Anyone who has dated online knows that it's one of the biggest drains on time and energy ever. It's not that it isn't fun, it is, it's just that it's also a lot of work. Between the spambots, scammers, and plain old average liars, an entire lifetime could be spent just separating the real profiles from the fake ones. Who has time for that?

No one, that's who, so thankfully a new service called Mesh promises to do it for you.

The goal of the New York City-based startup, who says their product is still in "pre-beta,” is to "[m]ake online dating enjoyable and trustworthy again." Some might debate whether online dating (or maybe even dating at all) was ever enjoyable or trustworthy, but for now let's give Mesh the benefit of the doubt.

Launched last fall, Mesh claims to help online daters prevent “creepy and sleazy messages, stalkers, overly aggressive types” and other undesirables from cluttering up your inbox. Some might say that being denied the pleasure of rejecting people takes all the fun out of online dating, but even the most hard-hearted of daters could probably stand to free up some time in their schedules for something else.

Mesh takes a several-pronged approach to protecting you:

• Sub-par messages – those that include vulgarity, text-speak, poor grammar/spelling, and copy-and-pasted content - are automatically filtered into a Mismatch folder so you never have to see them.
• Before a potential match can message you, they must first prove that they see eye-to-eye with you on the essential questions you set as your Dealbreakers.
• Privacy settings are specific and taken very seriously. You can keep some preferences hidden (if you’re looking for a particular relationship, appearance, religion, etc) and Mesh will never connect, link, or publish anything to your Facebook profile.

Other perks of Mesh include an ad-free experience, more options for gender identification, and a “Perfect For” feature that allows users to set friends up with people they think they’ll like.

"The current crop of free online dating sites are broken," founder and CEO Asher Snyder said in a press release on Street Insider last week. "Harassment and undesirable vulgarity runs unchecked while quality messages get lost in the shuffle, leaving many women with a negative experience. Together with the team, we spent nearly a year reinventing online dating, using advanced technologies, better algorithms, and beautiful functional designs our generation expects. The result is like no other online dating service currently available. We hope not only to bring people together better, but to make online dating enjoyable and trustworthy again."

Most of us know about dating apps like Tinder that can help you meet people. But what if you need help picking out a good restaurant to meet a date, or what line should you use to approach a woman at a bar? Don’t worry, there are apps for those things, too.

Apps can give you a wealth of creative ideas for everything from where to go on a first date to how to pick out a good wine. An app can be a lifesaver if you get lost on your way to someplace new, or if you need last-minute tickets to a concert. It can also be a good source for discounts, since dating can get expensive.

Following are some apps you must download today to help your dating life – just be sure to put your phone away once you’re on the date:

Do you consider yourself an open-minded dater? If you live in L.A. or New York your potential dates are not as open-minded as you might assume. In fact, Las Vegas is the number one city for daters who are more receptive to others who don't share the same beliefs - not the coastal cities.

Dating website Zoosk looked at a sample of about a million of its members to see what regions in the U.S. had the most open-minded daters. The site looked at members’ willingness to date someone with different viewpoints on important topics such as children, religion, previous marriages, and education – and unveiled that coastal and generally forward-thinking cities aren’t as open-minded when it comes to who they will date.

Cities in the heartland - Las Vegas Nevada, Detroit Michigan and Columbus Ohio - made the top three on the list of cities with the most open-minded daters. Rounding out the bottom, where you’ll find the least open-minded daters, was Raleigh North Carolina, San Jose California, and Birmingham Alabama.

In addition to overall open-mindedness, the study looked at the breakdown of different topics that are important subjects for daters, such as religion. They found that singles in San Jose, California are the most open-minded about dating someone outside of their religion, while singles in Birmingham, Alabama are the least open-minded.

Educational disparity can be a deal-breaker for some daters. Salt Lake City, Utah has the highest concentration of singles willing to date someone with a different level of education, while singles in San Jose, California predominantly look for a partner with the same level of education.

And what about those who have been married before? Would you be willing to date someone who’s divorced? As it turns out, singles in Salt Lake City, Utah are most open to dating someone who was previously married, while singles in Hartford, Connecticut are least likely to consider the option.

Body type can be a concern for daters, too. San Antonio, Texas has the highest concentration of singles willing to date someone with a different body type than their own, while singles in Louisville, Kentucky largely look for a partner with a similar physique.

And what about smoking and drinking habits? Singles who reside in Nashville, Tennessee are most open to dating someone who has different smoking habits, while singles in Miami, Florida are least likely to do so. Providence, Rhode Island singles are most open to dating someone whose drinking habits differ from their own, unlike singles in San Jose, California who are not.

Dating is full of clichés, and online dating is even worse. If I see one more person who describes themselves as “fun” or says they like “hanging out with friends” (or, God forbid, that they like “candlelit dinners and long walks on the beach”) I am going to throw my laptop out the window in a fit of rage. Could you possibly be any more boring?

Most online clichés should be ignored, but there’s one overused online dating phrase that’s worth paying attention to: “no drama.”

Yes, it sounds incredibly annoying and to be honest I would probably never date someone who used it. That being said, I do think it has value. We all like to complain about the drama others bring into our lives, but when was the last time you stopped to ask yourself if you’re the reason there's drama in your relationships? If you find yourself in bad relationship after bad relationship, it's time to face the music: the common denominator is you.

Next time you see an online dating profile that says drama queens need not apply, ask yourself a few questions:

• Are you ready to have fun? If a new relationship is coming directly on the heels of the previous one, you may not have given your self sufficient time to heal. On the other hand, if it's been forever since you last dipped your toes in the dating pool, you might be feeling totally lost. Getting back into the swing of things means being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Sometimes you’ll be rejected. Sometimes someone you're interested in will simply disappear. Sometimes a date will go totally haywire. If you're not ready to face every eventuality – and have fun while doing it - there's a good chance drama will follow.
• How confident are you? Dating isn't always easy. In fact, it can be downright brutal. Things will happen that will make you forget how totally awesome you are. The minute your confidence takes a hit, you start behaving in ways that sink it even further. Low self-esteem leads to neediness, to dependency, and to attention-seeking behavior. When you don't feel good about yourself internally, you'll find yourself desperately seeking external validation. None of this is healthy. None of this is attractive. And all of it = drama.
• Have you fully moved on from your last relationship? Hello, drama central! One of the easiest ways to doom a relationship is to enter it before you're ready. It’s never smart to start dating right away after the end of a relationship. It might feel like a fix, but that fix is only temporary. You’ll end up dragging the baggage from the previous relationship over to the new one, dooming things with your new date from the very beginning. When a relationship ends, stay single until you're ready to date again with confidence, happiness, an open heart, and absolutely zero ex drama.

Zoosk just filed for IPO last month, but already the hype is huge. Upon the announcement of its plans to go public, Zoosk was dubbed ‘the Netflix of dating’ by the media and investor interest shot through the roof.

The "dating services" industry was valued at $2.1 billion in annual revenue by IBISWorld in September 2013. 68.7% of that figure comes from online and mobile dating services. IBISWorld predicts that the market as a whole will grow by 5% over the course of the next four years. The biggest players in the industry are names that are familiar to everyone, whether or not they have ever used the services: Match.com, OkCupid, eHarmony.

Zoosk may be smaller, but it’s no slouch. The online dating platform has over 26 million members, including approximately 650,000 subscribers across 80 countries. Zoosk’s membership grew from 18 million in 2012 to its current numbers, while the number of paying subscribers over the same period grew from 483,000 to 650,000. The company anticipates continued revenue growth based on its unique business model that’s similar to Netflix or Pandora.

What Zoosk has in common with those two Internet giants is its complex proprietary behavioral matchmaking engine. The technology analyzes your behavior on the site – from who you click yes on to who you linger on a little longer before saying no – to get to know you better (possibly even better than you know yourself). By tracking your actions on the website and evaluating your preferences based on it, Zoosk hopes to be able to anticipate your love life's every need, in the same way that Pandora guesses what kind of music you’ll like and Netflix suggests movies it thinks you should watch.

Of course, the stakes are a little higher when you can't just press pause or hit a skip button when you're not satisfied with the choice. Still, Zoosk is thriving. At the end of 2013, it was the highest grossing dating app and one of the top 25 highest grossing iPhone apps of the year. With a 2.9% market share, according to the IBISWorld report, Zoosk is one of the biggest players in the game.

That being said, Zoosk is not profitable. The company posted net losses of $2.6 million last year and admitted that it “may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future" in its S-1 filing with the SEC. For the future, if the IPO is to be successful (and the company as a whole), Zoosk will need to increase brand awareness via public relations, social media, and advertising. Zoosk must also create an effective system for retaining users and continue to expand its presence on mobile.

For more on this dating service you can read our Zoosk review.

Spring is a time of renewal, and in keeping with the theme of the season, Match.com has unveiled a freshly redesigned mobile experience for iPhone users. Match 3.0 for iOS took major cues from Apple's own iOS7 overhaul, even redesigning the Match.com logo for 2014. But the biggest inspiration for the new Match mobile app was its competitors.

Prior to the app’s makeover, it was a carbon copy of the Match.com website. These days, the mobile application includes original features that were built specifically for smartphones and can't be found online. The app now opens to a Discover page containing two brand new features: Stream and Mixer.

Stream serves up photos of singles close to your location utilizing an innovative algorithm that analyzes your preferences. The feature highlights additional photos and a member's profile as well as the primary profile picture, giving a greater glimpse into his or her personality. Match President Amarnath Thombre spoke proudly to TechCrunch about the new feature:

“The challenge was to leverage all the rich data that Match has about users, like secondary photos and information from their bio, and make it super lightweight,” Thombre said. “With the Stream, users can see a lot of information about their potential matches without ever clicking in to anything.”

Mixer is Match’s attempt to capitalize on the explosive success of Tinder. Scroll through a rapid-fire presentation of profiles. Swipe right if you're interested; swipe left if you're not interested. You can also like photos and send messages from within Mixer.

Other new features include:

• Threaded messaging. Messages are now organized in conversations, enabling you to easily preserve the history between you and a match. “Delivered” and “read” receipts are included.
• Easier photo uploading. There are now three different ways to add photos from within the app’s interface.
• In-app notifications. In-app notifications make it easier for users to stay connected.
• In-app purchasing. For the first time, users have the ability to purchase subscriptions and additional features while signed into the app.
• More ways to communicate. Communication can begin as soon as you launch the app and can be continued in multiple different ways, from Stream to Daily Matches, and even directly from a members’ photo. Single-click payment is now available.

Of course, in addition to all the new features, the updated app still includes traditional search and matching, but the experience has been redesigned to be more mobile-friendly. Considering that 50% of Match.com’s sign-ups come from mobile, and more than half of messages sent between users come from smartphones, the new generation of Match's iPhone app is coming not a moment too soon.

Here is our Match.com review where you can find more information on this service.