In Rotation 18 | Art of the State 19 | Foodfinds 20 | Fi¬m 22
VALENTINE’S DAY by
Matthew Craggs
tech support
Just in time for Feb. 14, here’s a roundup of the latest in sex toy technology If you’re still fooling yourself into thinking that the motivations behind technological advances are a desire to improve our quality of life or add convenience to the world, you’re as clueless as a floppy disk manufacturer in 2012. There’s only one desire behind new technology, and that’s the desire to find new and creative ways to satiate our sexual appetites. Our civilization has a long history of mating tech with sex. We’ve come a long way from the hand-crank vibrators of the late 19th- and early 20thcentury. These days we’re flooded with hundreds of models of dozens of different types of sex toys. Navigating an adult book store—or worse, the internet—in search of the perfect gadget to spice up your sex life is like climbing up a hill of avalanching dildos. For this Valentine’s Day, skip the phallic panic attack and sit back. Let us thrill you, chill you and fulfill you with the newest, high-tech sex toys for women, men and couples, which deliver innovative technologies, perfected designs, and the next level in human-machine sexual interaction.
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RN&R
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FEBRUARY 9, 2012
We games
The Swedish company Lelo bills the Tiani ($159, Lelo.com), a wearable couples’ massager, as “Wii for the bedroom.” We imagine this Ushaped vibrator will get more use as the video game system in the corner gathers dust. With a similar design to another vibrator, the WeVibe, the soft silicone curves so that one end sits inside the vagina while the other rests outside atop the clitoris. On the We-Vibe, each end is almost the same size and both tips vibrate, but with Tiani, the insertable section is much smaller and only the external tip vibrates so it’s less noticeable for the guy if worn during sex. However, the biggest factor distinguishing Tiani from the We-Vibe and other vibrators is the SenseMotion wireless remote. SenseMotion lets the users control the vibrations by shaking or tilting the remote, hence the comparison to a Wii. Tiani’s remote actually uses an accelerometer to register movement, so it’s more akin to your smartphone than a Wiimote, which also relies on optical sensors. Tilt the remote and the vibrations increase—the greater the angle, the stronger the vibration. Give the remote a shake and the vibrator will respond with a little buzzing jolt of fun. It’s a fun way to control things, and the remote
vibrates in sync with Tiani, so the remote-owners have a much better understanding of their actions. One problem is the hard plastic strip at the point where it separates to charge. If you don’t line the pieces up just right, it can pinch or scrape—it’s preventable, but annoying. Still, Tiani does a great job of introducing accelerometers to sex toys. If they release a mobile app so we can control the vibe discreetly from our smartphones, we don’t see a reason why the “Wii for the bedroom” can’t thrive on long car rides, date nights or trips to the club.
Go clubbing
Until we see a Tiani mobile app, OhMiBod’s newest vibe covers club-goers looking for a little thrill. Their first vibrator, also called OhMiBod, hooked up to an MP3 player and let the music drive the vibrations, but Club Vibe 2.OH ($79, Ohmibod.com) responds to any external audio source. Like Tiani, Club Vibe is a wearable vibrator with a wireless remote. The remote has an embedded mic that picks up any noise from voices to club music. The vibrator buzzes and hums to the beat the remote picks up and though there is a little time delay, it’s quite effective while dancing to some deep bass. While the Tiani remote stole the show, Club Vibe’s wearable portion is actually more impressive. The gentle curve of the vibrator keeps it thin and sleek, but also allows the toy to cup and hug the
