As a little light relief, following the deluge of tech news coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show, a number of interesting new tech trends also came out of the Adult Entertainment Expo, which also took place in Las Vegas last week.
It is often said that many major new developments in consumer technology are driven by the combined force of sex and play, in the shape of new ways of 'consuming' pornography and new developments in videogaming.
Following the news of new 3D adult entertainment systems from CES last week, Seattle's TechFlash news spoke with a number of porn starts at the Vegas show last week, with none other than Faith Leon (pictured) telling them how she was NOT a fan of high-def porn.
"I'm not a big fan [of HD cameras]," said Ms Leon. "You can be the prettiest thing on earth, but you still have a flaw somewhere. To me, it's enough seeing everything you can see already."
"Coach," a cameraman for "Erotique Entertainment by Eric John" told TechFlash that HD was okay for "feature-style adult films with subdued lighting… but not the right approach for the most-explicit scenes."
"Just because it exists, doesn't mean it has to be used for that application," he added.
The lesson for pornographers? Don't implement new technology purely because you can. The report draws parallels with Nintendo's Wii philosophy noting that the Japanese gaming giant has taken the "lead in the video-game console market by avoiding high-definition graphics and focusing instead on innovative gameplay."
Teledildonic devices, 3D videos
The adult industry isn't proving immune to the problems in the broader economy, although it's still doing relatively well. The total number of exhibitors at the show this year is 267, down modestly from 301 last year, according to conference organisers.
The Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network is releasing a virtual sex device for men called "RealTouch" that it claims matches "frame by frame, what's happening in a video through built-in vibration, motion, lubrication and heat."
"A lot of movies are just getting stolen, and this is an experience that cannot be stolen," said rep Jim McAnally, adding, "it's a better user experience."
This intriguing teledildonic porno toy was apparently designed by a NASA engineer. If you fancy testing this out for yourself then it releases in February for $149.95.
Adult entertainment lawyer AJ Comparetto, discussed the ongoing resistance to the industry embracing 3D adult videos, noting that:
"In the regular tech world, people automatically know it's been done before…In the adult world, though, a lot of people throw a lot of cash at things that they don't know have been done and failed a couple times. No one really shares information."
