I am out in Carlsbad CA this week at out of my two favorite events of the year (the other being Web 2.o) – the Wall Street Journal’s D5 conference. Why do I like it? It gets all the named names to attend – who is going to pass on a WSJ invite, given their importance to the investment community? It also has great interviewers (Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher) – heck, they interview people for a living every day at the Journal, and they are great at what they do. It makes for good, sometimes edgy interaction, which I find really compelling.

This year, there is two battles of gods throwing lightning bolts at each other. You have the Jobs vs. Gates thrilla in vanilla, and the John McCain vs. a Democratic audience lovefest (especially given his ultra-conservative positioning this election). This all portents to be one heck of an event.

What I am looking forward to most are a few of the unveiling that will happen during the conference. Probably the ones I am awaiting most include:

Jason Calacanis and Mahalo.com – Jason has peaked the interest of many (including an almost stalker-like obsession by Valleywag) on what his next gig will be. For me, seeing Jason up close and personal while he was at AOL was a treat – he is smart, aggressive, and not afraid to take on big dogs in a battle. I think his sense of the social leverage points of the web is as good as it gets, and I await to here what’s next for him.

Microsoft – the disproportional amount of mindshare Steve Jobs has garnered this year is truly remarkable, and when I saw the iPhone waiting list at my local Cingular store (now invalidated by Cingular) four months prior to the launch date, and the rumors of deeping Google apps integration this weekend, it is clear he still has incredible mojo when it comes to delivering great integrated consumer packages. Now we have a late-breaking rumor today of a major product announcement out of potentially Robbie Bach’s area at Microsoft. Is this spin to take away from the aura Steve Jobs will ride in with (which would be a huge disappointment in my eyes), or, as the post says, will it be something “you really have to see to believe”. I am a fan of Robbie and his division’s work, and was really happy to see one of my best ex-lieutenants at AOL rejoining Microsoft as part of that team. If it is the gesture-based interface stuff, might be interesting to see, but wonder how it gets integrated into existing platforms/experiences to move a dial for Microsoft in a big way.  We’ll see what Wednesday brings.

Palm – I am a mobile-obsessed individual, so it will be interesting to see Palm’s demo tonight – I am a huge Jeff Hawkins fan, and can’t wait to see what the new device will do and how it will be positioned between smartphones and UMPCs.

Net net, I am really excited to be out here – I think it will sometime special, and would strongly recommend the event to all my time-deprived friends for next year.