So, after thinking about the last post, it seems like something I could throw together fairly quick, and put into one of my new "Favorite Enclosures Ever", these little tupperware type containers from Ichiban Kan.

I can get 4 of these of $1.50, and they're just the right size for like, everything ever.

So, the board itself will just consist of an 2AAA Batteries, an ATTiny13 and a small transistor to deal with the power conversion. Outside of the usual passive components, that's it. The code so far is just:

#include <io.h>
int main()
{
    DDRB = 0xFF;
    PORTB = 0x00;
    TCCR0A = _BV(WGM01) | _BV(WGM00) | _BV(COM0A1);
    TCCR0B = _BV(CS00);
    OCR0A = 0x00; //Must figure out what to put here
    return 0;
}

So all I do is set up the PWM line and mark the port to output. Now comes the hard part: What functions to use, and what kinda timer to set them on...

Torturedildonics: Why fuck when you can be fucking annoying?

A lot of the talks I give these days reference a rather mythical pattern based program that does wave interpolation to combine people's input methods for teledildonics. Not one line of code has been written for this yet because I'm a lazy fuck and still rather burnt out on sex toys.

However, from the people that brought you some great DIY toy plans for remote toys and Onyx, the computer based love board game comes this LJ post may have revitalized a bit of my interest.

You see, while I've been interested in "what functions can be used and integrated to produce this most pleasure", this idea behind the project in this post is "What pattern would be the absolutely most fucking annoying thing ever, getting you maybe sort of close sometimes but otherwise just keeping you from thinking straight for any period of time" (similar to what is shown in the picture above). While the former "nice" idea is fun and neat but kinda boring and most likely not to be picked up by the mainstream, if one could get a generalized vibrator/electrostim version of the Annoy-A-Tron going, I'm sure parts of the BDSM community would be all over it, especially if you could store down the generator for offline use (which is pretty easy these days).

Combine with biometrics (as some sort of scalar based on pulse, for example), and you have a box I'd be happy to put little horns and some flames on.

via The Sex Drive Mailing List

Phaser v4.0 Software for EStim: The Kitchen Sink (That Shocks You) - Warning: Tripod Site. Flakey access at best.

So, to try and kick myself out of the rut of being rather bored building sex toys (this happens about once a year, if you want to see what I've been working on otherwise, check out http://www.30helensagree.com/fwiktr), I decided to do my usual ritual of

• Create Smartstim account
• Read up on circuits and software
• Get fired up about building my estim unit
• Completely lose interest within the next 24 hours
• Let Smartstim account lapse
• Quit trying

So, I've got all my circuit articles gathered up again, I've got parts this time, but I also decided to check out software to see what the interface side has been up to.

Surprisingly enough, I find myself almost Je Joue level impressed with Phaser v4.

Phaser is an piece of software in its 8th year of development, made specifically for creating waveforms for electrostim equipment such at the Phaser, Stereostim, and other DIY circuits.

Now, I'm going to ignore the fact that it's pay (I'm not against people making money, nor am I some OMG OPEN SOURCE OR DEATH zealot, it's just how I roll in relation to my own stuff), and that the user interface leaves something to be desired, and focus on this paragraph on the About Phaser page

Phaser 4.0 was a real challenge. We wanted true remote control with signal output on both sides, we wanted secure and encrypted traffic, we wanted an integrated chat, and we didn't want to operate and maintain servers. What we got was a P2P based solution that works without a centralized server, using some IRC functionality to find other users on the net. And we got a server, too. The Phaser software itself can act as a server, so everybody may run his own Phaser Relay Server, allowing other users to login and chat and remote control other Phasers. We really liked that concept of making Phaser users not dependent on servers operated by us, thus rendering the product useless if the server operator decides to shut down his services._

Fuck yes, people. Fuck. Yes.

So, it's a full P2P teledildonics system for e-stim. This is exactly the idea of my whole "Series of Patterns" thing that I'd been ranting about at multiple conferences last spring (and why I kept saying "EStim people have been doing this forever..."). Combined with some of the ideas of Je Joue, and we may have something here. Now all I need to do is wire in the drivers for the USB vibe stuff we've done here and crosspor...

Oh, wait, maybe I will bitch about the non-open-source thing. Here's an interesting interview with the Phaser Engineers, talking about their issues and choices in software registration. On the same site, there's someone reverse engineering the phaser format for their own open source software that also does remote support, minus the encryption.

But, hey, there's a trial version, which I might give a shot, as well as maybe building one of those boxes I keep thinking about and testing some of the open source stuff.

'cause really, not nearly enough pictures of me with burns on this site, and DIY estim makes the doorknob section of Home Depot a little like Disneyland.

Well, I'm off doing other stuff right now so this place is a little quiet, but here's something interesting:

OPEN CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTERS & PERFORMANCES

"How are bodies represented through technology? How is desire constructed through representation? What is the relationship of the body to self-awareness?" (Stone, Allucquere Rosanne The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age Cambridge, Mass. & London: MIT Press, 1995, p. 17)

INTIMACY Across Visceral and Digital Performance is a three-day (December 7-9) interdisciplinary programme of events made to illicit connectivity, induce interaction and provoke debate between makers, participants and witnesses of works that explicitly address proximity and hybridity in performance. It will feature workshops, seminars, performances, posters, and a 1-day symposium. INTIMACY will employ digital and live art practices as agents, aiming to further practical exploration of and vibrant discourse into notions of intimacy in contemporary performance. It is framed as a forum for artists, scholars, community workers, performers, cultural practitioners, researchers and creative thinkers.

INTIMACY will provide a platform for the discussion of live art/performance practices concerned with displaying intuitive, intimate and visceral relationships between artist and other. It will explore performance practices that engage in intimate encounters, raising issues around bodies of data and flesh; presence as aura and representation; desire as embodied condition and disembodied fantasy; the human and posthuman self. Confirmed contributors include: Johannes Birringer, Kira O'Reilly, Tracey Warr, Janis Jefferies, Amelia Jones, Dominic Johnson, Kelli Dipple, Paul Sermon.

SPACETIME

INTIMACY will take place on the 7th, 8th and 9th December in and around Goldsmiths University of London, LABAN and The Albany (South London).

CO-DIRECTORS: Rachel Zerihan and Maria Chatzichristodoulou (aka maria x)

BOARD

Prof. Johannes Birringer, Chair in Drama and Performance Technologies, School of Arts,Brunel University of West London; Artistic Director of AlienNation Co.

Hazel Gardiner, Senior Projects Officer, AHRC ICT Methods Network; Researcher.

Dr. Adrian Heathfield, Principal Research Fellow (Performance and Live Arts), School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University; Writer; Curator.

Prof. Janis Jefferies, Artistic Director, Goldsmiths Digital Studios; Director Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles; Artist; Writer; Curator.

Gerald Lidstone, Head of Drama Department, Goldsmiths University of London.

PROPOSALS

All participants will be selected on an open submissions basis.

Proposals will be peer reviewed by the INTIMACY Board and Advisory Panel. Proposals must not exceed the word limit specified. You may provide additional info such as links to digital material including online video, photos and websites. Further supporting documentation such as hard copies and discs are welcome; if you want these returned please enclose a SAE. We are accepting proposals for:

Paper presentations or Performance Lectures

Poster presentations

Live performances -physical and/or digital

Proposals should be concerned with the relationship between visceral and digital environments/methodologies being explored in contemporary performance practice. Specifically, topics of interest include but are not limited to:

The politics of intimacy in contemporary performance

Risk in relation to intimacy in contemporary performance

Pornography/erotics and performed intimacy

(Dis)embodiment, (tele)presence and intimate performance encounters

Technologies as affective instigators of intimacy

Intimate aesthetics in contemporary performance

Interfaces of performed desire

Accepted proposals will be published on our website. Further publishing possibilities are being explored.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Submit by email to Maria X at and Rachel Zerihan intimacyrachelz(at)yahoo.co.uk writing INTIMACY SUBMISSION in the subject line. Send hard copies to INTIMACY c/o 22 Dutton Street, London, SE10 8TB.

Performances: Submit 1) 500-word statement detailing your project; 2) 200-word CV; 3) Tech Drive; 4) Any other supporting material as described above. Please note that only limited technical support can be provided.

Papers/ Performance Lectures: Submit 1) 500-word abstract. This contribution would form a 15 minute paper to be presented at the Symposium on Sunday 9th December; 2) 200-word CV; 3) Any other supporting material as described above.

Posters: Submit 1) 300-word abstract /summary; 2) 200-word CV; 3) Any other supporting material as described above.

DEADLINE

Deadline for submissions: 19 August 2007

Notification of acceptance: early October 2007

ADVISORY PANEL (confirmed to date)

Daisy Abbot, AHDS Performing Arts Glasgow

Gavin Barlow, CEO The Albany

Alice Bayliss, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds

Brian Brady, Head of Programming, LABAN

Anna Furse, Drama Department, Goldsmiths University of London; Director

Marc Garrett, Artist, Co-director Furtherfield

Gabriella Giannachi, Co-director Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter

Joe Kelleher, School of Arts, Roehampton University

Roberta Mock, Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth

Molly Mullen, Re-Write Co-ordinator

Chris Salter, Artist; Researcher Hexagram; Department of Design and Computational Arts, Concordia University (Canada)

Jennifer Sheridan, Director BigDog Interactive

Igor Stromajer, Artist (Slovenia)

Bojana Kunst, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Tony Thatcher, Choreographer; Programme Leader LABAN

Helen Varley-Jamieson, Performer (New Zealand)

INTIMACY Across Visceral and Digital Performance is supported by the AHRC ICT Methods Network, Goldsmiths Graduate School, Goldsmiths Digital Studios, Goldsmiths Drama Department and LABAN.

For more information on INTIMACY please visit http://www.cybertheater.org

If you have further queries, please contact intimacyrachelz(at)yahoo.co.uk or drp01mc(at)gold.ac.uk

via Networked Performance

Yes, it's a vibrator.

I think that's all I have to say.

via this great blog post on weird sex toys