
Pornhub now supports interactive toys - ciplis
https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/28/pornhub-now-supports-interactive-toys-proving-porn-paves-the-way
======
qdot76367
For those interested in the open source side of interactive toys, check out:

[http://buttplug.io](http://buttplug.io) (NSFW)

We're working on a fully open source, cross platform, cross hardware system
for supporting things like this. All of our code is up on github
([http://github.com/metafetish](http://github.com/metafetish)), and we have a
server in C# (mainly due to Windows being our best MVP platform,
typescript/javascript on the way soon with WebBluetooth for all platforms
supported by that), with clients in javascript and C#, and Go, Rust, and
Python on the way soon.

Our protocol layout documentation is at:

[https://metafetish.github.io/buttplug/](https://metafetish.github.io/buttplug/)
(SFW outside of wording, just text and some flow charts)

We currently support the Fleshlight Launch, Kiiroo Onyx, the full line of
Lovense toys, and even XInput gamepads. I've already reversed a ton of other
toys (KGoal, Vorze, WeVibe, RealTouch, etc...), so those will be coming in
later versions, we're just trying to reach v1 right now.

We're still a bit out from our first release, but we're always interested in
contributors from all levels and backgrounds, from Bluetooth/USB reverse
engineering up through frontend.

If you're interested in how all of this stuff works, from the hardware all the
way to the web services, I did a full teardown and explanation of the
Fleshlight Launch and Feelme service on my youtube channel:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA7MdO0rEoo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA7MdO0rEoo)

~~~
nojvek
I'm guessing Porhub has more VR videos watched than all other VR videos
combined.

I'm surprised we don't get many machine learning papers coming from PornHub.

~~~
frozenport
Low margin business

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siliconc0w
Can't imagine the operations over at a place like Pornhub - "Hey Bob, our
teledildonic websocket latency keeps spiking, see if you can't lock it down."

~~~
brettz
I have a Kiiroo Onyx on my desk right now and people keep touching the squishy
inside part. (I work at Pornhub)

~~~
ultimoo
It'll be very interesting if you could do a mini-AMA! Not sure whether hn is
right forum for that though.

~~~
brettz
I've done two AMAs on Reddit, there is some interesting stuff after you get
through the top voted jokes.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4dmwry/we_are_the_por...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4dmwry/we_are_the_pornhub_team_ask_us_about_porn_vr_data/)
and
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1un3wn/we_are_the_por...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1un3wn/we_are_the_pornhub_team_ask_us_anything/)

~~~
nickpsecurity
Those were hilarious. Appreciate the links. Most interesting was someone
proposing you add a LinkedIn tag for trolling, finding out it was already
there, and you got 100+ visitors from it. Crazy lol.

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robbyking
When the 90's dotcom boom first started to slow down, a friend of mine joked
that we'd all end up working at porn sites if things didn't turn around. Fast
forward almost a decade later to 2005, and I was working as a .NET engineer at
the company that ran NakedSword.com* (as well as a few dozen other sites).

Now I make a proactive effort to track both my job security and the job market
so I'll know when the optimal time is to go back into working in porn.

*NSFW. Duh.

~~~
ianai
I thought doing anything in the adult industry in IT was a blackhole? i.e.
It's hard to go back to non-porn afterward from social dynamics.

~~~
Roritharr
Why? I recently interviewed a Senior Backend Dev whose last job was at a
Pornsite.

He was easily the most qualified candidate for the position and we failed to
win him over because a bigger company offered some perks we couldn't, he was
fought over by a couple of companies afaik.

~~~
ianai
That's reassuring.

~~~
Roritharr
I'm in Germany though, it might be that US companies are pickier.

If so: we're hiring ;)

~~~
ianai
If you offer relocation I'd totally do it. Part of my family left Germany in
the 1850s (ish)

~~~
Roritharr
Depending on your priorities, a move to Germany/Europe as an US based software
engineer might be something you think about longer. Without going deeper into
that discussion:

The salaries are mostly lower for software engineers than in the US while the
taxes are higher. Counter to that is the stronger social net, universal
healthcare, unemployment benefits. It gets obviously more complex depending on
where you move as the cost of living fluctuates wildly.

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marktangotango
Does anyone have any idea on how these sites make enough money to offset the
enormous bandwidth costs? The scale is phenomenal.

~~~
MrMember
Porn sites are very aggressive with ads. Think of any sort of dark pattern
used in web advertising and odds are porn sites are using it.

~~~
digi_owl
And likely invented more than a fiar share.

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olivermarks
My understanding of the current porn industry is that mindgeek have cornered
the market in video via pornhub and all their other online destinations, and
that all that 'free' content that is a click away is ripped off from
publishing houses.

I have no idea how the porn business still makes money since everything seems
to be free these days, but this interactive aspect seems a good way for some
kind of commercial, fee paying service that interacts with hardware devices?

There are people on this thread who are in the industry, is my perception
accurate or did I misunderstand the market?

~~~
qdot76367
In terms of hosted video, yeah, you're pretty spot on.

The new hotness, as it were, is cam models with some sort of toy control.
There's two common ways this can happen:

\- Model uses interactive toy that is controlled by tip amounts/frequency

\- Model uses interactive toy that can control other interactive toys that
viewers are using

This is not particularly new technology. RealTouch was doing this 6 years ago
until they were shut down by a patent suit, see
[https://www.metafetish.com/2014/04/17/realtouch-the-
shutdown...](https://www.metafetish.com/2014/04/17/realtouch-the-shutdown-and-
the-parts-you-can-still-get/), and there were even cam sync'd toys in the late
90s, as long as you were cool with your 2-3 FPS over a modem. However, with
the availability of streaming services and bandwidth now, it's feasible for
more players to get involved.

~~~
olivermarks
Thanks - I like the idea of the talent getting paid, this seems a good way for
this to happen.. the sensory eye candy person controlling some sort of remote
stimulation. I can see this being huge in the VR industry and a good one to
few model that might supersede the 'all you can consume' ripped off content
sites that currently have massive page views...

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excalibur
Today's secret word is "teledildonics"! :D

~~~
jdc0589
I wish that would fit on a license plate. "sexjar" does though, so there's
that.

~~~
monochromatic
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOKaqBfhcIE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOKaqBfhcIE)

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twic
It seems a bit of a stretch to call these toys 'interactive'. Interactive
means responding to input; in these examples, the punters' sexjars are passive
broadcast receivers, not input devices. They aren't feeding back to the
performer. Or to each other - P2P [1] communication would be an interesting
application here.

[1] perv-to-perv

~~~
qdot76367
Your beef is with the interface and the content, not the toy. The toy is
totally interactive (it's just a BLE device after all), though using it in an
interactive way is wading into a patent minefield (just google "teledildonics
patent" or "268 patent"). However Kiiroo is one of the licensors of the
patent, so we'll probably see more from them.

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rodolphoarruda
3D printers for this industry can turn into a huge thing, right? Being able to
print replicas of somebody else's member can represent a whole new revenue
stream.

~~~
digi_owl
Paging cstross.

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srinathrajaram
All the talk about latency has me wondering if the work here is eventually
going to push telemedicine forward. Maybe a first aid kit that contains a
tele-dressing kit that can be used by a remote worker to perform minor but
intricate procedures?

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zabana
I'd be interesting to know what a typical day looks like for a developer at
PornHub. You must become immune to pornography after a while I imagine

~~~
mabub24
I imagine, if you're implying the "special" perks are anything sexual, you'd
be disappointed. It's a workplace like any other from what I've read. A job is
a job.

A number of Reddit AMA's have supported your idea of immunity to pornography.
It all becomes rather boring while on the job. After hours, though, that's a
good question.

~~~
digi_owl
Heard something similar regarding candy factories allowing employees to eat as
much as they want from the produce. New employees will gourge themselves for
the first few days, and then lose all interest.

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CyberDildonics
My vision is becoming reality.

~~~
qdot76367
... Allen? Is that you?

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tbrock
I'm selling jackulusrift.com if anyone is interested.

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kafkaesq
Paves the way for... what, precisely?

This whole idea of "virtualizing" and "democratizing" (read; corporatizing and
monetizing) what is already probably the most intense physical and
interpersonal experience you can already have; an experience that's not only
freely available, but _literally at your fingertips_ , at any time (or not
even that: you just need to close your eyes, and think of... entertaining
thoughts) -- is profoundly, profoundly depressing.

And besides, with all these must, dead-trees 17th- 20th century smut novels to
read -- who can possibly find the time?

Forget this online stuff. Get out of your apartment, and find a real, actual
person to talk to. I know it can seem hard, sometimes. But really, is isn't.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Plenty of couples enjoy watching porn together.

~~~
monochromatic
I dunno about "plenty." Probably around 0.1% or something.

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ionised
I'd put it WAY higher.

~~~
monochromatic
Maybe I've just been dating the wrong--or right--girls. But none of them have
ever shown the slightest interest in anything like this.

~~~
ionised
Maybe you (subconsciously?) keep going for the same type of girls?

