In the last week, we’ve seen quite a spike in celebrity break ups in the news, and it got us thinking? What’s going on? Coincidence? Is there something in the California water? Or is Spring just a time when couples decide to call it quits?

Arnold and Maria Shriver were the first couple to call it quits, ending their 25 year marriage earlier this week. Considering the very well-known fact that Arnie has a bit of a problem fondling the ladies, this one wasn’t a huge surprise. What was a surprise was how long it took to happen! We wonder if it had to do with Arnold’s move from the entertainment industry into politics – scandals like a divorce can often harm chances of election. Perhaps with Arnold’s term coming to an end they felt it was finally okay to publicly split.

Hayden Pannettiere and her boxer beau Wladimir Klitschko reportedly broke up, and according to Wlad (is that the nickname for Wladimir?), it had a lot to do with managing a relationship from separate continents. DUH ALERT, everyone. We wonder if Hayden was just tired of answering questions about how they “do it,” when he is over a foot taller than her.

Last but not least, on-again, off-again couple Bar Refaeli and Leonardo DiCaprio are officially off, again, according to The Herald Sun (and everyone else). We always wonder about couples who break up and reunite several times. Does it mean they are meant for each other but the timing is always off, or does it mean they are trying too hard to make something work that is so obviously wrong? The two are very attractive and will surely meet new lovers (Leo reportedly already has), but we wonder if we’ll be seeing this couple again in the future.

So what do you think? Is spring the season to split? Or it just a coincidence that three long-term relationships ended within a week?

via whoanelly-knelson

This is the first time that I’ve wanted a one line post: YES. YES, A MILLION TIMES YES.

But I will elaborate. According to OnlineDatingInsider, the company Amivox wants to capitalize on the tech-age of break ups. About “Shout,” their break up app, they say,

We think that people who break up via SMS are coward and weak.

After a relationship, the least you can do is to communicate clearly and with a loud voice the reason why you are breaking up. Don’t hide behind a lame text message…

Now, with Amivox, you can break up many times a week with a loud and clear voice! All you need to do is to get our Android app, record your voice message and send it to your (former) partner as a Shout.

Right away, your partner will receive a call with your caller id, and your Break Up message will be played upon answer.

And what’s even better: after the message has been played, your partner can speak back a message that you will receive as a call. This way, it will be much easier for you to take your partner’s “go to hell” response.

First of all – a bit of research showed that yes- the company is based in the Scandinavian region, which explains why the grammar sounds a little off.

However, we don’t really understand how a shouted, uninterruptable message is any different than a text. Especially with how easy it would be to just delete or not answer “your partner’s ‘go to hell.’” We’re pretty sure that based on David Evans’ tone over at ODI that he shares our opinion on the matter, but that doesn’t stop us from being surprised that a legitimate company out of three countries overseas would come up with such an atrocious idea.

Looks like it’s true – the age of great ideas really is coming to an end. Yikes.

What do you think? Is there a difference between getting broken up with via text and getting dumped in a voicemail?

via jezebel

According to a source at Life&Style, the answer is YES – she’s been seeing 24-year-old Jordan McGraw, who has his own celebrity roots as television host Dr. Phil’s son! Perhaps she was looking for someone closer to her own age?

Crystal Harris, the 24 year old woman who became 84-year-old Hugh Hefner’s fiancee a couple months ago after a surprise engagement, has reportedly been carrying on a hush-hush relationship with McGraw, starting when he was a music producer for Organica record label, where Harris is apparently an aspiring recording artist. Sources say he is no longer employed there because he was involved in illicit affairs with some female clients, and one of those just happens to be the future Mrs. Hefner.

Interestingly enough, these reorts come only weeks after Hefner’s ex, Holly Madison, was quoted saying, “Crystal may break Hef’s heart.”

We’re not sure if Holly’s words were a sign of things to come, but according to a rep at Playboy, “Jordan and Crystal have a business relationship.” I guess we’ll all have to see how this plays out.

img via mtv.com

Another one bites the dust, as they say.

We just learned from the bloggers at BCU (the blog for the dating site OnlineBootyCall.com) that skateboarder and entrepreneur Tony Hawk is getting divorced. For the third time. Not only that, but the whole story is just one big mess:

“Tony Hawk married Cindy in 1990. They have one son. Divorced in 1993, because Tony had begun seeing Erin, THE NANNY. They married in 1996, and had two sons together but then got divorced in 2003 because Tony decided to get together with his PUBLICIST Lhotse. They got married in 2006 and had a daughter BUT are now getting divorced because Lhotse caught Tony with Cathy, THE WIFE OF HIS BEST FRIEND AND LONGTIME BUSINESS PARTNER MATT GOODMAN.”

Sad, isn’t it? Not only that another marriage is going down the drain and that ANOTHER child is about to be a part of a broken home, but that there are women in the world with such delusions of grandeur, such pathetic self-esteem, that they would still stay with a guy who is so obviously a piece of scum. I’m no man-hater and definitely not a women hater, but all parties in this situation are GUILTY.

[via BootyCallU]

Because Facebook wasn’t a stalker’s paradise to begin with, we’re just received news about a new app called the Breakup Notifier. Got a crush on one of your friends who’s in a relationship? No problem. Download the Breakup Notifier app, select friends you’re interested in, and receive an immediate e-mail to your primary account as soon as they go from “In a Relationship” to “Single.”

It’s pretty genius ideas from the creators, who apparently only put in 4 hours of time creating the app, which was downloaded 100,000 times in the first two days. But as promoters of online dating and using technology to help your love life, we still think this is a little teeny, eensy bit creepy. What if you were in a long-term relationship… one that was ending roughly, no less, and after trying to discretely remove the “In a Relationship” tag from your profile, you got a Facebook message from the guy down the hall in your dorm building. “HEY SAW YOU BROKE UP IF YOU NEED ANYONE TO TALK TO JUST LET ME KNOW.”

Sure, most people would have a little more tact than that, but we underestimate the social-impairment of many people on the internet today.

UPDATE: Apparently Facebook agrees with the creepy factor. According to the Breakup Notifier site, Facebook has blocked the app from being used. We’ll let you know if it shows up again!

Searches for “love,” not surprisingly, peak during February, with people likely looking for Valentine’s ideas and ways to spark a little romance in their lives. Searches for “sex” are fairly unseasonal, but do take a bit of a jump during the summer months (we imagine it has to do with all the extra skin we see during the warmth of July). The unfortunate part is where the “rejection” searches peak: right after the “love” ones do. We imagine that although you see a few thousand proposals during this romantic time, the breakups are probably pretty rampant as well, as are the confessions of unrequited love.

So what does that tell us? Perhaps that sex isn’t the “ultimate expression of love” like we imagined as kids? That maybe falling in love is not as likely a direct ticket to Sexville, and more a direct ticket to Misery City? What do you think?

Ashlee Simpson (vocally impaired younger sibling of Jessica Simpson) and her husband of two years, rocker Pete Wentz, have called it quits. The young couple have a child together, and up until the news were always viewed as a very cute, happy couple. Which is to prove the ancient adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”

According to reps, Ashlee is stating irreconcilable differences as the reason for the breakup, and is seeking physical custody of their son, Bronx Mowgli.

Just like yesterday’s news of Olivia Wilde parting with her beau of eight years, we have to cite the young marriage age as a reason why so many relationships fail. Young people, take heed, and get in the slow lane for once!

This funny little gem was recently uploaded to Failblog.com, and almost instantly began a bit of a debate: is this really an marketing fail or could it be a brilliant win? On one hand, The Break-Up could be one of those movies that makes people say “SCREW LOVE,’ and then start buying stock in cookie dough and cat food. On the other hand, it ends with the uplifting message that even after a bad breakup, people move on and can be happier than ever before. So perhaps, following the final scene, people would take Match.com up on their offer for a free month membership.

What do you think? For the dating industry, is this a marketing fail, or a cleverly disguised win?

Proof that matches made in heaven don’t always last: the Disney dream couple Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens split this week, according to sources at Lainey Gossip. The couple, who met on the set of the Disney hit High School Musical, have been together for almost 4 years despite both only being just barely in their 20s. According to the sources, the relationship just “ran its course,” and there is no “third party.”

As your DatePros, we’re sighing with relief that the couple didn’t decide to tie the knot and are instead exploring other options. So many young couples today feel like getting married after a couple years of dating is the right course to go, when in reality most have no idea what they even want. We wish the both of them luck and congratulate them on making a very difficult, but grown up decision.

So our question – is texting (or more specifically) sexting, the downfall of long-term relationships? With the ease of carrying on racy relationships, with out any real physical contact, and with the ability to permanently strike everything said from the record, are people more likely to cheat?

We believe the answer is a little yes, and a little no. Yes, technology has made it simpler and easier to do just about everything – cheating included. But can we blame the ease and relative discretion of the internet and text messaging? No. People make decisions for themselves. And whether the cheating is bringing someone back from a bar or just keeping communication in stealth mode, cheating would happen.

What do you think – is texting and cheating going to be the downfall of relationships?