COLORADO SPRINGS – The first time I heard the voice of James Hetfield, it was growl-shouting the words “Lashing out the action, returning the reaction / Weak are ripped and torn away / Hypnotizing power, crushing all that cower / Battery is here to stay!” Soon, evidently, I’ll be...

AMSTERDAM – Three-quarters of American consumers age 18 or older believe producing or sharing pirated video content is illegal, and 69 percent believe streaming or downloading pirated content is illegal. Nevertheless, 32 percent admit watching content they know has been pirated,...

LAS VEGAS – During a cocktails-and-hors-d’oeuvres reception Thursday evening, AVN Media Network presented the eighth annual “O” Awards to 12 products considered best of the best in the industry. The late Joanni Blank received a 13th: The “O” Award for Lifetime Achievement. The...

LOS ANGELES – He both scandalized and entertained — often in the same breath. Some folks loved him for his big heart; others loathed him for his sometimes pugnacious nature … but nobody ignored him. William Margold — performer, director, producer, writer, activist, gadfly,...

PHOENIX – In June 2013, Phoenix police raided what they called a “self-serve porn studio” near Sky Harbor Airport, charging William James Hartwell and six women with various prostitution-related crimes. Now, three and one-half years later, Hartwell’s trial is finally is poised to...

CHICAGO – A new player on the pleasure products scene has introduced what it believes is the world’s first Tantric pleasure toy. Tantriss’s designers created Umie “to bring the ancient art of Tantra [into] the 21st century.” Controlled by a 12-frequency/10-mode microchip,...

CYBERSPACE – A new report on TorrentFreak suggests the biggest platform for content piracy is not any of the usual tube site or torrent suspects. Instead, the elephant in the thievery room may be the original tube site itself: YouTube. According to the report, “Google’s servers...

SAN FRANCISCO – When I first heard about Kink.com acquiring the Mission District Armory in San Francisco some years ago, I thought of the moment as a potential watershed for the progress of the American adult entertainment industry. A porn studio poised to operate (openly!) in a...

CHATSWORTH, Calif. – The Diamond Products family of companies — Pipedream Products, Jimmyjane and Sir Richard’s — introduced refreshed product lines and new products during the ANME Founders Show in Burbank Jan. 14-15 in Burbank, California. Pipedream introduced a refreshed take...

BISMARCK, N.D. – For many years, I believed former attorney Jack Thompson, the man who once prosecuted 2 Live Crew for obscenity, spent years concocting and promoting flawed legislation that sought to regulate video games like pornography and was later disbarred for a variety of...