LOS ANGELES — XBIZ is pleased to announce the launch of the newly redesigned event website for its flagship conference — the XBIZ Show.

To view the event website, click here.

Set for Jan. 9-12, 2023, North America’s largest adult industry conference brings together digital media pros, creators/performers, company execs and newcomer entrepreneurs for boundless business opportunities — and for a comprehensive look at the future of adult entertainment.

With a revamped design and upgraded UI/UX, the 2023 XBIZ Show website reflects the vibrancy of today’s digital media space.

“We’re pleased to unveil our brand-new conference website, which has been months in the making,” XBIZ Events Director Moe Helmy said. “We listened to feedback from our industry colleagues about what they expect from a conference website, which includes early access to a show’s schedule of events, and set out to meet their needs.”

Concurrently with the website launch, a preliminary schedule is now available, offering an overview of “XBIZ week,” with an extensive list of scheduled panels, networking socials and exclusive special events such as Winter Wonderland and XBIZ Honors, as well as post-conference events X3 Expo and the 2023 XBIZ Awards.

Stay tuned to XBIZ.com for upcoming event announcements.

LOS ANGELES — Gwyneth Paltrow’s brand Goop continues its sustained drive into the pleasure product/sexual health market with the debut of the new Heartthrob vibrator.

“In the sex toy aisle, vibration is the most obvious (and abundant) feature out there,” a rep commented. “But it’s not the start and end of solo pleasure. So we designed our fourth vibrator with a powerful tapping head that oscillates in and out.”

The Heartthrob, the rep noted, was designed to feel “like drumming or flicking, and it’s a totally different sensation from vibration alone.

“Try it once and you’ll fall in love — that’s why we called it Heartthrob,” the rep said.

The waterproof Heartthrob is made of silicone and features two motors with vibrations and patterns adding up to 100 different sensation settings.

The vibrator, which retails at $98, features a “tapping tip,” which oscillates in and out.

“Turn it on and place it gently on the clitoris,” the rep advised. “If it feels too intense at first, start by running the tapping head over the external and internal labia and orbiting around the clit, rather than touching it directly. You can play with the tapping motor’s three speeds and seven patterns — cycle through and let them surprise you.”

The second, vibrating motor is described as “strong, rumbly and exactly what we’re looking for in a classic vibrating toy.”

For more information about the Heartthrob, visit Goop.com.

STOCKHOLM — Nordic pleasure product brand RFSU has capitalized on a current scandal in the chess world over alleged cheating using anal toys, by referencing the controversy in a billboard advertising its butt plugs.

The ad was highlighted last week as “Ad of the Day” by marketing publication The Drum.

As XBIZ reported, the pleasure product sector has been abuzz with rumors that pro chess player Magnus Carlsen accused 19-year-old chess prodigy Hans Niemann of working with an accomplice who allegedly activated vibrating anal beads to guide Niemann’s play.

RFSU quickly “created a reactive campaign in a clever move to tout its products,” The Drum’s Amy Houston reported.

RFSU’s campaign involves billboards and social media posts targeted to Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

A company rep told The Drum that RFSU hopes the campaign “will return the butt plug to its rightful position — the hero.”

The Drum described one of the billboards as picturing a butt plug “which has been placed on top of a chess board and the cheeky copy reads, ‘This isn’t cheating. It’s a winning move.’”

Anette Otterström, communication and brand manager at RFSU AB, told The Drum that, “Finally, sex toys get their well-deserved time in the spotlight. However, we want to nuance the cheating accusations, since sex toys are incredible shortcuts to get people on top of their game in bed.”

The campaign was created by Valtech Radon with media support from Scream.

HANOVER, Germany — Honey Play Box made its debut at the eroFame show in Hanover last week.

The company debuted two new products at the show — the Joi rotating G-spot vibrator and the Warrior hands-free automatic masturbator.

“EroFame has a great deal of influence in the adult industry,” said a company rep. “That is why we are grateful to have the opportunity to showcase Honey Play Box and our products at the event. The pandemic has put a pause to the erotic industry and what better way to kick back into gear by being a part of eroFame.”

For more information, visit Honey Play Box online.

LOS ANGELES — The Dungeon Store has contributed a Gorean whip to this month’s Kinky Trivia in which contestants test their BDSM knowledge.

The Gorean whip is a flogger also known as a “Jailer’s Cat” and is part of the Dungeon Store’s curated collection of BDSM gear. This item is handmade and inspired by the science fiction Gorean novels written by John Norman.

“Big shout out to The Dungeon Store for making this beautiful item from such a well known book series,” the Kinky Trivia founders tweeted. “An even bigger thanks for donating it to Kinky Trivia’s prize box. Make sure you check out their shop for other amazing items for your toy bag.”

The Dungeon Store owner Anne Bryne expanded on the importance of the whip.

“The Traditional Gorean Whip is a special exclusive from our collection, and not available on our website,” said Anne Bryne, Owner of The Dungeon Store. “To purchase one, contact us at sales@thedungeonstore.com and inquire about availability and price.”

More about Kinky Trivia can be found here.

Follow the Dungeon Store online and Twitter.

LOS ANGELES — Harley Haze stars opposite Ricky Spanish in “Sexual Delivery,” a new scene from POV Adventure.

“Innocent Ricky Spanish was just trying to order food but his hot delivery driver Harley Haze has other ideas,” a rep described the scene.

“The latest POV Adventure from…director Sal Genoa features irresistible chemistry between Spanish, who has mastered the role of the naive young ma and Haze, who oozes with the confidence of a girl who knows exactly what she can get and how,” the rep continued.

“Sexual Delivery” is streaming on POVAdventure.

Follow Haze on Twitter.

VALENCIA, Calif. — Girlfriends Films won the Nightmoves Award for Best All-Girl Release for B. Skow’s “Mother-Daughter Exchange Club 61.”

Girlfriends Films President Moose took a moment to share their excitement over this recognition.

“We want to congratulate the folks at the Nightmoves Awards on their 30th Awards Show,” Moose said. “It’s an incredible accomplishment and we are honored to among this year’s winners.

“Congratulations to our amazing director, B. Skow, the entire crew, and of course the talented cast members. ‘Mother-Daughter Exchange Club’ has been a big part of our movie library and it’s a thrill to see the series continue to be recognized,” Moose continued.

Additionally, Moose acknowledged Kenzie Anne, Blake Blossom and other honorees connected to Girlfriends Films who were recognized for their work.

“Congratulations also to Lauren Phillips, Kenzie Anne, Blake Blossom, and all of this year’s winners and nominees. You have a lot to be proud of,” Moose concluded. “And we want to shout out our appreciation to all the fans and voters who have continued to support us for over twenty years.”

The full list of winners at this year’s NightMoves Awards can be found here.

Follow Girlfriends Films online and on Twitter.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In a new paper, Google researchers continue to classify explicit sexual material in the same category as “fake, hateful, or harmful content” that requires filtering.

In the research paper about the company’s proprietary AI technology, Google researchers write that although generative text-to-image AI models, like the popular Dall-E 2 viral images, have made “tremendous progress,” Google has decided not to release its version — called Imagen Video — until “concerns are mitigated” regarding potential misuse, “for example to generate fake, hateful, explicit or harmful content.”

In other words, as tech news site Tweak Town, which first flagged the Google paper, editorialized, Google “has subtly said that it won’t be releasing its new video-generating artificial intelligence system over it producing gore, porn and racism.”  

Google’s researchers and policymakers view depictions of human sexuality as part of the “problematic data” they see as presenting “important safety and ethical challenges.”

The researchers remain hopeful that, one day, they can develop better tools for censoring sexual content, but conclude that, at present, “though our internal testing suggests much of explicit and violent content can be filtered out, there still exists social biases and stereotypes which are challenging to detect and filter.”

The company has therefore decided not to release Imagen Video until it can fully censor “problematic content,” including “explicit material.”

The only paper quoted by the researchers directly concerning explicit content is titled “Multimodal Datasets: Misogyny, Pornography, and Malignant Stereotypes, which similarly bundles “pornography” into a category of “troublesome” material such as rape and racist slurs.