<3 Happy ValenTech Day !! <3

Yes, Happy ValenTech Day, everyone!  While the well-known day of Valentine’s is certainly anything but underwhelming for lovers-be, it occurred to me recently just how tech-lovely this “holiday” has become. What was once celebrated as a simple icon of “Cupid con Bow~and~Arrow” (note the use of con and it’s double-meaning in this context), the day has become like every other holiday: a retailer’s dream; commercialized to the fullest, adding to the consumer-obligated agenda. So what has now made V-day appealing to the coupled as well as the singletons?  It would appear that answer is: technology.

Sure, we have all had the ability to send the ‘ol email-greeting to our loved ones on this day for years. More recently, Facebook allows us to check-out the hokey photos and lovey-dovey crxp our “friends” post, Tweet, blog ~all over the web~ with their significant others.  There’s no doubt we also text and make phone calls on this day – and if we really wanted to get into it, there’s an argument for science behind the process of physically procuring merchandise that’s been manufactured specifically for this day only to then mail it to someone in-time for this special occasion, too…but these are all things we can do each and every day, regardless of Valentine’s Day. The tech which caught my interest this year isn’t as common; in fact, it’s a work of art…or dare I say, “A work of HeArt”:

Located in the heart of Times Square, this current exhibit allows each touch of passersby to grow their illuminated-heart fonder. This technological, artistic display is comprised of an electronic box with clear tubes extracting from the top. Nearby is a pedestal displaying a heart graphic and sensor. People are encouraged to interact by pressing their hand atop the printed heart resulting in an increase of glow from the light-hearted (did you catch that?). You can learn more about this project here.

Unbeknown to me when scribing this blog, today, the folks behind this art project at TimesSquareNYC also have a live broadcast of random peeps in Times Square expressing their appreciation for ValenTech Day on ValenTech Day (err um…I mean, Valentine’s Day) http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/valentines-day/valentines-day-splash/index.aspx  I have to admit, at first some of the interviews where hard to understand (given the tourist-nature and various accents that make Times Square what it is); but the event to-follow on the big red bleachers seemed to work well:
They gave away a trip for a couple to Antiqua with round-trip air transportation from American Airlines (and a slue of other sponsors).  American Eagle also provided their own Times Square electronic-bilboard to be used to broadcast the accompanying footage.  And of course, millions of folks watched the live-streamed-event online as “Captain Arnold” adlib’d an impressive speech about love and partnership to many gathered couples. Outside of the expression of each couples’ happiness, another “Grand Eureka” the tech of this event provided was announced in the beginning of the ceremony:
Each photo taken by any couple in front of the beating-heart (which I’ve been describing) and posted to Facebook resulted in a donation to a Cause aimed to fight cancer.  ~Very cool!~  Just another way that “Valentech” is playing a significant role in our lives on this February the 14th of 2012.

Oh allllllright…. in the good spirit of the holiday and all it’s meant to be, I’d like to send some special Valentine’s Day love to all of my family and friends – thank you for your guidance, fun and support in all that I do. What more can I say?  I’m one lucky guy. xoxo  :-)

One more note of tech on this special occasion (again, an occasion that’s not at all intended to have anything to do with non-love, of couse) if you failed to catch my Tweet around 2 am EST this morning (ha!), I mentioned that All Things D dot com presented a fun graphic to the tune of “Signs They Love Their Tech More Than They Love You” yesterday. If you have a second more, it might just make you chuckle. (Then again, if you’re dating or married to a techie-type with such priorities, what it reveals about them might not be a laughing matter…My sincere apologies to todos mi hombres if I’m getting any of you in-trouble).  Um… Happy ValenTech Day!

Grand Eurekas!,
~ LSN

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