I attended the SD barcamp couple weeks ago, and I was pleasantly surprised how dynamic and cool it was. Definitely, it's a must-go-event. I would highly recommend to everyone who wants to hear and share information about technology, hacking, Web 2.0 and beyond...
By the way, barcamp is a spin-off of foocamp which was organized by Tim O'Reilly. Whereas foocamp is invitation-only, barcamp is open to everyone who is interested in the technology and web. It is basically small workshop-events whose content is provided by participants.
Here is the site: http://barcamp.org/BarCampSanDiego
