BoomTown will be driving the minivan–packed with my assistant Ed, my mom, two mannequins (don’t ask), a coffee machine and lots of coffee and some very nice outfits–down to the seventh D: All Things Digital conference today, so don’t expect much in the way of blog posts from me.

Thus, I hope Twitter doesn’t sell to [fill in the blank], Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer don’t agree to agree (until they are on the D stage next week) and Facebook’s valuation doesn’t ricochet up and down the blog-hyped scale once again.

But, in that event, the rest of the well-oiled All Things Digital machine will be in full force covering tech and media news, even as we gear up for the big event next week, which will feature pretty much all the major players in the digital space.

On my way to D, I will be stopping by the University of California at Santa Barbara to speak in its Tech Management Lecture Series, which is titled “The Tomorrow Makers: Change & Challenge for Entrepreneurs & Innovators.”

Ah, the makers of tomorrow! I shall have to mull exactly what that means on the ride south through change-loving California, which is now pretty challenged as a going concern from a government point of view.

I have done some version of this drive now for seven years, from Silicon Valley to Carlsbad, Calif., headed to all the many D conferences, which began in 2003 in the midst of some very serious shifts for the tech industry.

It’s still the same story today, of course, as new trends, start-ups and technologies have come and gone (most they go, with only the lucky few actually staying).

Which will be, of course, the same story tomorrow too, and at all the D events to come in the years ahead.

Until I check back into the matrix, here’s Bob Dylan in a video from way back in the day, singing that famous song of his about that very subject:

Now, in living color, the entire historic joint interview with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of Apple.

D: All Things Digital, the annual tech and media conference Walt Mossberg and I host, has been sold out with a long wait list every year we have put it on.

That has meant only a few hundred people can see the interviews we do live onstage with some of the tech and media industry’s most interesting and important players.

That has included Gates and Jobs, as well as Eric Schmidt of Google, IAC’s Barry Diller, Meg Whitman of eBay, Cisco’s John Chambers and many others.

We usually post the photos and videos of the interviews six or more months after they take place on a separate conference site. This year, our Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski liveblogged D5 and also posted video highlights from all of the sessions immediately on our newly launched site here.

Now, today, we are posting videos of every session of the 2007 conference here, in full, and we have made all our photo galleries, hosted by SmugMug and mostly shot by our fabulous Asa Mathat, public too. You can also access our videos via the site’s master player here.

We’ve done this early with our popular interview with Gates and Jobs for download on iTunes (where it is among the most popular video podcasts ever for download), as well Walt’s solo interview with Jobs and Schmidt on this site.

Now, everyday, I am going to highlight a different interview from the conference. And, today, I obviously must kick off with the interview that attracted the most attention: our joint discussion with Gates and Jobs.

There is not much to say about it that has not been said. It’s 83 minutes. It’s historic. It’s funny. It is visionary (and not the cat fight expected between the longtime rivals). It’s surprisingly poignant in parts.

Here you are:

Starting Monday, we’ll be posting all of the interviews from D5 in their entirety. I will be posting and commenting on each interview here in this blog, but the videos will also reside in our video player.

While we have already posted the joint interview of Microsoft’s Bill Gates-Apple’s Steve Jobs, as well as a solo turn by Jobs and also one with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, now you can watch lively discussions with film legend George Lucas, YouTube’s Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, CBS CEO Les Moonves, Viacom chief Philippe Dauman and many more, as well as seeing our demos and other special video.

And you had no idea what you were going to watch in the midst of the summer doldrums. Now, let Cisco’s John Chambers liven up your day!

After having just visited WeeWorld in London, an avatar-based site that allows mostly young people to create online personas for social networking and other activities around the Web, it was interesting to see Walt Disney last week forking over up to $700 million to own another popular social-networking site for “tweens” called Club Penguin.

As much as I despise that icky marketing term to signify kids on the cusp of becoming teenagers, to spend that much money to get its hands on that market is an interesting indicator of the desperation of older media companies to latch onto a big trend and also the perplexing development of the social-networking business, where the cart is so far in front of the horse that it’s almost laughable.

I have to give Canadian-based Club Penguin props for building a site in only two years that has attracted 12 million registered users and about 5 million monthly unique visitors–700,000 of whom pay a monthly fee of almost $6 to play in the virtual online space.

But its purchase price is still way high compared to its revenues (especially since no advertising is one of the attractions of this site to parents) and now sticks a large no-discount sticker all over the Web for such sites.

True, Club Penguin has been a raging success, especially compared to Disney’s own recent efforts at sites like Toontown. Perhaps that is due in part to that site’s not-so-punny catchphrase on top of its newspaper-like homepage: “The Best Game in the Tooniverse” with a price of “Five Jellybeans,” which just screams to kids: lame.

So Disney is paying the price for an inability to innovate online in the space–as it did before in an odd deja vu to a lot of Disney online efforts, including a premium site called Blast and when it bought Infoseek and turned it into the clunky Go portal.

Ponying up $350 million in cash with promises of $350 million more if certain performance criteria are met speaks volumes to me about this key problem Disney has long had on the Web–how to grow its original online media organically, beyond the basics of theme-park ticketing and other obvious stuff around its established products.

This time, Disney is not fooling around, it seems. “We plan to rename it Disney’s Club Penguin and to immediately use our Disney-branded properties such as Disney.com, Disney Channel, Radio Disney and our parks and resorts to raise its profiles,” said Disney CEO Robert Iger on a recent quarterly call. “We believe virtual worlds can extend and expand on the life of a franchise, expand our global reach for our entertainment content and allow us direct contact with our consumers in a more personalized and engaging way.”

Now, I have been a big admirer of the recent digital efforts of Iger, whom we interviewed at D4, such as his aggressive move into streaming and selling television content on the Web (how much do I love its ABC.com player, for example?).

Perhaps this is part of that drive, but it is unclear if paying these kind of prices will get Disney there, even without all the marketing muscle it brings to bear.

Even if Club Penguin is trumpeted all over the massive Disney universe from theme park to cable channel (that started immediately), the purchase is risky on a very basic level, given the cost and the nature of kids’ fast-changing preferences. Neopets? Webkins? And for us older demographic: Furby, Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Kids.

And, of course–and here I am really dating myself–the Pet Rock.

And we like her 25% more now, after seeing the new pictures she took for Wired’s latest issue, as well as a particularly sassy interview she did with the magazine.

The homemaking empress is on the cover of Wired, pictured here making a Wii-shaped cake. It looks delicious, but apparently is not from these recipe instructions that leave out the baking soda for architectural reasons.

And another picture here by Jill Greenberg has her pruning a robot hedge, along with this interview with Mark Frauenfelder on her gadget-freak status.

That’s been easy to see for many years. I ran into her first more than a decade ago at a Microsoft party at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and she has shown up at a variety of Silicon Valley events from time to time.

In addition, Stewart has attended the D conference for the past two years, first accompanying Martha Stewart Omnimedia CEO Susan Lyne, who appeared onstage at D4. But I was surprised to observe that she has actually been one of the few attendees who has sat through all of the sessions from start to finish.

She even managed to fire off a very funny but pointed series of questions at D4 to Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer about the nest of wires current gadgets require to operate. Here she is pictured grilling Stringer and also showing one of D’s teen panelists how to properly fold a T-shirt.

In the current interview with Wired, Stewart makes some other salient points, especially about quality. “Whether you’re a programmer or a seamstress, it’s all about new techniques, simplifying old techniques and consolidating steps,” she said. “Making things go faster–but not worse. Better.”

She also jokingly blames the end of her marriage on the Walkman, which she calls the “Rudeman,” and decries using email over talking, although she seems pretty addicted to her BlackBerry from what I have seen (to be fair, so am I).

And Stewart is also apparently working on “Marthapedia,” which is her take on the user-contributed Wikipedia project. Of course, it being Martha, she will be editing user content.

“It won’t be as freewheeling as Wikipedia,” she said. “Because a lot of this–you have to really monitor it.”

And that is a good thing.

After visiting Dublin Castle and then perusing fancy hotels in the city of Dublin and then strolling the streets, Walt Mossberg and I head out to the Wicklow Mountains to see a bit of the lovely Irish countryside.

It’s the last stop on venue visits for us, to see a different kind of experience that is out of the city in a more rural setting. So we visited the construction site for a new Ritz-Carlton on the Powerscourt Estate, near the adorable village of Enniskerry, about 40 minutes south of Dublin.

Walt and I are here in Ireland, because our D conference might be going international.

After our success with our annual flagship version, which just took place for the fifth time in late May in Carlsbad, Calif. (D6 is scheduled be held in late May of 2008), we are deciding whether to expand by adding a new conference outside the U.S.

If we do it, we hope to hold the first one next fall and are strongly considering Dublin as the location of the event, which we are calling EuroD. We like Dublin for a lot of reasons, including its fast-growing tech sector.

Here’s the next video:

After visiting Dublin Castle and then the fancy hotels in the city of Dublin, Walt Mossberg and I take to the streets of the city to check out the scene and also sample the local fare.

Walt and I are here in Ireland, because our D conference might be going international.

After our success with our annual flagship version, which just took place for the fifth time in late May in Carlsbad, Calif. (D6 is scheduled be held in late May of 2008), we are deciding whether to expand by adding a new conference outside the U.S.

If we do it, we hope to hold the first one next fall and are strongly considering Dublin as the location of the event, which we are calling EuroD. We like Dublin for a lot of reasons, including its fast-growing tech sector.

Here’s the next video:

So we sucked it up and headed to see the recently renovated and quite historic hotel, the Shelbourne, as well as the Four Seasons, where we are staying. (Our annual flagship D conference has been held for five years at the Four Seasons Aviara in Carlsbad, Calif., and will be again in late May of 2008.)

Both luxury hotels are obviously lovely, and present different experiences–one more urban and the other slightly out of the city center.

Walt and I are here in Ireland, because our D: All Things Digital conference might be going international.

After our success with our annual flagship D, which just took place for the fifth time in late May (D6 is scheduled be held in late May of 2008), we are deciding whether to expand by adding a new conference outside the U.S.

If we do it, we hope to hold the first one next fall and are strongly considering Dublin as the location of the event, which we are calling EuroD. We like Dublin for a lot of reasons, including its fast-growing tech sector.

So, here is our second video of our efforts to decide where to hold EuroD, if we end up doing it.

And, as at Dublin Castle, the venues are much fancier than we are:

Our D: All Things Digital conference might be going international.

We have had a lot of success with our annual flagship D, which just took place for the fifth time in late May in Carlsbad, Calif. (D6 is scheduled to be held in late May of 2008.)

This past year was particularly memorable, especially because of the joint interview Walt and I did with longtime rivals and tech legends, Apple’s Steve Jobs and Bill Gates of Microsoft (pictured here, but you can see the highlights video of the interview here).

Thus, we are on what you might call a fact-finding mission, to see if we should make the leap and expand our successful conference brand by adding a new conference with a focus outside the United States.

So, here’s a longish video, with others to follow, of our quest (along with D staffers Lia Lorenzano and Jill Pendergast) to decide on where we would hold EuroD.

First up, a visit to the historic Dublin Castle (circa 1204), where we might hold part of the event and where we are woefully outclassed by the tony surroundings:

A focus on international digital issues is something we all need to do more of in the tech space, considering most of the growth and perhaps innovation will be coming from all over the world in the years ahead. We hope to bring together both U.S. and international tech figures onstage, and are aiming to have the same multinational audience.

We will not decide on whether to move ahead quite yet. But, if we do, we hope to hold the first one next fall and are strongly considering Dublin as the location of the event, which we are calling EuroD (although we also hope to bring D to other parts of the world if we can someday).

While the Irish Development Agency Ireland (IDA Ireland) has been a sponsor of D for the past two years, we’re more interested in the city for its charm, easy access and, most of all, because of its growing tech sector.

That includes both local companies, as well as a clutch of U.S. ones with major facilities here, such as Intel, Microsoft, HP, Apple, Google, Amazon.com and Palm. They’re attracted by a highly educated population and a government intensely interested in developing its digital industry.

In fact, its Taoiseach–the Irish title for the leader of government–Bertie Ahern has been particularly aggressive in pushing for things like broadband and other moves to improve the country’s prospects.

The booming economy is obvious to anyone, evidenced by a plethora of new businesses, stores and all the construction now taking place around the small but bustling city.

Hopefully, I will find a Web connection in my travels there to post really interesting videos I did last week with Business.com’s Jake Winebaum and Polaris VC Mike Hirshland for tomorrow.

May the road rise to meet you!

Here is the entire interview Eric Schmidt did with Walt Mossberg on May 31 at D5 in Carlsbad, Calif. The Google CEO’s appearance is also posted here on YouTube (big surprise!) by Google.

The talk focused a lot on copyright, since Schmidt went on right after my interview with Philippe Dauman (that post has both text and video highlights). The CEO of Viacom, which is now suing Google for $1 billion for copyright violations, was very articulate about his problems with the search giant.

Still, Schmidt conceded no ground on the controversial issue, as you will see. But a lot of other things were discussed, including the future of search and online advertising, Google’s recent acquisition of DoubleClick and the fears over the growing power (and potentially evil behavior) of the Internet giant.

Here’s the video, which is a little over 50 minutes long:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Here is the entire interview Steve Jobs did with Walt Mossberg on May 30 at D5 in Carlsbad, Calif. For those who have not seen the Apple CEO in action, this is a good opportunity.

Among the wide range of topics: the iPhone, of course, and Jobs talked a lot about it; Apple growth since the Intel transition; the iPod; whether Apple should drop Computer from its corporate name, given all its popular noncomputer products; and a major dig at Microsoft, wherein Jobs called the Windows operating system “hell” and Apple’s popular iTunes software on Windows “a glass of ice water.”

There is also a demo of new AppleTV features, including the ability to access YouTube with expected goofy videos such as a human slingshot. Also, Jobs said he reads the Fake Steve Jobs blog, but–surprise–does not write it.

If you want to also read Walt’s recent review of the iPhone, here is the link, a picture gallery and also a more recent text Q&A with Jobs by Walt.

Here’s the video, which is 67 minutes long:

Jobs demurred, as you can see here in a snippet of this longish video of highlights below from the first four D events.

He then famously noted that he was not too good at going through “orifices,” his most perfect word to describe the uncomfortable struggles handset makers had to go through to work with the powerful and vexing cellphone companies (which Walt has dubbed “Soviet ministries”).

Obviously, the Apple CEO found his own way and will be debuting Apple’s effort Friday when the iPhone goes on sale at their stores and at AT&T outlets. You might have heard about it?

In any case, you can read four reviews from top tech reviewers, including our own Walt and also Katie Boehret, here in a roundup in John Paczkowski’s Digital Daily.

There is also a beauty pageant of pictures our Web genius Adam Tow compiled here, as well as a short Q&A with Jobs that Walt did posted in Mossblog.

And, because we like to keep adding to the pile of material, we’ll be posting this week in this column the complete video interview Walt did with Jobs recently at D5. It’s long, more than an hour, of course, but full of information.

Until then, you can see video highlights of the interview posted below, as well as in text here and as a short text excerpt in a recent tab on D5 in The Wall Street Journal.

And, also below, a short movie I did while in sunny Palo Alto yesterday, checking out the crazy scene of anticipation at the Apple store.

Um, there was none.

Today, in the week of the first coming of the iPhone from Apple, John Paczkowski gives us a glimpse of Steve Jobs’s awesome hypnotic power over the cellphone carriers the Apple CEO called “orifices” at our D conference two years ago in John’s Digital Daily video.

That Jobs got AT&T to bend to his enormous will about rate plans and sign-ups was, indeed, a minor miracle.

Here is a direct link to today’s video, which is also below (we’re a full-service linker here at AllThingsD.com).

Here is his text post about it in Paczkowski’s Digital Daily column.

He also posts on the day of silence on Internet radio, a protest against a giant rise in fees for use of content and also Google’s legal jab at Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.