The ShockSpot: $2200 of Machiney Goodness
qDot : 05/16/2008 10:40 AM : Sex Toys / Tech Sex NewsRemember the Hugher? Well, upgrade the "filing box from Office Depot" enclosure to "80/20 Structure" and add computer control, and you've got the ShockSpot (which I totally though was going to be an electrostim toy before I checked out the website).
This is the ShockSpot. It's a combination thruster/vibration machine, a feat that I'm not quite sure how they pulled off unless they even manufactured their own actuator system, which would explain the $2200 price tag a little better.
Honestly, from what I can tell on their webpage, they've done a lot right. The structure is made of 80/20, an aluminum "erector set" type building structure that's incredibly cheap, about as easy to put together as your normal piece of Ikea furniture, and very extensible. It can make storage footprint super small, too, since you can fairly easily disassemble the whole thing in a quick manner for storage or movement. I'd always wondered why this wasn't used more often in machine building, though there is the question of whether the low 13 pound overall weight will be enough to actually keep the machine stable during use.
The software... Well, it's looks like someone decided Visual Basic 5 type GUIs are still in vogue, and hey, if it gets the job done, whatever, but I don't really see their controls system being very extensible at the moment. However, they're not charging you extra for the software, it does allow customization, and they even allow you to share your settings files with others, albeit through having to email them to the website for someone to put up by hand. Really, anything negative I'm saying here is just me being a dick because I'm a cowboy coder with the firm belief that I'm awesomer than everyone else. The software, as I said, does what it's most likely supposed to. And they're already promising bluetooth and internet controls.
I'm definitely interested to learn more about this platform, despite the astronomic price. It could be lots of fun to develop for. And besides, when faced with the choice of fucking machine or decently tricked out Macbook Pro, which would you buy, eh?
Thanks to the fine people at CyberMistress for pointing me at this
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Open Source Teledildonics Projects
qDot : 05/13/2008 9:43 PM : Tech Sex News
There's a couple of Open Source Teledildonics projects I've been pointed at lately, so I thought I'd pass the information on. Please note that I haven't actually /used/ either of these projects (Sex software? Ew! Grody!), but they might be of interest, since my own implementation of that crazy macro based end user programming language for teledildonics I keep talking about is coming along sometime between never and never.
First off is the OpenVibrations project. This is a teledildonics client written in Java, that has built in chat and controls through USB and parallel ports. More information on features is available at the OpenVibrations entry at OpenDildonics.
Next, there's Traviesadora. It's windows only, and written in... Delphi. No, seriously. The little language that could apparently still can. It keeps popping up in the weirdest places. Anyways, this project is a jabber based chat client with full on encryption for communications and controls! Yay, something I've been asking for forever! It's also got a rather interesting wave formation UI. From what I can tell from googling, it's mostly serial based, and probably aimed at the Nobra's Silicone Dreams line of toys.
And, if you're wondering what I'm up to in the realm of open source... Well, it really doesn't have much to do with sex, these days. My main projects are:
- libnifalcon - Library/Applications for the Novint Falcon Haptic Controller
- libtrancevibe - Library/Applications for the Rez Trancevibrator
- liblightstone - Library/Applications for the Lightstone USB Biometric Widget
Out of those, I'm mostly concentrating on libnifalcon. In fact, it's just about all I've been doing in what little spare time I've had over the past two months. If you're interested in the progress on that, watch Nonpolynomial Labs for updates.
In terms of sex stuff... I've got a ton of ideas, some of which I may dump here soon. There seems to be more interest in projects these days, and I've got a few ideas that can be done with commodity hardware that would be quite fun...
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Comics Crosspost Time
qDot : 05/13/2008 7:36 PM : Other StuffOk, I don't usually just post comics, but this will most definitely become an oft-used phrase on slashdong...
via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
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3Feel Released in Korea
qDot : 05/11/2008 5:39 PM : Video Game Sex NewsBack in 2005, 3Feel was like Slashdong's own, personal Spore. It had promises of sex, and massively multiplayer gaming, and hardware, all rolled into one big bundle. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it disappeared back across the ocean, never to be seen again. Even so, 3feel was in the top 10 slashdong.org search engine referrer results every day since then.
However, around February 2008, the number of hits I started getting from 3Feel again skyrocketed, mainly driven from the IGDA Sex in Games LOTD. After watching the hits go up and up for 3 months, I decided it's finally time to take a look at what's going on, and low and behold, 3Feel is out!
Here's a couple of painful movies:
Unfortunately, the game seems to only be available in Korea right now, and requires you to sign up for an account, which requires knowledge of Korean that I do not have. However, I'm sure there's a few enterprising game bloggers out there that can go get their virtual fuck on and write about it. Please tell me if you do, too, I'd love to see what's going on. There's still quite a bit of talk of the hardware capabilities of the game (i.e. sex toy control/teledildonics), which would be awesome (and the first first-party integrated network controlled use of toys in a game, at least that I'm aware of).
MMOSite has an interview with the CEO of the company that created 3Feel, with a really interesting note about the revenue model...
3 Feel will make money in three ways: subscription fee, item selling and lovemaking fee which will be calculated from the caressing period.
I think I'm gonna start billing for everything by caressing period units.
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Immersion vibrates more than your games?
qDot : 05/11/2008 4:54 PM : Sex Toys / Tech Sex News
There's some crazy, crazy shit going down with teledildonics patents right now, and it's bringing out much bigger names than I ever would've thought. For those of you that have been reading Slashdong for a while, you've probably heard me talk about the odd "anonymous texas billionaire" that funded a troll patent on teledildonics. I was never actually sure if this was true, but hey, other bloggers said it, and we never lie, right? Right? Besides, I figured if I fucked up, I'd get one of those nice cease and desist letters that means you're doing something right.
Anyways, I'd always questioned this story in the back of my mind, because it seemed like Immersion, the 800 pound gorilla of all things shakey, should've claimed ownership on this. Immersion, for those of you that aren't familiar, are the world's largest haptics patent holders. Like, 200+ international patents ranging from force feedback to medical systems to haptic web browsing software. It's what they do, and they do it a BUNCH.
The last big news on Immersion was their suit against both Microsoft and Sony for their force feedback features in controllers for their consoles. If you want to read about the nitty gritty, check out the Immersion v. Sony Wikipedia Article. Short version: Immersion made a metric shitton of cash by nutpunching the big boys of the game industry. Like, the 100's of millions flavor of shitton.
Now that Immersion is rollin' phat on vibrating dueces, everyone wants to come looking for a bit of their cash. For instance, Microsoft countersued, which leads to more legal mumbo jumbo that you can google on your own fucking time. However, some other companies more interesting to the topic of this website have shown up too.
TechDirt is now reporting that Internet Services, LLC (ISLLC), is trying to grab part of Immersions take from the haptics lawsuits. How? Well, ISLLC is the legal whip cracker on teledildonics patents! And what is most modern teledildonics if not force feedback applied to specific parts of the body, eh? ISLLC was licensed the patents and given the right to sue teledildonics companies for patent infringement on Immersions behalf, so Immersion didn't have to crawl through the PR cesspool that is teledildonics. (Ed. Note: Really, guys, come on in to the cesspool! The water's fine!)
Now ISLLC is all butthurt (legal term) about not getting cash, since they're basically a shell for Immersion's legal weaponry. But, it doesn't even stop there! All of the craziness and blog posts aren't about the original case, but the fact that ISLLC's hired attourney is now trying to leave the case, and there's yet ANOTHER lawsuit going on over ISLLC trying to keep said attourney on the case, thus getting EVERYONE more press.
Good motherfucking times, people. Honestly, I have no idea what this means for teledildonics, patents, or whatever else. Obviously, there was a rallying cry of "prior art! prior art!" on the teledildonics patents, but if the patents were/are owned by Immersion, then there goes that idea. 'course, this is still applying only to vibrating toys as a form of feedback, too. I don't believe there's any patent on thrusting toys, since it's just a remotely controlled linear actuator. However, I am so not a lawyer (just in case the use of the term "butthurt" made you think otherwise).
Via TechDirt (Aww, and look at the first comment on the post! Thanks guys!) and The Prior Art
More info also at Boing Boing Gadgets
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