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AMD is inviting journalists to a cocktail reception on Monday, February 25. I stopped reading the invitation at "no news will be discussed." The depressing thing? These wine-and-dine schemes actually work most of the time. Not because the tech press corps is swayed by free booze, but because most reporters are lazy. Proximity to power is more intoxicating than alcohol. Even if there's "no news," you can bet at least a few can be counted on to transcribe whatever the chipmaker's executives tell them. We'll pass on the party, but you can bet we'll be searching Google News for the obligatory stories about AMD's comeback against Intel the next morning. The invitation:

Hi Owen,

On Monday, February 25, senior AMD executives will be hosting a cocktail reception from 6 pm - 8 pm PT at the Marriott San Francisco (full logistics below). While no news will be discussed, it's a rare opportunity that we have so many senior-level executives across all divisions (server, desktop, mobile, graphics) together at the same time. We thought you'd enjoy the opportunity to network with these AMD executives and talk to them about our business and broader industry trends such as energy efficient PCs, new form factor computing devices, the ever increasing graphics demands of computers today, and virtualization in the datacenter, in a more informal setting.

Let me know if you'd like to attend and I will confirm your attendance.

AMD Executive Cocktail Reception

What: Informal networking reception with senior AMD executives

When: Monday, February 25th; 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm PT

Where:

Marriott San Francisco

55 4th St

San Francisco, CA 94103

Who: Senior-level executives across all business units