Man, are people into reading, or what? Hot on the heels of the BeBook Mini launch in the US and news that Barnes & Noble could be introducing an e-reader of its own as early as next week, Endless Ideas is now rumored to have its BeBook 2 on deck for an October 14th release. And considering that it has a booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week, we’d say there’s at least a decent chance that the rumors are true. If you’ll recall, we snagged the first look at the company’s first-ever 3G / WiFi-equipped e-book reader back at CeBIT in March (pictured above), and considering that there can really never be enough competition in the space, we’ll take the promised touchscreen and free RSS support any way we can get it. We’ll be cautiously watching the action tomorrow for a full reveal, and we’d recommend you do as well — besides, it’s not like that International Kindle is shipping before next week anyway.
A Wii remote for PlayStation 3? That appears to be exactly what video game accessory maker Blaze had in mind when it conceived of the PS3 Motion Freedom 3D controller.
With a design most likely lifted from Nintendo’s book, the new 3D motion-sensing device bears a striking …
HTC promised way back at Mobile World Congress in February that the Touch Pro2 would be fully upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5 when the binaries went gold, and… well, here we are. Sure enough, they’re making good on the promise by rolling out official updates for both the Touch Pro2 and the Snap so far, though this is one of those situations where availability for your particular version of the phone is going to depend on carrier branding, locking, and the phase of the moon, among other things — so if the updates don’t work for you, you can wait for your carrier to get in gear or, you know, try your luck over with the always-helpful xda-developers to roll your own update.
You saw the ten-tongue Sqweel sexual toy yesterday (NSFW). While Fleshbot has its own review, Dr. Debby Herbenick has been trying it all weekend for us. Here is her review, non-explicit video included:
This weekend, I scored big time. First, I found a red Gone-with-the-Wind-ish petticoat in a vintage shop. Then, I arrived home to find the Sqweel – a brand new, pre-release, revolutionary, wow-factor sex toy – waiting for me in a stack of mail. The good news? The Sqweel is orgasmic-ly awesome. Even better? As of 12:01am today, it is officially available to the rest of you.
How Does It Work
As the name suggests, the Sqweel merges the wheel (one of humankind’s greatest inventions) with sex (one of humankind’s greatest pleasures). Except instead of typical wheel spokes, it turns a series of tongues – 10 tongues, actually – using 3 speeds. Let me repeat: there are TEN TONGUES. It’s like group oral sex with everyone somehow fitting in between your legs. Or oral sex with an extremely talented and eager lover.
The Sqweel is a remarkable sex toy designed by an Irishman (and animator) named Trevor Murphy who won LoveHoney’s Design a Sex Toy competition a few years back. This fact gives me tremendous hope that other animators, engineers and people who sit with their computers or graphics tablets all day will soon turn their talents to advance sex toy design and innovation. If not for me, then for the love of sex. Please?
Though not a vibrator, the folks at LoveHoney suggest (and I agree) that while vibrators can certainly contribute to highly pleasurable sex play, there’s something to be said for non-vibrating play that promotes slow yummy build-up, much as oral sex does, and that perhaps leads to an orgasm that leaves one feeling that curious mix of satisfaction and craving more.
The Rundown
These are the key points about the Sqweel, aside from the 10-tongue 3-speed yum:
• Materials: The tongues are made of silicone (easy to clean, non-toxic awesomeness) while the black compartment is made of soft plastic.
• Hygiene: The tongue component can be removed from its holder for easy cleaning of both parts.
• Power: What does it run on, you ask? (Aside from the Grace of the Sex Gods). Three AAA batteries. I would have preferred AA batteries rather than the AAA batteries that few people keep lying around the house (whereas, if needed in a pinch, AA batteries may be scrounged from TV remotes or Flipcams).
• Cost: At £34.99 UK pounds (and yes, they ship to the US in only a few waiting-with-bated-breath days), I find the price fair even after the conversion to USD. Especially if you want to switch out your vibrator from time to time, gift your partner with a tongue that doesn’t stop or give yourself a break from lockjaw.
• Endurance: No more lock jaw! Or at least you get a break. The Sqweel is not intended to replace oral sex, nor should it (after all, oral sex can be lovely, intimate and passionate). But it may offer an occasional alternative, or complement, to oral play, which is especially useful for partners whose tongues, jaws, necks or lower backs get sore from extended oral play.
• Single or doubles? Both. The Sqweel can easily be used privately or with a partner. It’s comfortable to hold in one’s own hand during self-pleasure of one’s outside parts (please do NOT try to insert all the way in the anus, lest I recount one man’s salad tongs incident). When pleasuring your partner, it’s not so bulky (only 4.5 in X 4 in X 1 inch at its thickest) as to block your view.
• Education: Similar to the Sasi, which also mimics oral sex, women who would like to learn to orgasm from oral sex may find it helpful to practice with the Sqweel.
• Lube: Due to the Sqweel’s silicone components, silicone lube is a no-no. Instead, try a water based lube applied directly to your or your partner’s body as: (1) there are too many tongues to put lube on every single one and (2) I could easily see the globs of lube go flying as the tongue spokes go round and round and no one needs lube on their ceiling.
• Convenience: Now you can provide your partner with oral pleasure via the Sqweel while simultaneously kissing each other, sitting back and watching, talking dirty, or breathing warm air on your partner’s genitals.
• Conversation: If your partner is using the Sqweel on you and you ask him or her a question, your partner can actually answer you rather than making that awkward “mwawahwah” sound that people make when they try to speak while performing oral sex.
The Experience
I found that holding the Sqweel steady and straight (aimed perpendicular at one’s body) was the best strategy – leaning it to one side or the other, as one might do with a typical vibrator, sometimes caused uncomfortable feelings due to the toy’s edges pressing against fairly sensitive parts. Try exploring the low, medium and high settings – for example, using the low setting to build arousal and the medium or high settings to up the intensity or as one approaches orgasm (if that’s your thing). You might even try turning the tongues upside down for a modified version of Sqweel play stimulation.
In regard to positions, one can lay back and enjoy self-directed or partnered stimulation OR you can prop it like some do with the Fleshlight (e.g., between sofa cushions, between the mattress and box springs or in a sneaker). The Sqweel can be used to stimulate men’s or women’s genitals though I don’t recommend it for internal anal stimulation lest it possibly get “lost” (and not lost in translation, which I just watched again late last night).
Please be careful how you hold it! In some hand positions, one’s fingers can get caught in the compartment and stop the movement of the tongues. This happened to me once or twice. It didn’t hurt, but just wanted to throw that out there in case you are used to moving your hands along with your toy of choice. Or if you have particularly long labia or hair down there that may possibly be an issue too.
The future
The folks at LoveHoney have said that they are planning to roll out different “attachments” in time – so if you decide to try to Sqweel, there should be even more to come. Personally, I would like to see a Sqweel iPhone app. It doesn’t have to vibrate like the fancy MyPleasure MyVibe app, it just has to have a great visual of rotating tongues in which the user can control the speed of vibration.
As it is, however, I love it. It’s yummy. The Sqweel is a very innovative sex toy. If you try it, please let me know what you think – I always enjoy hearing and learning about others’ perspectives and experiences with sex and, in particular, with sex toys.
10 tongues. TEN. The only thing better would be 11. Or 10 plus chocolate.
Silicone material
Comes apart for easy cleaning
Unlikely to produce Fleshlight-furniture-ish shame spiral during use, storage or cleaning
Comfortable to hold
Easy to store in a nightstand or sock drawer
Requires three AAA batteries (a con in my household given that I mostly keep AAs on hand, but may be fine in yours)
Looks like a tape measure
Only 3 speeds. Given how women and men vary, I’d have gone with 5 or 7.
Dr. Debby Herbenick, author of Because It Feels Good: A Woman’s Guide to Sexual Pleasure and Satisfaction, is the Associate Director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana University (IU) where she is a Research Scientist. She is also a sexual health educator at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction where she writes (and hosts audio podcasts of) the Kinsey Confidential column and coordinates educational programming. She has a PhD in Health Behavior from IU, a Master’s degree in Public Health Education (also from IU) and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. In addition, she is certified as a Sexuality Educator from the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists.
Debby writes regular sex columns for Men’s Health magazine, Time Out Chicago magazine, Velocity, Cheeky Chicago, Psychology Today and she has also written for Glamour magazine.
Donald and Jasmine discuss potential issues with the Android-based Archos 5…namely, why does the sucker keep crashing on everyone? Also, a look at the freshly posted reviews for the Monster Turbine Pro and JayBird Tiger Eyes earphones, as well as the old-school appealing Altec Lansing inMotion Classic. Finally, big ups to SanDisk for its straightforward approach to an audio issue with the Clip.
Artist Mr. Lou created this OrigAudio speaker design, called Cityscape.
(Credit: OrigAudio
We’ve seen foldable cardboard speakers before by MUJI and others, but the lively patterns on these OrigAudio versions caught our eyes (or should that be ears?). The foldable, self-powered speakers (no batteries or external power required) come in designs …
While Microsoft tries to figure out if it should take Tegra-powered Zune HD in a gaming direction or the Xbox in a portable direction, there are wild rumorings from the underground that claim Nintendo is planning on using Tegra to power a next generation DS handheld. The primary source on this comes from Bright Side of News (which doesn’t have a big track record to judge by), who claims the debut is planned for late 2010 and conjectures that the device could either use the upcoming 40nm 2nd-gen Tegra tech, or the existing, tried-and-true 65nm chip. There were rumors from Yahoo! Games of a Tegra DS afoot at GamesCom in August, with higher resolution screens and full backwards compatibility, and PC Perspective also claims its own NVIDIA insiders are confirming this — the evidence is certainly stacking up. If it turns out to be true it’s going to mean a pretty dramatic jump forward in portable gaming power, but either way this generation of handhelds seems due for a refresh, and there’s plenty of ultra compact silicon floating about to make a graphical leap possible.
We’re still wrapping our head around this one, another crazy idea borne of Philips’ womb. The Rationalizer, a concept jointly developed by Philips and ABN AMRO, consists of two units aptly named EmoBowl and EmoBracelet. Intended for online investors working at home, the lights intensify and turn a brighter red when your emotions flare, offering what it calls a “mirror of emotion” to warn you that it might be good to take a breather and calm down before making any irrational financial decisions. A clever and surprisingly simple idea — flashiness aside, it looks like it’s just primary motivation is pulse detection — but frankly going by the website alone, we didn’t believe this was real at first. Sure enough, though, a call to Philips’ PR contacts confirmed its legitimacy, and reminded us of the last time we doubted one of the company’s lackluster concept sites, which ended up being the 21:9 widescreen TV. Does this mean we might one day actually get to wear one of these things? We can only hope. Concept videos after the break.
More details have finally surfaced on the intriguing Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia’s first foray into the competitive netbook space. Nokia is partnering with AT&T to sell the gorgeous machine for $299 with a 2-year contract, starting Oct. 22. The Booklet 3G will be available exclusively at Best Buy stores through the holiday retail season.
Unfortunately, a 2-year contract with AT&T for its 3G data services costs $60 a month. That doesn’t really make $299 a very good deal, since the total cost ($299 + [$60 x 24 months]) with the data services is $1,739. The average consumer might do better to purchase the unit for $599 and buy a wireless card or cellular modem.
We really enjoyed getting our hands on the Booklet 3G at CTIA and think it warrants a much closer look. It has an aluminum chassis and a 10-inch screen with 1280-by-720 resolution, weighs 2.76 pounds, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. The Booklet 3G also offers Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, GPS, a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor, a 120GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, and supposed 12-hour battery life.
Look out for a full review of the slick machine later this month from laptop analyst Cisco Cheng at PCMag.com.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
10 tongues. TEN. The only thing better would be 11. Or 10 plus chocolate.
Silicone material
Requires three AAA batteries (a con in my household given that I mostly keep AAs on hand, but may be fine in yours)
Looks like a tape measure
