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eHarmony here in the United States will be having a free communication weekend (FCW) starting this Friday May 28th, 2010 and ending in the late evening of Monday May 31st, 2010. As the name suggests, free communication weekends allow free members of eHarmony not only to create a profile and review matches, but to use the guided communication process to communicate with other members. This guided process allows matches to ask and answer questions so they can get to know each other better. In the fourth step, once you become more familiar with you match you can then go ahead and write your first mail message. eHarmony has found this communication approach greatly increases the chances of a successful long term relationship. Fasttracking the communication process to mail and profile photos are not included in this promotion for free members.

This FCW is happening on the Memorial Day holiday weekend so you can expect eHarmony to be the place online for singles who are serious about finding a long term relationship, to be.

This will be the 25th eHarmony free communication weekend with the last event occurring late in March (see Story). eHarmony waiting almost 2 months before having this free communication weekend.

Check out our review of eHarmony for more information on this popular matchmaking service.

Singles interested in the United Kingdom Free Communication Weekend, read this eHarmony News Story.

Singles interested in the Canada Free Communication Event which is 10 days long, read this eHarmony News Story.

eHarmony was featured on Nightline last night. In the first part of the video they show an eHarmony research team watching a couple though multiple cameras having dinner. The video then goes on and relates a few facts about the eHarmony dating service:

• The eHarmony profile has 320 questions.
• On average everyday eHarmony is responsible for 236 marriages in the US.
• Over 100,000 babies have been born as the result of these marriages.

An interview of eHarmony's CEO, Greg Waldorf, is then conducted which focused mostly on asking questions about eHarmony's mathematical formula they use for matching members together. The host also asked Mr. Waldrof about skeptics of online dating and how eHarmony convinces them that it does work. Mr. Waldorf points to all of their success stories and by the fact you can contact them directly. Singles interested in eHarmony, can visit their Facebook Fan page to talk to these couples and get any questions of theirs answered. In the last part of the interview, Nightline talks to eHarmony researchers about how they study relationships and what they look for in a successful one to help continue to improve the formula eHarmony uses for matching.

Here is ABCs Nightline Formula for Love video about eHarmony:

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.

To find out more about this dating service, read our eHarmony review.

In a bit of a surprised move eHarmony Canada is having a 10 Day Free Communication Event. The event starts today, Friday May 21st and runs through Labour Day Weekend, all of next week and ends Sunday, May 30th, 2010. As with previous free communication promotions, members can review their matches and use the Guided Communication Process to communicate with members. There is no cost associated with this promotion and you will not be asked for a credit card. Fasttracking, Photos and eHarmony Mail are not included for members participating in this promotion.

The longest Free Communication promotion before by eHarmony was 5 days. With 10 free days new members will certainly be able to figure out if the dating site eHarmony is to their liking and in the meantime still be able to meet a lot of compatible singles. Plus, with the May 24 long weekend holiday and the spring season, eHarmony Canada will certainly be a popular place for online daters.

Read our review of eHarmony for more information on this popular online matchmaking service.

While the iPhone changed the way we consume content, the iPad is about to change the way we date. According to a TIME Magazine article released this month, Skout.com will soon be releasing the first online dating app designed specifically for the iPad.

Some of the biggest benefits that developers see with the new iPad are the iPhone interactivity combined with the larger screen size. The larger screen size is what's prompted Skout.com developers to design a location-based app that will allow users to search the area around them for fellow Skout users while chatting and browsing profiles.

Skout isn't the only site stepping up to the iPad. Gelato, a new online dating site launched in 2009, is redesigning its entire site based on the iPad. Gelato includes live streams of members' social media accounts in their profiles if members choose to add them and CEO and founder Steve Odom sums the iPad up with, "It's big, it's beautiful, and it's perfect for dating sites."

As online dating sites are highly interactive, it's no wonder that we're already hearing the stampede as they rush to tailor apps and websites exclusively for the iPad. The large touch screen allows a high level of hands-on during the profile building and viewing process and the article predicts we may even see eye-tracking software that accompanies these apps in the future. Does that mean the potential for love at first sight with the iPad? While an eye-catching device, it definitely appears the cliché may become a reality down the line.

Bottom line? It's about interactivity. If online dating site developers can access the tech-savvy iPad crowd then the sky's the limit. Online dating lives in a bit of a crunch due to the iPhone's size, but the iPad puts big, bold pictures in front of the user and the touch screen adds to a more personalized experience.

Want to read more about what's on the horizon with the iPad and online dating? You can read the original TIME Magazine article here.

The Skout dating application for the iPhone has reached version 2.0 and not only did it get some new features it also got a design makeover. New features include virtual gifts, a game called "Look at Me" which allows you to bid for attention of other members and a Wink-Bomb. The bomb allows members using Skout to reach hundreds of singles in your proximity all at once with location based dating and the GPS in your phone. With the app you can then find out who has been looking at your profile and think you're hot. With this information in hand you can then contact these people to meet up somewhere close by.

If you are interested in trying out Skout for your iPhone here are a few more interesting stats about the dating service.

• Skout was the first iPhone Dating Application
• Skout members send on average 100 messages in 1 month.
• Currently over 750,000 people have used Skout's location based dating option.
• A Skout iPad dating application is currently being developed.

Here is a sneak peek video of the dating app in action:

For a few more details read the press release. Here is our list of other dating sites which offer their services on mobile phones.

The Archived tab is a relatively new feature of the eHarmony communication process. When you know you are not interested in communicating with a Match that eHarmony gives you, just click on "Archive this Match" link. The Match will then be moved from your New Matches section too the Archive Tab. There is also a new auto-archive feature that goes along with the tab that will (as the name suggests) auto archive any Match that closed communication with you. These archived Matches will still appear in the Match Updates list if any one of them updates their profile information or photos.

If you find a Match in your updates that you want to reconnect with because the update renewed your interest, eHarmony does allow you to un-archive any Match to continue on with the guided communication process.

If you want to find out more about this dating site, read our eHarmony review.