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Porn as a Driver of Technology

internet_forBy: Billy BeerSlugger

I don’t think it’s any secret that SEX SELLS! You already know this but do you have any inkling of how it has shaped the media you use to watch non-x rated movies or how the online Porn community pioneered e-commerce as well as helped the advancement of the internet in terms of broadening networks and to a certain extent internet speed increases.

Starting with the VHS vs. Betamax format wars which were similar to the Bluray vs. HD DVD format wars, it was eventually the porn makers who chose VHS that turned the tide and made it the dominant format. So in that respect Porn had a huge impact on how you watched movies in the 80’s through the late 90’s and even into the early 2000’s.  If you think about it, Porn on VHS was completely revolutionary. No longer did people have to go to a movie theater and spank off with a bunch of strangers (yes this happened and still happens).  People could buy a VCR and X-Rated video’s of their choice and now spank off the pornographic material in privacy of their own home. No wonder the public chose VHS as their preferred video media and made it the standard, there’s a lot of Porn watchers out there.

Further, we’ll focus on the Internet, the next evolutionary step in expediting porn to it’s inexhaustible customer base.  In the early 90’s, when AOL and Compuserve were gaining subscribers by the hundreds of thousands, it wasn’t the thirst for knowledge that was fueling the hype.  All at once, images that were once confined to the pages of Playboy and Penthouse were being shared freely over the internet. You didn’t need leave your house to grab naked pictures of Pam Anderson.

While still pictures pale in comparison to full motion video, I believe this was a major factor in why the Porn industry once again helped drive technology, in this case the internet to it’s current standards and availability. Streaming Porn videos and porn videos downloadable on the internet paved the way for sites like Youtube. The increased bandwidth consumption as more and more people used the internet as a Spank Bank caused Internet Service Providers to expand availability and data speed at an extremely rapid rate. Thus again, Porn helped shape the way we use technology.

With porn sites having to charge their customer base, Porn was pretty much the first adopters of online payments. Things like Ebay and Paypal may not have taken off without Porn companies ability to show that the internet could be a marketplace. Maybe the Internet without Porn doesn’t give us Youtube, Myspace or Facebook for another 10 years or so.  Maybe we would still be using phone lines to dial into the internet to check out news stories and check email. Who knows. All I know is that love it or hate it, Pornography has and will continue to be (to a certain extent) a driving factor on how we view media.

In this article I’m not saying the Porn industry fuels technology, what I’m saying is that most media technology has to be adopted by the Porn Community before it will be adopted by the general public. With Avatar kind of Pioneering 3-D movie making, can you see the first 3-D porno coming out within the next year? If it makes your masturbation experience that much more enjoyable can you see 3-D TV format being adopted at an incredible rate by TV networks  broadcasting in 3-D HD? Then the general public will clamor for 3-D HT TV’s.  May take some time for that to happen but how else do you see TV evolving?

Next time you’re spanking it to Internet Porn think how far we’ve come from coming from Jerking Off in shady movie theaters and how far technology has advanced because of it.

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Internet Service Providers Raising Prices?

By: Billy Beerslugger

So I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a while now.  I believe this is the beginning of the end of “Unlimited Bandwidth” through Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) in the United States.

Like a lot of my generation, I get a good portion of my news online.  Actually, I get pretty much all my news online.  It’s much more convenient, I can read it when I want to and I can read what I want to as opposed to Network TV news who are at the mercy of Advertisers and their own networks shows (i really don’t need to know who got kicked off of American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Survivor, Amazing Race or Big Brother).  I recently read an extremely interesting article from the NY Times.  It makes some really good points including the issue over Bandwidth Consumption, Internet Prices and Government regulation.

First, the article states that most ISP’s in the U.S. want to end the unlimited bandwidth option from their subscription services.  As long as I’ve been using Cable internet it has been browse as much as you want, download as much as you want.  Now they want to measure usage and bill accordingly just like the electric or water company.  On the surface this may seem fair to you, especially if you don’t watch movies and television online or don’t do a lot of downloading or youtube viewing.  If someone else is using the Internet more than you maybe they should pay more and you should pay less.

However, just because a person uses more bandwidth than someone else doesn’t effect the ISP’s profits or the availability/speed of the internet.  The ISP makes just as much money when no one uses the internet as when everyone is glued to the internet checking out the latest Brittany Spears upskirt shot.  Think of Internet use the same way you would think of Cable TV usage (Both use the same technology and have about the same costs).  Does the person who is at work all day and not watching TV pay the same as the person who is at home watching TV all day? Yes, they do.  Each pay for a service and can use as much or as little as they want for a flat fee.

The main costs in running the ISP are investment in network equipment and expanding the networks but just like everything else computer related, costs continue to fall as technology advances.  Most if not all of the Major ISP’s profit margins are stable.  So why change to a consumption based business model?  I’d say to make more money.  ISP’s like Comcast, Time Warner etc pretty much have a monopoly on providing Internet service.  Much like before the phone companies prices were regulated by the U.S. government, ISP’s can charge pretty much whatever they want because there’s not that much else out there.

As some ISP’s are beginning to offer higher Megabits per second than are currently offered, they are also raising prices disproportionately than countries like Japan who offer this higher MBit/s for about $5 more than their regular plan.  In the U.S. prices for this service would increase your bill sometimes twofold and more.  There is a lot more competition in Japan in terms of ISP’s.

There’s other theories out there that suggest Cable Company’s that also supply Internet want to increase prices to Internet Service because online video etc is eating a hole in their Cable TV revenue.  This could also be a reason.

Overall, I would say don’t let an ISP, government or whomever else limit your access to the Internet.  It is essential to free speech and will continue to play a more integral part in our daily lives as the years progress.  As computers, cell phones and Televisions seemingly stay on a path to converge continue to look for ways of how the Corporations that control access to these services may try to screw you and speak out and fight against it.