Sex Tech News: Pre-noms Open for 2022 XBIZ Awards, Slow Dating Trends, and What Is Porn’s Place in Tech?
Top articles we’re reading on the adult and dating industries this week.
“XBIZ is pleased to announce the official list of categories for the 2022 XBIZ Awards, the adult industry’s biggest night, presented by premier adult creators community ManyVids. Covering the most extensive and inclusive range of fields in adult, the pre-nomination period for the milestone 20th anniversary ceremony is now open. Industry professionals must be registered members of XBIZ.net to submit pre-noms and use the online submission form to record their entries.
“The final day for pre-nomination entries is Thursday, September 30. To be eligible for nomination, movies and pleasure products must be released between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021.” (via XBIZ)
“While not much hard data exists yet on the coronavirus’s effect on dating, surveys suggest plenty of people are taking re-entry into the dating field more slowly than previously expected. A survey released in June by the dating app Bumble found that 30 percent of respondents only want to date someone who is vaccinated. For those who are venturing out in person, 41 percent want to keep those dates socially distanced. And an online poll of 6,000 people conducted in the spring by The Pill Club, a telehealth company that provides contraceptives among other products, found 64 percent of respondents said they plan to be more cautious about dating and casual hookups than before the pandemic.” (via Meg St-Esprit/The New York Times)
“The public debate isn’t about smut or even sexual exploitation; at its core, it’s about the ability of big business to limit freedom out of an abundance of corporate caution. As in the heady days of Larry Flynt’s U.S. Supreme Court victory, porn serves as an uncomfortable but somewhat fitting avatar for freedom — at least to part of the internet community.
“The adult industry doesn’t have the power to shape mass-market demand for new tech, but it can serve as a litmus test for new privacy-oriented solutions: accessible crypto-based payment systems that are agnostic about the kind of businesses they support, operating systems, messaging and cloud services that offer no anti-encryption backdoors.” (via Leonid Bershidskiy/The Washington Post)
“Tinder’s parent company is also making broader moves. Earlier this summer, Match closed its $1.7 billion acquisition of Hyperconnect, a social networking company that’s credited with building “the first mobile version” of WebRTC. That will allow the company to focus on its research & development, adding more live chat features and video experiences to its apps.
“Match COO Gary Swidler said on the company’s most recent earnings call that it expects at least two of its brands to use Hyperconnect tech before the end of the year, while a number of other brands will implement its tech by the end of 2022. The company hasn’t detailed exactly what the additions would look like, but it could include things like live broadcast or even more chat additions.” (via Jessica Bursztynsky/CNBC)
