At a small and private teledildonics demonstration on June 1, 2005, sex writer Violet Blue, while in San Francisco, induced two orgasms in her partner, who was riding a custom-made mega-vibrator known as a Thrillhammer at the Museum of Sex in New York City. The event included a few technical hitches: At one point the woman (shown here at a different demonstration) knocked an electrical cord out of the socket. It seems that teledildonics—remote-control vibrator sex via computer—has a long way to go.

Meanwhile, a week after Blue's show, a retired oil-industry executive received a patent for a vibrator improvement that he contends will do for ordinary citizens what the orgasmatron did for the characters in Woody Allen's Sleeper: allow them to achieve climax without any physical exertion whatsoever. The invention, which toysinmotion.com recently began selling, is a special motor that serves as a connection between a cordless screwdriver and a conventional vibrator. Unlike other similar machines on the market, its inventor contends, it thrusts and swivels, thereby eliminating any need for labor on the part of the user. And at $139.95, it's a relative bargain.