelong friendships and marriages are forged and strengthened in Azeroth, as well. The people we meet here are most assuredly part of our lives – and stepping away from WoW (whether for a temporary sabbatical or on a permanent basis) doesn't inevitably mean losing touch. We never recommend sticking with the game solely to stay in touch with or please other players. It's no fun to play if your heart's not in it, and nobody has any fun if you're obviously slogging along with little real enthusiasm. If you need to take a break from World of Warcraft but you don't want to lose touch with the people here who've brightened your life, you can keep in touch so many other ways.
