** Continued From: Internext Las Vegas 2004! - Part #1
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"There are very things that will draw me out into the world of other humans. One of those things is INTERNEXT, Las Vegas." |
Even though I had set the alarm feature on my cellphone for 9:00 AM, I didn’t get to the show until around one in the afternoon. That turned out to be a good thing because the registration line was markedly shorter than it was at 10:00 AM last year. I filled out my form, paid my money, got my badge and me and my little camera set off to schmooze the show.
I don’t have hard figures on this show but to me it seemed like there were a tich fewer attendees this year. Not to say that was a bad thing. Frankly I think there were less looky-loos, less non-adult people. I made a beeline to the ASACP booth because this year I was determined to get an interview with Joan Irvine. She saw me and recognized me from last year, which was pretty amazing, considering I had to reintroduce myself to about 95% of the folks I met at Vegas 2003. Naturally, Joan was super busy, but she promised I would get that interview before it was all over. I did but I’m saving it for another article.
After Joan, I got a big hug from YNOT Bob who told me LAJ couldn’t come this year because he was in a hospital waiting for his baby to be born. I spoke with the folks from Adult Chamber for a bit. They were going to announce the winner of the Webmaster of the Year contest on Tuesday. Both Raven from Cozy Campus and Sin-Text and Princess from Rated Hot were nominees.
This year’s booths were pretty nice. Silvercash had pretty much the same setup they had last year but it was one hell of a setup. Adult.com/Playboycash had a very nice area on the floor as did Hustler, Candid Hosting, Reflected Networks and XBIZ.
The big surprise for everyone was the Real Networks booth. They were there in conjunction with PPV networks. I wasn’t surprised. I knew Real would be there. I was counting on it. After circling their area about ten times I bussed up the nerve to ask them the big question:
"Excuse me. But I write articles for an adult webmaster publication. Do you folks have any comments about the Acacia DMT patents?"
Each and every one of the Real Networks folks bowed their heads and grinned. They told me that none of them were qualified to make an official statement about the case. They also told me their official spokesperson would be at the CES show and if I wanted a statement, I could ask then. But of course, I wasn’t going to CES. Nevertheless, my belief is that Real Networks came to INTERNEXT as a sign of support for our industry. But that’s just my opinion.
I spent the rest of the day looking for booths of companies who were new to this whole Internet porn thing. There were quite a few. Not new to porn, just new to Internet porn. I spoke with fulfillment providers, video technology providers and various other businesses who knew enough to come to this show.
Here’s a small collection of some of the folks I talked to at both days of the show:
P.G. Kent-Snowsell (Barrister), XXXPressToys.com. Campoint.de, AdultLaw.com, Luvtoys.com, LandofModels.com, AdvertisingLink.com, WorldWideContent.com, G8Wave.com, BellsDirectory.com, WebmasterKnowledgeBase.com and 405-Media.com.
For me, my most delightful surprise came when I was sharing a lunch table with some fellows who had a new billing service. 123Bill.com isn’t just your ordinary IPSP. This company is also legally qualified to verify age. To me, this was the highlight of the whole show. Finally, a biller who can absolutely, positively verify the age of members! The surprise came when I found out that 123Bill was the brainchild of Brad Mitchell, owner of SinEmpire. Brad is respected, honest and had just found out his wife was pregnant with their second child. It was a fertile show this year!
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After the first day of the show, I finally hooked up with Shemp at the Venetian Circle Bar. I’ve known Shemp in the cyber-sense for six years and meeting him in person was a delight. He gave me one of his swell lapel pins and I wore it faithfully for the rest of my time in Vegas.
I had a very nice talk with Princess who won the Webmaster of the Year Award! Then Shemp took me to the XtremePays party, which was body-to-body. I spent most of the time in the hall because I’m somewhat claustrophobic. Regardless, I saw lots of cool folks there. I met GreenGuy and Gonzo from Oprano. I saw Boneprone and his beautiful wife. Hank from MrSkin kissed my hand. I even got some shots of a happy fellow being tied up by a bald dominatrix. I went back to my room after that. I was partied out.
The next day, I did the schmooze thing all over again. The best part was getting to meet the gorgeous Neriah Davis at the Candid Hosting booth. What a sweet woman. More beautiful in person than even her pictures. The second day, I did more chatting with old friends like Mayor Mike and Atom from PornCity. I had my very informative sit-down with Joan from ASACP. The Holio guys and me shared unflattering remarks about Acacia. At the end of the day, I even had an impromptu mini-seminar with a couple of newbies.
Later, I did my best to spend time with Shemp. Let me tell you, for an old codger, that guy is go, go, go! I was going to go to the Gameworks party with he and the pretty Orgasmics, but I had forgotten my badge. Probably best, because I had to leave early the next day. I said my goodbyes to Shemp and headed back to Treasure Island.
It was a great time. I met new people. I had reunions with old friends. I spread the Cozy gospel and all was good. Of all the folks there, only two were rude to my face. Pretty good odds, if you ask me!