Apps, Dating | featured news

Setting up a date can be hard, even with online
services doing a lot of the heavy lifting. You
have to find a place you like, a time that works,
and of course you need someone to go on the
date with. A new app called Crazy Blind Date
from OKCupid takes care of that last bit for
you. Choose the time and place, and it picks the
person.
Actually, it picks four people — and there's a
twist: Their faces are scrambled, like one of
those sliding-square puzzles. So you get a
partial preview — nice eyes, dark hair — but
not the whole picture. Pick one, show up, and
presto, you're dating! Just pray none of the
other options shows up at the same time.
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The notion is that people often find themselves
with a free evening, wishing they could meet
someone new, but none of their prospects are
coming through. So an app that gets you a date
on short notice, with someone OK Cupid thinks
you'll like, could easily fill that particular niche.
Short-notice-dating apps aren't new; some, in
fact, have grown quite popular. Grindr, for
instance, is aimed at single gay men and has
become a bit notorious for its "hook-up
culture." But unlike OKCupid's app, Grindr lets
you see the people nearby clearly and choose
according to your preference.
That's because of the ugly truth: That looks
matter in these situations, and picky daters
might turn up their noses at this appeal to their
less superficial side. In fact, the website But a
few lonely nights might convince them to take a
chance. In the meantime, more adventurous
users of OKCupid may find the whole
experience thrilling.
But then it gets weird. After a date, you're
asked (naturally enough) to rate how well the
date went. If it went poorly, you say so, and if
it went well, you award your date "kudos."
People with more kudos show up more often
as potential dates

Mobile dating. It’s all the horrors of online dating transferred to your phone, where you get creepy texts from people who view your profile and use your location to stalk you. Right? Sometimes, yes. But it could also spontaneously put you in front of the someone who likes your favorite food, books and music and might just like you, too.

Here's something different from the world of online dating. "Wings," a Facebook app from a company called Triangulate, pulls in data from your account and analyzes and uses what it finds to populate your dating profile page. You can also opt to let Wings access data from your other social and media accounts on Netflix, Twitter, Pandora or Foursquare. It was built around the concept that actions speak louder than words.