Forget the vice-presidential debates tomorrow. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO and aspiring de facto leader of the free world, is outlining his energy plan at the Commonwealth Club at 6:30 p.m. While Google solves the quandaries of global warming and world domination, Nokia is also pondering the question, "What would…

The closest you may have come to big game shooting is Buck Hunter, but that doesn't mean the predator-prey relationship is dead. Target customers with your fellow entrepreneurs at the Happy Networking Hour tonight at Sandbox Suites. If you are a lover not a fighter, Accugive.org is celebrating it's first 100…

Enjoy the final days of Q3 with an easy listening Monday. Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora Radio, has an early evening gig at PariSoMa Musi2K. With Internet radio's grassroots victory in Congress still fresh, hear how this rocker turned evangelist is revolutionizing the music industry. Need a break from techspeak? …

With the smell of leather already wafting in the air, channel the Folsom street fair vibes and play a little dirty tonight at "Porn & Pong: A Lingerie Party For Gamers." Starting at 9 p.m. Sugar Cafe and The Cellar invite you to get titillated for the launch of tech commentator Damon Brown's new book on the sexy tie…

For a pair as sticky delicious as peanut butter and jelly, Venture Marketing 2008 and the Plug and Play Fall Expo are taking over Sunnvale's Tech Center today. Whether you have a product to push or are just curious, you can scope out some of best emerging technologies all while networking with your favorite VCs. If…

Not your typical tech sausage fest, "Strategies for Success in the German IT Market" is a networking event with Germans! Get the skinny on business opportunities in Europe's largest IT market from Motorola Germany's Chairman of the Board, Nortbert Quinkert, and technology specialists from major German metropolitan…

Would John McCain's favorite ex-eBay exec, Meg Whitman, have made a better wildcard VP pick than Sarah Palin? See for yourself: Whitman will be at the Commonwealth Club tonight discussing entrepreneurship, innovation, and the key to California's economy at 6 p.m. In the mood for something a little more graphic? Dan…

Why fight it? With an expected 42,000 conference attendees at the always lavish Oracle OpenWorld, tonight's OTN Night party is bound to be bumping. As in, bumping into everyone as you try to make your way across the Hilton from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Avoiding Moscone like it's a nuclear wasteland? Oracle mastermind Larry…

Tonight writer and "sex adventurer" Anna Reed will discuss her article “Sleeping Around Craigslist” at Good Vibrations in Berkeley. On this side of the bridge, meet Digg in person. The crew from your favorite online popularity contest is meeting at 3rd and Townsend from 3-7 p.m to share the happy with beer and…

The word of the day is mobile. GigaOM's Mobilize conference is bringing telecom movers and shakers to the Mission Bay Conference Center to explore the communications frontier. Down in the South Bay, the Portable Design Conference & Exhibition at the Wyndham Hotel is getting technical at a free all day event geared…

Tired of the post project hangover, Adaptive Path's mobile design strategist Rachel Hinman started a blog. Taking inspiration from Alcoholics Anonymous, Hinman promised to post her ideas, sketches, and prototype ideas about mobile design every day for 90 days to aid in her "creative recovery." Who knows whether…

It's obvious YouTube is changing the political landscape. A quick search for hunky God-mayor Gavin Newsom on the site brings up our fair mayor at the traditional assortment of scripted press conferences and well-gelled people moments. But it also pulls up GavinWatch's hate train and a video demonstration on how to…

For tech-savvy teens, "B.C." might as well mean "before computers." But understanding the so-called "digital natives" doesn't require Margaret Mead-level field work. Tonight you can join Harvard's John Palfrey and Urs Gasser at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society's reception and book talk. The authors will be…

Hackers are preparing to feed on liquor, caffeine, code, and hyperbole at another Yahoo-sponsored "Open Hack Day" this weekend. Beck kicked off the event in 2006 with a 90-minute concert. Rumors are flying about who will grace the Yahoo campus green this year. Don't look to Yahoo Answers for any hints. (The "Mystery…

If you haven't noticed, "going green" is not only fashionable, but profitable. For a look into how collective consumer guilt plays out (and pays out) on the Web, join Yahoo Green editor Sam Silverstein at the San Francisco Public Library for a talk at 6 p.m. Elsewhere in the City, they'll be thinking Pink tonight. …

Exhaustion be damned, the Valley is out tonight. For geek shows in the best sense, Ask a Scientist explores "How Computers Look at Art" at Axis Cafe at 7:00 p.m. while dorkbot-SF lets people do strange with electricity at Million Fishes beginning at 7:30 p.m. To escape startup hell (and I don't mean TechCrunch50),…

Untuck that collared shirt and have a so-wrong-it's-right kind of night. "Smack My Pitch Up" is inviting anti-entrepreneurs to the House of Shields at 10 p.m. for an irreverent appreciation of all things unfundable. Kill the conversation with a pitch so lame it stinks, and you might even find yourself rewarded.…

Ashton Kutcher's last startup, Ooma, flopped big-time. But TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington is still smitten with the Hollywood star, who opened the TechCrunch50 conference today. Marissa Mayer of Google speaks at 11:45 a.m. The competing DemoFall startup-launch event continues in San Diego. If you're more…

Hate your job, your friends, yourself? Ditch the existential crisis and use your tech prowess for a good cause. The Change Jam with Dreamfish is rallying doers and thinkers for a meetup at its San Francisco office today from 2 to 6 p.m. On Saturday, take your pick of work or play. The Ladies Who Launch are holding a…

Not all customers are created equal. Last month Dean Detton became Zoho's one millionth user and a press-release darling. Tonight you can celebrate the milestone with the Zoho team, Detton, and a band of Office 2.0 revelers at Vitrine in San Francisco at 6 p.m. For a bit of digital underground, SF New Tech is…