Would you like to be able to join local mobile communities that already exist? V-Cirles Dating has the answer in form of a mobile phone application that allows you to do just that, and also lets you form your own community if you wish. Consider the following scenario they gave to illustrate how the service works:

"Jackie lives in Chelsea but finds it hard to meet decent guys. She downloads V-CIRCLES DATING for free and simply joins a mobile dating V-Circle named West End V-Circle. She then goes out on a few dates with some of the guys in the V-Circle but reckons they ain't good enough for her. She then decides to form her own private dating V-Circle called Chelsea Singles to improve the quality. Using the application, she invites 5 of her best friends to join Chelsea Singles. They download the free application, and join her V-CIRCLE. Her friends then invite their friends to join the V-CIRCLE too. Now there are over 200 like-minded people living in the Chelsea area who are part of her V-CIRCLE. Jackie and her friends arrange all their dates through the Chelsea Singles. Jackie prefers V-CIRCLES DATING over other dating communities as people can only join by invitation only and she can arrange all her dates discretely on her mobile phone."

As mentioned, V-Circles is a Java mobile application available for free download. Definitely an interesting approach to using mobile technology for the purpose of socializing and dating.

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Microsoft just registered a patent involving face recognition that could be used in the dating industry called "Image Based Face Search". The new patent makes it possible to compare an uploaded photo (from a mobile phone or PC) against millions of photos available in databases and try to find a match.

There at least a couple of ways this new patent could be used for dating applications - for example matching someone's profile on a dating service against a photo of someone that you happen to regard as attractive. Something similar already exists on a dating site whose name/address I cannot remember at the moment, but it's much more primitive, and is basically a hand edited matching algorithm. On the other hand, if you're a bit of an artist you could sketch the facial traits of someone you'd find beautiful and try to find matches in the real world. Also, if you happen to have seen someone whom you liked but didn't make contact, the patent could be used to try to match your description (graphical of course) against photos on dating services.

Read in more detail about the new patent here.

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Online dating (and mobile dating) are great ways to meet someone interesting and make new friends. Unfortunately, as is the case with almost every service, there will always be someone who will try to exploit that service for their own ends. Protecting your privacy has become a must today.

Vumber (Virtual Number) has decided to make it easier for everyone to shield their real mobile phone number by giving everyone a completely different number. Basically, for a small monthly fee of $4.99, subscribers get the freedom to choose any number they wish in an area code, and have all calls made to that number invisibly forwarded to their personal number. Also, when making calls, even though they are made from the personal (mobile phone) number, the recipient sees the "fake" (but working) number through caller ID. Additionally, there are call handling options - for example if some weirdo keeps calling you over and over again, simply setup "ring-no-answer" or "the number you've dialed is no longer in service" voice message. Naturally, all users can change their Vumber any time. The whole process of setting up and using Vumber is quite straight-forward, as you can see here.

The developers of this service had online dating and personals in mind as the primary users, which is why we are posting about Vumber here. Anyway, this sounds like a service to use for protecting your privacy, so if you want that extra security layer, give Vumber a shot.

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Latest developments in mobile technology have opened many doors for advancements in various areas of mobile usage. Mobile dating is nothing new, it's been around since the introduction of many called "sms dating", but with 3G enabled mobile phones, rich content (video, audio, Flash…) mobile dating is heading into a whole new dimension. 3G Dating Agency is among the first taking the step towards this by introducing mobile dating for 3G mobile phone users.

Sign-up is easy and takes a couple of minutes, after which you can start browsing others' profiles and viewing their photo files or create your own and share with others. One thing that's a bit different is that you don't have to register using your mobile web browser, but also by making a video call to the service. In case all video call operators are busy, you will get a pre-recorded video message with detailed instructions about the sign-up process. 3G video calling is available between members, but the service encourages everyone to do this only when they feel secure about the other person, and advise gentlemen to offer their numbers to the ladies and let them choose.

The service is currently available in the UK and Ireland, but there are plans to expand to other countries. You can still use the service from anywhere, but you can't have video validation. The only cost involved is a mandatory £10 minimum deposit which grants 20 messages (£0.5 per message) towards other members. See plenty more about the way 3G Dating Agency works here.

Sounds like fun, and it's high-tech. What more do you need?

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Mobile dating is growing very fast. With Valentine's Day coming, many mobile operators are gearing up to offer their customers endless ways of using their services to get in touch with potential partners. Sprint is offering a special range of services for Valentine's Day that make it easy for Sprint network users to find and connect with other singles, but also to find stores for buying gifts for their loved ones, all on the go, between meetings and other everyday activities.

"On Valentine’s Day people want to connect with their loved ones, no matter how busy they might be, and Sprint phones are the perfect way to do that… You can find the closest gift shop using Sprint Navigation, send pictures or ringtones, and even get a text alert letting you know you have a new comment on MySpace. Sprint customers can use their phones to share the love."

Well, sounds pretty good if you are a Sprint user. Find out more about this offer here.

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