Splinters

Porn business driving new high definition DVD technology - and 3G phone networks. First video, then the Internet, now DVD and 3G - porn, like wars, keeps the pedal to the metal on tech development to deliver more bangs per buck (ahem)...Porn on phones was something I continually went on about when I used to work for Vodafone. They, of course, studiously ignored me. Despite the fact porn and gambling are the only way any of the UK networks will recoup the vast sums they forked out for their 3G licenses.

Now companies like Private who were quick to see the porn potential for mobile technology have rocketing shares as the hardware and network providers start delivering on their promises. (If there's one industry more full of wind than the PC industry, it's the phone industry). The fact that the phone is both wholly private and something people consider almost an integral part of themselves makes it the ideal platform for porn, especially given the larger size and better resolution of screens. It's not how I'd personally want to get my jollies, but the potential is obvious. That and mobile dating - At Vodafone, I was in charge of launching a WAP chat application that was immensely successful, generating millions of airtime minutes, and it was almost entirely used by people wanting to talk filth to one another. As we become more isolated, we seem to want more and more ways of being in contact but mediated by technology itself - and the use of technology somehow validates and heightens the excitement of that contact. Weird.

Point? They Should Have Listened To Me, obviously. The whole porn as catalyst for technology is something I find fascinating, and the way that technology has subsequently made porn mainstream. (There must be some good articles on this somewhere). Lawrence O'Toole's Pornocopia: Porn, Sex, Technology and Desire (read the spike interview and book review) is an excellent overview of porn's white heat effect on video and the Net.