It's been time for another Google I/O. This time, getting tickets were really hard. Tickets sold out in just 59 minutes, and lots of people very caught by surprise. Including my friend, who didn't get a ticket. That meant, travelling alone. Fortunately there are lots of friendly people in SF and at Google I/O, and I was lucky to spend time with a few of them.
I travelled to SF in the first weekend of May, before the event began. Had a short time for a little sightseeing. So I rented a (mountain) bike and spend some time cycling around (the hilly) city.
First event was joining the Google I/O Bootcamp, a smaller event before the actual Google I/O conference. It's a more "hands on"-oriented, doing light coding. Great fun!
Next was two days of conference at the main Google I/O. Day 1 started with a keynote, and lots of announcements: (1) The next Android-release coined "Ice Cream Sandwich" was introduced. (2) Movie-rental at Market. (3) A music service. (4) Android Open Accessories and ADK welcoming the hardware hackers into the ecosystem. (5) Android@Home, a framework for house automation. After the keynote lots of interesting sessions followed, and I had the pleasure of listening to Guido van Rossum, Wesley Chun, Matt Cutts and other very inspirring persons. The day ended with a great after-party. Lots of fun geeky stuff. And, oh, a concert featuring Jane's Addiction.
Day 2 started once again with a keynote. Focus was on Chrome. Chrome Web Store. Chrome OS. Chrome Books. Feels like the future is here now with ChromeOS. Currently I'm having a hard time, imagining running my workstation online. Google don't, they're really serious about it. It will be very interesting to follow the project in the future, and trying it out. Again many interesting sessions afterwards. All sessions are recorded by the way, and available online, if you're interested. One session from day 2, I would recommend, is the "How to Get Your Startup Idea Funded by Venture Capitalists".
Next day, I rented a car and drove down into the valley. Visiting some of the more notable companies in Silicon Valley: Google, Apple, Facebook. No meetings, just a burst of motivation. Google I/O.. see you next year!