We just received an off-the-record report that the HP Technology Forum will be postponed. With reports of the waters rising and a second levee breaking today, it's clear that New Orleans won't be safe for quite some time. The postponement report, which we haven't confirmed yet, indicates that HP and Encompass want to reschedule the show, but there's been no date forwarded yet.

Aug. 31 is the last day to apply for a refund, according to the Forum's Web site. Obviously, those Interex members attending on an exchanged HP World registration will have to check on the refund policy — but it seems unlikely that money Interex collected would be refunded by Encompass and HP. The Interex bankruptcy hearing is set for next Tuesday in San Jose.

HP is making its executives available to us press members for one-on-one interviews, by phone, and the vendor intends to make the news announcements as planned — just not in person. HP's 3000 news arrived in large part at this month's OpenMPE meeting, but the reports of migration success will have to wait, along with Jim Hawkins' session on HP 3000 storage advances.

We'll have more on the Forum as it develops. For now, our thoughts and prayers are with the survivors along the Gulf Coast.