General News

In a surprising move, eHarmony is having a Free Communication Event (not weekend) starting Wednesday October 21 to, and including Sunday October 25. Normal free communication weekends at eHarmony are usually only 4 days long and start the Thursday or Friday. With this next one 5 days long I am sure eHarmony is bracing for the surge of new members.

This eHarmony communication event allows all members to not only review their matches but communicate with them as well for free. The only option you can't use is FastTrack. FastTrack allows members to bypass the 4 step guided communication process and go instantly to email messages.

This is Free Communication Weekend number 20 for eHarmony. The last one was held in September on the Labour Day weekend (see Story).

Read our eHarmony review for more details on if this is the ideal dating and matchmaking service for you.

Lynne met her husband, Dave, online six years ago. They met on a dating site called LDS Mingle which is an online matchmaking service for Mormon singles. Back then online dating wasn't as popular but Lynn had exhausted all of the prearranged dates that her well meaning friends had found for her. She wasn't going to give up but she wanted to meet a man whose religious affiliation was with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Online dating was the only real choice for her. When she first connected with Dave online they found that they lived 700 miles apart. This didn't stop them from forming a relationship and they were soon calling each other every night on the phone. In a few months Dave came to visit Lynn and in just 8 hours after meeting her in person, he had proposed. They were married that summer.

For the full story on this dating success story, read the Mormon Times.

The United States virtual goods market was worth $500 million in 2008 according InsideFacebook.com. This year it is expected to double to $1 billion and in 2010 virtual goods sales are expected to reach $1.6 billion. The huge growth in the market is due to the popularity of social networking and with more video games adding virtual goods to their online components.

With growth like this expected in the next few years, virtual gifts will be on par with the online dating industry which in 2008 was the third highest revenue grossing industry.

These are predictions from knowledgeable experts but they may not live up to expectations. In a recent Date.com press release about virtual gifts (see Story) their leading analysts estimated the revenue for the industry at $1.5 billion in 2008. This is a $1 billion difference between experts, I wonder which one is closer to the truth?

For more on this story, read Online Media Daily.

Single 29 year old Jessica Simpson says she is open to finding a long term relationship on the internet since others have found love there. While she has never tried online dating before, Jessica states "I mean, anybody who can find love online, so be it," says Simpson. As for getting her own feet wet in the online dating pool, she says, "Maybe. Who knows?"

I don't think she will ever need too visit a dating site with her good looks and the ease she hooks up with famous men like Nick Lachey, John Mayer and Tony Romo.

Celebs who are rumored to have used online dating sites include Halle Berry and Joan Rivers. Charlie Sheen also meet his current wife, Brooke Mueller (see Story) on the dating site MillionaireMatch.com.

Jessica Simpson is currently working on a movie in Morocco called "The Price of Beauty".

For the full story read People.com. To find out more about the sugar daddy dating site which Charlie Sheen used, read our review of MillionaireMatch.com.

FriendFinder Networks said on Tuesday that they plan to complete the IPO process by 2010 and intends to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FFN.”.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. intends to use the net proceeds of the public offering to redeem a portion of its outstanding senior secured indebtedness and to pay waiver fees to certain debtholders.

The company owes $442.1 million in debt in connection with its acquisition of Various and about $81 million in debt at the parent level. Here are some interesting facts from the FriendFinder Networks filing which was made public on Tuesday (most points deal with data from the six months which ended on June 30, 2009):

Do you need to know how to score with 24 different types of ladies? Well Pepsi is here for you guys with an iPhone app called "Amp Up Before You Score".

If you don't want to download the app, here is a mock TV commercial from Pepsi showing how the application works:

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

"Amp Up Before You Score" was intended as a funny gimmick that Pepsi hoped would promote their brand further. Well they got their wish and some backlash as well. Here is Pepsi's Twitter apology at AMPwhatsnext:

Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it’s in bad taste & appreciate your feedback. #pepsifail

I really didn't think the application was that bad, it pretty much falls in the same category as beer commercials . I guess since Pepsi is more of a family product though, people got offended.

For some real online dating applications, check out these dating sites that offer Mobile Phone dating services.