As dating websites go, eHarmony sets itself apart by offering technology-based matches based on “29 Dimensions of Compatibility” that have been confirmed by experts to play a role in creating long-lasting relationships.  The company, which has long been serving the heterosexual community launched a gay dating site in 2009 called Compatible Partners, based upon the same principles.  A recent court ruling, however, may be changing this duality.

Under a proposed settlement filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on January 26th, eHarmony agreed to link its separate websites and better publicize that it offers gay dating services.  Among the changes that eHarmony agreed to make are to change the language on their site to say that their gay online dating services are ‘brought to you by eHarmony’ instead of simply ‘powered by eHarmony’.  In addition, eHarmony will add a section to its website specifically for gay dating, much like it currently offers “Jewish Dating,” “Senior Dating” and other types of targeted online dating options.  As of now, this change has not yet been implemented, but I will be curious to see how they affect eHarmony, if at all.

What makes this case interesting (in my opinion) is that while gay rights activists insist that mainstream online dating sites such as eHarmony expand their offerings to provide gay dating services, sites such as gay.com have not yet been required to add services for heterosexual singles.  Likewise, neither Jewish dating sites nor Christian dating sites have been forced to expand their services to include singles of other religions.

While I’m thrilled about this ‘victory’ for gay rights, I am a bit puzzled as to whether eHarmony’s previous behavior was truly offensive.  Wouldn’t gay singles enjoy finding matches on a site designed just for them?  Isn’t that why gay online dating sites have grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years?  I’m curious to hear what you think about this, as the issue is quite provocative and one that is sure to continually evolve in the coming years.  It’ll be interesting to see if other dating websites will be compelled to change their policies as well.

If you’ve ever tried online dating you probably know that finding a person of interest can take time, energy and effort.  And in all honesty, you’d probably prefer to spend these things on your date, not on finding your date.  The new Apple iPad, however, can make it possible for you to look for a suitable partner from nearly anywhere.  While some versions of the iPad only have WiFi accessibility and will require being near a hotspot, the ones with 3G capability will allow singles to have internet access anywhere, which means that they needn’t wait to get home from work in order to fire up their search.

The biggest negative about the iPad is that it doesn’t have a camera of USB port, so it may be difficult to upload profile pictures or create a complete profile if you haven’t had one before.  Still, if you already have an account at an online dating site you will be able to access it from anywhere and browse the profiles at your convenience.

I predict that in the coming months as the iPad becomes more available and popular we’ll see an increase of singles looking for love on the train, bus or in the park during their lunch break.  If I may be so sly to suggest it, why not peek over to the screen of the iPad next to you – who knows, if that person is also looking for love, you can strike up a conversation, and you may not even need an online dating site!

Blackbox Republic launched a brand new private dating site for people of all orientations and lifestyles. The site combines features of social networks with the personal elements of a standard dating site and creates a place where people can share their unedited personal life and later meet up in person.

Blackbox Republic is a totally private, invitation only network. Anyone can join, but you must be vouched for by an existing member to gain wider access to the community. Content can be published to all members, or sent only to specific groups of friends. You can also post more public content to existing social networks like Twitter and Facebook from within the application.

To start you up, you need to use the sliders at the homepage, and tell the system what kind of partner are you looking for, what’s your status and what vibe are you in. The site is well designed and fun to navigate through.

“People are used to sharing their lives online but have a problem knowing where to put the more private and personal things they want to share,” said Sam Lawrence, CEO and co-founder. “The only choices before now were advertising-focused public spotlights like Facebook, or online personals sites built around chemistry tests and splintered by race, sexual orientation or religion. We are aiming for something radically different.”

In what seems mostly like a flamebait publicity stunt, dating site BeautifulPeople.com has removed 5,000 users from the site, because they put on extra weight and could no longer be deemed “Beautiful”.

“As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld,” said Robert Hintze, founder of BeautifulPeople.com. “Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”

“The countries where most overweight people were expelled from are the US, Britain, Canada, Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Denmark and Turkey,” said the press release.

In the e-mail sent to the banished users, there were suggestions for boot camps and workout facilities so the users can get themselves back in shape.

This dating site declares itself as “an exclusively beautiful community, founded for the purpose of creating personal and professional relationships… an elite online club, where every member works the door”.

If you consider yourself beautiful and think you can meet the standards of this snobby site, you might want to give it a try. Otherwise, there are plenty of great dating sites that won’t check your weight and won’t ban you on the basis of your looks.