It’s no secret that facial recognition software is here – and on the Internet – to stay. More than two years ago we told Internet Patrol readers how Facebook is using face matching software on the photos you upload, and more recently we told of how the police are using facial recognition software on pictures they find in social media to find criminals and persons of interest. But even we were surprised at this novel use of facial recognition software: finding a mate based on facial similarities to yourself.

What a shame that you can’t do a Boolean or other sophisticated search on most dating sites. For example, maybe you are a man who wants to find a woman who loves snuggling, and she can be anywhere in the United States except California. Now, on Match.com or OKCupid.com or most other dating sites, you could do a keyword search for “snuggling”, and you can search the entire United States, or you can search one particular state. But you can’t search all of the states except California. Using this example, and the power of Google, we are going to show you how you can search a dating site for exactly the criteria you want.

Want to learn how to bust a dating site scammer? There are 3 steps to detecting a scammer on an online dating site (after going through the steps, we will show you a step-by-step real-life example).

OK Cupid (“OKC”) is one of the hottest online dating sites on the Internet. With its analyzing and calculating for you a qoutient as to how each potential partner stacks up against you in terms of their “Match %”, “Friend %” and “Enemy %”, it is a unique service, and many say it’s the best of the bunch as between the legitimate and well-known dating sites such as Match.com and eHarmony. But, while the process behind the “match percentage” is elaborately explained on the OKCupid website, and one can even infer what the “friend percentage” means, how they calculate the “enemy percentage”, or what the Enemy percent even is, remains a mystery. What does “enemy” mean on OKCupid, exactly? Why does it even feature on a dating website? How can two people who don’t even know each other be ‘enemies’? We explain.

We have already written about the seamy underbelly of Facebook’s recently rolled-out Graph Search. Now here’s a more upbeat and interesting flip side to Facebook Graph Search: it turns Facebook into one of the best, largest, and free dating sites out there.

Notre Dame athletic director, Jack Swarbrick has confirmed that the school’s star football player, Manti Te’o, is a victim of an Internet hoax. Te’o’s girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, was a complete fabrication and reports that she died from leukemia during the 2012 football season are a lie. Initial reports had Te’o as part of the hoax, but Te’o and his family are flatly denying this, saying that Te’o is profoundly hurt and embarrassed by the entire situation.

American Association of Retired People (AARP) has partnered with HowAboutWe.com to offer online dating, for older, senior singles. While Internet dating may seem to undermine the old fashioned (i.e. face-to-face) way of dating that single folks of the retired generation may appreciate, HowAboutWe.com has created a way to mix old fashioned dating with online dating, in a way that users from any generation can appreciate.

Are you an iPhone or an Android person? Or do you use a Blackberry? This question goes much deeper than just showing which mobile operating system (OS) you prefer – according to a survey released this past Valentines Day by Match.com, it shows how loose you are – will you have sex on the first date?

Slashdot, that ubertech, ubergeek site that we all know and love, has inserted “Ads by Google” Adsense ads into the Slash dot RSS feed for a while. Nothing wrong with that. But lately some of the ads have been really racy. Take, for example, this ad (see screen capture below) for the online dating site Anastasia Dates, at AnastasiaDates.com

It seems that meeting women on Craigslist is a lot like Lays Potato Chips – betcha can’t meet just one. Meeting women for casual sex on Craigslist is so easy – so addicting – that it seems to cause all reason and logic (not to mention fidelity, honor and decency) to fly out of men’s heads. In fact, we fully expect to see Craiglist Rehab Clinics dotting the nation within the next few years. The most recent public downfall related to Craigslist cheating through Craigslist personals is that of New York Republican Representative Christopher Lee, who resigned this week after it was reported that the married Lee was trying to meet women through Craigslist.

Online dating giant Match.com has been sued, again, this time in Federal court in Texas. The lawsuit alleges that fewer than half of all singles profiles listed on Match .com are legitimate, with more than half of the profiles being either those of previous Match customers who had cancelled their accounts or, even, scam profiles.

Terri Carlson is willing to exchange marriage for health insurance. In fact, she is so serious about it, that she has put up a website entitled “Will Marry for Health Insurance” – and she really means it! But what would drive someone to be so desparate that they would barter marriage to be covered by health insurance, on the Internet? To put up a website saying that they will marry for health care coverage? And, is it wrong – or creative? Or both?

There’s something almost laterally recursive about a television show which is about online dating. That in itself seems kind of lame. But there it is, and apparently ABC decided it was a worthy topic, as they aired their “Hooking Up” ABC News Special last night. Thank goodness we have this…

Move over, Match.com, eHarmony and PlentyOfFish.com – the Federal government is getting into the online dating and relationship space, with their very own online dating site called TwoOfUs.org. The Two of Us.org site includes advice on dating, relationships, and marriage. Perhaps once the Feds are able to bring their own relationships with the opposite sects more into harmony, and stop the acrimony and one-night stands in their own house (and senate), then we will be able to take a Federal dating advice site more seriously.

Online dating giant eHarmony is required to create a new online dating site for same sex couples under the terms of a settlement with the State of New Jersey’s Civil Rights Division. The new service will be called Compatible Partners (not “Compatable Partners”, as some sites are reporting, which is a mis-spelling.