dating: there’s an app for that
The other day MM told me about this new app for the iPhone from Intelius called Date Check:
“Date Check is like having a private investigator in your purse,” John Arnold, co-founder of Intelius and executive vice president of business development, said in a statement. “Letting a stranger into your life is a huge risk, and in the age of Internet anonymity, a simple online search isn’t enough to tell you everything you need to know. ”
This application, the company said, “gives singles a safer way to mingle.”
The application is free, but the services you have access to do charge. And I can’t see this being much use in a real-time situation. But it would seem that after all these years, someone’s finally made a smaller version of the Couple Compatibility Check from Amazon Women on the Moon. This is one of my favorite bits from the film.
[flv:amazon_compat.flv 496 372]
So if you hear “Would you mind showing me a credit card and a valid drivers license?” — RUN.* The iPhone has a lot of apps geared towards dating, hooking up and making new friends, but this is the first I’ve seen for the specific purpose of running a background check with those digits you just got handed to you.
There have been a few websites popping up here and there that have offered to rate people and their dating history, mostly aimed at women to help ferret out creepy dudes. There’s even a desktop application out there designed to help gay men keep track of their… hookups. Most dating and personals sites I’ve been on have the ability to add notes to profiles, but they aren’t for public consumption.
Still, there’s value in not giving out that blog URL** or your Facebook/Twitter id just yet when you meet someone. In this day and age, the temptation is far too strong to do your own background check on a guy or girl and you can’t help drawing conclusions without context.
* Unless of course you’re a saint and have never had anything other than mutually pleasant breakups, are a generous dynamo in the sack and cannot tell a lie–and are thoroughly protected from identity theft.
** I hate being introduced to new people with “He has a blog!”. Not “He’s a great cook./He can drink you under the table./His geek knowledge borders on encyclopedic…” it’s always about the blog.†
† Which, when you meet someone new is just begging them to read it… mostly just to scan for mentions of their name.
This moment is going to life in cinemainfamy. I hope, after the Earth apocalypse, when alien archaeologists find samples of our culture, this is one of them.