Love

"It's never been easier to find a date," says CyberDatingExpert.com publisher Julie Spira. And when it comes to online dating, she adds, the "stigma is gone."

She credits Facebook with helping to make people feel comfortable about sharing online and about joining an online dating site. Thousands of online dating sites exist, including niche sites aimed at Democrats and Republicans, as well as different religions and even vegans and vegetarians.

Spira is a fan of "truth in advertising" and recommends that people be authentic about their age, photos, and what they enjoy. … Read more

The Internet has changed how we interact with each other through social networks, text messaging, and online dating. Because of this, the rules of finding love, keeping relationships alive, or sparking new ones have been completely rewritten.

On Valentine's Day, I'll be hosting a special live show called "Computer Love" at 11 a.m. PT. We'll talk about a host of topics, ranging from long-distance love to sexting. I'll talk with special guests about our personal experiences and yes, even "catfishing."

This show is what you make it. We'll be taking … Read more

Valentine's Day is a horrible tradition. It's a romantic "musical chairs" where you either stand alone in a metaphorical puddle of rejection, or turn to your partner and price out the worth of their love in flowers and chocolates.

To hell with it.

To level the playing field, I say we need to put science fiction's premise of the humanoid robot companion on the fast track to becoming a reality. … Read more

This story will move only those who have a heart.

The remainder -- well, perhaps they man the judicial system in Cameroon.

Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, 32, wanted to express his love by text. He sent this: "I am very much in love with you."

The only problem is that Mbede lives in Cameroon. There, as the Associated Press reports, homosexual conduct is illegal. And Mbede sent the text to another man.

The police arrested him on suspicion of homosexuality. His phone, to them, confirmed it.

So he was sent to jail for three years in 2011.

Reason appeared … Read more

Are you looking for a new rental in San Francisco and finding it impossible to keep up with the pack? A brand-new iPhone app called Lovely just might be the answer.

Launched today, the Lovely app is designed to give apartment hunters a leg up on their considerable competition, in particular because speed is absolutely of the essence in the hottest rental markets these days.

Lovely has had a Web presence for some time and is now available nationwide. But with the launch of its mobile app, the San Francisco startup is aiming to put the very latest listings in … Read more

You can meet a new lover in unexpected places -- like on a bus, at a winery, or at a pharmacy counter.

Such a chance encounter allows for the relationship to develop organically, right down to the bitter organic end.

For some people, though, chance encounters tend not to offer the precision they require. One of those people is Japanese programmer Noriko Higashi.

She, you see, knows precisely what she wants. Please believe me, it's quite a lot.

In order to find the man of her (rational) dreams, Higashi decided to advertise on social-coding site GitHub. Perhaps because she … Read more

As one who last professed true love in the previous century, it's hard for me to understand why people post cute, cuddly messages about their nearest and most expensive on Facebook.

You know the sort of thing: "My gorgeous wife just bought me a red toothbrush." Or: "My new boyfriend's smile makes my heart sing like Engelbert Humperdinck."

It's hardly: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight."

Still, I … Read more

Sometimes, love can make our emotions veer toward trouble. But when love gets mixed with revenge, the cocktail can be a trifle explosive.

It is with a burdened heart that I bring you the story of Christopher Shell, his ex-girlfriend, and her current boyfriend.

As NBC News has it, the lady's current boyfriend, 26-year-old Kenneth W. Smith, is allegedly a man who doesn't take slights lying down.

Indeed, it is alleged that he got up from bed, walked to a pay phone in Philadelphia and placed a call to the local airport.

It was not exactly a morning … Read more

My engineer friend, George, got brutally stood up the other day.

"How did you react?" I asked, trying not to contort my face in fear, as he can get emotional.

"Well, I de-friended her on Facebook," he said. "She's dead to me."

It turns out he may be one of the healthy ones. Because Facebook is where all of love's stages are enacted. And one of those stages comes straight after the breakup. It is the stalking stage.

A master's candidate at Western University (which I don't think offers a master's in Love Studies) decided to examine the extent to which former lovers cannot let go, in the socially networked sense. … Read more