LOS ANGELES — The cyclical nature of business models impacts all industries, including adult, with one example being the rise of professional live cam studios that offer once home-based performers a variety of competitive advantages; such as often better camera hardware, faster internet, and more sophisticated audio and lighting capabilities.
Yet the world over, numerous cam models either live in areas away from or without studios or prefer to work from home.
Indeed, today’s growing cam industry was built upon a homemade past, where one popular performance center was “the cam house,” where multiple cameras allowed voyeurs to look in on bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, showers, and yes, toilets. While providing an intimate look at a model or models’ daily life, these group-oriented shows typically lacked the interpersonal connection of private shows or the flair of free shows, and thus cam houses seem to have largely gone by the wayside in favor of a one-to-one or one-to-many broadcast.
Enter the tantalizing prospect of a new generation of webcams for home environments that may offer an advantage to solo girls and models that seek to cultivate long-lasting (and highly profitable) client relationships.
For example, this September should see the first wave of new Lighthouse cams in the hands of consumers. The product of an A-list ensemble of tech luminaries and incorporating DARPA-sponsored AI technology originally developed at Stanford for use in self-driving cars, Lighthouse goes beyond current IP-enabled home security cams to interact with its environment.
Whereas many cameras can alert a homeowner when something changes in a scene, such as a person passing in front of it (an alert for intruders), changes in lighting or a wandering pet can send false signals. Lighthouse, however, recognizes what is happening — and who is doing it.
The demo video shows an example where a parent at work receives a message and live video feed of a child arriving home from school — pretty standard fare in 2017’s home security scene. Where Lighthouse shines is in notifying mom that her daughter Sara just came home from school, accompanied by an unrecognized male — so much for shenanigans on the sly. The device’s “wave” feature also recognizes individuals that wave their hand at it and will message mom “Tommy says Hi!” in response.
For adult, such a device puts an end to empty cam house rooms going live and alerts fans when their favorite is online. Getting a text notice or Tweet that “Sasha is streaming” is not uncommon today, but this typically relies on the use of multiple unintegrated platforms, whereas it is all technology incorporated into Lighthouse and its supporting service. The device’s voice-enabled search function also provides a specific hook into the day’s pre-recorded action, so a fan could go to the part where his favorite model was performing a boy- or girl-girl rather than a solo scene.
It is one more step in the addition of unblinking eyes and all-hearing ears to our homes, for better or worse, and the type of technology that will doubtless be adopted and emulated by adult entertainment entrepreneurs, and as such should find a place on XBIZ’ers radars.
