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Cupid, love hearts, revenge and monkeys

Yes, it's Valentine's Day tomorrow

Valentine’s madness has swept through the IT sector, and everyone who could possibly link their product to luurrve has done so – regardless of the obscurity of said link. We couldn’t let all this hard work pass without mention, so here, for your entertainment, is a round-up of the best.

EDS wants to warn the lovely general public about the dangers of electronic valentine’s cards, and has published a helpful list of dos and don’ts. The general gist of it is that you shouldn’t abandon all caution just because it is Valentine’s day. Don’t download dodgy attachments, keep your eyes peeled for spam, etc, etc. You can check the list out here, if you like, but you may not want to if you don’t like the idea of pink simians using computers.

But what if you don’t get any Valentine’s messages? Well, according to Hitwise, you could join the crowdsat online dating sites. The company reports that visits to such sites have risen 45 per cent in the last year, and claims that the sector now accounts for 0.8 per cent of all online visits. What is more, visitors spend twice as long on dating sites (13 minutes and 18 seconds) as they do elsewhere.

Don’t forget that it is Valentine’s Day tomorrow. This (probably actually very useful) advice come courtesy of Interflora. Not that it has any kind of vested interest or anything… The florist says that it expects a huge surge in visits to its site as thousands of men in a last minute panic buy flowers for their lady. To cope, Interflora has called in Aspect Group (who worked on the Pop Idol web presence) to shore up the site. After all, this would not be a good time for the page to be unavailable.

Alternatively, you could shun the fat, naked and armed brigade* and surf your way over to a growing number of anti-Valentine’s sites. According to a report on Reuters, the heartbroken and cynical are boycotting Valentine’s celebrations and standing up for the right to celebrate love on any of the other 365 days this year, without paying a premium for the priviledge.

But enough of such sad and non-commercial thoughts! Shame on us for not getting into the spirit of things. In Scotland, no such accusation could be levelled at the Scottish Poetic Library. Six of Scotland's leading poets have each composed a romantic verse which can be downloaded from the Internet and sent to a mobile phone. Glasgow's poet laureates, Edwin Morgan and Alan Spence, are both involved. Grabbed you attention? Click on this to send a poem to the love of your life. ®

*Cupid, for those who were wondering.

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