date

Is your date a player? Send a text and find out

You get asked out at a party, but you can't help but wonder if the guy is actually the stable, reliable charmer he appears to be. A new SMS and Web-based service called PlayerBlock lets you sneak off with your cell phone, send a text message and get the dirt faster than he can say, "How 'bout a movie?"

Based on the highly optimistic starting assumption that "people cheat and lie while dating and in relationships," PlayerBlock claims to be the first ever text-based service that enables romance seekers to investigate the dating habits of … Read more

'Charger Bracelet': When games are your life

If you give an item like this any kind of consideration at all, it's probably a sign that you're spending more time playing games than with your loved ones. Actually, it may mean that you don't have any loved ones at all, or won't for very long.

Thanko's "Charger Bracelet" is designed for addicts who just can't put down their handhelds when the batteries run dry, supposedly providing another 4.5 hours for a PSP and 28 hours for a DS Lite with a recharger strapped to the wrist, according to Engadget. … Read more

Seduction lighting for under your bed? Dude, you're trying too hard

Guys, don't let this be you.

So there's this friend of mine; let's call him Josh. He goes on this date, and it goes really well because he did a little bit of Facebook reconnaissance in advance to find out that the girl really digs sushi, gelato, and Wes Anderson movies.

Then he takes her back to his apartment for a "cup of tea" (oh, yeah right!) and then she notices that he's a little bit eccentric. You know, he's got a Star Trek blaster for his TV remote control, or maybe he'… Read more

Catholic Match acquires CatholicDaters.com

It's a match made in Heaven.

Catholic Match announced Tuesday it acquired the assets of CatholicDaters.com. The parties, as expected, are gushing like newlyweds.

"It became clear, after some initial discussion, that an acquisition made sense," beamed Catholic Match co-founder Brian Barcaro. And CatholicDaters' founder, Andrew Weyrich, glowed: "Catholic Match embodies many of the values and concepts that were important to us at CatholicDaters."

But hey, this is America, where 50 percent of marriages end up in divorce. So Catholic Match has its work cut out for it in making the most of the … Read more

Six weird blind dates: At lunch, on the plane, and in your car

Outgoing and adventuresome types who don't like lunching alone might want to try out Noonhat, an experimental site that connects people looking for midday companionship. (For lunch, you pervert.) The site launched nationwide during Gnomedex. It's simple to use: you locate your position on a Google map, select the radius you're willing to travel for lunch, and enter in your e-mail and your desired lunch date. On the morning of the date, you're sent a notification with e-mail addresses of people looking to dine in the same area, if there are any.

And that's it. … Read more

A mouse that will ensure rejection

You know those magazine surveys that say women reject "nice guys" because they try too hard? Here's a perfect example of what they're talking about.

Our insanely prolific friends at Japan's SolidAlliance have come up with the "I Love You" optical mouse, which announces its feelings whenever the scroll wheel is turned (unless your stomach turns first). And if you need more ways to unburden your pent-up emotions, the heart-shaped peripheral has lights that will turn a "shiny bright red" when connected.

Fareastgizmos says it's sure to "make that … Read more

Whole Foods Bowery, NYC dotcom party hotspot

Looks like I spoke too soon when I made fun of the nascent phenomenon of dotcoms throwing parties at the Whole Foods Bowery supermarket. Last month, it was a new hyperlocal social network; this month, it's urban uberblog Gothamist. And it's not just any party--it's "Check Out," described as "a delicious event for delicious singles."

I should stress once again the absurdity of it all: the historically edgy gangland of the Bowery, now home to a massive upscale supermarket that hosts singles mixers in conjunction with urban blog networks.

It's almost ironically … Read more

Hilarious Axe ad campaign tells geeks to 'get a girlfriend'

Axe body spray is just about the nastiest stuff on the planet--trust me, guys, don't wear it, it's girl repellent and is really only good for covering up scents that might make the cops come a'knocking--but they did come out with a particularly clever ad campaign. It's not often that ads me laugh out loud for real, but these did.

A series of photographs show visual tableaux of young fellows who clearly have spent too much time doing somewhat pointless things (training frogs to jump, occupying all ten high-score spots on an arcade video game, building … Read more

'Light Head Magnifier': The name says it all

Wow. It's not often that we're left speechless by the sheer dorkiness of an item, but this one almost had that effect on us.

The very name of the "Lighted Head Magnifier" screams date-repellant, but it still can't come close to conveying the image in the photo shown here. In case anyone cares, Coolest-Gadgets says this piece of headgear provides 3.5x magnification, a spare light bulb and "non-slip fit." That may be so, but it still looks like a poor man's combination of a "Shade Blade" and an LED baseball cap, … Read more

'Shade Blade' gives solar power a bad name

We never thought we'd see an item worthy of as much ridicule as the solar hat fan, but this one comes close. Well, maybe not. But it's still eminently mockable.

The "Shade Blade" (classic name) is a prototype that Gizmodo says is billed as the "ultimate pair of sunglasses," presumably because of its theoretical ability to provide solar power for a variety of electronic devices. But frankly, the only thing "ultimate" we can imagine is how effectively it would function as a date repellant.