Techies, not Trekkies, Present the Future of Dating

COURIER POST  ONLINE -- Feb 28 -- When I showed up in Miami Beach for the internet dating convention I found hundreds of modern-day Cupids -- the people who run dating Web sites, speed dating companies, self-help services and matchmaking businesses. "There is a huge societal problem. People aren't finding the right matches. Marriages are failing," said Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "In some sense, we have a chance to change that."  Dating companies really do believe their duty is to help people find happiness in a partner (or partners). John Gray, author of the biggest selling relationship book in the history of the world, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," was at the conference to deliver shocking news: "Men and women still don't understand each other." But the conference wasn't all about boring dating.  There also was a lot of sex talk. More sites, like AdultFriendFinder.com and IWantYou.com, now deal with the sex side of dating. "No one talks about these groups, but they're there," noted Brooks, who knows more about online dating than anyone in the world.  "We're in the business of love, but by default we're in the sex business."  So what will dating look like in 10 years?  According to Brooks, we will be carrying Star Trek devices with speech recognition capabilities that will allow searches for nearby dates anytime, anywhere.