You can click on the image for a closer look.

Yeah, the message is something you probably already knew: Stick to the old-school stuff. Get her number, call her up, go out for some ice cream, and see what happens. Then again, you never know, you might get the same result through Twitter. I'm not really here to judge, the chart is. [SF Weekly]

All joking aside, there really is a lesson to take away from the clip. Those silly oh-I'm-feeling-a-bit-naughty-this-morning pictures can come back to haunt you. Because once they're sent through MMS, emails, or instant messages, those snapshots are out of your hands and you're left wondering who might wind up seeing those pictures of you in nothing but lacy stockings.

So to sleep better at night, just watch who you send pervy pictures to, keep your face or particularly identifying characteristics out of the snapshots, and don't forget about clearing the EXIF data. That's all there is to it, so be safe, kiddies.

Stud/Dud and Single? are pretty much public record search engines repackaged in a neat app format. There's not much to making a search with either aside from entering a name (and any details that help narrow down the query) and you'll get partial results on the iPhone and the rest emailed. But if you want, you can see video guides of the search procedures here and here.

Stud or Dud

The idea behind Stud/Dud is that it parses public records and checks for stable address history, real estate ownership, business records, professional licenses, bankruptcies, criminal records and evictions in order to determine whether you've got a "stud" or a "dud" on your hands. I've unfortunately had more than my fair share of "duds" based on this app, but they were still lovely people. Except the guy who ran off with some knee high stockings of mine. I never did figure out what happened there.

Are They Really Single?

I thought that the things I found out through Stud/Dud were going to be as depressing as it gets, but Single? proved me wrong. The app checks for marriage, divorce, spousal and other domestic relationships and then determines the likelihood of the person still being in that relationship. I didn't really care about any former lovers being in relationships, but I still tossed a few names into the search to try it out. And found out that my high school sweetheart is married to his grandmother. Awkward shock aside, the app did say that it's "unlikely" right below the "wife" designation, but geez, that's quite an error to make. At least I really hope it's an error.

After that final mortifying search, I gave up. I didn't even want to enter the last ex-boyfriend's name since at the rate I was going he'd have four wives in three states and one would be his sister. But if you're braver than I and in the mood for some horror, the apps are $.99 each through the App Store and there are various charges if you want a detailed background history (addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, etc), but honestly I think this is a fun app that shouldn't be used for such creepy things. In other words: Please don't stalk anyone. [Stud/Dud and Single?]

Gadgetwise's Jenna Wortham was forced to contemplate the hardship of loving someone who's in lust with electronics when one of her readers wrote in with a desperate plea for advice:

My boyfriend is in love with his iPhone. He uses it all the time-during dinner, the movies and even in bed! I have an iPhone too, so I can understand his obsession, but at the same time it's becoming enough of a distraction while we are together to be a problem. What should I do?

Jenna explained that, as any other relationship issue, you can resolve this one by talking with your partner. You need to set limits, figure out when it's absolutely unacceptable to reach for the digital mistress and when the wandering attention can be excused. That's it. It's that simple. Whether your lover is obsessed with an iPhone, a BlackBerry, a printer, or tricked-out ottoman, communication is key. [NY Times]

Photo by Fe Ilya

When you get your Presence in Absence kit, the two pendants are actually one single birch wood-encased gadget. You and your dear one are supposed to use the included carving knife to separate the two flash drives and bond while cleaning up the wood shavings. This process and the future data sharing represents how the two of your are parts of a whole and belong together. You'll share pictures, videos, music, the events in each other's lives that you miss out on during times apart.

Quite sweet. Call me crazy though, but I think I'll stick to less symbolic bonding experiences when reuniting with my long-distance lover. [Dezeen]

So by the looks of it, half the responders are in paranoid relationships, and just under that same amount will spread lies about you when you break up. Does that sound right to you? What's your experience with Facebook and exes?

The interest comes after an 18 year old girl was sentenced to three months in a young offenders' institution after hounding another girl of the same age for years, ultimately making a death threat over Facebook. (The survey was commissioned by Alibi, a crime drama channel.) [Telegraph]

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Anyone here relate to this? I mean, we already know that a near-supermajority of Americans would rather screw around with their gadgets than with their spouse, but shunning off a relationship because your would-be pal is unfamiliar with the majesty of the Dock or the subtle complexities of the Control Panel? That's pretty terrible. – Nicholas Deleon

Image via Mariposa Mall

HOW TO: Have a Crossplatform Relationship. [Sexerati]