Hi-tech gizmo provides pickup lines

KNIGHT RIDDER
You're staring out across a crowded hospitality room. Should you approach the redhead in the stiletto heels? What do you say to the guy with the goatee?
Enter here a new high-tech gizmo to guide you through those awkward moments at the next convention or seminar. As the New York Times explains it, you tap personal information into a device that looks like a name badge. And as you move around the room, it picks up similar data from another badge, say, by the buffet table or near the bar.
So as you get within a few feet of the other person, the device matches the data to showcase something you have in common. It flashes conversation-starting messages on the liquid crystal display screen.
"Hi John. I'm Jane. We both went to Harvard."
The equipment is made by a New York-based company nTAG, the Times says, which rents the devices for a minimum of $30 a person. Each weighs about 6 ounces and is similar in size to the conference name tags.