Lovegety was a proximity matchmaking device introduced in Feb. 1998 in Japan by Erfolg Co.,ltd., which allowed users to find potential dates that match their personal preferences in the vicinity. Over 1,300,000 of these units were sold in Japan at an approximate price of $21. It was the first such device, and "the first commercial attempt to move introduction systems away from the desktop and into reality". As such, it was an important precursor for other location-based social networking applications such as Nokia's Bluetooth-based Nokia Sensor, and more recent geolocation-based social applications such as StreetSpark.Mashable.com - StreetSpark: Foursquare for Dating, retrieved 4/17/2012
/ref> There were three modes users could pre-select on the Lovegety device which reflected the mood they were currently in and hence what kind of partner they were looking for. These included “let’s just chat”, “let’s go sing some

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music i ...

” and “get2” or "looking for love" modes. The devices could be set to interact with each other when a potential mate was within close proximity (15 feet) or to simply notify a user of others who are currently set to the same mood.

Howard Rheingold Howard Rheingold (born 1947) is an American critic, writer, and teacher, known for his specialties on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a ...

reflects on technologies such as the Lovegety in his work and urges that as consumers we think carefully about the social implications of these technologies. Rheingold states that ‘loss of privacy is perhaps the most obvious shadow side of technological cooperation systems’.Rheingold, Howard (2002) ''Smart Mobs: the Next Social Revolution'', Perseus, Cambridge, Massachusetts

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Article on Wired "Love: Japanese Style"CNN: "Japans lonely hearts find each other with Lovegety" published June 07, 1998, retrieved 4/18/2012 The Mirror (London, England): "Is that a Lovegety in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" published Jul 10, 1998, retrieved 4/18/2012
Sexuality and computing Dating Mobile software {{wireless-stub

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