CARNAL NATION

Everything you need for a hot night is in the palm of your hand. Your iPhone can find you a date, help you choose a restaurant, and let your friends know how the evening is going in various formats. With the launch of two new iPhone apps, you can now ensure that your date will live up to your standards even before you meet. PeopleFinders has created "Stud or Dud?" and "Are They Really Single?", which search through public records to find out the type of information you might want to know before that romantic dinner. Information like whether or not your date is married, if he or she has a criminal record, or if he or she is a registered sex offender.

The "Stud or Dud?" app offers users the ability to perform a complete background check on someone. PeopleFinders President and COO Bryce Lane says that the accuracy of the app is based on how much information you enter into it. More information—like full name, age, address, and phone number—will yield better results, especially if the person you are searching has a common name. However, the service is not cheap. In addition to the $.99 app download fee, each file accessed will cost the user $9.95. Alternatively, users may have unlimited access to fills by subscribing to the service for an annual fee of $24.95.

For those who prefer a little mystery on their first date, the "Are They Really Single?" limits the background check to that one all-important, eponymous question. This app searches through millions of marriage and divorce records that will help you determine if your date really is available. With this knowledge safely in the palm of your hand, you can wait until the second date to ask them directly about their criminal past and their financial records. Third dates are not guaranteed.

PeopleFinders says that if the apps are successful on the iPhone platform, they will expand the services to other systems like the Blackberry and Palm's webOS.