[Wrapping up the week in three dots . . .]

First Rule of PR - READ . . .

I just got a call from a PR rep to ask if I needed more information about their client -- I had recently met with the company. These types of calls mean just one thing: Am I going to write about their client and when? I already did. That call was a waste of my time. I hope they aren't going to be billing the company for that call.

I get asked time and time again how should PR people pitch journalists and bloggers? I tell them again and again, make sure you read the publication to see what has been written.

I won't name the person or the PR company but maybe I should since they won't be reading this (let me know if you think I should...) I was there just last month doing one of my lunchtime talks with PR companies and I'm pretty sure I covered this one.

Here you go: Lunch with Applied Materials: Looking to the Sun for New Business

Kevin Maney and his briefs . . .

Portfolio magazine writer and blogger Kevin Maney was on stage at the Rockit Room in San Francisco earlier this week with his band. The turnout was small but spirited and it was a fun evening with many people coming up on stage. Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal joined Kevin on stage, among many others.

Kevin's repertoire includes:

Wouldn't Want to Be (Bill Gates)

New Router Blues

I Dream of Bangalore

I took some video to provide you with a taste of the evening:

Fortune's Brainstorm . . .

I'm looking forward to Fortune's invite-only Brainstorm conference next week in Half Moon Bay: FORTUNE Brainstorm: TECH

Fortune just added Neil Young and the CEOs of Verizon and Viacom to its roster of speakers.

Fortune's David Kirkpatrick is program director:

We'll put on the podium tech's leading thinkers and thinking leaders - Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, Sheryl Sandberg and Chris DeWolfe, Arianna Huffington and Gary Hamel, Marc Benioff and Jeff Weiner, Robert Scoble and Kevin Kelly, Larry Lessig and Danah Boyd, to name a few. Then we'll create opportunities for the entire group to discuss and debate what they've heard, in small settings, question and answer sessions, and what we're calling "lunch labs." A Brainstorm conference is a collective conversation. We aim to reduce the distinction between speaker and attendee, since everyone we invite to attend Brainstorm is accomplished enough to speak. Ideas flow in all directions.

To list all the eminences would require this entire column, but in the big-time CEO category, besides Bezos, Schmidt and Benioff, we have Viacom's Philippe Dauman, Verizon's Ivan Seidenberg, Activision's Bobby Kotick, Sybase's John Chen, Applied Materials' Mike Splinter and Sun's Jonathan Schwartz. And don't forget Peter Chernin, who runs most of the non-newspaper portion of News Corp. In the amazing thinker category we welcome robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks, virtual worlds pioneer Philip Rosedale, and investing pioneer Danny Rimer. We may even have a super-amazing special guest from outside the industry who we aren't yet able to announce. (Joining us at the original Brainstorms were Bill Clinton, Shimon Peres, Jordan's King Abdullah, and John McCain.) This visitor could make things really rock.

See you there!

- - -

Rave reviews find out why! - Order the The Amazon Kindle Electronic Book Reader!

You need video services! Creation, Distribution, Attention. Contact Aron Pruiett at SF Media Collective- 415 533 4487 - Here is a demo reel.

Silicon Valley Watcher Consulting services - call Tom at 415 336 7547