Each week, Ariel Waldman serves a tasting of the latest in sex and tech.

(Image: Ariel Waldman, Sean Bonner, Violet Blue taken by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

Arse Elektronika, a conference about “pr0nnovation” and the intersections of sex and technology, kicked off at Kink.com's Porn Palace in San Francisco over the weekend. Myself and fellow SG friend Sean Bonner were in attendance for the anticipated debauchery.

Audience Member Fucks A Machine

The opening night catered to many sights (and sounds) from various performances. A review of the first half of the night, including the opening speech by Johannes Grenzfurthner of Monochrom and a demonstration of the "Moaning Lisa" modified mannequin can be found at Shake Well Before Use. However, the most notable and naughty part of the evening began much later. A session on Fucking Machines by Kink.com showcased Fuckzilla, a treaded robot literally armed with a dozen-tongue-chainsaw and dildo. Asking "so who wants to fuck a robot?" to the audience, a woman volunteered and was subsequently video-taped (in this NSFW video, she is behind a curtain giving the play-by-play). Apparently, from various sources, the unidentified woman had never used a vibrator before, yet climaxed twice. Needless to say, Friday night's Fucking Machines presentation created rapidly viral conversations.

Ceiling Cat Is Watching More Than Masturbation

Speaking at a session titled "Ceiling Cat Hates Your Porn: Sexual Privacy Online", Violet Blue discussed the intimate logistics behind being intimate online. The root of the issue is that the internet has changed human sexuality, yet people don't realize it. People often times aren't as anonymous as they think. Violet cited the Craigslist Experiment to her experiences with Flickr (aka "Censr") as examples of violated privacy. She also discussed the current state of affairs among many Web 2.0 companies fumbling around with community management. Reading from A Girl With a One-Track Mind's experience with being publicly "outed" after being anonymous, the true emotion and importance of privacy online became overwhelmingly clear. Violet concluded that the general state of blogging and privacy online comes down to risk-assessment.

More from Arse-Elektronika

Arse Elektronika featured many other fabulous speakers and presentations over the course of three days. A conference about the interaction of sex and technology can leave many insatiable. As such, a few more reviews can be found here:

Laughing Squid
The Underwire
qDot
BotJunkie