Others think (non-iPad) tablets and daily deals.

According to new consumer data from PriceGrabber.com, topping the list of electronically-oriented Valentine’s Day gifts purchased over the past couple days are the HP Slate 500 tablet — remember that one? — and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF 101 tablet. The results, which will be released in full later today, are based on merchant referrals through PriceGrabber, a Kayak-like, Experian-owned site for comparative shopping.

Also in PriceGrabber’s Valentine’s Top 3: A 55-inch 3-D LED TV from Samsung; with a price range of $1,995 to $3,528, this love offering is probably best for someone you’re truly committed to.

This latest report only factors in purchases made on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Over the weekend, Apple’s 64 gigabyte iPhone 4S was one of the most popular purchases, alongside that big Samsung TV.

The shopping survey also indicates that the daily deals sector might get some love this year, with 42 percent of shoppers saying they plan to use an offer from Groupon or LivingSocial for purchasing gifts.

In my own inbox, I’ve gotten some pretty interesting deal offers over the past few weeks — including (but not limited to) his-and-hers massages, half-off flower bouquets, and a “bargain”-priced private dinner at Le Cirque (no sign yet of last year’s shooting-range deal for Valentine’s Day).

Despite the lean toward coupons — and in spite lingering economic woes — the majority of U.S. consumers plan to spend the same amount on this Valentine’s Day as they did last Feb. 14, according to PriceGrabber’s report.

(Image credit: Harle/Flickr)

Here’s the trailer for Hulu’s latest original content offering about a very unusual matchmaker.

That’s irksome “Paul, the Male Matchmaker,” a 10-episode spoof series from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Studio 2.0, which will debut on the premium video service on Feb. 13.

Get it? The day before Valentine’s Day.

It’s got the same tone as Lisa Kudrow’s successful (and now on cable television’s Showtime) “Web Therapy,” with lots of well-known guest stars.

I kind of like it from the teaser here, but we’ll see:

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company tries to boost online companies’ revenue by placing targeted promotions and offering incentives at the point of checkout.

It’s a bit similar to how grocery stores try to boost sales by strategically placing tabloid magazines, gum and candy bars at the register to spur last-minute impulse buys.

Instead, TrialPay makes last-minute offers to give people incentive to make a purchase when they are on the fence.

As an example, TrialPay’s CEO Alex Rampell said that when people visit Fandango’s site, they may get an offer for a free movie ticket if they sign up for Netflix. Or, in a Zynga game, you might be offered a virtual bouquet for free, in return for purchasing real flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Visa’s participation in the investment, which is being announced later this morning, is rare. Over the years, the payments company has made a few acquisitions, including PlaySpan, CyberSource and Fundamo, but Visa’s only investment in recent memory was in payments darling Square, which allows anyone to accept payments using a cellphone.

Rampell said that with Visa’s help, TrialPay will be able to expand to offline merchants from working exclusively with online retailers, by giving it a way to track if a person visited a store and made a purchase.

“The question is, how do we send traffic to Starbucks or McDonald’s or any other offline merchant?” Rampell said. “We already have access to people online who are buying or thinking about buying something. It would be great if we could could give you 20 virtual coins if you shopped at McDonald’s. But how do we close that redemption loop?”

Today, TrialPay, which has 130 employees, reaches more than 70 million monthly active users worldwide. In 2011, Rampell said, revenues more than doubled; he declined to offer specifics.

Rampell also declined to provide details about potential partnerships with Visa. Visa also declined to comment.

Investors in the company’s fourth round included new investors Greylock Partners, Visa Inc., T. Rowe Price, DAG Ventures, DFJ Growth and QuestMark Partners. Existing investors also participated. To date, it has raised roughly $70 million.

For more of Rampell’s opinions on how the payments space will evolve, check out his Web 2.0 speech from October:

As for the actual game, it will be an update to the iPhone, iPad and Android versions of Angry Birds Seasons and should be out next week. (And if you’re a seriously fanatic Angry Birds fan, you might want to try the live version.)

The local-focused service will launch first in Seattle and only in a limited beta through its Web site or mobile application.

The company fits snuggly between social and mobile trends in e-commerce, and, much like Groupon and Gilt Groupe, it recommends a limited number of offers based on the recipient’s tastes–drawn from Facebook or gleaned from a short questionnaire.

Offers could include anything from kayaking trips for the outdoorsy type, to dinner for two for the wine lover, to a cooking class for someone who’d rather eat at home.

But unlike with Groupon or Gilt Groupe, the deals are not discounted–they are regular price, or close to it.

Before you think that’s suicide in today’s bargain market, ask this: Is it appropriate to buy a Valentine’s Day or anniversary present at a discount?

Thoughtful’s co-founders Chris Lynch and Tim Low say it’s a social quandary they toy with a lot.

“It’s buying for me vs. buying for someone else. We are focused on premium gifts and experiences that you are buying for someone else,” Lynch said.

In other words, Thoughtful is trying to corner the market of recommending gifts that will match with specific tastes at the time of purchase. The service is aimed at affluent people “who are busy, have jobs, have a lot going on and have the impulse to do something good.” Low said, “It’s like a personal assistant that manages the important people in your life.”

Because of that, it attracts a set of buyers who have a strong intent to buy and have a deadline for an upcoming event, making it attractive to merchants, who are looking to avoid the “discount hunting hordes that perhaps generate lower volume at higher margins than Groupon.”

The service starts by gathering information from your Facebook page, which may automatically know who your wife is, what her tastes are and when the important times are in your lives. It also can track other important people in your life and their birth dates. If the information is not on Facebook, some manual input will be necessary, including answering a short, whimsical survey that takes just a few clicks to complete, and asks questions such as whether the person in your life is a fan of beer or wine.

Thoughtful said it negotiates for itself a 25 to 35 percent split for the offer, which is off a full-priced item vs. something that is already half off.

Thoughtful has seven employees and has raised $130,000 in seed financing. It has used crowd-sourcing techniques to come up with ideas for offers, and will be collecting feedback on this beta to figure out its next step, which could include market expansion.

Here’s a video on how it works:

Here’s the new trailer for the documentary “Never Say Never,” about the mop-topped, teenage singing sensation named Justin Bieber.

Given BoomTown’s advanced age, not getting this musical phenom is no surprise. But it is kind of remarkable to see what a good drummer Bieber was as a toddler.

The movie is out in February–on Valentine’s Day, natch.

Enjoy:

Catalyst Group, a New York usability-research firm, reviewed the two popular dating sites with an eye toward how they walk customers through profiles, finding matches and making contact.

The study considered feedback from eight users of each site (four men and four women) who had been a date with someone they contacted through it in the past month.

Among the findings: eHarmony, which markets itself to people seeking serious relationships, “was preferred by people who would prefer a high degree of handholding,” but experienced users find the profiles “formulaic.” Some also bristle at how they see potential matches — as chosen by eHarmony, not by a search of their choosing.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

(BoomTown is still in an Elmer’s glue coma from making 252 handmade cards with 33 pounds of glitter, which my sons’ school insists on instead of the store-bought kind from Walgreens that I prefer.)

In any case, big, sloppy hugs all around to the readers of All Things Digital–except for those who know just who they are.

But to make up, please don’t think sending a romantic Twitter to us or one of those dumb digital virtual gifts of silly-looking little animals and baked goods on Facebook is going to cut it.

That’s right, you need to send a whole email to show that you really care! And maybe an iTunes gift certificate for Jill Sobule’s fabulous new “California Years” record too (I am wearing out my advanced copy, but it is officially out in April, including the apt song, “Bloody Valentine”).

Also a Tesla.

After all, love is bling.

Well, a different kind of romantic, as you will see from the latest Sendables video greeting card from the creative folks at JibJab for Valentine’s Day.

Now, get off the Internet and go home and have a real life with your loved ones (I will still be here when you get back, of course).