Earlier this week I had the good fortune to interview DannyZ, CFO of ZbuckZ.com. I was already a big fan of the Asian niche program, but after a few hours on the phone with Danny it was abundantly clear this company is a sleeping dragon.

At Dan’s request, I’ll keep most of what he shared with me under my hat for now, but suffice to say there’s a lot stuffed in that fedora. I can share with you that the ZbuckZ team has grown to 8 people, all busy cranking out some very cool stuff. You can expect their reputation for delivering innovative promotional tools to continue, and there are definitely more sites on the horizon.

I realize this is all very sketchy information, and I wish I could share more. I just felt like I needed to say something, because I was so blown away by what I heard. There’s a lot coming down the pipe at ZbuckZ.com, and its all good.

ZbuckZ.com sites:
Japanboyz
Gay Asian Amateurs
Boykakke

NakedSword.com and Falcon Studios present “Relief Is at Hand,” an XBiz Summer ‘06 Forum after-hours party unveiling their newest affiliate product, Home Delivery. The sweet suite party will feature Falcon models, promotional give-aways, a live DJ and, of course, a full bar. The new Home Delivery project marries the high-end content of Falcon Studios to technical prowess of NakedSword in an easy-to-use, high-conversion affiliate tool.

Webmasters and affiliates interested in learning more about Home Delivery are encouraged to contact Holly Ruprecht, Director of Affiliates and Partnerships for NakedSword (Holly((at))NakedSword.com).

This week FeedsNow.com announced the addition of two new Flash video feeds - Cowboy Flicks and Macho Fiesta. The company states they will be adding new feeds every two weeks, but did not indicate if gay videos would be included in every update.

The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) has activated an “Online Town Hall” located at www.asacp.org/townhall to open up the topic of self-labeling by adult sites for broad discussion, and to get feedback from all adult companies on this increasingly urgent topic.

At least two recently introduced Senate Bills (S3499 - the Internet Safety Act, and S3432 - the Project Safe Childhood Act) would require adult websites to label all pages featuring adult content or face stiff prison terms. The bills may face political and legal hurdles, and mandatory self-labeling by adult sites may or may not become federal law. However, according to ASACP’s Executive Director Joan Irvine, “No matter what happens, broad voluntary acceptance of self-labeling could help protect children online - and demonstrate the adult industry’s practical commitment to preventing children from viewing adult content.”

The ASACP Online Town Hall site features information about site labeling, plus a discussion forum where professionals throughout the adult industry can begin discussing the topic.

“ASACP represents the combined efforts of many adult companies when it comes to protecting children from adult material,” noted Irvine. “ASACP has stepped up on this issue, and will facilitate an industry-wide discussion. We’ve also been approached by both adult and mainstream companies about possibly helping to establish a new 18+ label, so we definitely want to hear back from the industry that has supported us for so long before proceeding in that direction.”

In addition to the Online Town Hall site, ASACP will help organize and participate in discussions related to self-labeling at upcoming adult industry conferences, including a panel at the XBiz Summer Forum and a session at Internext Summer.

On June 23, 2006 The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced the award nominees for the Gala 19th Annual Night of the Stars (NoS) Show, which will take place Saturday July 15, 2006, at the LA Center Studios in Los Angeles, California.

2006 Night of the Stars Nominees:

Lifetime Achievement Awards:
Actress - Jill Kelly
Actor - Marcus Spencer (aka Mr. Marcus)
Director - To Be Announced
Gay Actor - Michael Brandon
Gay Director - John Rutherford

The Good Guy Award - Bob Pyne Sr.
The Positive Image Award - To Be Announced
The Advocate Award - Angelina Spencer (ACE)

The Freedom Isn’t Free Award:
Dave Cummings
New Beginnings
Peekay

Sponsorship Opportunities for the NoS Awards program are still available. The deadline for all ad artwork is Wednesday June 28, 2006. Advertising and ticket inquiries should be directed to val((at))freespeechcoalition.com. Tickets may also be purchased online.

The FSC encourages everyone to come join the industry on this special night as it honors the individuals and companies that have distinguished themselves in their support of free speech. For more information, visit the Free Speech Coalition web site.

Four months ago AEBN launched xPeeps, the fastest growing on-line adult community, with over 100,000 members. Roughly a month ago, its sister site qPeeps was launched and showing the same strong momentum, with close to 3000 members.

According to AEBN, qPeeps is the world’s first free on-line Gay Community. qPeeps, the gay equivalent of their already-popular xPeeps, offers all the same perks and services, but is targeted specifically to directors, stars, surfers, and fans of gay adult content.

Both sites create an environment for members to make contacts, conduct business, find friends, increase one’s fan base, promote a product, or browse sexy user profiles. AEBN claims the potential to increase your bottom line is limitless as you begin to utilize the many features offered by xPeeps and qPeeps.

Members have access to community forums, an events calendar, personal blogs, and email services. New features are being added regularly, such as: a business directory and user-moderated groups. Now members can build public or private groups with their own picture galleries, descriptions, and forums. While the new business directory offers industry members an opportunity for free advertising of their products and services.

AEBN has not published any membership demographics for the two communities, but common sense suggests the majority are consumers. It remains to be seen how effective the two communities will be for true business-to-business networking. However, it’s an obvious slam-dunk for businesses wanting to get in front of a consumer base, something you typically would not be allowed to do in rival consumer properties.

You probably won’t see qPeeps as an excuse to completely abandon your favorite watering hole, but it does fit well with a larger marketing and networking strategy. Who knows, qPeeps may end up being the glue that pulls this fragmented gay adult industry back together again. And by establishing communities for both straight and gay, there’s also strong potential for building a much-needed bridge between the two - a position many community founders would like to be in by early next year.

LatinCash is now paying an extra $100 to anybody that sends 10 joins in a 10-day period. Once your total exceeds 10 joins, you will be given an extra $100. The sponsor pays 60% on rev-share, or up to $35 per sale. They also pay 10% on all webmaster referrals. Generous promotional materials are available, including FHGs.

LatinCash gay properties are:
Latin Boys
Latin Gay Lovers

This week PimpRoll announced two new gay properties - Ebony Clubz and Major Hunks. This gives affiliates a total of 12 gay properties to promote.

The two new sites allow webmasters to build their own tour, and there are ample promotional tools available. PimpRoll allows affiliates to promote sites with a wide range of price point options, including $1 trials that pay $25 per sign up.

The other PimpRoll properties include:
Black Cock Party
Ebony Knights
Gay Dream Boys
Gay Player
Homeboi Hookup
Hot Gay Porno
Prime Man Meat
Pure Asian Men
Stunning Studs
Supreme Cock

According to the latest Harris Poll, the number of adults who are online at home, in the office, at school, library or other locations continues to grow at a steady rate. In the past year, the number of online users has reached an estimated 172 million, a five percent increase. Harris Interactive calculates that 77 percent of U.S. adults are now online, up from 74 percent in February/April 2005, 66 percent in the spring of 2002, 64 percent in 2001 and 57 percent in spring of 2000. When Harris Interactive first began to track Internet use in 1995, only nine percent of adults reported they went online.

The proportion of adults who are now online at home has risen to 70 percent, up from 66 percent in 2005 and 55 percent in the spring of 2002. The percentage of those online at work has not really changed (35% now, 36% in 2005) yet is still up from 30 percent in the spring of 2002. Adults who are online at a location other than their home or work also remains steady at 22 percent (21% in 2005, 19% in the spring of 2002).

As Internet penetration rises, the demographic profile of Internet users continues to look more like that of the nation as a whole, says the report. However:

• More young than older people, and more affluent than low-income people, are online
• Eight percent of those online are now age 65 or over (compared to 16% of all adults who are 65 or over)
• 39 percent of those online (compared to 47% of all adults) did not go to college
• 14 percent have incomes of less than $25,000 (compared to 19% of all adults)

Source: MediaPost Communications

Attendees are encouraged to take advantage of Internext’s early-bird registration discount. Registering now at Internext-Expo.com will save registrants $50. Registration fees for the all-access passes to the Westin Diplomat Hotel & Spa are $250 until Friday, June 30.

Internext will be sponsoring an opening night party, Thursday, August 3, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. by the pool to kick off the three-day conference. Attendees are encouraged to come early and enjoy live music as well as the complimentary mai tais and hors d’oeuvres, and get to know the people they will be doing business with in a fun and festive atmosphere.

If you are planning a party or even, notify Teri [Teri((at))Internext-Expo.com] and she will get it listed on Internext-Expo.com.

For information on exhibiting, sponsorship, and advertising opportunities, contact your account executive or email Teri((at))Internext-Expo.com. For more information on the event and to get the full seminar schedule, visit Internext-Expo.com, or contact Press((at))Internext-Expo.com or call (818) 718-5788.

Internext is a business-to-business online and digital media adult trade show. The bi-annual trade show is held in Las Vegas each January and in Hollywood, Florida each August. Internext was originally conceptualized in 1997 to provide networking and new business opportunities for the adult online market. Their goal is to provide the optimum forum and access to support products, services, information and education for webmasters to succeed online.