A Brief History of the Impact of the Adult Industry on Technology

We actually do owe quite a bit to the adult and porn business, despite the fact that many individuals will deny having supported it. Not just for its amazing demonstration of flexible and dexterous actors or its stories and dialogue that won Academy Awards, but also for its impact and foresight in the development of technology.

Cameras and movies

Le Coucher de la Mariee, also known as Bedtime for the Bride, was the first sexual film ever created and was released in 1896. Alber Kirchner became the first known pornographer when he filmed and directed this silent movie. Only two minutes of the original seven-minute video could be saved when it was unluckily discovered in terrible condition in a vault of the French Film Archives. It must now be left to the imagination what transpired between the flirtatious bride and husband.

Harrison Mark, a photographer who subsequently became pornographer, started making short 8mm pictures of women undressed in 1958. These videos were known as "Glamour home movies." The Super 8 cameras and other 8mm film equipment saw a sharp increase in sales. The Super 8 gained popularity in the pornographic film business thanks to Mark's influence because of how simple it was to use and how cheap it was.

VCR and cable TV

Due to the widespread availability of camcorders in the late 1970s, early 1980s, and well into the 1990s, amateur porn was on the increase shortly after the 8mm frenzy gave way to home pornography. The conflict between the makers of the VHS and Betamax tapes resulted from this. Pornography was formerly exclusively accessible on cassette tapes. Because of pornographers, the "format battle" was won by VHS over Beta, and the general public followed. A private in-home viewing over traveling to a sketchy cinema was valued by pornography enthusiasts, who were among the first to own a VCR. In the United States, adult films accounted for more than 50% of videotape sales in the late 1970s and early 1980s (and 80% in Germany and Great Britain). An pornographic movie called Debbie Does Dallas was the top-selling VHS in 1975.

The Ugly George Hour of Truth, Sex, and Violence, an adult cinema show that aired for just two seasons in the late 1970s when cable TV was still a hot item, helped "Manhattan Public Access Cable" boost its subscriber base from 100,000 to 300,000 at the time. Showtime and Cinemax were introduced as a premium movie service, and other well-known networks quickly followed suit. which, you probably suspected, contained pornography. The adult cable sector had taken off by the 1990s! In 1999 alone, 8 million DirecTV users who watched pornographic movies spent well over $150 million, according to the company at the time.

Internet and VR

Internet, ah! By just clicking your mouse, you may quickly and easily access everything you've ever wanted to know or see, even porn. In the end, the internet DOES include porn. In fact, it's claimed that 30% of the material on the web is pornographic, and porn sites get more visitors each month than Amazon, Netflix, and Twitter COMBINED. Applications like Skype are also a result of pornography. In 1994, the Dutch porn business "Red Light District" pioneered webcams and internet broadcasting for the adult market. The live streaming market is continuously changing and opening up new opportunities. For instance, the recent rise in the number of LGBT streamers on streaming services has led to an increase in the number of models in the live gay cams, lesbian cams, trans cams, and other categories.

Just before AOL's instant chat launched, Adult Friend Finder also launched a video and messaging option on their website.Dani Ashe is also credited with founding "Danni's Hard Drive," the first soft-core porn website. In 2001, the site's estimated valuation had increased from its 1995 inception to over $30 million. Since anybody could film a scene and it wouldn't affect their money account, amateur porn sites rose up in the 2000s thanks to Dani.

Online payment mechanisms are another thing we can credit the adult industry for. (Consider PayPal, eBay, etc.) Electronic Card Systems offered online payment systems to popular porn sites in the mid-1990s. Internet porn alone generated $1.3 billion in revenue in 1999; by 2006, that figure had increased to $2.8 billion. Digital piracy was, and still is, a major issue online. As a result, adult businesses took safeguards and made quick investments in DRM software as well as technologies that required payment or unavoidable commercials to watch films. Adult websites have also used geolocation services and technology, accessing their users' whereabouts to point them in the direction of the finest deals and services available nearby. Peer-to-peer sharing and social networking were developed and are still in use, which is perhaps the largest impact the adult business has had on the internet. 60% of all downloads from peer to peer are attributed to pornography. Oh my god.

Virtual Reality is the most recent fad to take the adult market by storm (or VR). Some of the most well-known VR devices available are the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsung's Gear VR. Some cost a lot of money, ranging from $900 to a more affordable $69. Since the VR porn category debuted on PornHub's website in the spring of 2016, there has been a gradual increase in views, going from a few each month to a sharp rise in approximately January 2017. For Christmas, everyone received a VR headset! Don't anticipate virtual reality (VR) to go away any time soon; new developments are constantly being made in this field. VR is still very new and fresh in the business. Orders and shipments for wearable VR headsets will reach 3–4 million this year, and by 2025, they will have increased by a factor of 10.

The Long Run

The future of porn is an intriguing uncharted territory; some predict sex robots will be the next big thing, which is already making waves in France. One of the first known brothels for sex dolls opened lately in France. The females, referred to as "Xdolls," will run you approximately $110 for an hour-long session. Even if playing with dolls seems like pleasure, the promise of anonymity is the technology for porn that is most often requested.