Monday, October 27, 2003
Get a date right away through electronic kiosks.
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
People looking for love in all the wrong places are about to get some help from modern technology.
A Colorado entrepreneur has developed a "dating kiosk" to make it easier for strangers to find their soul mate -- or just a dance partner -- in a nightclub, bar or other social hangout.
No more goofy pickup lines, guessing games or excruciating blind dates -- at least that's the hope.
Instead, the touch-screen kiosk system is designed to allow people to meet immediately in a particular venue, once they've had a chance to anonymously check out each other's vital stats -- including a person's gender, interests, expectations and favorite quotation.
The novel technology -- which is wireless and uses the free Linux operating system -- is expected to be rolled out next month in a handful of night spots around the nation.
Developer Gary Schneider calls his dating system -- dubbed the Meeting Place -- a "fusion" of real-time personals, speed dating and intro services that try to fix people up.
"The Meeting Place is for people who want to connect tonight -- right now," said Schneider, 43, whose startup is aptly named Soft Shoulder.
"It can help people find a dance, a date, a short-term relationship or just someone to talk to," added Schneider, a software guru and former dam builder for the U.S. government.
The technology could have broader applications -- such as permitting people to network at professional conventions, or allowing parents to reunite with children lost at a shopping mall.
How it works
Here's how the dating kiosk system would work:
Kiosks would be scattered around the club. Patrons would buy a magnetic-stripe card at the bar or from a self-service machine. The cost: $5-$10 for an evening.
After swiping the card to log on, the patron would use a touch screen to enter some personal information -- for example, gender, looks (athletic, perhaps, or slim), interests (say, hiking or skiing); and what he or she is looking for (a date, a dance, or maybe a short-term fling or a long-term romance).
Users would round out their profile with a quote. They could pick from a varied list: "The shortest distance between two people is a smile," for instance, or "What are you doing for sex tonight?"
Alternatively, they could pen their own.
The whole process takes three to five minutes, Schneider said.
Users could then troll among other personal entries to find someone they're interested in and then propose a meeting right then and there at the club by zapping that person an electronic message.
Users on the receiving end, after swiping their card and touching a "contacts" button at a kiosk, could see if they've gotten any nibbles.
If so, they could respond: "Yes. Let's meet near the bar. I'm wearing a red dress." Or instead say, "Thanks. But you don't seem my type."
The information would get deactivated at evening's end but could be retrieved another night with the swipe of a card.
Launching the idea
A variety of events conspired to sow the seeds that led to the creation of the kiosk system.
For starters, rewind to 1989 when Schneider met his wife, Maudi.
Schneider was a construction manager for the federal government. He was helping build the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona. And he was living in the small town of Payson, about 90 miles northeast of Phoenix.
"There was an absence of people 20 to 40 years old," Schneider recalled. So he took out a personal ad in an alternative weekly newspaper in Phoenix. He got about 50 responses.
Schneider met his wife on the third go-round. They decided to get married within two weeks.
"I had a good experience meeting people that way," Schneider said.
Another factor was involved in the creative process.
Schneider attended MIT's Sloan School of Management to get an MBA about 10 years ago. One of his professors there urged him to develop a product that "half the people could use, only costs them five bucks and doesn't cost anything to make."
The first kiosks are expected to be deployed in nightclubs next month in Seattle; San Diego; Long Island, N.Y.; and perhaps Houston.
Nightclubs that "host" the kiosks would get a cut of the revenue. The percentage would vary, depending on the type of pact Schneider reaches with a club owner.