valentine's day

Valentine's Day can be stressful. It's one of those holidays that people want to be perfect and therefore is sometimes a let down.

Despite living in a tech era, romantic traditions still seem to adhere. There are flowers to buy, dinner reservations to make, and gifts and cards to exchange. And then, there's the daunting task of coming up with original ideas of what to do on February 14.

None of this is really going change, but technology can help make some of it easier.

Here's CNET's resource guide for 10 helpful Valentine's Day … Read more

It's so easy to denounce Valentine's Day as a pointless "Hallmark holiday" that places undue stress on those in relationships (and even those dating around.)

I get it -- why spend all this time and money just because some dude named Geoffrey Chaucer said so?

Because, guys, the ladies love it. Valentine's Day doesn't have to be flowers, chocolate, and Tiffany jewelry. In fact, if you can come up with a romantic day that involves anything but those items, your significant other will appreciate it even more.

But where do you start? That's … Read more

We need to talk about love.

It is a wonderful thing. It makes the world go around. But sometimes it doesn't live here anymore.

It is then that bad things can happen.

You might get cut off by your ex, your gym membership suddenly inactive. You might hear from friends that you did none of the work in the relationship. You might hear that you were mean and cruel.

On the other hand, your ex might actually be the mean and cruel one.

For you might suddenly find that your passwords, bank account numbers, and even that photo of you wearing nothing but a caring grin on a remote Indian beach will suddenly see the light of more days than are comfortable. … Read more

Online role-playing games, typically of the massively multiplayer variety, have a reputation for wreaking havoc on real-world relationships.

Now, researchers can back up that notion with survey results and can pinpoint the problems that result from such gaming. The survey, from researchers at Brigham Young University, is set to appear tomorrow in the Journal of Leisure Research.

The findings confirm what many gamers know all too intimately--perhaps having heard the message delivered loudly in words with four letters. Three-quarters of spouses of online gamers wish their partners would put more time and effort into their marriages than they put into … Read more

Today is Valentine's Day, and all over the world, couples are whispering sweet nothings to each other over a glass of wine before retreating to their homes for a wild night of chess and polite conversation. If you don't have a partner to snuggle with, but you do own an iPhone 4S, I'll show you how to be almost as romantic.

I am, of course, talking about Siri, the voice-controlled helper built into Apple's latest phone. We've seen how Siri performs in job interviews, and we even heard reports of a filthy mouth, but it was time to see how our friend performed on a date, so I booked us both a table at a lovely local wine bar. … Read more

There are several reasons why Google can affect one emotionally. It's true these emotions aren't always positive. Sometimes, even, they verge on exasperation at Google's trickeration.

Happily, though, Google's small, but powerful Dept. of Human Beings--aka the Doodlers--is always trying to create an urge to cuddle, rather than cudgel.

Google's doodle for Valentine's Day offers a girl who is jump roping--or skipping, as they call it overseas. A boy offers her a flower. Oddly, the girl is not impressed.

The boy slinks away and googles some more ideas. He comes back with chocolates. She … Read more

Love is in the air this week. You can tell by the smell of overpriced roses, highly inflated balloons, and restaurant servers who are in the gym early, training to turn tables over four times in a night.

How touching, then, that Luke DuBois, a digital-media professor at NYU-Poly, has used his vast and loving skills to try to bring together those who seek true love on Craigslist's "Missed Connections."

At LukeDubois.com/missed, you are offered hope if you failed to get the phone number or other personal details of someone who stared a little too long at you in your local library or hookah lounge.

DuBois told The Brooklyn Paper that his site uses an algorithm that attempts to find similar words used in different Missed Connections posts in the very same city.

It does sound so much more ingenious than the methods of that slightly wordy lady on "The Millionaire Matchmaker."… Read more

If you're in a healthy relationship, the last thing you should probably be doing this Valentine's Day is playing video games.

But if you're a "playa" who can juggle Gears of War and a significant other at the same time, be careful when using Microsoft's new wireless headset for the Xbox.

Former UFC champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson learns the hard way in this commercial, which illustrates how things can quickly go from good to embarrassing while using the headset.… Read more

We often don't appreciate love till love is lost or broken. The same goes for networking and storage devices.

Do you realize that you're able to read this post this right now because some router and storage device somewhere are both busy at work?

The good news is that every year we have a day to appreciate love. And you may also want to take this opportunity to appreciate the tech tool that's been so underappreciated. Luckily, I am here to help.

Here are the Top 5 networking and storage devices that are not just among the top of their respective categories--including mobile routers, home wireless routers, internal drives, network storage, and external storage devices--but are also collectively sexy, cute, lovely devices that would make a great gift for a special someone. … Read more