Augmented reality: Is there a porn app for that?

Whenever a new technology emerges, someone is bound to think of something sexual to do with it.
From video cassette recorders to the internet and beyond, the adult entertainment industry has quickly found porn applications for new technologies.
Most recently porn websites have been letting users pay with cryptocurrencies for increased privacy. There’s even a cryptocurrency called WankCoin.
Porn is turning out to be a killer app for the fledgling virtual reality headset business, according to media reports. (See “The First Real Boom in Virtual Reality? It’s Pornography” by the Wall Street Journal and “Oculus Go Porn: Adult Industry Has High Hopes for Facebook’s New VR Headset” by Variety.)
How about augmented reality?
Augmented reality pioneers ARPorn.com recently teamed up with virtual reality porn studio BaDoinkVR to create an AR demo clip featuring porn star Susy Gala that showcases some of the capabilities of the technology to date. Augmented reality superimposes digital imagery into what a person sees in the real world.
The demo features a real 3D person, not a computer-generated likeness, something that has not been done before.

Photo: ARPorn

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Is there a porn app for that? (Jan. 30, 2016)

Blockchain: Is there a porn app for that? (Jan. 20, 2018)

Summer 2018 beach T-shirts: Fortnite reigns

Every year when I travel to the Atlantic Ocean beaches of Delaware and Maryland, I like to check out the T-shirts being sold in the gift shops.
It’s a way to gauge what is popular with the T-shirt wearing segment of the general public in the region. It helps define the current zeitgeist of politics and pop culture.
In the past three years, political T-shirts ruled, mostly in favor of Donald Trump. But this year, the political T-shirts were gone. I guess the general public doesn’t get too jazzed unless there’s a presidential election.
This year, shops in the beach towns of Bethany Beach, Del., and Ocean City, Md., were awash in T-shirts promoting the hugely popular video game “Fortnite Battle Royale.”
It was overkill. Fortnite shirts adorned displays in front of every T-shirt shop. I don’t know if they were officially licensed by Epic Games either.
Other T-shirts capturing the current mood of pop culture were related to rap and hip hop (Drake lyrics “I only love my bed and my momma”) and online memes (“Esketit”). I also saw quite a few T-shirts memorializing slain rapper XXXTentacion.

Photos: T-shirts for sale in shops in Bethany Beach, Del., and Ocean City, Md., in July 2018. (Patrick Seitz)

Reports from previous years:

President Trump a hero in parts of America, based on T-shirts (June 13, 2017)

T-shirts show continued interest in Donald Trump presidency (Oct. 12, 2016)

T-shirts tell a story (Oct. 10, 2015)

President Trump depicted as clown, baby, bully and Putin pawn on latest covers

Magazine publishers have been busy recently trashing U.S. President Donald Trump for his oddly close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Magazine covers have morphed Trump with Putin or showed Putin as in control over Trump.
Time magazine created a digital composite of Trump and Putin for its July 30 cover. New York magazine identified the two as Prump-Tutin on its July 9-22 cover.
New Statesman and The Week showed Putin firmly in control of Trump following their Helsinki summit. The New Yorker depicted Trump literally falling flat on his face with its July 30 cover illustration.
What follows are the latest Trump magazine covers, plus a bonus cover from the New York Daily News newspaper.

Related articles: 

Trump depicted as king, wrecking ball swinger on latest magazine covers (June 20, 2018)

President Trump incites Europe, Iran on latest magazine covers (May 20, 2018)

President Trump depicted as pig, naked on latest magazine covers (April 14, 2018)

President Trump depicted as glutton, grenade and captain of sinking ship on latest magazine covers (March 10, 2018)

President Trump depicted as crying baby, nutjob, Neanderthal on latest magazine covers (Jan. 19, 2018)

Donald Trump magazine covers: How the news media treat our 45th president (Dec. 30, 2018)

Netflix dumps consumer reviews for algorithms

Internet television network Netflix doesn’t give users a lot of context for its video recommendations.
The streaming video service presents movies and TV shows for users to watch based on their past viewing behavior and what similar subscribers like.
Years ago, when it was exclusively a DVD-by-mail service it would encourage users to write reviews, make lists of movies by type, and connect with other users via Facebook. But gradually it discontinued those features.
On July 2, Netflix informed DVD-by-mail subscribers that it is retiring its review feature on July 30 due to declining usage. It’s not surprising that usage of the feature has declined because Netflix has downplayed it for some time.
I haven’t written a review for Netflix in nearly eight years, so I’m not really broken up about the change.
Unlike the Netflix streaming service, the DVD service still allows users to rate a film or TV show on a five-star scale. Netflix replaced that feature on its streaming service about a year ago with a less accurate rating system of thumbs up or thumbs down.
I like the five-star system because it allows me to prioritize movies in my queue that I’m more likely to love vs. ones I probably won’t.
On the streaming side, the best Netflix can offer is a “percentage match.” The higher the percentage, the greater the likelihood that you’ll enjoy a movie. But these percentages don’t show up on “My List” of saved movies and TV shows. So there’s no way for me to quickly scan for programming that I’m more likely to favor. Assuming Netflix's algorithms are accurate, of course.
Often, I’ll check review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic to gauge whether a flick or show is worth watching. But Netflix is cranking out so many new shows and movies that the reviewers can’t keep up.
That’s fine with Netflix. It would rather promote its movies with own descriptions and trailers without outside opinions factoring in.

Related articles:

How many Netflix DVD subscribers are there? (May 18, 2018)

Ode to the Netflix DVD rental queue (May 8, 2017)

Netflix’s new thumbs-up, thumbs-down reviews are worthless (May 6, 2017)

R.I.P. Netflix Friends, 2004-10 (Sept. 4, 2010)

Gender-swapped roles in movies and TV shows: an update

The Me Too movement has helped fuel the trend of gender-swapping roles in movies and TV shows from actors to actresses.
But what will continue the trend is the success of those films and series. “Ocean’s Eight,” starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway, did well at the box office this summer, so that bodes well for more of the same.
A similarly themed movie about a band of female criminals, “Widows,” is due out in November.
Here’s a quick update on some gender-swapped movies and TV shows in the works:

• Charter Communications picked up a spin-off of the “Bad Boys” film franchise with female leads called “L.A.’s Finest.” The Sony Pictures Television production stars Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. It will premiere in 2019, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
• Disney is making a TV series based on the 2000 movie “High Fidelity,” which starred John Cusack. The remake will have a female lead, Deadline reported.
• A reboot of the 1980s TV series “The Greatest American Hero” with a female lead was filmed, but ABC passed on ordering a series. The project starred Hannah Simone of “New Girl.” (See article by ScreenRant.)
• CBS has ordered a remake of private-detective series “Magnum P.I.” in which the character of Higgins has been reinvented as a woman. Perdita Weeks plays Juliet Higgins. John Hillerman played Jonathan Higgins in the original series. The new series premieres this fall.
• Universal is remaking the action-horror movie “Doom” with a female lead. The previous adaptation of the video game starred Dwayne Johnson. The new movie is set to star Amy Manson, ScreenRant reported.
• “The Hustle,” a gender-flipped remake of the 1988 comedy “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” is set for release in May 2019. It stars Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson.
• NBC Universal is considering a remake of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” called “Fresh Princess,” according to TMZ.

Related articles:

Gender-switch trend continues: Doctor Who now, possibly James Bond next (Jan. 31, 2018)

‘Womanwashing’ entertainment trend continues (Oct. 19, 2017)

Female reboot trend says more about Hollywood’s lack of creativity than feminism (Feb. 13, 2017)

Photo: Promotional art for “L.A.’s Finest.”

Major broadcast networks can’t be trusted with sci-fi, fantasy or horror shows

The recent cancellations of “The Crossing” on ABC and “Timeless” on NBC reaffirm my belief that the major U.S. broadcast networks can’t be trusted with shows from the science-fiction, fantasy and horror genres.
So many such genre shows get canceled in their first season, ending on cliffhangers, that it’s gotten ridiculous. If they’re lucky, they can eke out a second season before getting the axe, such as “Timeless” and Fox’s “The Exorcist.”
The major broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are still living in the linear TV age while most people have moved on to on-demand viewing.
Meanwhile, cable and streaming networks have learned the value of smaller, more committed fan bases for shows. For instance, “Lucifer” was canceled by Fox after three seasons, but resurrected by Netflix because of its passionate fan support.
No fan base is more fervent than the geeks who watch sci-fi, fantasy and horror shows.
Thank goodness for the CW, the smallest broadcast network, which has built its schedule around genre shows. I’m a huge fan of post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama series “The 100,” which the CW has nurtured over five seasons, with a sixth planned.
The worst offender among the broadcast networks for canceling genre shows after one season is ABC. “The Crossing,” a drama about refugees from a future war who travel back in time for a better life, is the Disney-owned network’s latest victim.
Other short-lived genre shows on ABC in recent years have included “Time After Time” (2017), “The Whispers” (2015), “Forever” (2014-15), “666 Park Avenue” (2012-13), “The River” (2012), “No Ordinary Family” (2010-11), “The Gates” (2010) and “FlashForward” (2009-10).
What distinguishes ABC from other networks is that it had a hit genre show in “Lost,” which lasted six seasons from 2004 to 2010. Since then, the network has kept plugging away, trying to find the next “Lost.”
Rival network NBC tried to make the next “Lost” for a few years, but gave up after canceling a bunch of genre shows in a row. It gave single seasons to “The Event” (2010-11), “Awake” (2012), “Do No Harm” (2013) and “Believe” (2014) and two seasons to “Revolution” (2012-14).

Photo: Poster for “The Crossing.”