This video, courtesy of 2D Photography, shows what a successful date night Rube Goldberg device would look like. Not only does it pour the wine and set both the mood music and the mood lighting – but it does something particularly spectacular at the end. Let’s just say that it helps guys with a certain mechanical problem that many of us seem to have.

Check it out below:

The folks behind the video have made other Rube Goldberg devices that have gone viral. Apparently, this one didn’t take too long at all:

Here’s our latest Rube Goldberg video. We had this idea really last minute and wanted to pump it out before V-day. This was a completely in house project and by far our fastest Rube. They’re usually quite time consuming and so getting this done in a few days was a nice treat for us.

Impressive, I’d say.

If you’re like me (and most of the YouTube commenters), one of the first things you noticed (other than the device) was the borderline creepy laughtrack. 2D Photography says that they added all of that awkward giggling after the fact just for the hell of it.

Today, YouTube unveiled their Valentine’s Day Slam where users can vote on the best proposal videos across the site. Part of me thinks the bra-magic was the best way to end this, and the slightly more romantic part of me thinks a ring would have been even better. Now that would have been a proposal.

Today’s infographic, not to be confused with Saturday’s other Valentine’s Day themed infographic, comes from Monetate. They remind us that the younger we are, the more we celebrate the beloved (or accursed) holiday. There is also the fun fact that men spend more money than women on this sacred holiday of love. Lastly, it shows that discount stores enjoy the most business from Valentine’s Day minded shoppers.

Online businesses are getting in on that love-induced money this year as well with 19.3 percent of holiday shoppers hitting up online stores for their shopping needs. This lovely infographic provides Web sites with some tips as to how they can maximize their sales on Valentine’s Day.

As for me, these businesses will be getting all of my sales on the day after. Nothing says love like day after Valentine’s Day candy.

But this Valentine’s season, you can make the marriage proposals of strangers a game on YouTube.

Check out Valentine’s Day Slam to watch tons of proposal videos from YouTube. There, you can pit two proposals side-by-side and vote on which one is better at tugging on the ol’ heartstrings.

The Valentine’s Day Slam is the latest episode of YouTube Slam, launched back in December of 2011. Slam was launched as a way for Youtube users to find the next big viral hit. The premise is simple: two videos are viewed side-by-side and users vote. The videos are scored based on those votes and the best videos are then featured on the “slam leaderboard.” Past slams have included “Bizarre Slam,” “Cute Slam,” and “Dance Slam.”

But now you’re voting on proposals. If you vote for the video that’s the more popular of the two with other YouTube Slam voters, you’ll receive points. With every correct pick in a row, you’ll rack up a multiplier bonus.

As of right now, these are your top three proposal videos (in order):

The top player has 276 points, so you better get to the shooting down of random strangers’ big moments!

Makes sense, right? Good.

So while tomorrow may be Valentine’s Day for those of us in the West, it’s already Valentine’s Day in Japan. Reinforcing the global significance of Valentine’s Day, Google has given their Japanese page the Google Doodle treatment today with a special animated doodle commemorating the holiday. Upon clicking the Doodle, Tony Bennett’s “Cold, Cold Heart” begins playing over an animation depicting a lovesick lad trying his best to woo a lady with roses and heart boxes of chocolate (among other gifts). Users can click through the animation in order to find news and search results for Valentine’s Day (those results will automatically appear after the animation is over).

What struck me most about this Doodle is the end, which presents a collage of different types of couples. Among them are a milk carton and a cookie, a cat and a dog, and a princess with a frog. Included with these pairs, though, are two depictions of same sex couples: one with two women, and another with two men. Google’s decision to include the two same sex couples with other pairs that are more comical or even fictional (an astronaut with a space alien?) is confusing. Should same sex couples ignore this uncomfortable juxtaposition given that they were even acknowledged at all? I’m not so sure gays and lesbians will take so kindly to their already-marginalized sexuality being regarded as seriously as space alien couplings or cat-and-dog couplings. You can see the two couples in the bottom row of the image below.

It remains to be seen if Google will roll out different Valentine’s Day-inspired Doodles (with different ballads, even?) for different regions of the world, of if this will be the worldwide Doodle for the holiday. Guess we’ll see tomorrow, hm?

“Every day, people are breaking up and entering into relationships on Facebook,” says Facebook data scientist Jonathan Chang. “When they do, they play songs that personify their mood.”

Here’s the top song for those entering a relationship:

And the top song for those breaking up:

Songs people listen to when entering into a relationship:

“Don’t Wanna Go Home” by Jason Derulo
“Love On Top” by Beyoncé
“How to Love” by Lil Wayne
“Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars
“Good Feeling” by Flo Rida
“It Girl” by Jason Derulo
“Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
“Criminal” by Britney Spears
“No Sleep” by Wiz Khalifa
“Free Fallin’” by John Mayer

Songs listened by people after ending a relationship:

“The Cave” by Mumford and Sons
“Crew Love” by Drake
“All of the Lights” by Kanye West
“Rolling in the Deep” by Adele
“Take Care” by Drake
“It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars
“We Found Love” by Rihanna & Calvin Harris
“Call It What You Want” by Foster the People
“Love You Like a Love Song” by Selena Gomez and the Scene
“Without You” by David Guetta featuring Usher

Chang even made Spotify playlists for these songs. How thoughtful. Here’s the love mix. And the breakup mix.

LiveScience put together the following infographic looking at “the price of love”. It combines data from the National Retail Federation, ItsJustLunch.com, Sears, OpenTable, Motley Fool and Gannett.

Source:LiveScience

If you’ve made it this far down the page, you deserve this accompanying treat:

Oh, why not take this one in as well:

Here’s the full list:

iOS

Sonic CD – $2.99/£1.92 was $4.99/£3.20

Discounts can make a huge difference in app downloads, and there’s just something about the 99 cent price tag that is much more appealing than even $1.99.

This Saturday, February 11th, for one day only, T-Mobile is offering all of their 4G smartphones for free with a 2-year contract. This deal includes the Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC Amaze 4G, Nokia Lumia 710, Balckberry Bold 9900 4G, HTC Wildfire 4G, and more. The deal also includes a selection of tablets like the T-Mobile springBoard with Google.

The “free” part will come in the form of a mail-in rebate when you sign up for a qualifying “Classic Plan.”

T-Mobile is promoting this with an ad campaign, and you can watch the video below. Full press release is available after the clip (so you can scour it for all the little fine print).

PRESS RELEASE: In the spirit of the season, T-Mobile USA, Inc. will show consumers lots of love with another jaw-dropping promotion for its “Valentine’s Day Sale.” For one day only, Saturday, Feb. 11, T-Mobile will give customers the chance to get their hands on the latest 4G smartphones and select tablets for free, making a perfect gift for loved ones or themselves. The promotion includes T-Mobile’s fastest 4G smartphones and select tablets running on America’s Largest 4G Network® such as the Samsung Galaxy S™ II1 and the T-Mobile® SpringBoard™ with Google™.

New and existing eligible customers can take advantage of this deal receiving their device for free after a mail-in rebate card when they sign up for a new two-year contract on any qualifying Classic Plan™2 or for a $0.00 down payment after mail-in rebate card when signing up on a qualifying Unlimited Value™3 plan.

“T-Mobile has a commitment to make the 4G experience affordable and accessible to everyone, so this sweet deal on smartphones and tablets is our Valentine’s gift to consumers,” said John Clelland, senior vice president of marketing, T-Mobile USA. “No matter where loved ones live, T-Mobile wants to bring them closer with unlimited talking, photo sharing, video chatting, texting, and more.”

A recent online Omnibus survey4 with Harris Interactive found that four-in-ten (44%) of first time smartphone buyers in 2012 say the cost of the data plan associated with the smartphone is the most influential reason they have not purchased a smartphone before. The value for customers extends beyond the “Valentine’s Day Sale” as T-Mobile offers the best rate plan pricing on America’s Largest 4G Network.

The following is a sample of the exceptional devices available during the “Valentine’s Day Sale” if customers choose to sign up on a two-year Classic Plan™:

The “Valentine’s Day Sale” will be available on Feb.11 at participating T-Mobile retail stores nationwide and T-Mobile will support the promotion with a national television advertising campaign. For more information about T-Mobile’s “Valentine’s Day Sale” and details about qualifying plans, visit http://bit.ly/z36M9c.

1 Devices must be supported with the following data requirements: voice phones: 200 MB data; most smartphones: 2 GB data; 42 Mbps devices (Amaze and Galaxy S II): 5 GB data.

2Standard upgrade eligibility rules apply for existing Classic customers that stay on a Classic plan; standard migration fees will apply for existing Classic customers that switch to a Value plan and have less than 18 months contract tenure.

3 $0 down payment offer not applicable in RI, CT, or Miami-Dade County, FL; customers in these regions will be eligible for a different offer. Equipment installment plans: On approved credit and 0 percent APR. Down payment and unfinanced portion required at purchase. Remaining balance paid in 20 monthly installments. Total post-rebate price of each device equals down payment amount plus monthly payment amount times 20.

4This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of T-Mobile USA from December 20-22, 2011 among 2,573 adults ages 18 and older, among whom 235 will be first time smartphone buyers in 2012, and 988 are current smartphone users who will remain smartphone users in 2012. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact kmcfadzean@waggeneredstrom.com.

5 Mail-in rebate not applicable in RI, CT, or Miami-Dade County, FL.

“The iPad 2 is attractive, smart, and fun to be around – Just like your Valentine,” says Apple. And with that, they are offering free engraving through the Apple online store. “To my sweetheart, who loves Angry Birds almost as much as she loves me,” perhaps.

Apple has a Valentine’s Day gift guide as well that suggests iPad accessories, iPhone gifts, as well as designer gifts to compliment various Apple devices.

Apple is also offering free shipping on any item that’s on the Valentine’s Day gift guide, even if it doesn’t reach the $50 threshold usually set for Apple’s free shipping.

If you’re going to get your beau an engraved tablet for Valentine’s Day, just make sure they know to get you more than a box of chocolates.

Speaking to Penn Olson today, Rovio revealed that they are bringing their hit Angry Birds to the more than 800 million people on Facebook. The company is planning to launch the game on the social networking service on February 14 in Jakarta, Indonesia. They decided to hold the launch there as it is a major Facebook hub.

Rovio also spoke more in depth on their plans for the Angry Birds franchise as a whole. They said that they plan to have Angry Birds pre-installed in every new Samsung Smart TV and the previous versions of their TVs will get an update that will install the game.

They also want to bring a cloud-like aspect to the game allowing players to save their progress on one device and carry it over to the next.

They also revealed that Angry Birds for Facebook will introduce power-ups that users can buy for a dollar or earn through normal gameplay. The power-ups include an earthquake, or special, bigger or stronger birds. They claim that 40 percent of their users are interested in buying the upgrades compared to three or four percent in other games.

Angry Birds on Facebook will also introduce the obvious social aspect to the game. This will include leaderboards that players can post to so their friends can try to beat them.

They also plan to release more games than it did last year. They only had Rio and Seasons in 2011. They have already released the Chinese New Year variant of Angry Birds this year.

We can’t deny that Angry Birds is a global phenomenon. It has amassed millions of downloads, but Rovio needs to launch a new IP or they risk becoming stagnant. I could be wrong and Angry Birds could become another game franchise that can release the same game every year while seeing massive returns. Only time will tell, but as of right now, Angry Birds looks like the mobile Call of Duty.