By Gabe Bergado
Adult entertainment company CamSoda wants to deliver blowjobs over the internet. In its pursuit of this noble aim, the cam site recently launched BlowCast, which it's calling the "iTunes of Blowjobs." Similar to the music downloading program, users of BlowCast can download files containing information collected via model-fellated sensors.
Porn was famously responsible for the marked increase in high-speed internet connections in the late nineties. And, as virtual reality becomes more realistic and haptic feedback more expected, VR porn is angling to become the industry's next big data suck. CamSoda's BlowCast is a teledildonics play designed to be integrated into an immersive experience.
Here's how it works: Those wishing to provide the blowjob do their work on a dildo that records the pressure exerted. That data is compiled into a blowjob file, which is housed on CamSoda servers. Those wishing to receive mechanical head download that information to their computer, which then plays it using a "sleeve" that costs around $250. That device uses its inside rings to deploy the recorded oral.
Clean up is analog.
"We spend a decent amount of time looking at new technology. We were thinking about ways to do things that technology lets you do something now that you'd never do before. This is the perfect example," says CamSoda President Daron Lundeen. "Most people would never use a glory hole, it's scary, it's a lot of different things. Now you have a device that lets you get a little bit of a feel of what that would be like, but in a very safe environment. It's something we felt people would be interested in and it also plays into a long term strategy of getting people to go out and purchase these devices so they can experience the larger virtual reality world that is teledildonics with a VR headset and you're immersed in a sexual experience."
The BlowCast landing site displays all the models that have submitted BJs, along with how many likes they've gotten for their skills.
On each of the models' pages, it lists the blowjobs available to be transmitted to users' sleeves. Each of the sessions are given a different name typically based on the sort of stimulation users are going to get, along with the duration of the session listed. Additionally, there are user ratings and people can rewind or fastforward the fellatio in increments of five seconds.
There are some downsides to the BlowCast. Lundeen thinks that the sleeves are a bit expensive, but his company's at the mercy of a third party that makes them. That's why all the blowjobs available are free for the first 30 days, and upping to $1 after that.
Lundeen admits that "no, it's not going to be the real thing," but insists it's "far better than you would expect." Still, verisimilitude is not the point of BlowCast. If anything, the sleeve is made to get people comfortable with new sex tech. It's a gateway thing.
Lundeen also suggests an alternative use for the technology. Those attempting to perfect their oral skills can submit a blowjob to CamSoda and receive feedback on it. Furthermore, straight men can experiment by recording their attempts. And anyone who gets off on giving head to the internet at large can go ahead and do that. Also, Lundeen points out that this technology lets people who who many not have access to typical sexual scripts have some fun. He has communicated with someone who was mute that used CamSoda as a sexual outlet.
"That's a good example of what this kind of technology could do," Lundeen says. "This is a guy who's really unable to go out and have a traditional relationship with a woman, but on a cam site he can have that. That's how we look at things, can this help people, can it be fun for people."
As of now, there's no video to accompany the blowjobs. But CamSoda's working on a slew of other projects to create more immersive sexual experiences other than just the BlowCast. The cam site already has a CamSoda house where models live in and people can experience being inside the home with full 360 degree VR. Soon they want to take one of the VR rigs and it put it on top of a remote control car so viewers can drive it around.
"We're very open minded. We're not going to sit around," Lundeen says. "We tend to look at every new technology that comes out and look at how people are going to use it and how use it safely. Ultimately we want to enhance people's sexual lives."
Photos via CamSoda, Flickr / Pulseman
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