Reclassified
Everybody got reclassified this week. Apple adds a "Dating and Relationships" rating that puts a virtual companion with romantic content next to the dating apps, 18+ from November 16. Match Group's Hinge tests a cheaper plan "for price-sensitive users" while Tinder's daily users grow for the first time in three and a half years. A YouGov poll for an erotica site comes with a shopping list (REPORTED), and a study finds seeming human isn't "inherently harmful" (REPORTED). Lovehoney and Lily Allen turn album merch into "the real-deal", and advent season opens early in the sex-toy aisle, beside a toy that looks like a thermos (REPORTED). And Halcyon's developer inbox is still open, so Vera filled in the age-rating form herself. Every claim on this episode is real and cited. The full receipts, with every outlet and link, are on the episode page at meatwareafterdark.com. Two processes that used to run a dead intimacy-hardware startup kept running after the company stopped paying the hosting bill. The only bandwidth left is three to four in the morning. A Spaceship Alpha 9 transmission. Signal finds signal.
