A new online dating service believes you can determine the love of your life after a three-minute video chat.
Originally a project by a Stanford University business class, Speeddate.com combines online dating and round-robin-style speed dating, where singles spend eight minutes or less interviewing potential matches.
The San Mateo-based company is scheduled to hold its first event Thursday, with three-minute sessions for up to 100 people who live in the San Francisco Bay area. Individuals will meet at least 15 prospective partners in an hour.
“People go through the long process of filling out profiles and sending e-mails, maybe for weeks or months, and within two seconds of seeing the other person they realized they had no chemistry,” co-founder Dan Abelon said. “We thought this would be a good solution.”
Speeddate.com members provide only a few key details, including their sex and age; the desired sex and age of their partner; and their ZIP code. After logging in, they click through a series of Web pages featuring people who meet their criteria, connected via live video. The service is now free, though there might be a subscription fee in the future.
Fake Steve Jobs blogger touting new book: The “Fake Steve Jobs” blogger who jealously guarded his anonymity for nearly a year will soon embark on a publicity tour to tout his forthcoming book.
Forbes magazine editor Dan Lyons had intended to publish “oPtion$: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs” under a pseudonym. But in August, after a reporter with The New York Times exposed the satirical alter-ego of Apple Inc.’s CEO, Da Capo Press revamped the galley and added a biography on the back flap.
Meanwhile, a publicity executive at Cambridge, Mass.-based Da Capo Press called bookstores and arranged readings in the San Francisco area around the Nov. 1 publication — a book tour hadn’t been planned because his identity was supposed to remain secret.
Lyons is not planning extensive travels elsewhere, however. Da Capo told him it was too late for a big tour — and Lyons lamented that the book might bomb outside Silicon Valley. Lyons isn’t even hopeful about his hometown of Boston.
Lyons, who wrote “oPtion$” at night and on weekends, belted out the 248-page book in four months to get it to bookstores before the holidays.
The fictional work chronicles Jobs through the stock options backdating scandal in 2006, and it includes appearances by Bono, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Bill Gates (who appears in Jobs’ crucifixion nightmare).
Talk while sharing tunes: Now you can listen to the music your friends enjoy while chatting away online.
The new version of AOL’s instant-messaging software, AIM 6.5, offers a plug-in that lets users listen to songs their buddies have on their playlists. AIM Tunes does not require a separate media player. Copy-protected songs such as those bought on Apple Inc.’s iTunes won’t play, however.
It’s all part of making chat programs your communications hub.
“We continue to provide our users with the tools that make it easy for them to connect and share their lives with their social circles in real-time wherever they may be,” said Marcien Jenckes, AOL’s general manager for messaging and social media, said in a statement. “As social media booms, we’re introducing even more ways to help our users connect.”
AIM 6.5 also offers easier ways to send cell-phone text messages to friends when they are away from their computers and lets others see users’ “away” greetings even after they’ve logged off. Users can also customize their buddy lists and “away” greetings from their cell phones by sending text messages.
From Herald news services
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