July 13, 2008

WiibratorLink Update and WiiSex Review

Ok, first off, the new stuff. The WiibratorLink developers have been nice enough to send me more information on the product.

Here's the presentation they gave on it, which, while in German, is still pretty, um, language-agnosticly obvious about the usage and interaction models:

And, some facts...

  • Update: The OIOO add-on has a vibration motor in it, due to the fact that the feedback control for the motor in the Wiimote itself is simply on/off.
  • The product's name, OIOO, is the combination of the names for the male and female parts. The male portion (the round hole part) is named 00, and the female portion (the pokey part) 01, referring to both the chromosome identification and 0/1 because it's a digital toy.
  • Interaction happens through the digital pad, the two buttons and the accelerometer. There are two modes, Private and Link.
  • For what I'm guessing is Private Mode, the B-Button generates "Power Vibration", while the A-Button sets it to normal vibration with the digital control (directional pad) allowing for speed control.
  • Link mode I believe is demoed in the video, where one controller is used to simulate motion while the other vibrates. This relates to the main research goal of the project, translating actual human movement into sexual communication.
  • With the multiple open source libraries available for the Wiimote, internet communication (Telewiildonics?) and other controls should be quickly and easily doable.

So, yeah, the wii dildo is actually gonna happen. Now, it's not the first time anyone has had this idea, but it's the first time it hasn't been vaporware as a completely hardware and software solution. Here's a quick timeline of wiimote sex happenings:

That's everything I'm aware for the moment, at least.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

WiibratorLink: the wiidildo, realized

WiibratorLink

There are posts on here in which I let the pictures speak for themselves. This is one of them.

All I'm going to say is that this is a project happening at Bauhaus University Weimar, and yes, that's a wiimote, and... Just... wow. Yeah.

The prophecies of a million video game webcomics, realized.

Update: It's actually called the "WiibratorLink". Not to be confused with the Wiildo.

Update 2:: Talked to the people that made it a bit more, apparently there's no interference with the Bluetooth communications whatsoever. They'll also have more information available later in the week, will make another post here (and probably do a roundup of all things sex and wii) when that happens.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

July 1, 2008

Rubbot reaches Beta Phase

Remember Rubbot, the plucky little design project to completely revolutionize male sex toys as we know it? The designers over at rubbot.com have just announced that they have reached their beta phase. First off, I've gotta say congrats to them on making it this far. Their community outreach efforts in looking for design ideas have been great, and more importantly, they've quoted me multiple times, thus re-enforcing the idea that I know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, they're currently working on a selection questionaire for beta tester recruitment, so hop on over and keep on eye on their blog if you want the chance to be part of the first wave to fall to our new penis crawling donut overlords.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

May 16, 2008

The ShockSpot: $2200 of Machiney Goodness

The ShockSpot

Remember 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

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

May 11, 2008

Immersion vibrates more than your games?

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

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

May 5, 2008

BES's Intelligent Vibrator Gets a Menu


Menu V0.6.1 alpha from P B on Vimeo.

Yay! Another video from the guys over at British Engineering Systems, showing the LCD screen and menu system they've set up for their intelligent vibrator setup. Good work!

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

April 10, 2008

Too Much Information about the Interactive Fleshlight

Well, after all of the massive press coverage over a dude that hooked up a interactive fleshlight to a blowup doll with some chat AI and called it a sex bot, I figured it was time for me to invest in one of these things so I could get some of those so called "hits" that I'd been desperately missing out on lately. That's what I get for becoming overly obsessed with haptics hardware.

IMG_0125

So, the Interactive Fleshlight. For $39.99 (Available from Citouch.com, and this is for the interactive part alone, a fleshlight will run you another $50-70 depending on where you get it), you get:


  • Top Cap Replacement for the fleshlight

  • A Rubber Tube

  • A Control Box

  • A USB A-B Cable

  • A "game" (I'll explain the quotes later, but holy jesus fuck is this some bad shit. Well, I guess that explained it. But, well, um.. yeah.)

The Basics

Most of the devices I show off on Slashdong are output devices. Input comes from some other controller, be it your mouse, keyboard, video game controller, or whatever. The Interactive Fleshlight, however, is an input /only/ device.

The Fleshlight, for those not familiar and not able to discern the obvious from the above picture, is a plastic casing with a latex insert. You stick your dick in it. That's... about it really. Both ends of the plastic casing come off: one end to stick yourself in, the other to adjust air pressure once you're in. This second cap is where the Interactive Fleshlight comes in. They give you a replacement endcap (w/ gasket, to maintain pressure) with a tube attached to it, that goes to a little beige box. The little beige box contains a PIC 16C745 microcontroller that processes the signal from an air pressure sensor, and sends it down the USB to your computer. This means that your computer can basically sense when and how you thrust into the fleshlight, as that action changes the air pressure inside the tube.

Yes, you can control your computer by fucking it. However, this is only for some values of "control"...

The Controls

In terms of control schemes, the Interactive Fleshlight takes Occam's Razor and, instead of going across the street or down the road, just takes the whole motherfucking arm off.

IMG_0129

You see, the PIC16C745 has embedded USB 1.1 capabilities, which makes it great for an Human Interface Device, or HID, controller. To avoid a long, horrid discussion on USB, basically, the USB standard gives you a ton of ways to talk about human interface devices like mice and keyboards and joysticks and what not. Hundreds of types. It's crazy. So, with all these types, you can have a bazillion axis controller and it should "just work" with any operating system, though you may have to write some drivers as to how those bazillion axes should work with a normal operating environment.

You could.

Or you could just make the OS think it's a mouse.

The Interactive Fleshlight registers itself as a USB HID single axis mouse. Any system you hook it to that has an HID manager will believe this (people have done VERY evil things with this fact, too). So, hook up your brand spankin' new computer aided luddite killing fucktube, and your mouse cursor starts moving up and down on the screen. This is a less than stellar situation for multiple reasons.

But, let's play devil's advocate first (in a very literal sense of the term since I'm about to talk about technological onanism, and if you don't screw on the lid tight enough, some is probably gonna fall on the ground). This is a GREAT design for maximum simplicity. Just hook it in and it fucking /works/. Sure, it's hard to mouse around with it (the sensor is incredibly sensitive), but the only programming mechanism you have to provide with any game to support it is "move cursor up and down over the screen". You can't possibly ask for a more open, cross platform interface. The fact that it fulfills so many of the things I bitch about in other toys makes me hurt.

If you're me, though, this fucking SUCKS. Why? 'cause this thing has SO much potential! Hook it to a First Person Shooter and play the "This is my rifle This is my gun" sample from Full Metal Jacket!

Hook it to Max/MSP or PureData and trigger drum samples with it! (Sorry, I don't have a video of me doing that. Yet.)

Make it universal left mouse click, disable your actual left mouse button, and use it as a way to either curtail your computer usage or die happy!

The problem is to do any of these hacks, I'm basically going to have to give the OS a personality disorder to make it think it's not a mouse. This can range from simple (filter drivers on windows) to mildly annoying (System Extension filtering on OS X) to downright painful (VID/PID HID kernel blacklisting on Linux). I had to do something similar for The Journey to Wild Divine Lightstone and its janky ass "let's write a protocol using random raw HID reports!" protocol, but I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now.

Enough bitching, I'm sure you're wondering, how well does it actually work?

The Game

Not very. Well, ok, I'll rephrase. First off, here's what thrusting looks like. The graph is time on x (1px = ~1/60th sec), vertical position on y (1200px). As you can see, we definitely pick up some sort of pattern there, though it's still rough. Nothing a little DSP couldn't smooth out (Ok, I just like saying that 'cause I just finished reading my DSP book and I'm itchin' for somewhere to use it now). Here's a little Max/MSP patch I made to show what thrusting reaction is like... (where's your god now, Cycling '74?).

Just using the mouse movement as an indicator is kind of hard, unless your game takes up the whole screen. The game that they ship with it... Well... Uh...

Yup. Nurse Nicki.

Intro screen circa 1980s... You can almost taste the EGA...

And there's our hot 3D modeling action right th... Ok, no.

Yeah, there's the first gameplay screen, and that's all you're going to get. Why? Because you have to sit there hitting the "hand presents" or "take medicine" button for 10 minutes. Then she takes off her shirt. Then you have to fondle her by clicking for at least 15 minutes. Notice the problems here?

"Hitting". "Clicking".

All you can do with the fleshlight is move the mouse. You can't click shit. So, you've gotta spend ~20 minutes doing things with your regular mouse before you can do anything with the fleshlight. And you sure as shit ain't gonna have both the mouse and the fleshlight going at once, unless you want to know what it's like to have your penis actively fighting your hand.

UPDATE! Ok, due to popular demand, I actually included pictures of the action scenes. And yes, it really took me about 10-15 minutes to get to this point. My hand hurts. And not in the fun way.

And, of course, once you do get the payoff, you find out that the male character (i.e. you) looks like a radiation experiment gone awry.





Bugged out eyes, missing half his chest hair...

The blowjob scene actually has GUT obscuring the view. Maybe I'll put this up in a later post. It's kind of like watching a giant suck a monolith that's situated behind some serene mountains.

Anyways, there you go. That's the interactive fleshlight. Assuming I can figure out a nice, cross platform way to unfuck the HID shit, expect to see libinteractivefl on sourceforge sometime soon, 'cause you know handing out headshots with this thing in an online shooter would be beyond awesome (hell, that was the idea that originally started slashdong. But that's a story for another day...).

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

April 7, 2008

Lots and lots and lots of pictures of the Tenga Fliphole

Tenga Fliphole

Cheetah, the source of many of our best posts here on Slashdong, was kind enough to send me a photo set of the new Tenga Fliphole, the new Japanese fucktube that's been getting a good deal of blogging press. And really, rightfully so, it's a great piece of engineering, put into a product we usually don't see such care with.

Tenga Fliphole

I've uploaded the photos to flickr for anyone that might be interested in getting a good look at it.

And, you can pick up a fliphole for $99 at Kanojo Toys.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 16, 2008

British Engineering Systems' Intelligent Vibrator Project

British Engineering Systems' Intelligent Vibrator Project

Man, BES's website name sounds so much more official than Slashdong. Ah well, we were goin' for comedy in the first place (for those of you who didn't notice the gigantic flying circuit board dildo in the header and all).

Remember the torturedildonics project that I mentioned someone else coming up with and mentioning a few months ago? For those of you that don't like clicking links, the idea is basically to make a random number generator that controls a vibrator, therefore making a very annoying sex toy. Yes, some people want this. No, I don't care if you don't. Maybe some other people reading this page do. Might be nice to think of them every once in a while, eh?

Anyways, the BES blog is all about the journey to discovery and learning that goes along with trying to put this particular project together. Lots of interesting discussion about implementation, ideas for the future, etc... Hasn't been updated in a couple of months, but I'm partially posting this to poke the project's author to start posting about it again. Here, have some hits, random internet guy!

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

December 25, 2007

Arse Elektronika Presentation: One Big Clip, Thanks to Vimeo


Arse Elektronika 2007: Presentation by Kyle Machulis from qDot on Vimeo.

Thank fucking GOD for Vimeo. No more stupid 10 minute clips. Now I've got the whole presentation in one go. 59 minutes.

Of course, it's also up on YouTube, in 8 parts, divided by topic.

Honestly, until editing it, I didn't realize how ridiculously dense this presentation is. I basically manage to braindump almost everything I've done in 2 years into about an hour of nothing but pure factage and a lot of cursing and silly images. Just proves that I should really work on filling out Opendildonics more so the world will still have all of this if I die in a horrible dildo related accident.

Oh yeah. Merry Christmas.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

December 23, 2007

Arse Elektronika Presentation: Part 3 of Many

Part 3: Control Interfaces, from my Arse Elektronika 2007 Presentation. Explanations of how hardware interfaces are controlled.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Arse Elektronika Presentation: Part 2 of Many

Part 2: Physical Interfaces, from my Arse Elektronika 2007 Presentation. Explanations of what the hardware does.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Arse Elektronika Presentation: Part 1 of Many

UPDATE: If you picked this up on your blog and reembedded it within the first few hours I had it posted, it most likely no longer works. I deleted the old copy and uploaded a new one with a title slide and little more clean up. Sorry about that.

Finally got around to adding the slides from my Arse Elektronika 2007 Presentation to the video and getting it on YouTube. It'll probably take me most of the week to finish this, but for the moment, I'll post sections as they're done.

Today: Part 1 - Intro and explanation of design issues with building sex hardware/software. See if you can count how many times I call myself an engineer!

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

December 4, 2007

Rubbot Test Video

Well, I've been busy shuffling Nonpolynomial Labs around (read: Moving my workbench to a different room in the house), so thank god someone else has been keeping up the sex toy research. The Rubbot Guys just pulled a prototype out of their 3D printer (note: If you want to get qDot a christmas present, a 3D printer would be much appreciated), and set it against the all American phallic symbol that is the beer bottle. Add a rather confused puppy, and you've got a video just waiting for CuteOverload.

Good times.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

Lie Back and Think of English Baseball

Lie Back and Think of English Baseball: S.O.C.D Project

Square dildos. Unless you're a shapey, it's probably not the hottest sexual interface out there. Even so, it's your link to a good time through mosaicked jubbies in the S.O.C.D. Project.

Grab onto the square latex extension, and the metal plates on it pick up your "arousal level". The more aroused you become, the more pixelated and noisy the porn playing on the monitor in front of you gets. Therefore, if you want crisp, clear Max Hardcore, you have to do everything you can not to actually get turned on by it, or at least to try and fool the sensors. Think of it like trying to fool a lie detector session where all questions relate to hardons.

A work by Fiona Raby, Anthony Dunne and Michael Anastassiades (Electronics: Erik Kearney, software: David Muth.). Currently part of Wouldn't it be nice, an exhibition, curated by Katya Garcia-Anton and Emily King, which addresses the application of wishful thinking in art and design today. You can visit the show until December 16 at the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva, then at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zürich.

Thanks to We Make Money Not Art and sexblo.gs, both blogs of awesomeness, for pointing this out.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Dildo and Screwdriver Set. Both at the same time.

Dildo and Screwdriver Set. Both at the same time.

Yeah, everything in the above image comes in the same god damn package. I shit you not.

  • Dildo with vibrator and 12v car adapter
  • 2 screwdrivers
  • Tire pressure gauge
  • Mini flashlight

Throw a Leatherman or something similar in with this, and you've got yourself a handy set of tools for on the go. I certainly know I'd buy more tools if they came with... tools.

*rimshot*

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

October 28, 2007

Controlled Sensations Bondage Station

Controlled Sensations Bondage Station

So, what do you get when you take...

Why, the Controlled Sensations Computer Controlled Bondage Station, of course!

This thing is what I'd do if I had money and time and an attention span and then some more money. It's fucking awesome, and it's open source! There's pictures of the setup, and the Python Source Code that runs the setup is available! There's also message boards to talk directly to the creator through.

I want one.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

October 25, 2007

Rubbot: Mmmmm, donuts

Rubbot: Mmmmm, donuts

This is the Rubbot.

It's apparently a new sex toy for men currently in development by Design Collective in San Francisco. I hadn't heard of it before tonight (thank you very much Technorati search on Teledildonics, but it seems to have been in development for a while, and the webpage is great! There's explanations of the basic mechanical ideas behind the toy, as well the the aesthetic design factors. So what's it do?

It uses what they're calling The Inch Worm Concept to roll itself up and down your penis. That's gonna be a very, very interesting mechanism.

Right now, they're looking for all sorts of ideas. Would you use it? What would you have control it? Gather up those ideas and head to their blog! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this and will of course update Slashdong more as I find out.

Permalink | TrackBack (3) | Comments (1)

October 22, 2007

More Arse Elektronika Video

Thanks to Donald Bell and C|Net for making this video. It goes along with the CNet article about the moaning lisa, with Matt Ganucheau explaining the technology behind the installation, and also features a portion with me pimping the iBuzz 'cause it was the only audio toy I had on hand (SoftLabs, where art thou?) and it was for an audio blog. (Dear Lovehoney: Please send the truckloads of cash now.)

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

September 19, 2007

It Vibrates: Episode 1

I tend to gather a lot of links, and keep thinking "Boy, I'll make a post about each and every one of them someday!" Someday has never, and most likely, will never come. So, instead of trying to gather some sort of motivation and do something original, I present you with It Vibrates, my new "Get all these links out of the way and act like it's new content" series. Without further ado...

Wow. I should really clean out my google reader starred items more often....

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (1)

September 3, 2007

The Jigsaw Massager

Up until today, I didn't even know that there was a "Not Liable" category to Instructables. That makes me so happy.

And now you can probably see why it's called that. This is the Jigsaw Massager. Just remove the cutty parts and replace them with thumpy parts, and you now have your very own power tool massager. Now you can have some relaxing foreplay before pulling out your drilldo.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

August 29, 2007

Slashdong Book Club: Blue Root

Slashdong Book Club: Blue Root

There's definitely some perks to having words like "teledildonics" as technorati search feeds. Mainly because I find things like this. Blue Root is a book that was released for free today by its author, Rina Slayter. The reasons she's releasing it, from her blog:

Because writer friends of mine keep asking me what's up with it, where it's being published and are shocked to find out that no, it's not going to be released in paperback or even ebook from a publisher who was willing to take a chance. They enjoyed it so much that they still ask after having read it over a year ago and hadn't forgotten in.

Sure, it's got some first-book-itis, but a lot of the things in it are being tackled today. Teledildonics comes to mind. Bluetooth-enabled portable computer devices. The iPhone.

And suddenly, the reason I'm posting about this becomes evident. Yes, folks, it's a book with teledildonics in it. How can advertising like this not make you want to read the fuck out of this thing?

For some light reading including a networkable, programmable sex toy, a wimpy villain who reeks like garlic, a semi-self-aware A.I., a cat named Trouble, a rekindled romance and a whole lot of sex-crazed, living zombies, read Blue Root.

So, go on, read it. You know you want to. I'll be writing a book report and presenting it to the class when I'm done.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

August 19, 2007

qDot + Falcon = Oh Lord No

Dear friend I borrowed the Falcon from: I swear I'll clean it before I give it back.

===

That's a NovInt Falcon, with a dildo tied to it (using crocodile clips and wire, 'cause this is a workbench, not a bedroom!), being controlled through a python script running the motors to full out, then full back.

This is a fucking SWEET way to burn out the motors, so unless you're making stupid videos with a friend's one that they let you "check out for the weekend", I don't recommend trying this method.

Go implement a nice, romantic PID loop, instead. It's what the kids call "closing the loop". Smooth positional control is better anyways. See if you can be the first to implement "the swirl".

(Note: First person to get Oprah to talk about the crisis of "closing the loop" in high schools gets... something awesome)

Here's the pretty printed HTML version of the code, or the actual python file

Since FTDI has cross-platform drivers, this script should technically work on Windows, Mac, or Linux (Update: So the current python script will actually only run on windows, 'cause PyUSB, the FTDI interface layer, is windows only. However, FTDI makes drivers for all platforms, and you've got the protocol now, so it's just a matter of compiling for whatever you platform may be and using that). 'course, I expect NovInt's upcoming SDK will probably involve a lot more features and making programming MUCH easier (and they're releasing it free to non-commercial developers anyways), but I'm still awful proud of myself for getting this far without documentation. I'll write up the whole story of how I put this all together tomorrow. Right now, pre-brunch sleep awaits.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

August 9, 2007

The Fuckable Falcon

Holy. Fucking. Fuck.

These are the times when I realize I'm not alone in this world. Oh no, there are other pervs out there, with too much hardware and too much time.

The NovInt Falcon. Basic idea: You hold onto the little ball in the front and can move on 3 axes. However, there's force feedback on all of those axes, meaning that it will actually push against you. So, if you shoot a gun, you actually get recoil. If you run into a wall, you will actually feel the force. The motors on all the axes are decently strong, too. Here's an incredibly underinformed video that at least gets the point across:

I've been lusting after this thing for the better part of 2 years, as I think it has real potential as a user interface device. I always thought it'd be cool to hook it to one of the poke-the-doll games like Virtually Jenna and have tactile feedback in... Well, use your imagination. However, I totally didn't think of actually fucking the device itself.

But thank fucking GOD people read this and send me their ideas. What you see there is a falcon attached to a fleshlight. There's no fastening mechanism in the picture, but according to the person who sent this to me, tape can be used as long as there's some sort of level for the fleshlight to rest on. With the right amount of lubrication, the motors will take care of the linear movement and you now have your very own desktop fucking machine, with stylish footprint that you don't have to hide from your parents!

The fleshlight looks like it was almost designed for this use! Though using something lighter, like a Tenga or Nue, might be preferable. For those looking for outies instead of innies, this is a prime candidate for the already popular Vaculock dildo system

The Falcon comes with debugging software that, when used in conjunction with a mouse movement recorder, can play patterns. The movements can be generated, saved, and replayed.

And don't worry about fucking it too hard, 'cause...

"Yes, the Falcon is designed to be durable. Although it is a precision instrument, it is not delicate or something to be babied. So we do not anticipate that mechanical failures are going to be a issue with the Falcon. This is one reason why we extended our warranty to a full year - we are confident in its durability."

Man, posts like this are why I still run this page.

And you can bet I'll be working on this myself.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

July 16, 2007

Phaser v4.0 Software for EStim: The Kitchen Sink (That Shocks You)

Phaser v4.0 Software for EStim: The Kitchen Sink (That Shocks You) - Warning: Tripod Site. Flakey access at best.

So, to try and kick myself out of the rut of being rather bored building sex toys (this happens about once a year, if you want to see what I've been working on otherwise, check out http://www.30helensagree.com/fwiktr), I decided to do my usual ritual of

  • Create Smartstim account
  • Read up on circuits and software
  • Get fired up about building my estim unit
  • Completely lose interest within the next 24 hours
  • Let Smartstim account lapse
  • Quit trying

So, I've got all my circuit articles gathered up again, I've got parts this time, but I also decided to check out software to see what the interface side has been up to.

Surprisingly enough, I find myself almost Je Joue level impressed with Phaser v4.

Phaser is an piece of software in its 8th year of development, made specifically for creating waveforms for electrostim equipment such at the Phaser, Stereostim, and other DIY circuits.

Now, I'm going to ignore the fact that it's pay (I'm not against people making money, nor am I some OMG OPEN SOURCE OR DEATH zealot, it's just how I roll in relation to my own stuff), and that the user interface leaves something to be desired, and focus on this paragraph on the About Phaser page

Phaser 4.0 was a real challenge. We wanted true remote control with signal output on both sides, we wanted secure and encrypted traffic, we wanted an integrated chat, and we didn't want to operate and maintain servers. What we got was a P2P based solution that works without a centralized server, using some IRC functionality to find other users on the net. And we got a server, too. The Phaser software itself can act as a server, so everybody may run his own Phaser Relay Server, allowing other users to login and chat and remote control other Phasers. We really liked that concept of making Phaser users not dependent on servers operated by us, thus rendering the product useless if the server operator decides to shut down his services.

Fuck yes, people. Fuck. Yes.

So, it's a full P2P teledildonics system for e-stim. This is exactly the idea of my whole "Series of Patterns" thing that I'd been ranting about at multiple conferences last spring (and why I kept saying "EStim people have been doing this forever..."). Combined with some of the ideas of Je Joue, and we may have something here. Now all I need to do is wire in the drivers for the USB vibe stuff we've done here and crosspor...

Oh, wait, maybe I will bitch about the non-open-source thing. Here's an interesting interview with the Phaser Engineers, talking about their issues and choices in software registration. On the same site, there's someone reverse engineering the phaser format for their own open source software that also does remote support, minus the encryption.

But, hey, there's a trial version, which I might give a shot, as well as maybe building one of those boxes I keep thinking about and testing some of the open source stuff.

'cause really, not nearly enough pictures of me with burns on this site, and DIY estim makes the doorknob section of Home Depot a little like Disneyland.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

June 12, 2007

Snowball

Yes, it's a vibrator.

I think that's all I have to say.

via this great blog post on weird sex toys

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone

Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone (PDF)

I met Meghan Laslocky at a party at the Game Developers Conference back in March. As always, teledildonics came up, 'cause that's apparently all I talk about these days. She mentioned that she'd done an article on Real Dolls at one point, and emailed me the link.

3 months later, I actually read my email.

So, here you go. 28 pages on the history of the Real Doll, a few user stories, and some theory on why $6,500 worth of silicone and plastic can turn into a relationship, an addiction, and a hobby, all at once.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

May 3, 2007

BodiTalk: Phoning it in

BodiTalk: Phoning it in

Realizing that he hasn't made a new project in 18+ months and yet is still getting interviews and speaking gigs, qDot realizes he doesn't really need to put all the work into getting riled up about new toys and ranting on here...

Where's my latte? Remember, low-fat half-caf no-foam lite-whip. Get it wrong and you can find another industry to work in...

Ok, ready? Ready.

Blah blah blah Boditalk By Suki blah blah blah OhMiBod was a piece of crap blah blah blah Vibraexciter was a piece of crap yadda yadda LoveHoney showed that all products were made in same Chinese factory blah blah blibbity blah therefore most likely vibraexciter = boditalk = crap (So yeah, I don't actually have one, I'm just guessing here, but it's an educated guess. And even so, who the FUCK thinks this is a good interface, huh? HUH? "Your pick up your phone and it buzzes! You can't control it, you just talk! Let's charge $70 for it! BRILLIANT! *clinking of guiness bottles heard*") blah blah QED.

I SAID LITE-WHIP, MOTHERFUCKER. NOT NO WHIP. *sound of blunt trauma to head region*

Christ. Child labor isn't what it used to be.

And I better get paid extra for that parenthetical. That was almost work.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

April 19, 2007

An Odd Day for Sex

Ok, I'm not usually one to do linkposts, but it's just been such an odd day for this stuff...

From robots.net (who I think got it from someone else but it was the first place I saw it and boy was I shocked to see it there...), we have:

In reaction to no longer allowing live people to advertise on the street, the Japanese are now using robots to advertise for sex clubs. So next time you see that old Showbiz Pizza bot in front of a Japanese strip club, you'll know why.

And then, from robots.net AGAIN...

(For those of you not familiar with the picture above, check out this wikipedia article.)

Have a wife? Are a wife? Like robots? Wanna make some cash? Wife Swap wants you! The show that's ruining America is "currently casting for our fourth season and we are looking for families that are ROBOT ENTHUSIASTS". God only knows where this means you'll be sent. I'd say something rude like "Oklahoma", but, well, I lived there, I was a robotics enthusiast (can you still be an enthusiast if you were being paid for the enthusment?), so it does happen.

And finally, thanks to Gizmodo...

Sometimes... You see something, and you're like "Holy shit, that was put on this Earth specifically for me to mod." And so it was...

The Hotdoll, a sex doll for dogs. I mean, I don't even know what I'm going to mod it to do, but who cares. The concept alone is awesome. (Please note: my 'awesome' is most people's 'sick'. But if you haven't figured that out yet... Well, now you know, I suppose.)

But really, doesn't it kinda look like the dog the Cingular Logo would own?

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

April 8, 2007

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Modern Audio Toys

8 months in the making, it's finally here...

Thanks to the Walkman-esque personal audio revival brought on by the release of the iPod, audio vibrators seem to be the toy du jour. Audio triggered vibrators have existed for years, but until recently there'd only been one player in the field. Now there are 3 choices for your bass (or possibly treble) powered thumper, each providing a different experience in terms of both hardware and usability. In this article, we'll take a look at the hardware ideas behind audio vibrators, as well as the pros and cons of each product. We'll also end with a few ideas of what can be done with these vibes that no one seems to have picked up on yet.

The Very, Very Basics of Audio Triggering

(I'm totally glossing here. If you want the straight-forward, more correct version of this, read the wikipedia entries for Band Pass Filters and Low Pass Filters.)

You've probably seen what an audio waveform looks like before, but for those of you that haven't, here's one from a piece of audio I like to use for testing audio vibes, "Akku akku" by Acid Scout.

Clip of Acid Scout - Akku Akku (1:30, MP3)

As you can see, the waveform shows us the patterns in the song. We need to pick up the beat out of that and make our motor go with it. If we were using software and a nice processor, we could look ahead and come up with an accurate version using comb filters (mmm, DSP anyone?). But, since we're playing with toys, manufactured as cheaply as possible, we've gotta do this while the music is playing with no forward knowledge of what's coming up.

The most common way of doing this in hardware is what's known as a band pass filter. These consist of a tuned Resistor-Capacitor (RC) or Resistor-Inductor-Capacitor (RLC) network that only passes frequencies that fall in certain ranges through a circuit. Since most audio toys are interested in picking up the beat, which is a low frequency, we'll be talking about Low Pass Filters in this article.

A low pass filter can be, well, a lot of things. That wall between you and your neighbors blasting some sort of bass heavy music at 3am? That's a low pass filter! Notice that what's keeping you awake and calling the cops is just the low notes! Isn't science annoying?

Low pass filters only transmit a signal for the frequencies under a certain cutoff point. For our needs, we'll call this like, ~180-200hz. We can isolate the values in that range, and use that data (run through an amplifier, then ADC, then rectified and all sorts of other stuff that I'll post about in the "building your own" article) to control other functionality. Other filter setups can be used to pick up mid-high range values and react accordingly.

Clip of Acid Scout with 200hz LowPass - Akku Akku (1:30, MP3)

See/hear the difference? This is the data we want to pass to whatever is supposed to react to the music.

Anyways, this is how an audio vibe does what it does. Most audio vibes (I only own the OhMiBod and iBuzz) run band pass filters to ADC lines on their microcontroller (uC). The uC then samples the ADC lines as fast as possible and uses the delta between samples to scale the motor speed through PWM. If the incoming audio is stereo, the ADC values for both lines may be averaged on the chip to provide proper reaction values if the audio is right/left shifted.

Enough theory, let's talk implementation.

Audi-Oh

The Audi-Oh was the first major market audio trigger vibrator available. The company seems to have existed from the mid-90's up until sometime in 2005, when their website completely disappeared. No more information is known about them, at least, by me. You can still find them in random online sex toy stores, though. (If you happen to have one, please contact me through our tips at slashdong org email address.)

Ghett-Oh


The Ghett-Oh by Afrotech shows how easy it is to make an audio vibe. Of course, Afrotech was established on the idea that you could make a whole bunch of things from salvaged parts for really fuckin' cheap, so it's no surprise that all this involves is a CD-ROM drive and a soldering iron.

Remove the disc spinning motor, attach a weight, yank one of the transistors off the circuit board, solder it all to a battery pack properly, and you're ready to go. It's got that upstate prison flavor that'll keep you ugly all night long.

OhMiBod

(Opendildonics.org article on the OhMiBod, including pictures))

Now to the current commercial toys. First off, the OhMiBod by Suki Interactive. According to the press release, Suki was founded by a New England mother of two who wanted to make sex toys more accessible to the mainstream. Of course, this description has lodged in my mind alongside Suki from the Gilmore Girls, which makes either looking at this thing /or/ watching Gilmore Girls just plain wrong (though the current season of Gilmore Girls now far outweighs the wrongness it used to be up against. DAMN YOU, NEW WRITERS.).

OhMiBod Hardware - Eye on Marketing Version

The OhMiBod is a fairly standard hard plastic white vibe, the kind you'd find in most adult toy stores in even the most conservative parts of the nation that still sell these. Now, Good Vibrations and many other major toy stores have started making a majority of their stock ergonomic toys, however, when aiming for a toy with mainstream viability, you want to give people something they're comfortable with the idea of, even if the physical implementation leaves something to be desired. This is what the OhMiBod offers. The idea of having a toy with enough technology to react to music may cause people to feel uncomfortable, and handing them something with a "normal" footprint is a good way to get them sold in the first place.

No. NO. I am lying. I cannot continue writing this way. Let's try that again.

OhMiBod Hardware - Angry Engineer Version

The vibe itself is nothing special. It's your basic hard plastic, baseball bat pearl white vibe that looks as much like a bludgeoning tool as it does a pokey tool. You'd think with all of the modern amenities afforded to us by years of ergonomics research, you might want to use something with a few more curves to introduce the main stream to the world of the buzz-buzz, but why go out on a limb when you can reduce production costs, eh?

AND ANOTHER THING. While these types of vibes are... "acceptable" for front butt play, they fail miserably in one of my favorite areas of usage: in the butt. Yes, these suck for guys. I know. I'm a guy. As guys, we ain't got shit for toys due to lots of reasons, but there's issues of footprint of thrusting tools and then there's just outright fucking ignoring half the species. Yes, I have a hole, yes, it accommodates the general shape of the OhMiBod, but hell if I'm going to act like that's the only thing on the fucking market and use it.

(Note: So I was going to include some imagery here, but have you ever tried doing a google images search on "rectum" and "colon"? Wow. Damn. googlegoat.se)

Now I'm sure you're saying "qDot, can't you take it apart in that signature way that we know and love and read your ranting posts for?". Yes. Yes I could. But I shouldn't fucking have to. If you're going to specialize you vibrator to have interesting trigger features, with NO ergonomic specializations, then WTF are you thinking? "Let's make it suck for both sexes!"

Mmm. Ok. Much better. I need a cigarette after that.

OhMiBod Functionality

The OhMiBod function mechanism is held in the cap of the vibe. Change caps, and it changes function. The Audio Cap has a circuit board that you plug your audio line into, and the speed cap is a simple potentiometer based control that everyone knows and loves.

To change the intensity of the vibe, you raise or lower the volume of your music, which is in serial with the vibe processing. This, too, is fucking stupid, because it works with no processing to prevent clipping in the amplifier. Let's look at a graph of how the reaction level in a low pass filter works when volume is changed.

First off: Our first filtered waveform, just so you remember:

Think of the range of the y-axis on that being 8 bit, so between 0-255. That means, once you hit the top of the graph, the motor is going as fast as it can.

Now let's crank the volume by some unspecified amount so we can avoid math but still get the point across:

Notice how often we're above that line now. A lot. A whole lot. This is what is called "clipping". Now, this is not representing what is coming out of your headphones or speakers, this is what the chip is seeing. This may be what the perfect volume for listening for you looks like to the chip. It means that we'll have the motor on at full speed, all the time. There's no way for the processor to differentiate between low and high and whatever else because the base signal is overpowering the amplifier and the amplifier is all "OMGWTFBBQ" and the chip is all like "O RLY?" and the PWM is like "SRSLY 255" all the fucking time.

The way to alleviate this without building your own damn circuit is to get a headphone volume patch cable and put it between you and the audio in vibrator. That way you can act as a manual cutoff between the music and the vibe, and have the music at the volume you want while still getting proper reaction from the vibe. The fact that this isn't provided with the toy or just outright fixed is a serious oversight, though.

The OhMiBod Community

Seeing as the lovely people at OhMiBod were the first to send me free hardware for writing about them, I feel like I should leave a least a little positivity in this article, so I'll talk about their community. Building a community around your toy is a fucking fantastic idea, especially when you're aiming for a demographic that might be otherwise uncomfortable. It allows owners of the OhMiBod to recommend music to use with the vibe, as well as featuring mixes that accentuate
a certain mood. They also have DJ mixes available to accommodate play with the vibe.

Honestly, it's a decent idea, especially since it's set up by the distributor themselves. It lets people know that others like them use this type of product, and embarrassment is always one of the tougher parts of buying a toy.

iBuzz

(Opendildonics.org article on the IBuzz, including pictures))

Ah, the iBuzz. The second company to send me hardware for running this site. However, not only did they send me hardware, they sent me TWO iBuzzes: One for personal use, and ONE TO TAKE APART FOR THE SITE (which I did).

iBuzz people, you are my bestest friends evar.

iBuzz Hardware

Man, it's all about the 2.5mm jacks. If you read this site, you know how much I love them. They're like an open API for toy control (Ok, that's a really horrible analogy, but I figure it'll let some of you 2.0 kids out there understand this newfangled "hardware" stuff). I have eggs all over the place, and I have all sorts of toys that will drive them. Modularity kicks ass. Sure, they aren't ergonomic, but there's still a range of them to choose from. Just go check out the Blowfish.com bullet vibrator page to see.

Anyways, the iBuzz delivers on this end, much better than the OhMiBod. The iBuzz itself with a small white box with a switch (to change between modes) and a button (with LEDs! Blinky lights++!). The package size was reduced by 50% in the current version from the v1. Yay small!

In terms of jacks, you've got audio input, /dual/ audio output (No more losing that stupid splitter!), and single motor output. The toy comes with an interesting 2 way egg set, too. 2 eggs, one jack. So, you can share one iBuzz between two people, with two audio outputs and two eggs on the same box. Or you get double the fun yourself. And if you happen to lose the eggs at any point, you can easily replace them. Fucking brilliant.

The audio circuits for the iBuzz and the OhMiBod are exactly the same, and I mean /exactly/ (more on this later). So the kvetching about clipping from the OhMiBod part of this still totally applies. Insert that rant down here again.

iBuzz Functionality

The iBuzz v2 supports 3 modes:

  • Audio activation
  • Pattern mode - 7 different selectable vibration patterns
  • Speed mode - 12 different speed levels

And of course, the LIGHTS! The LEDs flash to pattern or audio activation). My inner raver is totally PLUR puddling over this.

iBuzz and OhMiBod: Separated at Birth, literally

A few months ago, I pointed out that after taking apart the iBuzz and the OhMiBod, I found them to have almost the same exact hardware. The iBuzz people were happy to send me the explanation. Apparently both the iBuzz, OhMiBod, and a fair amount of other toys are all made by the same manufacturer in China. Even the Vibraexciter is made there. So they are, outside of some of the programming for the patterns and speed modes in the iBuzz, the EXACT SAME HARDWARE. However, as I ranted about muchly above, modularity > baseball bats.

Talk2Me

It's always the case that the thing that gets it (somewhat) right also isn't out yet. The Talk2Me Vibrator by SoftLabs uses not one, but TWO Band Filters.

The first toy will be a rather slickly made rabbit vibe, with treble being relayed in the clitoral stimulator and bass in the insertion part of the vibe. Not only that, it's wireless! They've actually built a small RF system that will allow you to stray from your music system and concentrate on the vibe. While it's going to be on the pricey side ($150), I certainly can't wait to get my hands on one of these. Even if it isn't particularly suited to my anatomy.

IGoGo: All in one! Only $500!

Update: The iGoGo is a TENS unit, not a vibrator. This should've been obvious by the pads, but I'm a lazy bastard who didn't read his own linked article.

What if you want to carry your music ON your TENS UNIT, though? Then there's the OSIM iGoGo! 128mb of memory, and only $500!

Now, I mean, there's not a lot to say here, except that it's a violently overpriced MP3 player that costs more than a nice manygig iPod plus 2 of the toys here. But really, with pictures like this:

Wow. Electrostim MP3 player. That's.... I'm not real sure what that is.

DIY

In the time it took me to get around to finishing this article, something popped up that I wasn't aware of, which should make doing DIY audio projects a little easier. There's the LM4970.

This chip is made for LED reaction on cell phones due to audio input. It takes 3 channels, all tuned for whatever band you please, and then translates that to what I believe is logic level PWM signals. So DIY could quickly move ahead of current product and have one MORE level of response. Of course, you could also wire up your own chip to do all sorts of crazy multiline filtering, but, well, whatever. This is easy. Assuming you can solder it.

Audio as Teledildonics Control Mechanism

So we've talked about solo play and distributed DJ lists, but why not create a remote control mechanism for audio toys through networks? All that needs to be done is to isolate the frequency response bands on each toy, document it, then create a program that can quickly make patterns inside those boundaries. Hook your toy into your sound card and you're ready to start playing.

While this sounds perfect up front, there's a few issues. First off, getting the toy connected correctly. You either need a multichannel card or a way to split right/left channels to have one running to the toy and the other to speakers/headphones (unless you don't mind running in silence). However, both of these are pretty common these days. Secondly, this is not the most precise of control mechanisms, even though you can send lossless audio across if you're using the audio channel only for control. However, since most people will want voice or music or something else, you can't get a good guarantee on what kind of control resolution you'll get. But, since we're using cheap, crappy motors most of the time anyways, this might not matter too much.

I plan on writing a quick test program that will work with the iBuzz and OhMiBod in this way, and will have it out sometime between now and forever.

Well, there you have it. An overview of all the audio toys currently available, and some new ideas on controlling them. So get out there and play! 'cause it very well could be 8 months before my next article.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

April 1, 2007

Teddy Babes

Teddy Babes

So you've built that wonderful piece of machinery to do whatever it is that gets you off, and now, for some reason which I won't question 'cause I'm open-minded like that, you need an inanimate female object to mount it to something. Why settle for a simple stand when you can really crank up the creepy factor and use a plush female? Clocking in at a little under ten times less than the cost of a Real Doll, Teddy Babes claim to be "the most sensual, warm, and unique love dolls ever created".

And yeah, it gets worse.

"Remember when you were a kid and used to cuddle up at night with your favorite teddy bear? Well, now you're all grown up, and a beautiful plush girlfriend is waiting to share your bed!"

Remember, just because you own a company doesn't mean you're instantly a good copywriter. And when you creep out someone that hangs out at furry cons anyways, you've done fucked up but good. But they kinda make up for it with this picture.

Aw yeah. Teddy Babes diggin' themselves some Slayer.

Anyway, the dolls come with a hole which can accommodate "many conventional silicone or latex inserts", so your toy of choice might just fit, and cloth is a hell of a lot easier to repair than the stuff real doll uses... But then there's a whole cleaning issue.

*shudder*

via monochrom

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 24, 2007

Twitterdildonics: The Video

Twitterdildonics: The Video

Look ma, I'm on GETV!


Click To Play

While at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, Roving RoboReporter Violet Blue caught up with a unique hacker by the name of Kyle Machulis. Kyle isn't your ordinary teledildonic hardware hacker. No, Kyle created the ultimate real-time sex device mashup by linking public Twitter updates to a Rez Trance Vibrator allowing users to FEEL Twitter messages. Kyle demonstrates and explains how it all works to Violet. You will never regard Twitter the same way again. (This video is safe for work, no matter what your industry).

Episode links: Violet Blue, qDot (slashdong), MMOrgy, IGDA Sex, Twitter, Rez Trance Vibrator

You know, I've heard myself on podcasts multiple times since I started Slashdong, but I'm pretty sure this is the first video I've done. I'm totally having that whole "hear your own voice recorded for the first time" reaction...

So, there it is, the underground hit of SXSW, Twitterdildonics. I still plan on overhauling a few things with it and possibly making some different interfaces (Morse Code and Motor Based Phoneme Projection were both recommended), but even so, nothing beats the original.

Remember, if you're interested in using Twitterdildonics, it hooks up perfectly with the Drmn' Trance Vibe, the open source sex toy!

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Ze Frank meets the Nue Tube

So during my trip to LA (which I still need to write up), the guys from Nue were nice enough to meet up with me, tell me about their product, then give me a 24 pack. These things have been nothing but fun ever since. I took a few to GDC and handed them out at the Sex in Games Roundtable, then took a big ol' batch to SXSW, threw them out during The Sex and Computational Technology panel, and handed some out at the parties I went to. Well, one thing led to another, and sure enough, a grainy, dark video of Ze Frank giving one a quick test poke has hit the internet.

IMG_0106

And here's Philip Torrone with one! All of the Internet Celebs are being seen with Nue!

Thanks again to the people from Nue USA for making this possible. I'll be writing more about their product and others in our upcoming FuckTube Roundup Videocast.

via Second Life Insider

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

The Vibrator Control Protocol

The Vibrator Control Protocol

Over on the opendildonics.org wiki, there's been some talk of nailing down a standardized protocol for open source sex toys so we don't have to support a million different communications ideas in software. However, it looks like this has been going on for longer than we've been talking about it. The Vibrator Control Protocol was written as a April Fool's RFC back in 2003, to do just this sort of thing. Wonder if the creator knew there'd be people seriously looking at it some day.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 13, 2007

Podcast of SXSW Panel on Sex and Technology

The panel is /already/ available (MP3 link). Wow. Damn. Technology works fast these days.

Thanks to everyone that was on the panel, it was a GREAT experience, I learned a LOT and it was really really fun. I really want to work on combining the ideas of patterns plus biometrics (Corey FTW, like, twice) for a synesthetic experience now.

(listening to the stream now... Good lord I talk fast. That was 37 slides in 10 minutes.)

link via Tiny Nibbles

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 4, 2007

The Drmn' Trance Vibe: NOW ON SALE

The Drmn' Trance Vibe: NOW ON SALE

This it the first project I've seen go from instructions to sales since I started this site, and it makes me awesomely happy.

If you've always wanted a Rez Trancevibrator, but didn't want to order one off eBay or get your friend in Asia to hunt one down for you, now you can get one of your very own, for $30. Sure, it's not made to fit in your "shirt pocket", but I'm sure you can find other locations for use.

They're also selling circuit board kits for $15, so you can use them in your own projects and enclosures.

So go! Buy! BUY! BUY DAMNIT!

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 3, 2007

Virtual Hole: Take Zero

So I just got back from my meeting with Segment, makers of the Girls Rainbow.

qDot avec virtual hole

I have a demo unit! I'll be bringing it with me to the panel at SXSW, so if you're there you can check it out.

More info on the toy and the meeting as soon as I have time. And stop playing the sample video over and over and over...

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

March 1, 2007

X Rated Patents

x-ratedpatents.com

Yup, I love me some patents. Just wish I had the wherewithal to stop all this open source shit and actually get me a few, then ride out the rest of my creative years bleeding poor dildo start-ups dry. However, I'm a lazy bastard, so it's just easier to throw it all out there for free and let someone else make the money. I'm fine with fame.

So, to prove those someone elses actually exist, there's x-ratedpatents.com. This site tracks all the newest and latest in hoohahs and weewees and things that will now cost you a licensing fee to do with them. There's some neat, some odd, and some both. Needless to say, it's great for giving me ideas of things to build. Now I just need to execute on some of those... Someday.

Not to mention, this site fulfills my "line/explode diagram with many tiny callouts" fetish.

Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)

February 11, 2007

One of these things is just like the other

Update: I wasn't insane! Wow! Thanks to the iBuzz people for giving me the info.

So I was all ready to go on and on about I personally thought the iBuzz v2 had better beat reaction than the OhMiBod, even though th