17 ms·

Hacking my Vagina

952 points by kogir 14y ago

askothecoder 14y ago
This is weird. Or not. I have hard time even making a difference between weird and not weird these days. Either way, carry on.
- lalc 14y ago
  This is just neat. Now, "Hacking my Fleshlight" would be weird.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - drivebyacct2 14y ago
    >Now, "Hacking my Fleshlight" would be weird. Why?
    - lalc 14y ago
      Females are generally supply side, males demand side in traditional sex economics. Rejection of same through toys is therefore empowering to women and degrading to men. Thus labelled "weird."
      - drivebyacct2 14y ago
        Not to be too pointed, but that attitude is socialized, largely by people who make statements like "It would be weird if it were for men." Also, I think that there is less of an imbalance than you would believe. As we know, people are quite good at saying one thing in public and doing another in private. Especially when it comes to sex.
        lalc 14y ago
        Oh, I know. But good luck with this particular sea change. And yes, certain demographics turn the equation on its head. As expected of economics.
        orangecat 14y ago
        Not to be too pointed, but that attitude is socialized I would disagree with at least the strong form of that assertion, on the grounds that evolution actually does stuff. Males and females have very different genetic payoffs for having lots of sexual partners versus holding out for a high quality mate.
    - orangecat 14y ago
      http://www.volokh.com/2011/04/21/vibrators/ http://www.volokh.com/2011/04/21/vibrators/
jtchang 14y ago
Really cool! Is reverse engineering the wireless protocol easy? I imagine hacking hardware involves a lot more work than software. I also love how she 3d printed out some plastic cases for her toy. I see cheap 3d printers eventually being so ubiquitous that a quick prototype may be just as easy to hack up as a working software program.
- pjscott 14y ago
  In this case, here are the clues she used to reverse-engineer the wireless protocol: 1. The specs for the radio chip are easily available, so she could identify the actual packets from looking at the voltages on four wires. 2. Each packet had two identical bytes that went up when she turned the remote up, and down when she turned it down. 3. There were some bytes which were always constant, and didn't seem to do anything. From there, the code ended up being fairly simple: https://github.com/scanlime/arduino-lelo-remote/blob/master/LeloRemote/LeloRemote.cpp https://github.com/scanlime/arduino-lelo-remote/blob/master/... On power-up, it sends an initialization sequence, copied from the trace from the original remote. This has a bunch of settings that you can look up in the manual. Then for each packet, it sends a start sequence (essentially, "finish sending anything queued, and stand by"), puts a packet into the transmit queue (packet = 0x0100a5[power][power]00000005, where power is the power level byte), and then tells the radio to transmit. And then of course you can debug this by comparing the traces it generates to the traces from the original remote.
  - benedikt 14y ago
    > 1. The specs for the radio chip are easily available, so she could identify the actual packets from looking at the voltages on four wires. How does one go about doing this? Is this done on hardware or some wireshark-esque software tool?
    - brandon 14y ago
      My favorite tool for this is the Saleae Logic[1], but I've had mixed success with the cheaper Bus Pirate[2] as well. [1] http://www.saleae.com/logic http://www.saleae.com/logic [2] http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate
lobotryas 14y ago
Fun article and an excellent hack! Any takers to found a startup in order to dive in and disrupt the sex toy industry with some cutting edge innovation? Imagine the millions you'd rake in if you re-invent sex. I'm looking forward to at least one ero-toy applicant in the next round of YC apps.
- GuiA 14y ago
  This is actually much less taboo in Asia, where there are many startups in that space.
  - qdot76367 14y ago
    Have the names/urls of any? All I've seen lately is Vibease because they're coming to American competitions. Would love to know of more.
- daeken 14y ago
  > I'm looking forward to at least one ero-toy applicant in the next round of YC apps. I nearly applied with one this year. I came up with a technique to "3d print" custom sex toys a while back and have been iterating on the idea slowly, but it's not far enough along to throw my weight behind it as a real business.
- dematio 14y ago
  Going to top incubators with sex related product is tough. I'm Vibease co-founder. We tried and we keep trying. So far no luck. This is our pitch: Vibease helps couples to stay intimate, even from a distance. It's a mobile app for couples with personal massager integration. Note, we didn't even put the word "vibrator". The rest of the story you can find it from here: http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11 http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11
  - lobotryas 14y ago
    Hey, love your idea! Some unsolicited advice from someone who's just heard about your product for the first time :) * Avoiding the word "vibrator" is a good thought (sadly it has too many negative connotations), but I'd recommend never shying away from discussing the underlying problem you are trying to solve because it's both serious and real. ie: "People are busier than ever and are spending increasing amounts of time apart. We're taking steps forward to helping couples maintain a level of intimacy and connection in our dynamic world." * Alternative language to just talking about "intimacy" can be a focus on the positive side-effects of intimacy, such as: happier lives, higher level of trust, and greater relationship satisfaction. * The settings screen in your screenshot has a lot of sliders. I hope there will be some good presets for those who would otherwise get overwhelmed by the number of choices. * Similarly, fingers crossed for a PC/Mac client (or otherwise the ability to video-chat over Skype) since holding two small devices (a phone and the massager) can get tricky. As for the pitch, maybe a tongue-in-cheek: "Vibease lets you reach out to your partner and maintain intimacy from across the room... or across the world." Sounds like you'll have a ton of (challenging, unique) fun with this product. Good luck!
zeteo 14y ago
I wonder if an article called "Hacking my Penis" would ever last long the HN front page.
- guylhem 14y ago
  This is a sexist remark. It all depend on the content of the article. Did you take time to read the article? It's just great - full of technical details, including the reasoning behind the creation of the hack. Many times I've seen dumb things in the front page - complex pointless hacks (I remember one about locales and printf which advocated a libc recompile while I suggested a perl oneliner). This is a genuinely interesting and creative hack. EDIT: as I mentionned below, "The title is misleading" - it is linkbait. But the content is there.
  - mememememememe 14y ago
    That's not sexist.
  - zizee 14y ago
    Good article, link baity title.
    - djisjke 14y ago
      Sure may be. On that note, have there been any non-linkbaity titles on HN in, well, as long as one may remember?
      - zizee 14y ago
        Sure there is, a quick look shows: Scientists See Promise in Deep-Learning Programs Machine Learning: Neural Network vs Support Vector Machine Suite of 300 icons for web and user interface design But you are right that there is a lot of link-baitiness on HN. Doesn't mean we can't wish for better.
        kolleykibber 14y ago
guylhem 14y ago
The title is misleading. But the idea of haptic sex toys, and the approach of the hack - especially identifying that the remote was the problem- is great. We will see if haptic sex toys become mainstream. I didn't even know they existed in the first place! It seems like a real innovation!
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
swalsh 14y ago
I love the breadth of skill that went into this project. It shows good knowledge of software, hardware, reverse engineering, and its even tied together in a really neat package.
- iamwil 14y ago
  Not to mention 3D modeling. She 3D printed the part with the sonar attached on top of the battery.
- lalc 14y ago
  Seriously. I'm thinking of finally going and getting a 3D printer based on her blog. Lots of cool hacks and prints in there.
  - trhtrsh 14y ago
    You don't need to buy one, there are lots of mail order printing services, and local services in big cities.
lifeisstillgood 14y ago
She is inventing an industry for something every human on the planet does pretty much every day. Big market, disruptive technology. Yet somehow I don't see it on techcrunch. I am reminded of pg's discussion on finding the taboo's in society. We still have plenty.
- mememememememe 14y ago
  "Ingenious remote control vibrator, We-Vibe 3, boosts sexual intimacy and bettersex. Definitely among top couples gifts ideas and romantic gifts." This is what I get when I search remote vibrator. She isn't inventing an industry. She's just bored and wanted to customize the vibrator.
  - trhtrsh 14y ago
    And Larry Page was just bored and wanted to customize search results.
    - lmm 14y ago
      I would call out anyone who claimed Larry Page "invented" the search industry.
- zerostar07 14y ago
  There are plenty of articles about sex toys in techcrunch. Why would you not see this one? http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/27/boink-box/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/27/boink-box/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/29/speaking-of-sex-toys-with-ethan-imboden-from-jimmyjane-tctv/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/29/speaking-of-sex-toys-with-e... http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/long-distance-lovers-rejoice-lovepalz-wifi-sex-toys-let-you-get-nasty-in-real-time/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/long-distance-lovers-rejoic...
- blhack 14y ago
  Inventing an industry? Hardly. There are plenty of hackers who have been working in this space for quite some time. The field is called "teledildonics".
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
personlurking 14y ago
"Power Exchange" section title. Must be a resident of SF.
jiggy2011 14y ago
Anyone want to fund my kickstarter for a vibrating fleshlight that runs nodejs?
- lalc 14y ago
  Pandering a bit too hard to @shit_hn_says ;)
ciriarte 14y ago
I cannot express how much I admire this post. This is how I think women should address gender equality: not by antagonizing men, but through sound and assertive work like this.
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  define: backhanded compliment
  - ciriarte 14y ago
    Not at all. I truly admire it. I recognize I don't even have the technical skills to replicate it (I wish). It was never my intention to belittle her efforts, I'm sorry if my comment came out like that.
- gcheong 14y ago
  Men getting antagonistic when their sexist behavior is called out is not the fault of the women calling that behavior out.
  - derleth 14y ago
    > Men getting antagonistic when their sexist behavior is called out That isn't all that happens, as you can see from the comments like "Oh, yes, men have it so hard" whenever a situation that favors females over males is brought up.
    - drivebyacct2 14y ago
      I was praying that one was sarcasm...
      - derleth 14y ago
        > I was praying that one was sarcasm... It's part of a culture, one men perpetrate just as much as women if not more, that says "women are the only victims of sexism." If that statement doesn't seem immediately idiotic to you, the best I can offer right now is this: http://www.alternet.org/story/156194/what_about_the_men_why_our_gender_system_sucks_for_men%2C_too http://www.alternet.org/story/156194/what_about_the_men_why_...
dmschulman 14y ago
Cool hack! And maybe I don't read enough, but I thought it was especially interesting since it was one of the first builds where I saw someone create a custom circuit AND a custom enclosure using a 3D printer. Though it involves a sex toy, I think the build was straightforward, technical, and decidedly un-sexy. I don't know where the feather ruffling is coming from besides the discussion of the link's title.
Empro 14y ago
I'm amused this is the top story.
- lucb1e 14y ago
  And, being one hour old, having a much higher score as the second highest which is five hours old. And having the highest score of the entire front page by quite a wide margin.
hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
Sex in the future. It's going to be weird.
ghjm 14y ago
This is a really cool hack, but my problem is that I don't understand the sex part. What's better about waving your hands around to control the motor speed, vs. using a dial? This is not out of prurient interest. I just can't understand the engineering without understanding the use case. Maybe you have to be female to get this?
- larrys 14y ago
  I would almost say that it would make more sense to have something you touch to create the changes in speed or intensity or whatever vs. air waving? And I would think it would be possible to actually use a smartphone (with vibration feedback) that you rub,touch whatever which would be better than air. The feedback is important also. I fly rc helis and once you get used to using the sticks and the channels on a traditional radio using the iphone (say on an ardrone) and tilting to do the same (for me at least) is not as satisfying. It doesn't feel real or challenging.
  - waterlesscloud 14y ago
    I would think some sort of hand-squeeze-o-meter would be ideal.
  - dkersten 14y ago
    I would think it would be possible to actually use a smartphone One vibrator that uses a smartphone: http://www.vibease.com http://www.vibease.com
  - dematio 14y ago
    Yups, there is one. www.vibease.com I'm the founder btw. We help couples to stay intimate, even from a distance, by using mobile app and long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth and internet. http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/ http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/
  - qdot76367 14y ago
    Well, vibease is now alive and kickin' here, so there's a couple of other apps I'll mention: - BodyHeat, by OhMiBod/PerfectPlum: http://www.ohmibod.com/app/ http://www.ohmibod.com/app/ - Closer ToGetHer - http://www.getclosertogether.com/ http://www.getclosertogether.com/
DanBC 14y ago
I'm so pleased there's no use of the word "dildonics" on that article. And I'm sad there's no awesome open source version of Rez to go with her device. Probably NSFW for language and underwear photo (http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibrator.html http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibra...)
- qdot76367 14y ago
  cough http://www.github.com/qdot/libtrancevibe http://www.github.com/qdot/libtrancevibe There's been open source trancevibe drivers since 2003. :) There's 3 toys based on the protocol. - The original Trancevibe (ebayable, surprisingly powerful) - the Drmn trancevibe (http://tim.cexx.org/projects/vibe/ http://tim.cexx.org/projects/vibe/), no longer sold - This weird one: http://www.harnett-tech.com/search.php?act=search&SKU=USBMC-01 http://www.harnett-tech.com/search.php?act=search&SKU=US... I wrote the original Second Life trancevibe control layer in 2005 (i.e. click on virtual genetalia, real vibrator vibrates), which was later integrated into in-world genetalia by one of the larger virtual sex object manufacturers. After the Drmn trancevibe went off sale, they created that last one to sell to customers.
qdot76367 14y ago
For anyone interested in more stuff like this, I run a site about sex and technology and track open source sex projects: http://www.slashdong.org http://www.slashdong.org
- qdot76367 14y ago
  And while we're at it, fun fact: There's a toy called the vstroker, that's basically an endcap to the fleshlight for doing accelerometer readings. (http://www.vstroker.com http://www.vstroker.com, NSFW). It also uses a CC25XX radio chip, and comes with a USB dongle that's basically the reference implementation. So, since these two talk on the same controls, you should be able to take the dongle from the vstroker and the lelo toy, and have full USB computer control. Boom. Teledildonics capabilities, using a combination of toys that are (vaguely) gender incompatible.
  - pizza 14y ago
    Submit the idea! http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Computer_3a_20Teledildonics http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Computer_3a_20Teledildoni...
    - qdot76367 14y ago
      I've got a vibe on order now, so I should have results tuesday. :)
  - fzzzy 14y ago
    qdot, you should write a script that automatically inserts (nsfw) after every link you paste.
    - qdot76367 14y ago
      Dude, you should see what I'm doing with eventlet at the moment. :)
      - 14y ago
agumonkey 14y ago
Wonderful website full of gem.
jiggy2011 14y ago
In all seriousness, somebody needs to disrupt internet porn again. If you trying and look for it on google all you get is shitty "tube" websites full of autoplaying livejasmin ads and links that go round in circles. The content is terrible too, either staged "reality" BS , stuff designed to shock more than titilate, unwatchable crap made with a smartphone or weird softcore stuff that tries to be "arty" or "feminist".
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  What exactly have you not ruled out?
- dematio 14y ago
  Vibease is trying to disrupt the sex toys industry and bring it to mainstream market. I'm the founder btw. We help couples to stay intimate, even from a distance, by using mobile app and long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth and internet. http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/ http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/
- viraptor 14y ago
  I believe https://makelovenotporn.tv/ https://makelovenotporn.tv/ tries to fill that space a bit. It's definitely good quality and isn't limited to the very softcore movies even if the name suggests otherwise.
  - cindygallop 14y ago
    Thanks for that testimonial - much appreciated :) Anyone interested can read more about what we're building on our blog: http://talkabout.makelovenotporn.tv/ http://talkabout.makelovenotporn.tv/ + email cindy@makelovenotporn.tv and I'll fast-track you into beta (we hope to be able to take the site out of beta next month).
    - dematio 14y ago
      https://makelovenotporn.tv/ https://makelovenotporn.tv/ is disrupting the sex industry industry! #realworldsex Techno-porn: how the sex industry drives mainstream technology Star: "I don’t think most people have a clue how much life today is in debt to the porn industry. Online banking and shopping are secure because porn distributors needed to make their transactions with consumers secure." http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/859762--techno-porn-how-the-sex-industry-drives-mainstream-technology http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/859762--techno-p...
polarcuke 14y ago
Wow, this is easily the strangest top post I have ever seen on hacker news. I actually can't stop laughing. I guess it's because most people just don't think about technology and sex in the same thought unless you are thinking about internet porn. An interesting read no less.
stcredzero 14y ago
After everyone was feeling stuffed and mellow in the house, I brought out the old PS2 and hooked it up to the projector and the stereo, then put in Rez. (Has been called "Tron on Ecstasy.") http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibrator.html http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibra... I think there's a lot of hacking potential. I think it would be cool to have a back room in a club where you have Rez on a game console on a big HD screen with a nice sound system. One could also implement a wireless protocol for the trance vibe info and publish the protocol, so spectators would casually walk in and wirelessly experience the "synaesthesia."
the1 14y ago
If you have smart enough AI, do you get pregnant by it? That's how babes born, right?
iframe 14y ago
Why this? aren't there thousands of virgin nerds ... ?
marktronic 14y ago
What's a vagina? Sincerely, Never Touched A Boob
victorhn 14y ago
This is not meant to be a troll post, but just sincere curiosity. From the site "My full name is Micah Elizabeth Scott, but I used to be Micah Dowty prior to Fall 2010. My friends call me Beth." How can a woman who used to be a man can have a vagina? is there some kind of surgery? do you keep your sensitivity to be able to use vibrators?
- tankbot 14y ago
  Micah, though traditionally a male name, is sometimes given to females. There is no reason to assume there was a sex change, maybe she got married or just changed her name.
  - cynwoody 14y ago
    Neither is Stanley. We have the example of Stanley Ann Dunham, do we not?
  - ZoFreX 14y ago
    Frankly I find it rude to speculate. It's none of my business what someone has in their pants, or what they used to have in their pants.
    - lmm 14y ago
      When the article's all about a device that goes into their pants? If we were talking about someone with a surgically reconstructed vagina I think that would be relevant in this particular story, just because physically it won't be identical and the effect of the vibrator could be different.
- NegativeK 14y ago
  Yes; sexual reassignment surgery for male-to-female transsexuals exists (as does the other direction.) The short version: They form a vagina in the pelvis and reuse the head of the penis to form a clitoris. The urethra is also rerouted. Caveat: I am nothing more than a layperson on the subject. My short version may be wrong, and there may be other surgeries available. The longer version: Wikipedia [1] has quite a bit of information on the subject. Use incognito mode if you must; I've always found it to be a fascinating subject. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_reassignment_surgery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_reassignment_surgery (No images if you're worried about that.)
felipelalli 14y ago
epic!
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
brennenHN 14y ago
Super clever title and article for getting HN attention, but also pretty interesting.
georgeorwell 14y ago
Warning: this is not a politically correct viewpoint, but nevertheless it's my perspective. The actual best thing about this post being in first place on Hacker News is not that it's a woman posting but that she has a Y chromosome and most people don't realize it. It's like her recently-acquired vagina is a new laptop to be hacked. It's still objectification of women if you try to turn into one and then objectify yourself. The real goal of this post is to get a bunch of men to fantasize about "her" and glorify how cool "she" is for being a geeky hacker. Not all trans(vestite|gender|sexual) people are like this.
- djcapelis 14y ago
  My girlfriend wrote this post for the same reason she wrote the the other posts on her blog: to share her work and talk about neat hacks. Your statement that she's doing it for attention is incredibly sexist. Also she's queer, so the idea that she's doing it for male attention is pretty funny really.
  - Matt_Cutts 14y ago
    I loved the stuff about reverse engineering the protocol. Very neat stuff. This is a great post with so many neat hacks along the way--when she started talking about modeling and 3D printing the enclosure I was thinking "Wow, this is a true renaissance hacker." The world needs more blog posts like this.
    - djcapelis 14y ago
      Yeah, she's impressive. You might enjoy some of the other posts on her blog too, my favorite is the duct tape RFID post, but mostly because she made that one for me. (But also it's a neat hack, she powers the microcontroller via the I/O pins and just attaches the vcc and ground pins to a capacitor.)
  - cynwoody 14y ago
    >Also she's queer Your good fortune, mankind's loss: https://plus.google.com/photos/107665675896730237663/albums/profile/5665607955956956562 https://plus.google.com/photos/107665675896730237663/albums/...
robbles 14y ago
Really cool project, and looks like it was executed really well in many ways. However, I couldn't help being reminded of this comic: http://xkcd.com/196/ http://xkcd.com/196/ I feel like there's a lot of social factors that would make using an invention like this a little awkward. Maybe that's just me?
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  Why, did you read the entire post? It doesn't require any tinkering to work, and the interface is totally natural.
Bullshituserid 14y ago
Yeah, that link doesn't work.
cwb71 14y ago
500 Internal Server Error Best linkbait title ever?
brini 14y ago
Text only cached version: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://scanlime.org/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/&hl=en&tbo=d&strip=1 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...
khmel 14y ago
Vagina rocks! This topic would never get so much attention if this would be 'Hacking my ... nose, knee, hand etc..'. Some star topics are easy to predict. Nerds have their own weaknesses
scanlime 14y ago
Hey, this is beth from scanlime.org. I was doing my best to keep the site up, but it looks like Dreamhost just pulled the plug. I'm pretty annoyed with this.
- kephra 14y ago
  oh HN managed a DDoS again 608 points should be around 60.000 visitors. Thats something any site should be able to handle, but ... http://dreamhost.com/servers/vps/ http://dreamhost.com/servers/vps/ <- All VPS plans come with UNLIMITED Bandwidth and Storage. UNLIMITED ... till they pull the plug lol But it might also just be that the site is overloaded. I sometimes get an "Error establishing a database connection" and sometimes "Problem loading page". So there is still a server who desperately tries to answer requests. What kind of server do you have at dreamhost? A VPS? Is that VPS some Viruozzo/OpenVZ crap, or a Xen instance?
  - cup 14y ago
    The post is also on the front page of the technology subreddit so that is probably pulling in a few thousand more people too.
- robertskmiles 14y ago
  I saw the headline and immediately said to myself "I bet that server's already dead."
allaun1 14y ago
I'd be interested in seeing this device have it's data outputted to a graph to see what kind of pressures someone finds most agreeable. That way you don't have to fiddle with every device after that. Also, as someone mentioned, it would be a great way to create a preset based on your mood. The data could be correlated on your emotional state, by entering a standard 0 unhappy 10 extremely happy. And then monitoring though a period of maybe six months so you know when your libido is the highest. As a male, I'd love to have my biorhythms matched to a device that would basically "know" my preference based on the time of day / year. I suffer from SAD and masturbation tends to help. Not to mention it would be a kewl hack to have a chart showing you the times your most likely to be sexually aroused so you can plan around it with your significant other.
dematio 14y ago
This is awesome. It's cool to see more people are hacking sex toys. Hopefully with all these cool hacks, it will remove the stigma. People have a stigma against vibrator is because they always imagine vibrator as a huge penis vibrator that they seen in porn movies. The fact is many studies shown that size doesn't matter. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200903/the-most-important-sexual-statistic http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200903/the... The first electrical vibrator was invented as a medical device and to stimulate the clitoris, not the inside. I believe the world will be a better place when women can have orgasm as much as men do. My startup, www.vibease.com, is helping couples to stay intimate even from a distance. We have a mobile App with long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth and internet connection. Currenlty we are taking pre-order. We try to bring it to mainstream market and it's not easy: http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11 http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11
nickik 14y ago
Intressting. Going a step further would be to give the vibrator some AI. There is of course some need to monitor pleasure, I dont know if that is easily possible but one could implment some kind of AI that would to that. The next step would be to sell it to millions of woman and analysie all the data. Would be intressting what could be figured out that way.
tathagatadg 14y ago
secure communication of Vstorker(see qdot76367 comments) + this hack with video == Sex over IP. Target customers: long distance couples, virtual sex business. Taking it further: build a Airtime like social network around it. Revenue stream: from selling the hardware, membership.
JeremyMorgan 14y ago
I clicked on this only because of the extreme curiosity the headline generated. The article did not disappoint. Easily one of the smartest things I've read in quite a while, and much of the hardware stuff is over my head but wow, color me extremely impressed.
jzurawell 14y ago
Your vagina has a 500 error.
rhplus 14y ago
Link is down. Here's a Coral Cache version: http://scanlime.org.NYUD.NET/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/ http://scanlime.org.NYUD.NET/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/
egypturnash 14y ago
Here's a functioning cache link, since the site is hammered for rather obvious reasons. http://scanlime.org.nyud.net/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/ http://scanlime.org.nyud.net/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/
- tubbo 14y ago
  hammerin' hacked vaginas
tzury 14y ago
This hacker-girl has an amazing portfolio (note she's 26 years old). See her resume at http://scanlime.org/resume/ http://scanlime.org/resume/
- skarmklart 14y ago
  Pretty cool that she's the author of CIA.vc
dillon 14y ago
Science that gives me an erection. Very very good read.
_W_o_W_ 14y ago
...and how does it feel to your soul to be slave of your body? (instead of master...)
- JabavuAdams 14y ago
  Congratulations! That's the dumbest thing I've read all day.
cindygallop 14y ago
cough Have already urged @scanlime to do this, but anyone else, as and when you hack your vagina - or penis, we're totally equal-opportunity :) - please do submit your (or your friends') #realworldsex video demo to https://makelovenotporn.tv/ https://makelovenotporn.tv/ (with our revenue-sharing business model, you could make a nice chunk of change :))
- finnw 14y ago
  ...but only you live in the USA
  - cindygallop 14y ago
    No, we're global, and welcome #realworldsex video submissions from anywhere in the world :)
    - finnw 14y ago
      Quote from your site: > If you're outside the US, we're sorting out a system for international payouts, and have to ask you to be patient while we get that put in place.
tomnardone206 14y ago
There is a project out there to share 3D printer files for sex toys. MakerLove.com provides files you can download and print for free.
smagch 14y ago
The product seems really innovative sex toy for female. I've seen a interview of tenga's founder before. He thought there were much room for innovation of sex toy industry. I was quite impressed that he spent a year to build his first product. I've been impressed again. http://www.tenga-global.com/ http://www.tenga-global.com/

952 points by kogir 14y ago

This is weird. Or not. I have hard time even making a difference between weird and not weird these days. Either way, carry on.

lalc 14y ago
This is just neat. Now, "Hacking my Fleshlight" would be weird.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  >Now, "Hacking my Fleshlight" would be weird. Why?
  - lalc 14y ago
    Females are generally supply side, males demand side in traditional sex economics. Rejection of same through toys is therefore empowering to women and degrading to men. Thus labelled "weird."
    - drivebyacct2 14y ago
      Not to be too pointed, but that attitude is socialized, largely by people who make statements like "It would be weird if it were for men." Also, I think that there is less of an imbalance than you would believe. As we know, people are quite good at saying one thing in public and doing another in private. Especially when it comes to sex.
      - lalc 14y ago
        Oh, I know. But good luck with this particular sea change. And yes, certain demographics turn the equation on its head. As expected of economics.
      - orangecat 14y ago
        Not to be too pointed, but that attitude is socialized I would disagree with at least the strong form of that assertion, on the grounds that evolution actually does stuff. Males and females have very different genetic payoffs for having lots of sexual partners versus holding out for a high quality mate.
  - orangecat 14y ago
    http://www.volokh.com/2011/04/21/vibrators/ http://www.volokh.com/2011/04/21/vibrators/

jtchang 14y ago

Really cool! Is reverse engineering the wireless protocol easy? I imagine hacking hardware involves a lot more work than software. I also love how she 3d printed out some plastic cases for her toy. I see cheap 3d printers eventually being so ubiquitous that a quick prototype may be just as easy to hack up as a working software program.

pjscott 14y ago
In this case, here are the clues she used to reverse-engineer the wireless protocol: 1. The specs for the radio chip are easily available, so she could identify the actual packets from looking at the voltages on four wires. 2. Each packet had two identical bytes that went up when she turned the remote up, and down when she turned it down. 3. There were some bytes which were always constant, and didn't seem to do anything. From there, the code ended up being fairly simple: https://github.com/scanlime/arduino-lelo-remote/blob/master/LeloRemote/LeloRemote.cpp https://github.com/scanlime/arduino-lelo-remote/blob/master/... On power-up, it sends an initialization sequence, copied from the trace from the original remote. This has a bunch of settings that you can look up in the manual. Then for each packet, it sends a start sequence (essentially, "finish sending anything queued, and stand by"), puts a packet into the transmit queue (packet = 0x0100a5[power][power]00000005, where power is the power level byte), and then tells the radio to transmit. And then of course you can debug this by comparing the traces it generates to the traces from the original remote.
- benedikt 14y ago
  > 1. The specs for the radio chip are easily available, so she could identify the actual packets from looking at the voltages on four wires. How does one go about doing this? Is this done on hardware or some wireshark-esque software tool?
  - brandon 14y ago
    My favorite tool for this is the Saleae Logic[1], but I've had mixed success with the cheaper Bus Pirate[2] as well. [1] http://www.saleae.com/logic http://www.saleae.com/logic [2] http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate

lobotryas 14y ago

Fun article and an excellent hack! Any takers to found a startup in order to dive in and disrupt the sex toy industry with some cutting edge innovation? Imagine the millions you'd rake in if you re-invent sex. I'm looking forward to at least one ero-toy applicant in the next round of YC apps.

GuiA 14y ago
This is actually much less taboo in Asia, where there are many startups in that space.
- qdot76367 14y ago
  Have the names/urls of any? All I've seen lately is Vibease because they're coming to American competitions. Would love to know of more.
daeken 14y ago
> I'm looking forward to at least one ero-toy applicant in the next round of YC apps. I nearly applied with one this year. I came up with a technique to "3d print" custom sex toys a while back and have been iterating on the idea slowly, but it's not far enough along to throw my weight behind it as a real business.
dematio 14y ago
Going to top incubators with sex related product is tough. I'm Vibease co-founder. We tried and we keep trying. So far no luck. This is our pitch: Vibease helps couples to stay intimate, even from a distance. It's a mobile app for couples with personal massager integration. Note, we didn't even put the word "vibrator". The rest of the story you can find it from here: http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11 http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11
- lobotryas 14y ago
  Hey, love your idea! Some unsolicited advice from someone who's just heard about your product for the first time :) * Avoiding the word "vibrator" is a good thought (sadly it has too many negative connotations), but I'd recommend never shying away from discussing the underlying problem you are trying to solve because it's both serious and real. ie: "People are busier than ever and are spending increasing amounts of time apart. We're taking steps forward to helping couples maintain a level of intimacy and connection in our dynamic world." * Alternative language to just talking about "intimacy" can be a focus on the positive side-effects of intimacy, such as: happier lives, higher level of trust, and greater relationship satisfaction. * The settings screen in your screenshot has a lot of sliders. I hope there will be some good presets for those who would otherwise get overwhelmed by the number of choices. * Similarly, fingers crossed for a PC/Mac client (or otherwise the ability to video-chat over Skype) since holding two small devices (a phone and the massager) can get tricky. As for the pitch, maybe a tongue-in-cheek: "Vibease lets you reach out to your partner and maintain intimacy from across the room... or across the world." Sounds like you'll have a ton of (challenging, unique) fun with this product. Good luck!

zeteo 14y ago

I wonder if an article called "Hacking my Penis" would ever last long the HN front page.

guylhem 14y ago
This is a sexist remark. It all depend on the content of the article. Did you take time to read the article? It's just great - full of technical details, including the reasoning behind the creation of the hack. Many times I've seen dumb things in the front page - complex pointless hacks (I remember one about locales and printf which advocated a libc recompile while I suggested a perl oneliner). This is a genuinely interesting and creative hack. EDIT: as I mentionned below, "The title is misleading" - it is linkbait. But the content is there.
- mememememememe 14y ago
  That's not sexist.
- zizee 14y ago
  Good article, link baity title.
  - djisjke 14y ago
    Sure may be. On that note, have there been any non-linkbaity titles on HN in, well, as long as one may remember?
    - zizee 14y ago
      Sure there is, a quick look shows: Scientists See Promise in Deep-Learning Programs Machine Learning: Neural Network vs Support Vector Machine Suite of 300 icons for web and user interface design But you are right that there is a lot of link-baitiness on HN. Doesn't mean we can't wish for better.
      - kolleykibber 14y ago

guylhem 14y ago

The title is misleading. But the idea of haptic sex toys, and the approach of the hack - especially identifying that the remote was the problem- is great. We will see if haptic sex toys become mainstream. I didn't even know they existed in the first place! It seems like a real innovation!

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

swalsh 14y ago

I love the breadth of skill that went into this project. It shows good knowledge of software, hardware, reverse engineering, and its even tied together in a really neat package.

iamwil 14y ago
Not to mention 3D modeling. She 3D printed the part with the sonar attached on top of the battery.
lalc 14y ago
Seriously. I'm thinking of finally going and getting a 3D printer based on her blog. Lots of cool hacks and prints in there.
- trhtrsh 14y ago
  You don't need to buy one, there are lots of mail order printing services, and local services in big cities.

lifeisstillgood 14y ago

She is inventing an industry for something every human on the planet does pretty much every day. Big market, disruptive technology. Yet somehow I don't see it on techcrunch. I am reminded of pg's discussion on finding the taboo's in society. We still have plenty.

mememememememe 14y ago
"Ingenious remote control vibrator, We-Vibe 3, boosts sexual intimacy and bettersex. Definitely among top couples gifts ideas and romantic gifts." This is what I get when I search remote vibrator. She isn't inventing an industry. She's just bored and wanted to customize the vibrator.
- trhtrsh 14y ago
  And Larry Page was just bored and wanted to customize search results.
  - lmm 14y ago
    I would call out anyone who claimed Larry Page "invented" the search industry.
zerostar07 14y ago
There are plenty of articles about sex toys in techcrunch. Why would you not see this one? http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/27/boink-box/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/27/boink-box/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/29/speaking-of-sex-toys-with-ethan-imboden-from-jimmyjane-tctv/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/29/speaking-of-sex-toys-with-e... http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/long-distance-lovers-rejoice-lovepalz-wifi-sex-toys-let-you-get-nasty-in-real-time/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/24/long-distance-lovers-rejoic...
blhack 14y ago
Inventing an industry? Hardly. There are plenty of hackers who have been working in this space for quite some time. The field is called "teledildonics".

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

personlurking 14y ago

"Power Exchange" section title. Must be a resident of SF.

jiggy2011 14y ago

Anyone want to fund my kickstarter for a vibrating fleshlight that runs nodejs?

lalc 14y ago
Pandering a bit too hard to @shit_hn_says ;)

ciriarte 14y ago

I cannot express how much I admire this post. This is how I think women should address gender equality: not by antagonizing men, but through sound and assertive work like this.

drivebyacct2 14y ago
define: backhanded compliment
- ciriarte 14y ago
  Not at all. I truly admire it. I recognize I don't even have the technical skills to replicate it (I wish). It was never my intention to belittle her efforts, I'm sorry if my comment came out like that.
gcheong 14y ago
Men getting antagonistic when their sexist behavior is called out is not the fault of the women calling that behavior out.
- derleth 14y ago
  > Men getting antagonistic when their sexist behavior is called out That isn't all that happens, as you can see from the comments like "Oh, yes, men have it so hard" whenever a situation that favors females over males is brought up.
  - drivebyacct2 14y ago
    I was praying that one was sarcasm...
    - derleth 14y ago
      > I was praying that one was sarcasm... It's part of a culture, one men perpetrate just as much as women if not more, that says "women are the only victims of sexism." If that statement doesn't seem immediately idiotic to you, the best I can offer right now is this: http://www.alternet.org/story/156194/what_about_the_men_why_our_gender_system_sucks_for_men%2C_too http://www.alternet.org/story/156194/what_about_the_men_why_...

dmschulman 14y ago

Cool hack! And maybe I don't read enough, but I thought it was especially interesting since it was one of the first builds where I saw someone create a custom circuit AND a custom enclosure using a 3D printer. Though it involves a sex toy, I think the build was straightforward, technical, and decidedly un-sexy. I don't know where the feather ruffling is coming from besides the discussion of the link's title.

Empro 14y ago

I'm amused this is the top story.

lucb1e 14y ago
And, being one hour old, having a much higher score as the second highest which is five hours old. And having the highest score of the entire front page by quite a wide margin.

hcarvalhoalves 14y ago

Sex in the future. It's going to be weird.

ghjm 14y ago

This is a really cool hack, but my problem is that I don't understand the sex part. What's better about waving your hands around to control the motor speed, vs. using a dial? This is not out of prurient interest. I just can't understand the engineering without understanding the use case. Maybe you have to be female to get this?

larrys 14y ago
I would almost say that it would make more sense to have something you touch to create the changes in speed or intensity or whatever vs. air waving? And I would think it would be possible to actually use a smartphone (with vibration feedback) that you rub,touch whatever which would be better than air. The feedback is important also. I fly rc helis and once you get used to using the sticks and the channels on a traditional radio using the iphone (say on an ardrone) and tilting to do the same (for me at least) is not as satisfying. It doesn't feel real or challenging.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  I would think some sort of hand-squeeze-o-meter would be ideal.
- dkersten 14y ago
  I would think it would be possible to actually use a smartphone One vibrator that uses a smartphone: http://www.vibease.com http://www.vibease.com
- dematio 14y ago
  Yups, there is one. www.vibease.com I'm the founder btw. We help couples to stay intimate, even from a distance, by using mobile app and long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth and internet. http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/ http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/
- qdot76367 14y ago
  Well, vibease is now alive and kickin' here, so there's a couple of other apps I'll mention: - BodyHeat, by OhMiBod/PerfectPlum: http://www.ohmibod.com/app/ http://www.ohmibod.com/app/ - Closer ToGetHer - http://www.getclosertogether.com/ http://www.getclosertogether.com/

DanBC 14y ago

I'm so pleased there's no use of the word "dildonics" on that article. And I'm sad there's no awesome open source version of Rez to go with her device. Probably NSFW for language and underwear photo (http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibrator.html http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibra...)

qdot76367 14y ago
cough http://www.github.com/qdot/libtrancevibe http://www.github.com/qdot/libtrancevibe There's been open source trancevibe drivers since 2003. :) There's 3 toys based on the protocol. - The original Trancevibe (ebayable, surprisingly powerful) - the Drmn trancevibe (http://tim.cexx.org/projects/vibe/ http://tim.cexx.org/projects/vibe/), no longer sold - This weird one: http://www.harnett-tech.com/search.php?act=search&SKU=USBMC-01 http://www.harnett-tech.com/search.php?act=search&SKU=US... I wrote the original Second Life trancevibe control layer in 2005 (i.e. click on virtual genetalia, real vibrator vibrates), which was later integrated into in-world genetalia by one of the larger virtual sex object manufacturers. After the Drmn trancevibe went off sale, they created that last one to sell to customers.

qdot76367 14y ago

For anyone interested in more stuff like this, I run a site about sex and technology and track open source sex projects: http://www.slashdong.org http://www.slashdong.org

qdot76367 14y ago
And while we're at it, fun fact: There's a toy called the vstroker, that's basically an endcap to the fleshlight for doing accelerometer readings. (http://www.vstroker.com http://www.vstroker.com, NSFW). It also uses a CC25XX radio chip, and comes with a USB dongle that's basically the reference implementation. So, since these two talk on the same controls, you should be able to take the dongle from the vstroker and the lelo toy, and have full USB computer control. Boom. Teledildonics capabilities, using a combination of toys that are (vaguely) gender incompatible.
- pizza 14y ago
  Submit the idea! http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Computer_3a_20Teledildonics http://www.halfbakery.com/category/Computer_3a_20Teledildoni...
  - qdot76367 14y ago
    I've got a vibe on order now, so I should have results tuesday. :)
- fzzzy 14y ago
  qdot, you should write a script that automatically inserts (nsfw) after every link you paste.
  - qdot76367 14y ago
    Dude, you should see what I'm doing with eventlet at the moment. :)
    - 14y ago

agumonkey 14y ago

Wonderful website full of gem.

jiggy2011 14y ago

In all seriousness, somebody needs to disrupt internet porn again. If you trying and look for it on google all you get is shitty "tube" websites full of autoplaying livejasmin ads and links that go round in circles. The content is terrible too, either staged "reality" BS , stuff designed to shock more than titilate, unwatchable crap made with a smartphone or weird softcore stuff that tries to be "arty" or "feminist".

drivebyacct2 14y ago
What exactly have you not ruled out?
dematio 14y ago
Vibease is trying to disrupt the sex toys industry and bring it to mainstream market. I'm the founder btw. We help couples to stay intimate, even from a distance, by using mobile app and long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth and internet. http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/ http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/vibease-sex-toy-app/
viraptor 14y ago
I believe https://makelovenotporn.tv/ https://makelovenotporn.tv/ tries to fill that space a bit. It's definitely good quality and isn't limited to the very softcore movies even if the name suggests otherwise.
- cindygallop 14y ago
  Thanks for that testimonial - much appreciated :) Anyone interested can read more about what we're building on our blog: http://talkabout.makelovenotporn.tv/ http://talkabout.makelovenotporn.tv/ + email cindy@makelovenotporn.tv and I'll fast-track you into beta (we hope to be able to take the site out of beta next month).
  - dematio 14y ago
    https://makelovenotporn.tv/ https://makelovenotporn.tv/ is disrupting the sex industry industry! #realworldsex Techno-porn: how the sex industry drives mainstream technology Star: "I don’t think most people have a clue how much life today is in debt to the porn industry. Online banking and shopping are secure because porn distributors needed to make their transactions with consumers secure." http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/859762--techno-porn-how-the-sex-industry-drives-mainstream-technology http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/859762--techno-p...

polarcuke 14y ago

Wow, this is easily the strangest top post I have ever seen on hacker news. I actually can't stop laughing. I guess it's because most people just don't think about technology and sex in the same thought unless you are thinking about internet porn. An interesting read no less.

stcredzero 14y ago

After everyone was feeling stuffed and mellow in the house, I brought out the old PS2 and hooked it up to the projector and the stereo, then put in Rez. (Has been called "Tron on Ecstasy.") http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibrator.html http://www.gamegirladvance.com/2002/10/sex-in-games-rezvibra... I think there's a lot of hacking potential. I think it would be cool to have a back room in a club where you have Rez on a game console on a big HD screen with a nice sound system. One could also implement a wireless protocol for the trance vibe info and publish the protocol, so spectators would casually walk in and wirelessly experience the "synaesthesia."

the1 14y ago

If you have smart enough AI, do you get pregnant by it? That's how babes born, right?

iframe 14y ago

Why this? aren't there thousands of virgin nerds ... ?

marktronic 14y ago

What's a vagina? Sincerely, Never Touched A Boob

victorhn 14y ago

This is not meant to be a troll post, but just sincere curiosity. From the site "My full name is Micah Elizabeth Scott, but I used to be Micah Dowty prior to Fall 2010. My friends call me Beth." How can a woman who used to be a man can have a vagina? is there some kind of surgery? do you keep your sensitivity to be able to use vibrators?

tankbot 14y ago
Micah, though traditionally a male name, is sometimes given to females. There is no reason to assume there was a sex change, maybe she got married or just changed her name.
- cynwoody 14y ago
  Neither is Stanley. We have the example of Stanley Ann Dunham, do we not?
- ZoFreX 14y ago
  Frankly I find it rude to speculate. It's none of my business what someone has in their pants, or what they used to have in their pants.
  - lmm 14y ago
    When the article's all about a device that goes into their pants? If we were talking about someone with a surgically reconstructed vagina I think that would be relevant in this particular story, just because physically it won't be identical and the effect of the vibrator could be different.
NegativeK 14y ago
Yes; sexual reassignment surgery for male-to-female transsexuals exists (as does the other direction.) The short version: They form a vagina in the pelvis and reuse the head of the penis to form a clitoris. The urethra is also rerouted. Caveat: I am nothing more than a layperson on the subject. My short version may be wrong, and there may be other surgeries available. The longer version: Wikipedia [1] has quite a bit of information on the subject. Use incognito mode if you must; I've always found it to be a fascinating subject. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_reassignment_surgery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_reassignment_surgery (No images if you're worried about that.)

felipelalli 14y ago

epic!

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

brennenHN 14y ago

Super clever title and article for getting HN attention, but also pretty interesting.

georgeorwell 14y ago

Warning: this is not a politically correct viewpoint, but nevertheless it's my perspective. The actual best thing about this post being in first place on Hacker News is not that it's a woman posting but that she has a Y chromosome and most people don't realize it. It's like her recently-acquired vagina is a new laptop to be hacked. It's still objectification of women if you try to turn into one and then objectify yourself. The real goal of this post is to get a bunch of men to fantasize about "her" and glorify how cool "she" is for being a geeky hacker. Not all trans(vestite|gender|sexual) people are like this.

djcapelis 14y ago
My girlfriend wrote this post for the same reason she wrote the the other posts on her blog: to share her work and talk about neat hacks. Your statement that she's doing it for attention is incredibly sexist. Also she's queer, so the idea that she's doing it for male attention is pretty funny really.
- Matt_Cutts 14y ago
  I loved the stuff about reverse engineering the protocol. Very neat stuff. This is a great post with so many neat hacks along the way--when she started talking about modeling and 3D printing the enclosure I was thinking "Wow, this is a true renaissance hacker." The world needs more blog posts like this.
  - djcapelis 14y ago
    Yeah, she's impressive. You might enjoy some of the other posts on her blog too, my favorite is the duct tape RFID post, but mostly because she made that one for me. (But also it's a neat hack, she powers the microcontroller via the I/O pins and just attaches the vcc and ground pins to a capacitor.)
- cynwoody 14y ago
  >Also she's queer Your good fortune, mankind's loss: https://plus.google.com/photos/107665675896730237663/albums/profile/5665607955956956562 https://plus.google.com/photos/107665675896730237663/albums/...

robbles 14y ago

Really cool project, and looks like it was executed really well in many ways. However, I couldn't help being reminded of this comic: http://xkcd.com/196/ http://xkcd.com/196/ I feel like there's a lot of social factors that would make using an invention like this a little awkward. Maybe that's just me?

ricardobeat 14y ago
Why, did you read the entire post? It doesn't require any tinkering to work, and the interface is totally natural.

Bullshituserid 14y ago

Yeah, that link doesn't work.

cwb71 14y ago

500 Internal Server Error Best linkbait title ever?

brini 14y ago

Text only cached version: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://scanlime.org/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/&hl=en&tbo=d&strip=1 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

khmel 14y ago

Vagina rocks! This topic would never get so much attention if this would be 'Hacking my ... nose, knee, hand etc..'. Some star topics are easy to predict. Nerds have their own weaknesses

scanlime 14y ago

Hey, this is beth from scanlime.org. I was doing my best to keep the site up, but it looks like Dreamhost just pulled the plug. I'm pretty annoyed with this.

kephra 14y ago
oh HN managed a DDoS again 608 points should be around 60.000 visitors. Thats something any site should be able to handle, but ... http://dreamhost.com/servers/vps/ http://dreamhost.com/servers/vps/ <- All VPS plans come with UNLIMITED Bandwidth and Storage. UNLIMITED ... till they pull the plug lol But it might also just be that the site is overloaded. I sometimes get an "Error establishing a database connection" and sometimes "Problem loading page". So there is still a server who desperately tries to answer requests. What kind of server do you have at dreamhost? A VPS? Is that VPS some Viruozzo/OpenVZ crap, or a Xen instance?
- cup 14y ago
  The post is also on the front page of the technology subreddit so that is probably pulling in a few thousand more people too.
robertskmiles 14y ago
I saw the headline and immediately said to myself "I bet that server's already dead."

allaun1 14y ago

I'd be interested in seeing this device have it's data outputted to a graph to see what kind of pressures someone finds most agreeable. That way you don't have to fiddle with every device after that. Also, as someone mentioned, it would be a great way to create a preset based on your mood. The data could be correlated on your emotional state, by entering a standard 0 unhappy 10 extremely happy. And then monitoring though a period of maybe six months so you know when your libido is the highest. As a male, I'd love to have my biorhythms matched to a device that would basically "know" my preference based on the time of day / year. I suffer from SAD and masturbation tends to help. Not to mention it would be a kewl hack to have a chart showing you the times your most likely to be sexually aroused so you can plan around it with your significant other.

dematio 14y ago

This is awesome. It's cool to see more people are hacking sex toys. Hopefully with all these cool hacks, it will remove the stigma. People have a stigma against vibrator is because they always imagine vibrator as a huge penis vibrator that they seen in porn movies. The fact is many studies shown that size doesn't matter. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200903/the-most-important-sexual-statistic http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/200903/the... The first electrical vibrator was invented as a medical device and to stimulate the clitoris, not the inside. I believe the world will be a better place when women can have orgasm as much as men do. My startup, www.vibease.com, is helping couples to stay intimate even from a distance. We have a mobile App with long distance vibrator. We use Bluetooth and internet connection. Currenlty we are taking pre-order. We try to bring it to mainstream market and it's not easy: http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11 http://tech.co/vibease-vibrator-app-2012-11

nickik 14y ago

Intressting. Going a step further would be to give the vibrator some AI. There is of course some need to monitor pleasure, I dont know if that is easily possible but one could implment some kind of AI that would to that. The next step would be to sell it to millions of woman and analysie all the data. Would be intressting what could be figured out that way.

tathagatadg 14y ago

secure communication of Vstorker(see qdot76367 comments) + this hack with video == Sex over IP. Target customers: long distance couples, virtual sex business. Taking it further: build a Airtime like social network around it. Revenue stream: from selling the hardware, membership.

JeremyMorgan 14y ago

I clicked on this only because of the extreme curiosity the headline generated. The article did not disappoint. Easily one of the smartest things I've read in quite a while, and much of the hardware stuff is over my head but wow, color me extremely impressed.

jzurawell 14y ago

Your vagina has a 500 error.

rhplus 14y ago

Link is down. Here's a Coral Cache version: http://scanlime.org.NYUD.NET/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/ http://scanlime.org.NYUD.NET/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/

egypturnash 14y ago

Here's a functioning cache link, since the site is hammered for rather obvious reasons. http://scanlime.org.nyud.net/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/ http://scanlime.org.nyud.net/2012/11/hacking-my-vagina/

tubbo 14y ago
hammerin' hacked vaginas

tzury 14y ago

This hacker-girl has an amazing portfolio (note she's 26 years old). See her resume at http://scanlime.org/resume/ http://scanlime.org/resume/

skarmklart 14y ago
Pretty cool that she's the author of CIA.vc

dillon 14y ago

Science that gives me an erection. Very very good read.

_W_o_W_ 14y ago

...and how does it feel to your soul to be slave of your body? (instead of master...)

JabavuAdams 14y ago
Congratulations! That's the dumbest thing I've read all day.

cindygallop 14y ago

cough Have already urged @scanlime to do this, but anyone else, as and when you hack your vagina - or penis, we're totally equal-opportunity :) - please do submit your (or your friends') #realworldsex video demo to https://makelovenotporn.tv/ https://makelovenotporn.tv/ (with our revenue-sharing business model, you could make a nice chunk of change :))

finnw 14y ago
...but only you live in the USA
- cindygallop 14y ago
  No, we're global, and welcome #realworldsex video submissions from anywhere in the world :)
  - finnw 14y ago
    Quote from your site: > If you're outside the US, we're sorting out a system for international payouts, and have to ask you to be patient while we get that put in place.

tomnardone206 14y ago

There is a project out there to share 3D printer files for sex toys. MakerLove.com provides files you can download and print for free.

smagch 14y ago

The product seems really innovative sex toy for female. I've seen a interview of tenga's founder before. He thought there were much room for innovation of sex toy industry. I was quite impressed that he spent a year to build his first product. I've been impressed again. http://www.tenga-global.com/ http://www.tenga-global.com/