We hear Steve Jobs has tentatively agreed to appear on stage at the Wall Street Journal's high-profile D Conference for the first time in three years. The June event could be a major landmark in the Apple CEO's public recuperation.

CARLSBAD, CA — D, the Wall Street Journal schmoozefest which opened today with a round of golf at the Four Seasons Aviara Resort, is not the conference for the rest of us. It attracts a host of tech and media CEOs who agree to be harangued onstage by Walt Mossberg, the sexagenarian of sexy gadgets, and Kara Swisher, the diminutive media commentaterrorist of AllThingsD.com. In exchange, they get to seem classy and witty, if only by comparison. It is the sort of elite event to which Valleywag is not invited. We showed up anyway.

NICK DOUGLAS — The upcoming D Conference, run by Wall Street Journal columnists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, has an accompanying web site called "All Things Digital. Is it worth visiting? Well, I don't know about the written articles, because I don't read. But I watch video. Someone pointed out the "Digital Daily" video, in which some unnamed (and by that I mean I didn't check) guy delivers tech news and tries to be videoblogger Ze Frank. But he is not at all Ze Frank. (And trust me, through my videoblog Look Shiny, I've become an expert on trying and failing to be Ze.) And instead of simply cutting between stories, the editor stuck in a loud fanfare that BLASTS at you, leaving you dazed enough to keep watching the next item until the next BLAST. His latest episode is after the jump. Brace yourself.

Wrap up the Powerbook cord and follow Esther Dyson to the next con — the D Conference winds down today. For actual news from people who are there, check out the Wall Street Journal's blog. (Favorite post: Turning the schmaltz up to 11.) For trumped-up news filtered through the snark machine, look no further. Photos by ZDNet reporter Dan Farber.