lovely

SendLove takes the measure of a man

Just what we need. Another button on the Web. But Chris Lyman, CEO of SendLove.to, believes there is a gaping hole in the feedback market; that Likes and Tweets and Shares and Comment buttons don't do enough to collect opinion and give people feedback on themselves.

We're not insecure enough already?

"Public figures should be insecure," Lyman says. And there is in fact already a business model here: Polls. Lyman wants to to better: "The social Web should be able to deliver in seconds," what existing polling systems, like the Rasmussen presidential poll, do now.

SendLove gives Web surfers the ability to like--and importantly, to dislike--people they're reading about. Users can also comment on the people they are reading about.

What gives SendLove some potential is that commentary on individuals is collected in one place (on each site or blog). So as a site covers a popular figure--say, a politician, celebrity, or sports figure--the readers can see what other people have to say about that person outside of a particular story. You can track how public opinion on a person is trending over time, see how various articles affect the trend, and compare the popularity on the site you're on with the overall Web-wide popularity. It's an interesting and different way to get into discussions about public figures.

Google loves Lucy with a doodle

Google loves Lucy.

In order to demonstrate that love, the company's doodlers have created something special for Lucille Ball's 100th birthday.

Well, it would have been her 100th birthday today, but Lucy is sadly no longer with us.

Still, in a blog post, Google doodler Jennifer Hom explained: "Lucy's creativity, absurdity, and ever-changing facial expressions (especially when she was scarfing down candy, stomping on grapes, or touting a new energy drink) have brought joy and laughter to generations of viewers."

Google's doodle offers a click and play feature, through which you can watch clips … Read more

Facebook, AmEx team up to offer cardmember deals

American Express is promising cardmembers who use Facebook special deals and discounts. The only catch? AmEx needs access to your Facebook interests, likes, and friends.

In a new program dubbed "Link, Like, Love" and unveiled today on AmEx's Facebook page, cardmembers will be able to choose from a variety of special deals. By using the new app on the Facebook page, members can access a personalized dashboard through which they'll find deals and discounts based on their Facebook likes and interests, and the likes and interests of their friends. Cardmembers can then pick the deals they … Read more

Study: Women bigger sexters than men

Is it pride in pulchritude? Is it pressure from the opposite sex? Or might it even be that not so many people like to see men naked?

In an intellectually titled piece of research--"Let My Fingers Do the Talking: Sexting and Infidelity in Cyberspace"--Diane Kholos Wysocki, a professor of sociology and women's studies at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and Cheryl D. Childers, a professor of sociology at Washburn University, create a snapshot that some might find intuitive and some might find depressing.

Their numerical conclusions appear clear: two-thirds of the women surveyed said … Read more

Woman sues man for ending Facebook relationship

It started on Facebook. She looked into his two-dimensional eyes, ignored the fact that the game was called Mafia Wars, and decided that this might be love.

Oh, perhaps it didn't start with precisely those indications of love and foreboding, but I can tell you how it ended--with an $8,386.88 lawsuit for "misrepresentation, promissory estoppel, defamation of character, and intentional infliction of emotional distress."

All of us who read romantic novels must pay a debt to the Tri-City Herald, which dutifully recorded the progress and regress of a Facebook relationship between Cheryl Gray, 50, from … Read more

Court: It's OK to use GPS to track cheating spouse

Your spouse has been working late in the office. You fear it might be the office cupboard.

Your spouse suddenly has a friend who needs a lot of comfort after a bereavement. You suspect the comfort might have slipped beyond the cuddle.

So, please, get yourself a GPS and track that spouse wherever he or she may roam.

This is not merely my suggestion for your peace of mind. It is that of a New Jersey court that decided that following your husband or wife is not an invasion of privacy. It's more of a loving gesture of concern. (… Read more

For fifth birthday, Cirque reveals more 'Love' secrets

LAS VEGAS--"Love," Cirque du Soleil's successful celebration of The Beatles, is five years old this month.

Now that the show has reached this milestone, Cirque du Soleil is willing to unveil more of its secrets. Last week, Tom Wegis, technical director for "Love," served up an all-access, stat-soaked, guided tour of the show's backstage world now it's had five years to settle and grow into its surroundings. "Love" is the only Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show performed in the round, and the three-level theater seats 2,013 visitors, all within 98 feet of the stage. The space has four control booths positioned in four separate corners (controlling lighting, projection, stage management, and automation, respectively). A total of 276 separate production cues flow back and forth between the booths as the show comes together.

Four automated tracks built into the stage carry artists and smaller stage pieces out into the show. The theater has 10 12,000-lumen projectors for each of two 2,000-square-foot panoramic screens wrapping around the space. Four 832-square-foot semi-transparent screens move in and out of the space, thanks to eight motors. They're illuminated by four 16,000-lumen projectors offering images of The Beatles and their music.

The most impressive machinery powering "Love" from behind the scenes resides under the stage. Nine stage lifts raise and lower artists and set elements in and out of the performance space. The largest motor-driven rack-and-pinion lift raises a center stage segment weighing about 22,000 pounds. Engineers dug 32 feet down into the desert ground to install it; it provides a force of 150 pounds per square foot and can raise the huge stage at a speed of a foot per second.

All Cirque productions stress that the safety of the artists and crew is the primary concern. To that end, the larger set elements are monitored by a specially designed encoder system that confirms that the moving piece is precisely where it needs to be when it needs to be there. If anything onstage strays by so much as millimeters, the movement cuts out and the show stops. … Read more

Cuckold dresses down wife's lover on Twitter, gets sued

Lovers are jealous beings. They become very upset when the object of their affections is stolen by another.

I wasn't aware, however, that the same applied to married people.

A case currently playing in the theater of a London court is, however, enlightening me. For it is alleged that Ian Puddick, a plumber who seems to be a star of a TV show called "Bricking It," raised arms against his wife's alleged lover.

He allegedly raised them, then lowered them to his computer keyboard, whereupon he tweeted and created Web sites that railed against his rival.… Read more

Motion-capture research: Men have a nose for women

I don't know about you, but I'm rather partial to a nice smell. Somehow, some people just offer a better odor than others, and one reacts to them more positively because of that.

I am heartened, therefore, to get a sniff of research performed at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to National Geographic, the Academy was very interested to see just how animal-like we really are. The academy wondered whether we really are sophisticated in our choice of sex partners, or whether we are, indeed, just like the others on Orwell's farm.

Naturally, if they had … Read more

Cirque du Soleil goes 3D with James Cameron (Q&A)

SAN FRANCISCO--If you're looking for powerful brands in the entertainment business, you'd be hard-pressed to find two with more influence than "Avatar" creator James Cameron and Cirque du Soleil.

So the marriage of the two, on a forthcoming movie project Cameron is executive-producing (and that's helmed by "Shrek" and "Chronicles of Narnia" director Andew Adamson) promises to offer fans a compelling mixture of the Cirque's unique hybrid of artistry, acrobatics, music, and showmanship and Cameron's mastery of the latest filmmaking technologies.

This partnership is just one of the latest … Read more