79 REMOTE KISS

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BIZARRE ACCESSORY ALLOWS LONG-DISTANCE LOVERS' KISSES

Remote Kiss, a weird phone accessory that recently hit the Chinese market, allows users to experience the intimacy of kissing, even when they are thousands of miles apart.

Advertised as a way to allow long-distance couples to experience physical closeness, Remote Kiss relies on pressure sensors, small motors, and soft silicone to recreate the users’ kisses anywhere in the world, so long as the lovers both have a Remote Kiss and an Internet connection. According to some sources, the unique gadget can even detect and replicate the temperature of a user’s lips as well as the sounds of someone’s kiss.

Remote Kiss has been available on Chinese online marketplace Taobao for some time now, but it only recently went viral after people started sharing photos of the product on social media.

Remote Kiss looks like a strangely-shaped recharging dock and only works when connected to a phone’s charging port. It comes with a companion app that enables the connection between two different devices, after asking for the consent of both users.

The inventor of this unusual device is Jiang Zhong-li, a graduate of the Changzhou Vocational Institute of Mechatronic Technology. He created it a few years back as a university project and applied for a patent in 2019. That patent expired this year, and commercial versions quickly appeared online. Jiang was surprised to see his idea become so popular and said that he hoped people would improve on his design.

“In my university days, I was in a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, so we only contacted each other by phone. That is where the inspiration for this device originated,” Jiang said.

The concept of an “electronic interface enabling kiss communication” has been around for a while. However, Remote Kiss has a couple of advanced features that set it apart, while also making it more controversial. The app allows people to exchange kisses with strangers, and users also have the option of uploading their kisses for others to experience.

Remote Kiss is currently available on Taobao for 288 yuan (USD$41), and before you ask, no, it is not capable of French kissing, although we do not doubt that someone will find a way to fill that need as well.