Google

Ah, Valentine's Day! It's the most romantic event ever concocted by the greeting card industry. While the cliché would have it that it's a time when droves of husbands and boyfriends descend on jewelry, candy, and flower shops, Google has a different take: Searches for "gifts for boyfriend" outpaced "gifts for girlfriend" by over 240 percent in the last 30 days. Similarly, searches for "gifts for husband" were made 39 percent more often than "gifts for wife."

What's afoot here? Are the ladies really doing more of the work of keeping love alive? Or is there simply an asymmetry in the sexes' shopping approaches? One would think that most of the fellas would take advantage of the Internet and research the ideal trinkets for the objects of their affections, but the evidence suggests otherwise.

That said, love is certainly in the air. Searches for "how to break up" and "divorce" have fallen by 15 percent and 41 percent, respectively, going from 2012 to 2013, says Google. Additionally, searches for "how to propose" jumped up by 66 percent in the last 30 days — California, New York, and Texas saw the highest increases in those searches — and that's been accompanied by a 13 percent increase in queries for "jewelry."

In other Valentine's Day news, "heart shaped cake" searches are up 4,900 percent in the last week. So if you can't find love this Thursday, at least you may get a slice of leftover cake.

Related stories:

• 'Dirty Dancing' is the soundtrack for sex, says Spotify
• Three-quarters of people think it's OK to reach for iPads after being intimate
• App sorts your Facebook friends based on relationship status

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both 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 / NBC News

Those looking for love online better focus right now — statistics suggest that the time period between Christmas and Valentine's Day is when romance flourishes online.

According to data provided to TODAY.com by Match.com, the dating site typically sees a 25 to 30 percent increase in new members registrations between Dec. 26 and Feb. 14. During this time, other activities — such as searches and on-site communications — occur at a higher rate as well.

Match.com's highest activity peak in the last year, a 55 percent increase in registrations, occurred on Jan. 2, 2012, close to that of its UK-based counterpart with the same name. (That site's annual peek occurred just before 9 p.m. local time on Jan. 1, according to UK-based publication Daily Mail, and led some to suggest that this is the very best moment in the entire year to seek out a partner.)

The idea that people are looking for love in the chilly winter months crammed between two holidays is backed up by data compiled by Facebook. Trends in relationship status changes in 2010 and 2011 show that some of the biggest net increases in new relationships (based on users changing their relationship status fields from "non-coupled" (meaning "single" or "divorced," for example) to "coupled" (such as "married" or "in a relationship") occurred on Dec. 24, Dec. 25, Feb. 14, and Feb. 15. These days saw from 22 to 49 percent more new relationships than break-ups.

The romantic times aside, love doesn't seem to conquer all. According to Facebook, the most common relationship status change in 2012 was to "single." The social network found that 40.5 percent of relationship status fields went from coupled to "single" over the last year. (Keep in mind that this change can include folks who previously had a blank relationship status and finally got around to filling out the field.) On the bright side, 29.2 percent of profiles updated to  "in a relationship," 8.2 percent to "engaged," 7.2 percent to "married," and 7.5 percent were toggled to a blank.

What we can take away from all these details is that we are not alone in being alone (or lonely)? There are plenty of fish in the sea all year long — but January, in particular, may give you a bigger selection than usual.

Related stories:

• 'Dirty Dancing' is the soundtrack for sex, says Spotify
• He texted WHAT? Strangers analyze your love life
• App sorts your Facebook friends based on relationship status

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both 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 / NBC News

Step aside, Kate Upton. Quiet down, Kim Kardashian. Relax, Lindsay Lohan. Sit still, Kate Middleton. None of you gals are as important to Yahoo Search users this year as … the iPhone 5.

As Yahoo's annual list of top searches reveals, the only search topic to beat the iPhone 5 in 2012 is the election. Everything else — including the ladies listed above, the Olympics, and so on — took a lower rank in the search engine's list of the top overall searches.

Naturally, this distinction also means that the iPhone 5 took the top spot in a list of the most searched gadgets on Yahoo. In fact, the top three spots on this particular list are occupied by Apple gadgets. The iPad 3 and iPad Mini come in second and third place, respectively, after the iPhone 5. Samsung's Galaxy S3 snags the fourth spot, followed — in order — by the Kindle Fire, iPhone 4, Nook, iPod Touch, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and Samsung Galaxy Note.

While the top ten gadget-related queries are indeed an even split between Apple gadgets and Android-powered device, not a single Android-related topic penetrated the top ten overall search queries on Yahoo this year. We don't even dare speculate what this might mean to arguments between fanboys and fangirls.

We've reached out to the folks at Google to find out what their top search queries were in 2012. While we wait to hear more about what the boys and gals in Mountain View saw at the top of their charts, we'll continue to marvel over the fact that Yahoo Search users were more obsessed with the iPhone 5 than with Honey Boo Boo, "Fifty Shades of Grey," and even "Gangnam Style."

Let that sink in for a bit.

Related stories:

• Guy who emailed 40,000 people instead of mom 'glad it wasn't something embarrassing'
• Top 10 ways to deal with the Internet's biggest morons
• Samsung sends man free phone in exchange for dragon drawing

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both 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+.

TripLingo

Why limit your chances of finding love by flirting only in English? You could easily multiply your odds by chatting up charming strangers in several other languages. And an iPhone app will help guide you through that process.

The app in question is the Romance Edition of TripLingo, a popular language-learning application for travelers. It is free and available for download through the Apple App Store.

TripLingo Romance Edition focuses on the phrases most relevant to seeking out romance, such as compliments, flirty lines, and activity suggestions.

TripLingo

The app includes over a thousand phrases in  Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Hindi and Castilian Spanish. The phrases are divided into four categories — formal, casual, slang and crazy — and you narrow down or expand your options using the "Slang Slider." In addition, there are audio examples, flashcards and a plain ol' dictionary — in other words, everything you need to stumble your way through a couple of dates.

Related stories:

• In case of snow, alarm app wakes you early
• This app knows where you were last night
• This app will help you keep your plants alive

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+.