The laid off techies who dreamed up the innovative IamSaintNick.com service are back in business with a new idea just in time for Valentine's Day. It's called IamSaintValentino.com. And if you are struggling to come up with that perfect gift idea for your lover this February 14, it might  just save you some grief.

IamSaintValentino works much the same way as the Santa Claus calling service, allowing gift givers to gather ideas by placing pre-recorded phone calls (in the voice of Saint Valentino) to the intended sweetheart. It also includes a customized message from the caller. At the end of the call, the recipient is asked to say his or her favorite Valentine's Day gifts or desires. (Post updated with more details on how it works.)

Those messages are recorded and immediately available for playback on the IamSaintValentino Web site, so the gift giver can make a smarter purchase decision.

In an added twist, the site incorporates a speech recognition tool on the back end to analyze words of the call recipient. It then recommends specific products from online retailers based on words spoken in the message. For example, if a call recipient says she wants chocolates, a link could appear next to the message that directs people to chocolate truffles of chocolate gift baskets on Amazon.com.

"We are targeting intent based users, people that have the intent to purchase something in a fun way," explains co-founder Matt Steckler. For retailers, he says the unique approach could help drive sales during these rough economic times. (Avelle, the online handbag rental service, is currently sponsoring the site which officially launches today.)

When Steckler and Andres Krogh started tinkering with the idea a few months ago, they simply were trying to pass some time after losing their jobs. Now, the idea has turned into a full time gig.

They have formed a company -- Flaunt LLC -- which will serve as parent site to the niche holiday sites it creates. And they plan to build out a more comprehensive site at Flauntable.com where people can keep track of their gift lists, similar to Seattle's Wishpot though with a voice element.

"We went from laid off tech workers to fully employed," says the 33-year-old Steckler. "We are really lucky." The two entrepreneurs take pride in how quickly and cheaply they have built the new services. They've gotten this far on less than $20,000, says Krogh.

So what's next? After all, there is a bit of commercial holiday drought until Halloween.

Steckler says they have a "bucket" of potential ideas, though next on the list will probably be birthdays and weddings.