In my review of the futuristic novel Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, I mentioned one element that the author envisaged which was an iPod-like device that people carried with them that would immediately calculate your attractiveness, informing everyone nearby both of your absolute score as well as your ranking in a room full of people. It sounded a little disconcerting, even creepy.

It turns out that there is already an app called Scene Tap that, while not going so far, uses anonymous facial recognition technology to tell people how full a particular bar is, the percentage of men and women in it, and the average age of each sex, so that you can decide which bar is worth going to without actually visiting them.

It does not seem to work that well though, as this reporter found out when she accompanied a professional pick up artist and ‘dating coach’ as they cruised bars.

But I expect that is will get better and that such things are here to stay as our private lives become more and more public, whether we want it to or not.