valentine's

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

Sometimes, one is confronted with information so stunning that contemplative navel-gazing will never suffice.

So let me toss this mind-altering grenade and see how it shakes you: women are using technology in a more openly sexual way.

How can I possibly know this? Well, I am leaning heavily (as I must) on the study of women's mores prepared on behalf of Harlequin--yes, those racy people who publish bodice-ripping romances for the everyday commute.

I am grateful to a lady at the Huffington Post for corralling this data and promulgating it electronically.

You will, no doubt, feel light-headed beyond reason … 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

Forget the flowers this Valentine's Day. Go for a lightsaber-lit dinner, the open-source iNecklace, and the flirtatious Fingle app. Bridget Carey shows off tech to woo the nerd of your dreams.… Read more

Starbucks is giving its augmented reality mobile app a little bit more love. Literally.

As part of a new update, users of the company's Cup Magic app can now point their phones at Starbucks Valentine's Day-themed cups to see new, love-themed effects that appear to be happening on the cup itself.

Starbucks originally launched its Magic Cup app last November on both iOS (iTunes) and Android (Market) to coincide with the coffee chain's annual run of holiday-themed cups. Users would point their smartphone's camera at one of the seasonal cups and it would pull up an augmented reality scene that matched up with whatever character was on the cup.

This new addition is a little more limited, with the company only using one type of cup that will be carried in its stores through February 16. … Read more

Ah, Valentine's Day. It's just around the corner, so have you thought about how you'll express your love for your favorite inanimate object? Humans are so passe.

Japanese retailers have a suggestion. They're setting geek hearts aflutter with a pretty, ageless female android who's looking for love.

Clutching a bag and cell phone, she seems to be waiting for a suitor.

"Android falls in love? She is waiting for you" reads the writing on her glass box at Takashimaya Department Store in Tokyo's Shinjuku district.

The special Valentine's display features Geminoid F, the photogenic robot developed by Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro and colleagues. … Read more

Valentine's Day approaches, and in case you're one of those odd ducks wondering about the Most Intimate iPad Game, here's your slam-dunk recommendation: Fingle. Based on my time with it here at the office, it's earned nothing but awkward blushes.

Fingle's an iPad-only app because you wouldn't have enough finger room on an iPhone or iPod. It's basically Twister with fingers: two players place one hand each on the iPad and put their fingers on the spaces indicated, then start slipping and sliding around the board as indicated. Stay long enough on the … Read more