Thanks to the way embarrassing information spreads on the Internet, you may have already heard about a man who ranked and tracked his online dating prospects in a spreadsheet. What you might not be aware of though, is that one of the women whose name and contact information was publicized is considering legal action ... against one of her spreadsheet sisters.

ABC News' Christina Ng spoke to Liliana Beidaut, one of the women who appeared on a spreadsheet created by a fella named David Merkur. This spreadsheet was meticulously maintained and included notes on Merkur's interactions with women he met on dating site Match.com. This document is now easy to find on the Internet because one of Merkur's dates goaded him into e-mailing her a copy — a copy she forwarded to her friends. 

Predictably, those friends forwarded the spreadsheet to their friends and so on. The whole thing — and all the personal information it contained — went viral in the blink of an eye.

And now Liliana Beidaut, and the other women whose names appeared on the spreadsheet, are coping with the backlash.

"I've gotten a lot of calls from random people saying, 'Oh, you're the 9.5,'" Beidaut told ABC News, referring to the high rating Merkur gave her on his spreadsheet. While seemingly agitated by the incident, she isn't upset with Merkur though: 

"I think the guy is really nice," Beidaut said. "I never met him and I don't think he did something that bad. He was nice, and he was trying to keep himself organized. I think he took that seriously and was really looking for a girl."

The object of Beidaut's irritation, instead, is the woman who shared the spreadsheet.

"Why would she send it to the whole world? It was a really stupid move," Beidaut said while speaking to ABC News. "My face is plastered everywhere now. I wasn't looking for that. I was just thinking that I was using Match.com."

Beidaut has spoken to "at least one other woman on the list who is similarly upset" and is considering taking legal action against the woman who shared the spreadsheet.

This certainly wouldn't be the first time that the Internet and romance collided in an explosion leading to legal action. A man recently sued women who posted reviews of their relationships with him onto a website called LiarsCheatersRUs and a college student was exposed to potential liability when a PowerPoint presentation in which she ranked her sexual partners in detail in 2010.

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• Man asks Internet to help him propose ... and it actually works

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

A man recently took his girlfriend on a series of eight dates over the course of twelve hours. At the end of this romantic journey, he proposed to her and she said "yes."

Why is this news? Because the fella live-tweeted the whole thing.

Twitter

The man — whose name is Mike Duerksen — kicked things off on Friday, by explaining his plan through a series of tweets. 

"The plan is simple: [O]ver the next 12 hours I'll be taking her on 8 different dates to 8 different places," he began. "Each location has a story and special meaning behind it — some of them sentimental; others are inside jokes." On each date, he would give his girlfriend a card containing "a picture, a memory and a wish for the future." 

And then on the final date, by a bonfire in the same place where he first asked her out, Duerksen would propose to his girlfriend.

Duerksen met his wife-to-be — whom he only references as J — at a conference in Paraguay, about three years ago. Out of over 6,400 attendees, she was the one who caught his eye. He concocted a plan to sit beside her at a session and then "stalked her for the rest of the conference." Nothing really happened beyond that though, and at the end of the event J simply went back to her home in Pennsylvania and Duerksen went to his, in Winnipeg.

"This is where the story gets good," writes Duerksen:

Twitter

Twitter

While that meeting and the romance which ensued was pretty darn cinematic, the live-tweeted proposal didn't go off without a hitch. 

At one point J — who, according to her husband-to-be, isn't a Twitter user — insisted that Duerksen get off his phone so that he could focus on their time together. (He somehow managed to keep live-tweeting anyway.) It also rained, nearly putting a stop to a nice stroll along a river, but Duerksen came prepared with a "huge" umbrella.

Many (many!) tweets later, both from Duerksen and Twitter users closely following along, it was time for the big moment — but there was another problem: The weather wouldn't allow for a bonfire where Duerksen originally planned for the final date to end.

Thankfully he had an alternate plan:

Twitter

And as you already know, J said "yes" to the proposal that followed — even though her husband-to-be spent half the day glued to his phone.

Twitter

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Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Circl.es

I cringed as soon as I noticed Circl.es — a new dating site — requires access to its users' Facebook accounts. "Time to write yet another headline that somehow incorporates the word 'creepy,'" I muttered, to no one in particular.

But then I actually took Circl.es for a trial run.

It turns out the website is quite cleverly designed and that the ways in which it relies on users' Facebook data are quite reasonable (at least based on my brief experience with the site).

There's no way to manually create an account on Circl.es — the site only allows you to login using a Facebook account. This is a good thing because it limits how many fake profiles you'll encounter. (Yes, someone could first create a fake Facebook account and then link that with Circl.es, but let's be realistic: That requires way more effort than most individuals with sleazy intentions would care to put in.)

Once you've logged in with your Facebook account, Circl.es asks you a handful of questions about your personal preferences — such as the age, gender, and location of the people you'd like to date — and a few clicks later you're good to go. You'll be presented with potential matches and a couple of buttons which allow you to check the person's public Facebook profile, express interest, express disinterest, or simply pass on making a decision for now.

If you express interest in a person, he or she won't be instantly notified. Instead Circl.es only notify both of you if you both express interest in the other. This means there's no risk of rejection — no one will know you've expressed interest in him or her unless he or she finds you appealing as well.

Like I said, the site's clever. There's not much to it, but its simplicity is a strong point.

Circl.es doesn't post anything to your Facebook profile and if you decide to delete your dating profile, it only takes a click to accomplish the task. From what I saw while trying out the site, everything's on the up and up — which is quite baffling to this writer, who is used to covering sites which abuse Facebook connections rather than using them to quietly avoid matching you up with friends because it's "time to date outside your social circle."

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Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Twitter

Six weeks before their wedding day, a woman and her fiancé found themselves facing a nightmare: The events company organizing their wedding suddenly closed down and their deposit of over $7,000 was lost. "Totally devastated," the couple turned to Twitter for help. Could a group of strangers save their special day?

The Guardian's Steven Morris reports that things began when Lauren Lane, the bride-to-be from the UK county of Somerset, explained her situation. "Help needed with aspects of our wedding after venue goes bust with 6 weeks 2 go & with our £4.5k!"

Lane's message was retweeted by friends and strangers — including celebrities such as athlete Davina McCall and Aussie musician Dannii Minogue. Lane's bridesmaids began approaching local wedding services companies via Twitter. The response was overwhelming:

Twitter users with something to offer leapt in to help. Some contributed jewelry and clothes, one came up with a three-tiered chocolate cake. A magician, make-up artist, a photographer and a wedding planner all offered free or cut-price services or goods.

In the end, Lane and her beau, Daniel Welch, received about £10,000 (about $16,000) worth of free services and gifts. They still had to contribute £5,000 (about $8,000) of their own money to fully fund the wedding, but, as Lane tweeted to her wedding-saving heroes, they "had an amazing day."

Related stories:

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• 'Words With Friends' game leads to marriage
• Man asks Internet to help him propose ... and it actually works

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

BuzzFeed

One of the most wonderful things about the Internet is that it encourages people to behave in the most shocking and amazing of ways. A recent example of this phenomenon involves an engagement ring, a blog post and hundreds of ridiculous images. Oh, and a happy ending — a very happy ending.

It all started on Wednesday morning, when the guy who runs the Twitter account belonging to popular website BuzzFeed teased everyone with the prospect of a crazy stunt:

Twitter

Soon after that tweet, BuzzFeed published a post by Len Kendall, one of the site's top 50 community contributors, titled "Help Me Convince Katie To Say 'Yes'." The post included the image you see at the top of this story, a cut-out photo of Kendall (which could be easily inserted into various images) and the following text:

Katie, I love you so much. Will you marry me?

In case it wasn't obvious that we were witnessing a proposal, a BuzzFeed editor added a note to explain the post:

Len is proposing to his longtime girlfriend Katie right here and now. Help him out by leaving an image in the comments persuading her to say yes and making Len the happiest man in the whole internets! We'll update this post as soon as she responds. OMG!!!

BuzzFeed readers didn't need more encouragement than that. They quickly filled the comments of Kendall's post with images into which they'd edited the man and tweeted kind words using the #SayYesKatie hashtag.

rajivn/BuzzFeed

johnm43/BuzzFeed

Some time passed and many — including yours truly — became nervous. Why hadn't Katie Holland responded yet? Did she not read BuzzFeed? Had she avoided Twitter all day?

No — she was just too busy saying "yes" to the proposal to even tweet about it for a while:

Twitter

And what do the folks at BuzzFeed think about the proposal they aided?

That they'll "need about 80 invites" to the wedding, of course.

Len Kendall

Related stories:

• How a typo led to a marriage
• 'Words With Friends' game leads to marriage
• Lawyer sues ex-girlfriends over online relationship reviews

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Docracy

Ah, Valentine's Day! It's a time for romance, flowers, candy and ... contracts?

Alright, so maybe most of us aren't exactly looking to draft up some sort of legally binding documents for our sweethearts, but just in case we decide to do so, there's a site which'll make the whole process a breeze.

The website's called Docracy and it is an online collection of legal documents. Docracy has been around for a while, so we won't dwell much on the site in general. Instead we're more interested in one of the documents on the site, one labeled "Be My Valentine - Lawyer Edition." This particular item allows you to fill in a small number of blanks in order to generate what is described as a "romantic yet legally defensible Valentine's Day card."

The generated text explains to your beloved that he or she is being granted the title of "Valentine" and expected to give you the same in turn. There are a couple of clauses specifying that the title can't be granted to another individual for the duration of the agreement, that there will be some displays of public affection, and that the agreement is considered null and void at the end of Valentine's Day or when "both parties wake up together."

Mind you, there are no details regarding which — if any — courts would consider a delightful Valentine's Day card such as the one generated by Docracy to actually be legally binding.

Related stories:

• Over a third of Facebook's users claim to be single
• How a typo led to a marriage
• Facebook users' top breakup songs revealed

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Spotify

Jonathan Chang of Facebook's data team has put together Spotify playlists with the top songs played by Facebook users when they enter or end a relationship.

Many people have a go-to song for every occasion, be it happy, sad or something between. And thanks to a little bit of a correlation study by the folks at relationship-status-obsessed Facebook, we now actually know which songs many tend to play as they begin — or end — a romance.

Jonathan Chang of Facebook's data team explains that the folks at the social network analyzed the songs U.S.-based Facebook users played on Spotify as they changed their relationship status fields recently. The data team discovered that songs such as Jason Derulo's "Don't Wanna Go Home" and Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" were frequently played by those who were making a new relationship Facebook official, while Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and Drake's "Crew Love" were commonly played by those in the middle of a break-up.

The catch — there had to be one, of course — is that Facebook's data relies on the moments when relationship status fields were changed on the social network. These moments don't necessarily occur right when a relationship starts or ends. Despite that caveat, it's still reasonably fair to assume that people are thinking about the relationship while changing that portion of their profile, and therefore are likely to be playing tunes which match their mood.

So with that in mind, here's the full listing of the top songs played by the happy lovebirds:

Songs people listen to when entering into a relationship:

1. "Don't Wanna Go Home" by Jason Derulo
2. "Love On Top" by Beyoncé
3. "How to Love" by Lil Wayne
4. "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars
5. "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida
6. "It Girl" by Jason Derulo
7. "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
8. "Criminal" by Britney Spears
9. "No Sleep" by Wiz Khalifa
10. "Free Fallin'" by John Mayer

And here's how the break-up songs broke down:

Songs listened by people after ending a relationship:

1. "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons
2. "Crew Love" by Drake
3. "All of the Lights" by Kanye West
4. "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
5. "Take Care" by Drake
6. "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars
7. "We Found Love" by Rihanna & Calvin Harris
8. "Call It What You Want" by Foster the People
9. "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez and the Scene
10. "Without You" by David Guetta featuring Usher

To make things easier for those who are going through either of the landmark relationship moments, Chang has taken the time to create two Spotify playlists with the songs listed above — one for those who are starting a relationship and one for those who are ending a romance.

Related stories:

• Over a third of Facebook's users claim to be single
• How a typo led to a marriage
• IceBreak is like couples therapy in an app

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

hmnasmn/YouTube

Long-distance relationships are rough — partly because of the lack of physical contact during times apart. But what if you could one day share a kiss with your partner through the Internet? All it may take is locking lips with a strange ball-shaped robot.

Hooman Aghaebrahimi Samani, a researcher in Singapore who specializes in robotics and artificial inteligence, has come up with something he calls the Kissenger system. This system consists of a pair of robots which can be used to transfer kisses over distance.

"With the aid of digital communication media and advanced robotic technology, the system takes the form of an artificial mouth that provides the convincing properties of the real kiss," he writes.

What this means is that you and your partner would each have a Kissenger device and lock lips with your respective robot balls in order to share a kiss. Each device would mimic the kiss received by the other in order to simulate the intimate act.

The whole process would look a bit like this — though there probably wouldn't be any cheesy music:

Don't get too excited about this long-distance-smooching system just yet though, because it is only in the prototype stages at this time. We have reached out to Samani for further information and to find out if the Kissenger will become a real product anytime soon. 

If it does, Samani might want to change the device's name, though, because even if most people will understand that Kissenger is a play on "kiss messenger," some might think of Nixon's similarly named Secretary of State. And we doubt too many would feel comfortable planting a sloppy one on that fella.

Related stories:

• How a typo led to a marriage
• 'Words With Friends' game leads to marriage
• Lawyer sues ex-girlfriends over online relationship reviews

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

LiarsCheatersRUs

LiarsCheatersRUs is a site which allows people to anonymously post "reviews" of the individuals they've dated.

Take a lawyer, his ex-girlfriends, a website which allows people to post "reviews" of their failed relationships, and add a dash of drama. Mix 'em all up and you'll get the story I'm about to tell you — a strange tale which reminds us that no one ever really wins when former lovers duke it out.

According to Staci Zaretsky at Above The Law, the mess started when Matthew Couloute Jr. — a former prosecutor and Court TV analyst —  realized that some entries on a website called LiarsCheatersRUs were making his life difficult.

LiarsCheatersRUs

This screenshot shows a LiarsCheatersRUs entry about Matthew Couloute Jr., which was written by his ex-girlfriend, Amanda Ryncarz.

LiarsCheatersRUs is a site which allows people to anonymously post "reviews" of the individuals they've dated in order to warn their future lovers about cheatin' hearts and wanderin' eyes. Couloute had several such reviews written about him and — according to him — they're affecting what people who Google search him see and even causing him to lose legal clients.

So he decided to sue the women he believes wrote those scathing reviews of him.

LiarsCheatersRUs

This screenshot shows a LiarsCheatersRUs entry about Matthew Couloute Jr., which was allegedly written by his ex-girlfriend, Stacey Blitsch.

Couloute's ex-girlfriends, Amanda Ryncarz and Stacey Blitsch, are subjects of his lawsuit. While Ryncarz has confessed that she is behind one of the anonymous reviews, Blitsch denies posting an entry on LiarsCheatersRUs. Both of the women are being represented by Gloria Allred, a lawyer known for taking on controversial cases — particularly those which focus on the protection of women's rights — and challenging controversial figures, among them O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton and Anthony Weiner.

According to Above the Law, Allred explained that she believes Couloute's lawsuit shouldn't even be allowed in the first place:

I think the minimum the women should be allowed to do is to speak out and speak the truth about the men who they have had relationships [with] and about the men who have hurt them. We believe lawsuits like this should not be allowed. This is free speech. Women must have a voice and be able to speak to each other on matters of common interest without fear of being dragged into court.

Apparently Couloute's lawsuit will be heard in court early this year, so we'll have to wait just a bit longer to see how this particular tale plays out — and to know if we could be in legal jeopardy for venting about our ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends in a public forum.

Related stories:

• How a typo led to a marriage
• 'Words With Friends' game leads to marriage
• StumbleUpon helps man propose to best friend

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Courtesy of the Salazars

The next time you make a particularly strange typo, don't throw your keyboard out the window — instead just smile. Smile, because it's possible for a simple typo to lead to a marriage.

After all, it was a typo that brought together Rachel P. Salazar and Ruben P. Salazar despite the fact that they lived about 9,000 miles apart and were "completely unaware of each other's existence."

Apparently an email intended for Rachel accidentally went to Ruben — thanks to their similar email addresses and some sloppy typing skills — in Jan. 2007. Ruben politely forwarded that email along to its intended recipient and began an email chain that led to a marriage proposal.

You can hear Ruben and Rachel share the details of their love story in the video below. It is an animated clip created by the folks behind StoryCorps, a non-profit organization with a mission of providing "Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories" of their lives. (I strongly recommend checking out the organization's YouTube page after you're done watching the video. There are many more gems to be found there.)

Related stories:

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• 'Words With Friends' game leads to marriage
• StumbleUpon helps man propose to best friend

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Rosa Golijan/msnbc.com

"Words With Friends" has been in and out of the news recently, mostly thanks to actor Alec Baldwin getting kicked off a flight after refusing to stop playing the popular multiplayer word game on his cellphone. Today we're going to talk about the game for a much happier reason: It apparently kindled a romance that led to marriage.

A report on the Chicago Tribune's RedEye blog explains that Megan Lawless and Jasper Jasperse — who married in July 2011 — have "Words With Friends" to thank for their initial chance meeting.

The story goes that 32-year-old Lawless happened to be playing the Scrabble-like game in 2009 when she got bored because her opponent — a friend who was on Thanksgiving vacation — wasn't taking turns quickly enough. Like many frustrated players might, Lawless decided to hit the button which would bring her a random opponent, who might be more responsive than her friend.

The opponent selected by that mysterious algorithm that drives "Words With Friends" was none other than 31-year-old Jasperse.

The two began playing and, using the game's built-in chat feature, they struck up a conversation.

"Hi" led to "hello" — and "hello" eventually led to emails and Skype chats. A few months later Lawless and Jasperse would decide to meet. Next thing you know, the two were engaged.

Jasperse spoke to RedEye, responding to suggestions that the way in which the two became a couple was somehow unorthodox, or hasty:

"Most people think, when we tell the story, that we right away started a very intimate conversation," he said, but the opposite was true. "It very gradually built up to finally meeting each other … At one point, I spoke to Megan more than anybody else around me."

Related stories:

• For a fun time (and a fake girlfriend), text this number
• Geeky marriage proposal filmed with light pens
• StumbleUpon helps man propose to best friend

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

IceBreak

Communicating with your significant other can be tough. You have to do things like inquire about his or her thoughts, listen, pay attention — and even remember the important stuff. And if you fail at those tasks? You'll wind up being being miserable, lonely, in a therapist's office, or all three.

Don't panic just yet though, because there is one more option: You could find yourself using an app to salvage or maintain your relationship.

The app's called IceBreak For Couples and you can download it for free through the Apple App Store.

IceBreak

IceBreak is supposed to make couples —  whether they're married, engaged, or dating —  happy. It tries to do this by providing icebreaker questions which are supposed to encourage conversations and aid you in discovering more about your beloved. 

The questions feel like something straight out of a "99 Things You Didn't Know About Me And My Love" chain-email and include inquiries such as "Which part of your partner's body could you not do without?" and "What is something your partner's really good at?"

But silly or not, the questions could certainly turn into conversation starters if both partners are willing to answer them.

And in order to encourage the use of these icebreakers — and the app's other features such as the "relationship wall" or "relationship health" sections — IceBreak offers incentives. Every time you complete an activity or task using the app, you'll earn "Date Night Coins" which will eventually be redeemable for real-world rewards such as movie tickets or gifts.

There's no guarantee that all these incentives and icebreakers will make your relationship better, of course — but an app's cheaper than couples therapy, no?

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• How to secure your iPhone's Internet connection

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.