Lifestyle

Setting your bedsheets ablaze with the Lovense Solace Pro

The closest proxy I could find where I’m guilty as sin

Published

September 7, 2026

MJ Jucutan

For almost a decade, I’ve reviewed gadgets. I used to tell people some of them are easy to evaluate. Switch them on, test what they can do, decide if they’re worth your money.

A few years ago, I dabbled in the intersection of pleasure and technology. I hadn’t thought about testing another intimate device until the Lovense Solace Pro was offered to me during a trip to London.

Writing about it felt unexpectedly difficult. It’s a piece of technology built explicitly around intimacy, and I had just parted ways with someone I loved deeply.

It feels surreal to write about physical pleasure when your heart is somewhere else entirely. In between panic attacks, I found myself seeing visions, longing for trysts without ever touching his skin, indulging in fatal fantasies that gave way to labored breath.

No one warns you how grief blurs the line between wanting to be touched and refusing it entirely. I craved connection; I just couldn’t bring myself to ask for it from someone real.

In a moment of raw vulnerability, I reached out to the Lovense Solace Pro. It was the closest proxy I had to an experience I genuinely wanted with someone who was no longer there.

Guilty as Sin?

This wasn’t my first time testing technology built around intimacy. I still remember when placing a Bluetooth chip inside a sex toy felt like a novel concept.

Back then, app connectivity just meant adding remote controls to something that already worked on its own. Sex technology has grown considerably more sophisticated since, and Lovense has continually pushed that evolution forward.

The Solace Pro shows how far their ecosystem has extended beyond basic app controls. It combines connected devices, interactive patterns, content synchronization, and artificial intelligence.

The AI-powered thrusting stroker is designed for hands-free use and comes with a sturdy desk mount. Holding the 1.2kg device during a session tires your hands fast, which makes the mount a necessary addition, not a bonus.

The mount lets you adjust the angle up to 180 degrees. Hands-free works only when the alignment actually matches your body.

Mounting the toy to my office desk and adjusting my chair height worked well enough. But I no longer have the reckless enthusiasm of an eighteen-year-old who can indulge anywhere.

The bedroom remains my sacred space for intimacy.

One slip and falling back into the hedge maze

The standalone hardware gives you plenty of built-in controls to adjust stroke speed and intensity in small increments.

But opening the Lovense Remote app unlocks a much higher level of personalization. Pleasure is deeply subjective, so having room to experiment matters.

The app lets you explore various patterns and build your own sequences. It’s built to let you discover what suits your body, rather than forcing your body to adapt to the hardware.

The AI Sync feature stands out. It pairs the device’s movements with interactive content or livestreams through VibeMate, an AI browser that syncs using audio cues.

During a 36-minute session watching my favorite creator, Titus Low, the tracking stayed smooth and lag-free. The feature works just as well in practice as it sounds on a product page.

Beyond video sync, AI Play and Game Mode offer more interactive options. The real appeal isn’t replacing human intimacy.

It’s making solo routines feel less repetitive, giving your senses dynamic stimuli to respond to.

What if the way you hold me is actually what’s holy?

Lovense rates the Solace Pro at up to 300 strokes per minute. I couldn’t, as a matter of fact, count how many strokes there were when pleasure enveloped my whole body.

The soft TPE sleeve does a lot of the work here. It keeps the experience feeling supple, not rigid, despite the heavy hardware around it.

Ambient sound shapes the mood too. The device is rated at 63dB, about the volume of an ordinary conversation. The mechanical noise gets more noticeable at higher intensity.

I get distracted by the sound, so I turn up whatever I’m watching to compensate. Earbuds work even better if you want the sensation to lead, not the machine’s hum.

Battery life is respectable. Lovense rates it at 14 hours of use, 120 hours on standby. Two months in, I still haven’t drained it, and I haven’t charged it since.

You’re unlikely to use it continuously anywhere close to 14 hours, though. But keeping that in mind, that kind of battery life still means plenty of sessions between charges.

They don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly

Like most devices from the brand, the Solace Pro supports partner syncing for long-distance play.

Releasing control of my pleasure to a partner sounds intoxicating in theory, yet having a feature designed for someone you love feels haunting when that person is no longer in your life.

The device became something to lean on through the grief, stepping in during moments when I longed for the touch of my former partner.

It highlighted the strange borderland between fantasy and reality, where you try to keep these longings locked inside a vault while your imagination does everything it can to break the door down.

In those quiet moments, the fantasy alone is enough to make my bedsheets feel ablaze. There are nights when I have screamed his name into the silence, feeling the longing building up like waves, crashing over my grave.

Beyond the emotional weight, the practical side of owning an intimate device is also emotionally taxing. It requires proper maintenance.

Keeping the toy clean and completely dry is simple ’cause you remove the inner sleeve, rinse it, and let it drip-dry. And the sleeve is easily replaceable, meaning, the entire unit remains useful over time.

Amidst all this grief and longing, who needs a boy when you can have a toy? At least this one isn’t going to make you cry while you’re 30,000 feet up in the sky.

Is the Lovense Solace Pro your GadgetMatch?

At US$399, the Lovense Solace Pro is a premium intimate device. The question, then, isn’t whether its connected technology justifies the price. It’s whether you actually want all that technology wrapped around the experience.

Swipe Right if you’re looking for a premium solo experience with smart features, hands-free control, and enough customization to keep things from feeling repetitive. Get it here.

If you’re looking for a simple stroker that you can pick up and get the job done, consider this a Swipe Left.

The Solace Pro makes sense for someone who wants to explore physical pleasure without asking themselves to be emotionally available to another person before they’re ready.

It gives you control over how you experience pleasure, whether that means letting the app dictate the rhythm, experimenting with different patterns, or simply finding your own pace.

Honestly, technology cannot replicate the feeling of being wanted by someone you love. It cannot replace their hands, their presence, or the connection that makes intimacy mean something. Instead, it gives you agency over your own experience.

The Solace Pro cannot replicate the person I want. It cannot make me forget him, either. What it can do is give me somewhere to put the longing when it gets too loud.

Related Topics:Lovense Lovense Solace Pro

Lifestyle

MediCard’s MedGo app can scan your face for health risks

AI-powered Face Scan previews your vitals, cardiovascular risks, and mental wellbeing in one go.

Published

October 21, 2026

MJ Jucutan

Most people know when they should be looking after their health. The harder part is acting on it.

AIA Philippines’ 2026 Rethink Healthy study found that 70% of Filipinos reject a “bahala na” attitude toward their physical health, yet 83% only act after a personal or family crisis.

MediCard, the healthcare arm of AIA Philippines, is aiming at that gap with MedGo, its upgraded digital healthcare platform.

Two features stand out for anyone interested in getting ahead of a health concern: Face Scan and the EASE mental wellbeing program.

Face Scan reads your vitals from your face

Face Scan uses AI to scan your face and pick up on the blood vessels beneath the skin, which works best with proper lighting. From there, it assesses your vitals, flags possible risks such as cardiovascular ones, and gives you a read on your mental wellbeing.

The results work as a preview of where your health might be heading, which makes the data useful even when the numbers look good.

Face Scan is a screening tool, though, and a good result is a reason to feel encouraged rather than a replacement for a regular check-up.

If a result raises questions, the feature includes a link to a teleconsult, so you can talk to a professional right after seeing your data. Face Scan is currently available for select accounts only.

EASE puts mental health support a few taps away

EASE is MediCard’s mental health and wellbeing program. It lets members quickly talk to a mental health professional, a dietitian, or a fitness coach.

It also comes with resources on mental health and wellbeing, so you can read up on your own before or after a conversation.

In photo: MediCard CEO Julian Mengual

The answer to the usual healthcare headache

MedGo also covers the everyday tasks of being a MediCard member. You can pull up your Digital ID, check your benefits and coverage, request a Letter of Authorization (LOA), book appointments, and search for MediCard clinics, doctors, hospitals, and other accredited providers. Online consultation services are available as well.

Reimbursements follow a simpler path. Members can file a claim, upload the required documents, and follow the status of the request in the app. MediCard says this works through automated case creation and better tracking.

MediCard also says the redesign responds to common healthcare app complaints like downtime, login trouble, and slow performance.

On speed, the company says applicable automated LOA submissions now get a response in under three seconds. That figure comes from MediCard and covers only the submissions that qualify for automation.

Built around your existing doctors

MedGo works alongside the clinics, doctors, and hospitals members already use. MediCard’s physical clinics and nationwide provider network remain central to the experience, and the app is a more convenient way to reach them.

The platform was also built for easier integration with third-party partners, and MediCard says a dedicated team will keep expanding services through regular updates shaped by member feedback.

The launch is part of MediCard’s evolution since AIA Philippines acquired it in 2023.

Entertainment

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 now streaming, Cyberpunk 2077 update coming

Edgerunners returns to Night City

Published

October 21, 2026

Rodneil Quiteles

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is now streaming on Netflix, with all 10 episodes available to watch. CD PROJEKT RED and animation studio TRIGGER have also announced a new update for Cyberpunk 2077, bringing content inspired by the anime to the game.

The Edgerunners 2 Update (Update 2.5) launches on October 22, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A Nintendo Switch 2 release will follow shortly.

Edgerunners returns with a new cast

Set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 tells a standalone story through an entirely new cast of characters. The series follows a veteran edgerunner, a young cinephile, a chrome-obsessed delinquent, and a Snake Nation netrunner as their stories explore vengeance and redemption in Night City.

Director Kai Ikarashi leads the new installment, with Kanno Ichigo serving as lead character designer. Masahiko Otsuka returns as a collaborator, while Bartosz Sztybor serves as showrunner, story writer, and producer.

Both Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 are available exclusively on Netflix.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new update

CD PROJEKT RED announced the Edgerunners 2 Update alongside the anime’s premiere on October 20. The free update will introduce new items and features to Cyberpunk 2077, including content inspired by the new series.

The update launches on October 22 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. CD PROJEKT RED has yet to announce the Nintendo Switch 2 release date beyond confirming that it will follow shortly.

The studio will reveal more details during a special episode of REDstreams on October 21. The broadcast will air on Twitch, YouTube, and Steam, with official patch notes scheduled for release on the same day.

Entertainment

Now Playing: Clayface

Finally, a supervillain story worth watching.

Published

October 21, 2026

GadgetMatch

The thing about supervillain movies is that they rarely let their villain be a villain. From Venom to Kraven the Hunter, they’re contrarian dreck that reframe a mass murderer as a “misunderstood anti-hero” who’s overshadowed by a corny do-gooder. Boo hoo. Thankfully, Clayface got the memo to not do that, even if it came pretty close.

Clayface reimagines how rising actor Matt Hagen becomes one of Batman’s most (literally) monstrous enemies. Here, Matt is horribly disfigured by gangsters then abandoned by his friends. He finds hope in Dr. Caitlyn Corr’s genetic experiments, but loses his body, mind and soul as her miracle cure enables his worst impulses.

Basically, Clayface is everything Joker failed to be. It’s a sympathetic origin story for a twisted Batman villain, but it doesn’t make excuses for them. If Joker scapegoats Arthur Fleck’s madness and anarchy on the nebulous enemy that is Society the way an aimlessly rebellious teenager would, Clayface throws all the blame and consequences on Matt — and Matt alone.

I like how Matt’s story is a tragedy of his own making. He wasn’t always evil, and he really was wronged by scum. Worse, his identity is cracking, which is a bit of psychological torment that I wish the movie dwelled on more. And yet, he always had a way out. He just keeps choosing the cruelest and greediest options instead.

This is the kind of agency most supervillain movies — or any movie about a juvenile anti-hero fighting The System, really — lack, but Clayface has an abundance of. There was a moment I thought that the movie would still side with Matt despite everything he’s done, only for him to cross a line. In the end, he can only blame himself when he loses everything and everyone.

However, I was let down by Clayface’s violence. There’s blood and guts, alright, but they’re too inconsistent. For every morbidly satisfying disemboweling or close-up of a nasty scarring, there’s a moment where the movie cuts away from these too early. I lost count of how many times Clayface jumped to the next scene before really letting blades sink into flesh, or how many of Matt’s kills were done offscreen.

Minus the pivotal deaths, the kills are also not as diverse as I’d hope from a killer powered by Play-Doh and imagination. It’s just variations of stabbing and bludgeoning. My issue isn’t a lack of brutality, but that this reluctance to push it further or just show it gives the well-built tension a lackluster payoff. A movie about superpowered revenge in one of fiction’s vilest hellholes should be more depraved and creative.

To be fair, this is more the fault of the movie’s constraints, not a lack of skill or thought. Effects cost time and money that Clayface clearly didn’t have a lot of. This would also explain why Matt is limited to identity theft not by molding himself, but via clever camera work. For what it’s worth, I see and respect the smart workarounds the movie found to deliver the dread.

Still, I like Clayface. It’s the rare supervillain movie that’s self-aware and honest about its darkness. It humanizes its villain, but commits to their monstrosity while rejecting forced redemption. It’s also a grisly thriller that works on its own merits, yet complements DC Comics’ latest growing cinematic world. That said, Batman can’t arrive sooner to beat Matt’s melted face in.