Marso 25, 2013

Bill Gates wants to build a better condom.

He's offering a $100,000 prize.
[T]he foundation is calling for new shapes, materials and packaging that "significantly preserve or enhance pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use."

Trojan and Durex have been trying to do this for decades with ribs, contours and lubricants.

But "we know empirically that those don't work as claimed," the Gates Foundation's Stephen Ward recently told the Humanosphere blog. "The idea here is to seed innovative ideas."
Should this win?


44 (na) komento:

David ayon kay ...

seed?

Maybe Ford can give them some ideas?

George M. Spencer ayon kay ...

Excel with Power Point

edutcher ayon kay ...

If it works like all his other products, there should be an epic population explosion.

Dante ayon kay ...

It's serious, right? Because AIDs sucks.

Sheepskin condoms are like having sex with a dead sheep. Does it count as bestiality?

Lucien ayon kay ...

New shapes??

Like what -- dog-leg left, dog-leg right, &c &c?

I'm not sure how different packaging can enhance the pleasure.

Is this Bill's idea, or Melinda's?

Renee ayon kay ...

They do I interfer with sex, because you have to pause to put it on no matter what.

Bender ayon kay ...

Oh the absurdity of our utilitarian sex society. Trying to improve sexuality mechanistically, rather than humanly.

tim maguire ayon kay ...

How is a mere $100,000 prize going to create any additional incentive to make a better condom? The better condom is itself a far greater prize han that.

Bender ayon kay ...

Sex is always less than optimal - and must necessarily be so - when you literally have a barrier between one person and the other.

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Condoms are like any other product, there are lots of great ideas that come along from time-to-time (actually quite a lot if you look around), but the shelf space is limited and controlled by a couple of key players.

That one's not going to slide into your wallet too easily.

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...
Naalis ng may-ari ang komentong ito.
edutcher ayon kay ...

If it fails, do you take it out, restart it, and then try again?

Mark O ayon kay ...

So the billionaire has become the analog to Sandra Fluke?

Here's a serious question. Does he still get the week with his former girlfriend?

kentuckyliz ayon kay ...

The best condom is no-condom. Srsly, uncontracepted sex is light years better than contracepted sex. If you've never tried it, give it a try. Wide open and full throttle. Yeah.

kentuckyliz ayon kay ...

Birds do it
Bees do it
Even monkeys in the trees do it

And no I wasn't talking about POTUS+FLOTUS.

Guimo ayon kay ...

Like taking a shower with a raincoat on.

Unknown ayon kay ...

When i think condoms the word Microsoft is the first thing that comes to mind.

gadfly ayon kay ...

Everything you ever wanted to know about condoms.

Michael ayon kay ...

This is a silly amount of money for something that could be truly valuable. Insulting small, actually.

I Have Misplaced My Pants ayon kay ...

The Catholics be reppin' this thread : )

And yes. Condom sex sucks.

SteveR ayon kay ...

That little hood deal looks like a buzz kill

Dante ayon kay ...

Following the Clinton Paula Jones affair, and his alleged rape of Juanita Broderick, I was learned about peyronie's disorder.

Subsequently, I understood from some giggling talk show hosts that the bent penis is pleasurable for women. So perhaps a condom that is tight on one side, bending the erect male penis, would be good for women.

I'm glad the POTUS has enlightened me in this manner.

edutcher ayon kay ...

I wish him all kinds of luck.

Guys will say, "Gates? The Microsoft? Sure, just what I want".

Synova ayon kay ...

It's not a condom, it's a fake vagina (I watched to the end and it even *said* so.)

I can see how that might be awesome for a man, but I'm just not seeing it from a female perspective.

(Monogamy has it's perks.)

Saint Croix ayon kay ...

Condom sex sucks.

In my experience, there is no sex that sucks. So to speak. It's all good. Even horrible sex is way more fun than anything else on the planet.

Saint Croix ayon kay ...

It's possible too that many people subconsciously want to have a baby. We have a biological desire to breed. We might not acknowledge it. We might deny it. But it's entirely possible that our massive numbers of birth control failures is, as Freud might say, no accident.

Known Unknown ayon kay ...

If his condom is anything like Vista, then forget it.

edutcher ayon kay ...

Saint Croix said...

Condom sex sucks.

In my experience, there is no sex that sucks. So to speak. It's all good. Even horrible sex is way more fun than anything else on the planet.


Helen Thomas?

Pelosi?

Big Sis?

Barbara Mikulski?

Revenant ayon kay ...

I don't see the prize having any measurable effect. The *market* payoff for such an invention would be measured in the billions of dollars, after all.

Astro ayon kay ...

I know of at least one thing worse than having sex while wearing a condom. Finding out a half hour later that you're allergic to sheepskin condoms.
Oh. Holy. Jesus. I cannot describe how excruciating that itch was.

madAsHell ayon kay ...

Is he still sore about that old joke??

Q: What did the newlywed Mrs. Gates find out on her honeymoon night??

A: It's both micro and soft!!

William ayon kay ...

Think outside the box. I recommend a condom that when sucked really hard tastes like high end chocolate and has mildly addictive properties. OK, it's a niche market, but within that niche I see effective penetration.

madAsHell ayon kay ...

oh, yeah....and better for who?

I didn't think women noticed a condom until the deed was done....cuz they didn't have to sleep in the wet spot.

I'm reading a comment here that contradicts that assumption.

Dr Hubert Jackson ayon kay ...

With re: to $100,000 being small it's not for the best product, it's for the best proposal.

So even though 100k dwarfs the amount of money to be made you don't have to actually do anything other than type out your idea. 100k risk free.

Hindi-nagpakilala ayon kay ...

Dang, you conservatives and Catholics are obsessed with sex.;)

Darrell ayon kay ...

I'm thinking about condoms made with shape-memory polymers that make your penis look like a corn cob, carrot, zucchini or whatnot when it reaches body temperature. You know, just as nature intended.

Send my prize money to AA and she will forward it-- less a respectable handling fee. Of course.

bagoh20 ayon kay ...

Both of those guys appear to have a painful degree of inflammation. I don't think increased sensitivity is what they need.

I Have Misplaced My Pants ayon kay ...

Catholics do it better, Inga ; )

bagoh20 ayon kay ...

"Catholics do it better, Inga ; )"

Out of habit, I assume.

Darrell ayon kay ...

Feminists do it bitter.

Darrell ayon kay ...

Feminists do it bitter.

Out of habit, I assume.

Tom ayon kay ...

Given the Microsoft experience, it's highly doubtful that Bill Gates will actually be able to come up with anything that completely block pop-ups.

Peter ayon kay ...

No, condoms do not come in small, medium and large.

They're sized as large, very large, and stupendously large!

Bruce Gee ayon kay ...

A Lend-Lease story: in the late thirties when the US was sending tons and tons of stuff to the Soviet Union to be used against Nazi Germany, the Soviets asked for condoms. Millions of them. Requested they be 18" long--sort of bragging and threatening at the same time. They condoms arrived from the US in due time, marked "Medium Size".

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