Sex gets cyber as porn and Internet mate

Trends at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo that ends Sunday in Las Vegas included Internet video streamed wirelessly to televisions; remote-controlled intimacy, and augmented reality.

Technology themes at the event echoed those at the Consumer Electronics Show gadget extravaganza taking place at the nearby Las Vegas Convention Center.

Porn producers had software applications to deliver pictures and videos to smartphones or tablet computers. Online services touted high-definition movies streamed on-demand using the Internet. Films were going 3D.

"It is absolutely vital that we keep up with the latest technology," said Kim Kysar of adult entertainment studio Pink Visual. "If you don't adapt you get left behind."

Pink treated expo attendees to virtual sex in the form of augmented reality software that put them into an on-screen scene with porn star Lexi Belle.

"I think it's awesome," Belle told AFP. "If I could have my way I would (have sex with) everyone. I can't, so I am doing it virtually."

All that is needed for the virtual encounter was an Internet-linked computer and a Web camera.

Pink also used FaceTime video chat capabilities of Apple iPhones to connect expo goers with models that were at home.

Models from a VSex.com website demonstrated a service that let online viewers remotely control a robotic phallus during an intimate online exchange with a woman. Private VSex sessions cost 7 dollars per minute.

"It is very important to be creative with Internet technologies," said VSex model Dani Jensen. "Everybody is trying to top you, so you have to be one step ahead of the game."

Silicon Valley technology firm Veebeam was at the expo to show off equipment that wirelessly routes video from computers to television sets.

"There is a lot of content, adult as well as traditional, being consumed on personal computers," said Patrick Cosson of Veebeam. "There is a lot of desire to share that experience on TV."

A Veebeam kit for streaming standard video from a computer to a television was priced at 99 dollars while gear for wirelessly routing high-definition movies was priced at 139 dollars.

Veebeam was exploring potential alliances with porn studios looking for ways to get their works into set-top boxes and Internet-ready TVs.

The expo also saw the debut of a 99-dollar kit that lets anyone open an online shop stocked with porn-oriented software for desktop computers, smartphones and Apple's iPod Touch.

"A lot of people would like to be big porn moguls, so we are offering porn app store in a box," said Steve August of Sex App Shop.

"They can dress in fancy suits, let their hair grow and act like they are all that and a bag of chips."

People who open online storefronts are promised more than half the profits, with Sex App Shop managing technical aspects of the operations and getting the rest of the money.

"It is our back end and their front end," August said of the arrangement. "No pun intended."

A "Bonecraft" computer game at the expo was pitched as a spoof on popular videogames "Starcraft" and "World of Warcraft."

The game opens with drunken space soldiers crashing on a planet with troll-like "orcs" and Elvin women.

"The space Marines start fighting the orcs to get with the Elvin women," said a 'Bonecraft' spokeswoman who gave her name only as Sarah. "The goal of the game is to have more sex with Elvin women."

Steven Mulkhan of Reel Interactive film production company was at the expo promoting 3D content as key to the fortunes of the porn industry.

"Any 18-year-old with a high-definition camera can make a sex film," Mulkhan said. "The studios need to provide more interactivity and depth in content."

(c) 2011 AFP