It seems that the interwebs have become inundated with matchmaking sites lately. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here’s another one. The newest site, nChooseTwo allows members to not only list their own crushes (up to 10 at once!), but to suggest matches between your friends and their crushes (or people who you think they would look oh-so-adorable with). The site is open to all students of Harvard and MIT (expanding our opportunities, no?); just register with your student email address. There is no list of names and there are no awkward photos – just the potential to catalyze matches you’ve been mulling over in your head but didn’t know how to initiate.

nChooseTwo

According to the site, “Privacy and security are our top priorities – no information about romantic intent is revealed unless the attraction is mutual, and we are constantly considering user feedback to make our site more useful and more secure.” It’s a win-win situation. No embarrassment if the match is not accepted. Here’s a sample matchmaking scenario from the site:

For example,

say Eve suggests a match between Adam and Beth. Eve shows up as an anonymous matchmaker to Adam and Beth.

If Adam clicks ‘Accept’ and Beth does not, Beth and Eve never find out that Adam clicked ‘Accept’. And vice-versa.

Instead, if Adam and Eve both click Accept, then Eve’s identity is revealed to them. Adam, Beth, and Eve are notified that this match is succesful, and good times are had by all.

Patty's not here, so we'll just have to fend for ourselves.

No harm, no foul. It’s almost time for Valentine’s Day, everyone, so let’s get to matching up our friends and even ourselves! Harvard has the potential for romance. It just needs an anonymous kick-start.

UPDATE: nChooseTwo has extended its services to the BU community!

As it turns out, using technology to enhance the dating scene at Harvard isn’t just a phase, it’s a lifestyle. After ISawYouHarvard (which debatably creeps your prospective dates out more than encourages them), Harvard Lunch, and various matchmaking efforts by HoCo and yours truly - The Voice, CS50 just rolled out CrimsonSpark, a quasi-”dating” website, as its latest creation.

Noice would like to think of CrimsonSpark as a hybrid of its precedents: less public than ISawYouHarvard, less creepy than normal online dating sites, and less random and seasonal than online matchmaking services. Read the amusing email below, which was sent out tonight over the Eliot House’s list from its creator, for more details.

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Dear Eliot,

Time to breathe new life into the Harvard dating scene. Not that we don’t find the dance-floor-makeout culture on campus to be charming, but maybe a change is in order. CrimsonSpark is a dating website, but not a “dating” website. That is, we aren’t matching you with a stranger based on some compatibility test or extensive profile. Because let’s face it- that’s a little creepy.

CrimsonSpark works on the basis that there is some one you know at Harvard and would like to know better. Maybe it’s a guy in section, a girl you eat lunch with or just some cute sophomore who you always say hi to. That’s where CrimsonSpark comes in.

How it works:

1. Register.

2. Start “sparking.”

“Sparking” entails searching for your prospective date, filling out a short checklist of date options you’d be willing to go on with this person, and then clicking submit. It’s that easy.

If there is a match (both parties spark each other), one or both of you will receive an email with the other one’s checklist, so you can get a sense of what that person is game for. All that’s left from here is the date itself. Of course, we don’t ask the other person out for you–the ball’s in your court.

We would love it if you could sign up and check out the beta version of the site that is up now at www.crimsonspark.com. Have fun with it, and get your spark on.

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Sounds worth a try? Spark away!

Is IvyGate/Yale/Gawker/etc. going to make fun of us for yet another online attempt to savage our non-existent dating scene? Probably. But would you rather go through unorthodox ways to have dates or stay sexually frustrated? Exactly our point.

I missed my paper deadline! Damn it, Sporcle!

With reading period quickly approaching, papers being due, finals coming up, and problems sets up the yin-yang, Facebook, Perez Hilton, Twitter, and other internet sites are not really helping any of us be productive in any way, shape, or form. But at the Voice, we have good news for you!

As we were perusing the results of a Google search for “temporarily block websites” we found a really neat Google Chrome extension, Block It, that can limit or block your use of some websites. You have the ability to restrict what hours you can use the internet, when your limits are reset, and what your internet limits are. So instead of having your roommate change your Facebook password or throwing your computer against a wall, try some of the tools the web has to offer and happy studying!

Picture this scenario: It’s all sunny out and then BAM. It starts to pour. Every poor guy and girl around you is getting soaked. You, however, whip out your handy dandy umbrella(ella, ella). BAM! You’re dry. Ha!

The above scenario is great because it too, can happen to you. ENTER: Umbrella Today. A super simple website that sends you an email every morning of a day it is going to rain. Although it’s been a bit wonky sometimes, emailing me when the skies were clear for the entire day, it’s still a handy tool to sign up for, especially in the land of Cantabrigia in which the heavens can open up any second and pour buckets of H2O on you. Like today.

Oh honey, my mascara does that smeary thing too sometimes.

In weird Harvard-related news:

A man from Harvard Business School allegedly choked a cop this weekend – while dressed in drag. Naturally he was dolled up for the Priscilla Ball (as in, Priscilla Queen of the Desert) hosted by the HBS Australia and New Zealand club. We hope this all gets sorted out soon and that the officer involved was not hurt in the scuffle. And while we shake our collective heads in shame at their conduct (that’s certainly not the way a lady behaves), we can’t help but chortle a bit. Plus, the word-nerd in us is weirdly excited – ever notice that grad also spells drag?

But certainly the most entertaining/infuriating aspect of this whole affair is the comments left by anonymous users on the source site. And while we certainly agree that Harvard’s image has declined in recent times, we can’t help but ask that random people on the interwebs calm the heck down; a couple rowdy grad students ≠ the end of Harvard and the world as we know it. Read our “favorite”  comments after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »