How to lose a Blackberry, and other stories of Monday evening . . .

This week is so busy with conferences: Salesforce's Dreamforce conference. TechCrunch40, Intel Developer Forum, and all in San Francisco, all within a block or two of each other.

I got to stay at home Monday and wrote five posts. Why go to events that are being covered live by dozens of journalists and bloggers? That's the beauty of blogging - if someone else is covering the event you don't need to. There is no sense in adding to the noise, it is better to concentrate on original, exclusive stories, imho. (But I did have my colleagues at TechOne covering a lot of the shows plus I'm at Intel Developer Forum Tuesday speaking on a panel.)

Beware the cyclists in SF

I was waiting to cross the street over to Saleforce's party Monday evening. The guy in front of me suddenly yelled, "Hey, he's got my Blackberry!" just as a cyclist swept past us and continued along the street, without speeding up, but moving fast enough that discouraged pursuit.

Watch what you hold in your hand as you cross the streets in San Francisco.

TechCrunch Party

The TechCrunch40 conference party was at Fluid. I was surprised at how crowded it got because it didn't start until 9.30p. Usually conference parties start at 6 and end by 9pm, so it was a grueling long day for a lot of people. Especially Mike Arrington, I told him to go home, he was really dragging.

I got to meet Don Dodge, which was a real treat, and also Denise Howell, another favorite blogger of mine. Also local lads: Brian Solis, Chris Heuer, and Gabe Rivera.

And Pat Phelan, from Cubic was there too, and very happy with his presentation. I think Pat's company Cubic Telecom is outstanding. Please see SVW: The Man Who Broke the Telco Cartel . . . and Bridged the Global "Voice Divide"

Here is some of Don's coverage of TechCrunch40: