I witnessed my first 4th of July extravaganza in 1998, my 1st year in the US as a transplanted immigrant. To be in the “land of the free” was a great accomplishment, that sustained me through the tough times, both financial and emotional. The sensation was that everything is possible; with hard labor any dream can become a reality - in the US of A.

Today, America has lost its luster, both to the world and internally. After almost eight years of the Bush administration presiding over the choices and freedoms of the American people, it is evident that a lot of damage has been done to the statue of Liberty - its patina depicts an aging of outdated ideas and acts.

On Independence Day, there are 4,113 fallen soldiers that lost their lives fighting an invasive war in Iraq, thousands of miles away from home. This second Vietnam has no lesser effect to the lives of the families that lost their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and relatives - to the pretext of freedom fighting. One man’s ego has led these men and women to an untimely death - all 4,113 of them so far.

With elections approaching fast in less than 120 days, now it’s the time to ponder about the words that politicians use with regards to what constitutes freedom, independence and patriotism. While the US liberated Europe in WWII and offered its strong arm assisting the distraught European nations, today’s America is not a liberator - it’s an enforcer of political will unrelated to the basics that this great nation was built on. Americans cannot sustain four more years of conservative, aggressive, insanely uncivilized politicians like Bush and Cheney through a McCain presidency.

On this Independence Day, let’s watch the movie “Born on the 4th of July” to realize that freedom is not gained by launching and perpetuating wars but by ending conflicts, ensuring international cooperation and symbiosis, educating the people and by reaching out in the middle of the fire to cease it.

The fireworks are definitely beautiful - but war isn’t.

It can only happen in the United States of America, which is about to celebrate its two-hundred and thirty-second anniversary of independence, on July 4th.

Americans are a nation of hard-working, ingenious people that maintain one element unique around the world: united, they are able to share, create and prosper in any kind of weather, under the protective shield of the All-American Dream.

Simple ideas become entrepreneurial forces that catapult individuals and companies to the top of their industry; combined with the ingenuity possessed by people that are given the opportunity to prosper, it’s an unstoppable force.

Enter Nick Spanos, NYC real estate broker who also happens to be a 3rd generation Greek. Nick owns bAPPLE.com - short for “Big Apple” - a company that deals in premium, multi-million dollar real estate based off SoHo, NY.

I met Nick at TRAFFIC / Orlando in May; he’s the type of guy that looks at you in the eyes and can tell whether you are a bullshitter or not. In the late 70’s, Nick had a prolific encounter with Steve Jobs at the Homebrew Computer Club. Apparently, Apple eventually used one of Nick’s sinus plotting functions in their range of computers; Nick’s affection of geometry led him to create his own computer board. Later on, in the 90’s, Nick began investing in virtual real estate - domain names - and his current 10,000-strong portfolio contains both generics and traffic names, which Nick monetizes using software that he created.

But Nick Spanos is a strong player in the non-virtual real estate field as well. Nick’s ambitious expansion from his Union Square offices to the bAPPLE, Inc. headquarters in SoHo - the premium location in the heart of Manhattan next to world-famous luxury stores - is only an illustration of his commitment to meet the demands of his extensive clientèle, which includes real estate brokerage in Florida, Panama and Greece.

While the US remains in recession, Nick turned his focus to the market that presents increased opportunities: European buyers. With the Euro currently trading at $1.57, cash-laden investors that visit the US and its metropolitan center, New York City, are able to get more premium real estate for their money. In fact, most of bAPPLE’s buyers pay hard cash, something unheard of for the mortgage-driven Americans. And that’s great news for Nick Spanos, who was invited by CNBC to present his successful story this morning, to viewers around the globe.

Click here to view Nick Spanos on CNBC

So what is it going to be, real estate or virtual real estate? Land that we can walk onto and live on, or domain names that we cannot touch but we can equally develop, monetize and resell? In today’s economy, diversification is the key, and Nick seems to have discovered the best combination, successfully delving in both!

The following is excerpted from the movie Johnny Dangerously:

Lil: Get this to Johnny on the grapevine: Vermin is going to kill Johnny’s brother at the Savoy Theater tomorrow night. Got it?

Polly: Got it.

Polly: Vermin is going to kill Johnny’s brother at the savoy theater pass it on.

Prisoner: Vermin is going to kill Johnny’s brother at the Savoy Theater tonight. Pass it on.

Prisoner: Vermin is going to kill Johnny’s mother at the Savoy Theater tonight. Pass it on.

Prisoner: Vermin’s mother is going to kill Johnny tonight at the Savoy Theater. Pass it on.

Prisoner: [gibberish]

Prisoner: There’s a message on the grapevine, Johnny.

Johnny: Yeah, what is it?

Prisoner: Johnny and the Mothers are playin’ “Stompin’ At The Savoy” in Vermont tonight.

Johnny: Vermin’s going to kill my brother at the Savoy Theater tonight?

Prisoner: I didn’t say that.

Johnny: No, but I know this grapevine.

This morning, the news in the domain grapevine had it that a domain name, Israel.com, had sold for $5.88 million via Moniker’s auction platform. Before noon was over, blog after blog and forum after forum had passed along the information, adding their own little twist to the story. Some said the buyer was an Israeli tycoon, others said it was a Jewish woman investor from a large corporation in New York City. Others, preferred to ponder how much Israel.mobi would sell for.

It turns out that the domain was not sold after all. So much for the rich Jewish lady from NYC; if you know her, I’d like to get her number.

The point is, today’s media possess powers that by far exceed those of the traditional media. In the old days of centralized points of information, the newspaper with the false piece of news would frantically retract all the issues and the poorly-paid paperboys would deliver a fresh edition of the news. On the radio or the tv, an announcement would be made, correcting the mistake - obvious or not - and everything would be put in place, more or less.

After news of the alleged sale broke out, the Moniker people scrambled to issue frantic statements that no such sale had taken place; but by that time, the cat was out of the bag: blogs relay news in a non-linear fashion, they beam out information to all directions, that is picked up from other info processing points on the web; some are rather influential in the way that such information is passed along. All of a sudden, a non-sale became a sale.

So bloggers, amateur or semi-pro, be careful out there: the grapevine game has consequences. Double-check your sources, or better still, differentiate from the rest of the media and provide content, criticism and analysis on your blogs, instead of plain xeroxing of random press releases.

Now, did you hear the one about the upcoming sale of a two-word, hyphenated IDN .mobi for over seven figures?

Best-looking Booth Award: Market Leverage
Runner-ups: Skenzo, DomainSponsor

Most Friendly Booth staff Award: DomainSponsor
Runner-ups: Parked.com, TrafficZ

Most Dynamic Exhibitor Logo: Skenzo
Runner-ups: Market Leverage, Fabulous

Most Recognizable Logo Award: Moniker

Most Recognizable Person Award: Ron Jackson of DNJournal (& his new SONY camera)
Runner-ups: Rick Schwartz, Howard Nue

Sharpest Dresser Award: Rob McClinton - DomainSponsor
Runner-ups: Ammar Kubba - TrafficZ, Sean Stafford of DNZoom & the two blonde ladies that were with him

Friendly Smile Award: Jen Fluker & Debby Banning - Market Leverage
Runner-ups: the TrafficZ booth ladies, Sahar Sarid

Tallest Exhibitor staff Award: Matt Bentley - Sedo
Runner-ups: Jen Fluker - Market Leverage

Heart & Soul of Afterhours Parties Award: Nick Spanos - Bapple.com

Best Hawaiian Shirt Award: Rick Schwartz
Runner-ups: Ron Jackson, Theo Develegas

Most Likely to appear in a photo at TRAFFIC Award: Kina Merdinian - Domains 4 Business

Most Promising Young Entrepreneur: Steven Kennedy (scrsteven at DNForum)
Runner-up: Sean Stafford - DNZoom

Most Noticeable Absentee: John Berryhill
Runner-ups: Adam Dicker, Greg Ricks

Oddest place to exchange business cards: At the men’s bathroom (yet, it happened).

The food was of top quality, nutritious, tasty and of large variety and quantity. Indeed, we were treated like kings! Congratulations to all the organizers of the TRAFFIC / Orlando conference and greetings to all of you that participated one way or another.

Here are some more pictures from the event!

TRAFFIC is not your average type of conference. It’s a gateway to a multitude of opportunities, an entry point, an initiation to what’s behind the conference name and its mythology. The biggest challenge is shedding the attitude of a strict business person while acknowledging the contribution and success of hundreds of other professionals. As an entrepreneur and a person who believes in communication with other individuals, I entered TRAFFIC prepared to not only talk but to also listen carefully to what others had to say. It was an opportunity to sharpen my social skills, display my work, my assets and also repair damage done by my well-known online persona at various forums.

The people attending TRAFFIC are professionals that all maintain their own distinct personality. They are men and women of various ethnic and social backgrounds, races and ages. They are there to not only benefit their business but to also contribute to the very industry that generates their wealth. It’s an approach and attitude that differs from the cut-throat world of broader technology and it’s a method designed to know and appreciate the person behind the business and the brand.

At TRAFFIC, I was able to learn from the speakers and exhibitors about the directions our domain industry is currently heading to. Every single day, I learned from the subjects presented, the questions that were asked and I gained more confidence for myself and my future ventures. TRAFFIC was at times intense, other times fast-paced and at other times relaxed and entertaining.

Walking up to talk to people that I had never met before in my life was surprisingly easy. Some stood out because they are famous; talking to Rick Schwartz while he’s munching on a tasty canapés was definitely a far cry from simply reading his blog. Sharing a table at lunch or dinner with Donny, Mike, Monte and Christian from Parked.com was an opportunity to enjoy food and talk about things in a manner that no number of trouble tickets or emails can take care of. Brainstorming with Matt Bentley and the others from Sedo was easy, all while going back to greet the personnel at the TrafficZ booth and DomainSponsor or Skenzo.

Going around the exhibits when sessions were not active, one would meet people he or she interacted with at a previous time of the event and also meet others, who’d introduce even more to the circle of communication; just like a social chain reaction of ideas. In fact, the four hours I spent after my registration on the first day until the event officially started, were extremely beneficial; a relaxed prelude that built anticipation about the event itself.

The first thing one has to consider is whether they want to be an island, surrounded by waters and isolated from the rest of the world - or a cloud, free-flowing and able to meet other clouds that also roam in search of opportunities to interact. These clouds can sometimes clash with each other, thus producing thunder and lightning; but the resulting rain invigorates the land and feeds the lakes and the oceans, which in turn create more clouds and more free-flowing enterprises are born.

I think that I’d rather be a cloud and at TRAFFIC I discovered just that.

Needless to say that in the evening of a very active day we had the chance to unwind, drink and socialize at the Irish pub at Pleasure Island. Some of us stayed until the wee hours of the night, dancing or… pissing the night away.

I’ll continue my unofficial reporting of TRAFFIC tomorrow, with Day 4 of the conference.

Here are some pictures from Day 2!

Rick Schwartz kicked off Day 2 of the TRAFFIC conference with his keynote speech. He mentioned that while it’s time to slow down and assess the opportunities offered, we also need to be aware of the dangers that are rising in today’s economy. In the financial crash of 2000-2001, everyone seemed to run away from the online ventures, abandoning their assets. In 2008, everyone seems to be running towards the venues available on the Internet. Even though we are living in thriving industry times, it’s time to also be proactive during the equally challenging financial times.

Rick closed mentioning the Snowe bill and how it is a time for the domain industry that the fittest will survive, as the industry shifts and changes its focus.

Howard Neu then took the stand, unfolding the opportunities that all the TRAFFIC attendants have with the range of exhibitors, stressing how this is not a trade show but rather, a get-together of the best and foremost-thinking members of the domain industry. While forums and chatrooms bring domain owners together, in a real life event such as TRAFFIC people have the opportunity to facilitate deals and establish relationships at a personal level.

Michael Collins, executive director of ICA then talked about the challenges that the industry is facing with the introduction of the Snowe bill that stirred the domaining calm waters and created a lot of tension. As a result of ICA’s efforts with raising awareness, ICA membership doubled since February 2008. He stressed the importance of domainers being represented in an organized form, lobbying at Washington DC, ICANN and the media.

Phil Corwin, legal councel for ICA, then described in detail the legal aspect of the Snowe bill, that is being promoted aggressively against domain owners from a group of major trademark holders. Wrapped up as an anti-phishing bill, it attempts to hold domain owners liable for millions of dollars in damages, without limitations. He mentioned that the politicians must be educated about the dangers of this bill, while defending the domain industry by building stronger alliances. Finally, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft maintaining their separate existence serve a positive purpose to online advertising, as the industry needs transparency and competition, instead of monopolies.

Michael Gilmour spoke about the future of domain parking, stating that currently only 20% of the world’s population is using the Internet. The percentage is increasing in Asia, in such countries as China and India. In fact, the growth in Asia is quite explosive. In India, the market is highly educated; there are also more millionaires in India than in the US. He concluded that domain owners need to develop up to three domains as businesses and utilize the rest of their portfolio as a revenue generator from parking.

Donny from Parked.com gave us all a history lesson, citing data of PPC for a domains over the course of 4 years, showing in effect that advertisers currently don’t care about top placement in search engines like Google and seem content with second or third places which are more affordable. He also mentioned that parking pages in the future need to be more visually appealing and look more like “real” web pages.

This concluded part one of Day 2. We had a great lunch that helped everyone unwind and yet network even more. I met with members of Domainsponsor and TrafficZ that seemed to like eachother a lot, despite both being Los Angeles based companies.

The dessert was delicious, the coffee invigorating and …I will continue Part 2 of Day 2 once my laptop batteries get recharged.

At the registration desk I met Christian Higgins of Parked.com who just happened to be there, sporting a “PARKED.com” shirt. After registering, I met Rick Schwartz who was busy making sure things were going smoothly.

Soon after, I met with other members of Parked.com, including Donny Simonton and Michael Ward. It was great meeting in person with people that in the past I only exchanged emails with (some of which were not so nice!) and we all headed for lunch at a restaurant within the resort. The Parked guys were all very friendly and energetic despite the 90 minute haul from Tampa and we had a nice conversation about - what else - domain parking. As an extra bonus, Donny paid for lunch and by 3pm we all headed back to the conference area.

Usually at that time, people that are newcomers to TRAFFIC were given some sort of introduction to the features of the conference; this time we were left to our own devices and met others as they were casually walking by. Sahar Sarid was just like in his pictures - all-smiling and friendly and very recognizable by most people. I met with Michael Collins, executive director of the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) and co-founder of Afternic. We talked about the problems that the domain industry will be facing in the years to come and about potential methods that can be used to raise awareness in the domain community, in order to protect our assets.

Soon enough, our small discussion circle broadened as others joined in while we were anticipating the 5:30 cocktail party. Bill FitzPatrick, president of Boston Domain Exchange described the challenges of monetizing themed domain portfolios. Michael Gilmour of ParkLogic came to Bill’s rescue, discussing the methods and features that his company uses to generate revenue for its clients. Divyank Turakhia of Skenzo talked about how the current range of domain conferences around the world require him to fly for 18 to 24 hours at a time, something that he seemed to handle pretty well.

Ron Jackson arrived with his wife, and at long last I had the opportunity to meet him after 6-plus years of online interaction. Ron publishes the most authoritative source of domain sales at DNJournal, along with very well-written articles portraying icons and pioneers of the domain world.

Despite our late lunch, everybody seemed to be getting hungry and at 5:30pm the main exhibits lounge opened up, serving a variety of buffet delicacies and drinks. Finally I got a chance to have a full picture of the attendants and the exhibits and to further discuss industry matters with fellow domain investors. Ron Jackson sported a brand new Sony camera that gave him a hard time only for a short while, before he proceeded to take pictures of the event. The exhibit booths were colorful and each one had its own distinct corporate color and identity. It wasn’t hard to walk up to virtually anybody and strike a conversation - although at some point the three-member band playing live was a bit too loud!

I met with the people behind Domainer’s Magazine and discussed the opportunities that exist in the domain market for real print publications. They seemed to be very excited and aware of their contribution to the industry via a printed medium.

Market Leverage, one of the web’s largest “Cost Per Acquisition” (CPA) networks that enables web Advertisers and web Publishers to harness the power of performance marketing, featured a great-looking booth and very friendly hosts. The company is based in Lake Mary, FL and despite the fact that they originate from an industry not directly related to the domain market, they were eager to be present in such a big domain event. Sal Guarino, president of Market Leverage, had the cunning ability to tell that I am Greek, simply by looking at my name on my business card!

I must have walked several miles in that exhibition lounge, as my feet started to hurt! To my salvation came the 8pm bell, which marked the beginning of the Moniker domain auction. We all moved to the auctioning room that featured round tables and comfy chairs - along with the opportunity to do more networking before the auction started. I sat at a table with Bill FitzPatrick and four folks from Grimbsy, England who claimed their small town was probably unknown to the rest of the world. Except that an old friend of mine lives in that town, so naturally a new conversation about 8-bit home computers, Sir Clive Sinclair and Crash/Sinclair User/Your Computer magazines brought back great memories!

The auction started with several low-priced names ending up in the hands of new owners, some after several rounds of competitive bids. Monte Cahn of Moniker and the auctioneer in charge were able to keep up the spirit of everyone, thus motivating more bids at this relatively low profile auction. My domain Julio.net was sold for $3,500 (pending verification) and that added up to my personal excitement.

The clock was ticking past 9pm when the day ended - but not without yet another surprise for me. After meeting with Dr. Christopher Hartnett, chairman of Tedhens Limited he introduced me to a fellow Greek who owns Lease Domains, manager of a large domain portfolio. What are the chances that two Greeks meet at their first TRAFFIC conference? Let me tell you, less than having three instead - and yet, that one in a million syzygy became a reality when Nick Spanos, president of Bapple.com joined us for a loud-mouthed conversation in Greek!

It was the perfect ending for a great, busy and rewarding day. Looking forward to Day 2, tomorrow.

You can view some quick snaps from Day 1 here.

Acroplex® launched today its newly redesigned corporate image, including a new web site at www.Acroplex.com. The launch is intended to coincide with the Targeted Traffic domain conference (T.R.A.F.F.I.C.) which takes place in Orlando, Florida from May 20th until May 24th inclusive.

Theo Develegas, General Manager of Acroplex LLC will be attending this exclusive domain event, in order to further establish business relationships and to seek new strategic alliances with other members of the domain monetization community.

In the words of Rick Schwartz, TRAFFIC co-founder:

” As an event that is by invitation only, TRAFFIC sets a standard that cannot be matched. That is why TRAFFIC has become such an important part of doing business for those that own domains, buy and sell traffic, have parking and PPC companies, search related companies investors and all the way down to the store on Main Street. TRAFFIC brings the biggest and the best together. It’s just that simple. We keep the noise out and the business in. “

I’m looking forward to meeting in person with other fellow domainers, to exchange ideas and promote our mutual interests at this great upcoming event, which will take place in O’Town from May 20th till May 24th, 2008. I am extremely excited and it’s showing; it’s probably the first time such a large scale event is taking place in Central Florida.

Not only will the food be great, but some of the best and biggest names in the domain industry will participate, including yours truly in person!

The following domains of mine will be auctioned off during the TRAFFIC / Orlando conference - so check your budgets and wallets and be prepared to bid on them when the time comes. See you there!

Live auction domains:

360.ORG
JULIO.NET

Online auction domains:

ASSASSINATION.ORG
ATTRACTIVE.ORG
CATNIP.ORG
CAVALRY.ORG
DOCUMENTARY.NET
FROGGER.NET
GRADUATING.NET
IDOLS.ORG
KOJAK.NET
MASSAGER.NET
MONOGRAM.NET
NATIVITY.NET
SITCOMS.ORG
SWEET.ORG
TAVERN.ORG