Google I/O San Francisco Part 3

After dinner we headed back to Moscone West. The room where the keynote address took place was transformed to a huge "multi-purpose" room. There was a DJ playing rock (?) music. Spotlight everywhere. Some people were dancing - no, wait, they were just jerking their bodies following the rhythms. Bottomless alcohol was served - full bar selection: red & white wines, domestic, foreign, and microbrewery beers. Full buffet with cooked-to-order pasta, sushi, chow-mein in Chinese takeout boxes, and many others.

Besides music, food, and drinks, there were many free arcade video games, Nintendo Wii games, pool tables, air-hockey tables, etc.

A few random thoughts:

1. This is truly a 'geeks' conference. Have you ever been to a disco where laptops are popped open and back-packs are still on shoulders?

2. We found out why we have to pay $300 a pop to sign up for this conference.

3. I really enjoyed the arcade games!

4. Stephen and Kevin left early. I stayed longer. I had a glass of red wine and an MGD. At one point I was just sitting on a sofa with a beer in my hand enjoying the music and people watching. (Well, with 95 to 5 ratio, there wasn't much "people watching").

I'm back in my hotel room now and again watching the Cantonese news on the LCD HDTV.

Google I/O San Francisco Part 2

Don't let this pic fool you. In less than 10 minutes this huge room was packed and people sat on the floor. Anyway, we were already sitting comfortably on this "exit row" after having a pretty good breakfast provided by the conference.

We went through the keynote address together. It was a good overview of what Google has been busy with. A highlight was the demo of Android: http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/28/google-demos-the-htc-dream-at-i-o-conference/. (I later found out the phone was HTC Dream. Check out the URL). Everybody said "ah!" when the guy was showing off the "compass" mode with Google Maps StreetView. In a nutshell, the orientation of StreetView changes when the phone is moved around. COOL!

Kevin and I went on to a session on AJAX. It was a good overview. Nothing too exciting. Stephen attended a session on Maps. After lunch, we went to a Code Lab on Google Maps API. Pretty cool.

A few random thoughts:

1. I expected a lot more Microsoft-bashing but the Google folks were quite nice. There were still a few funny Microsoft references. In an attempt to make a case that user-experience is more important than the inner-workings of software, after giving an example on the lack-of-attention on the user-experience, they pulled up a slide showing Windows Vista as an example that went "too far" on user-experience.

2. Attendee Male-to-female ratio: 95 to 5 according to Eduardo Chewy International.

3. I haven't seen so many iPhone in a convention before.

4. I haven't seen so many Macs in a convention before.

5. Kevin wasn't sure why we had to pay $300 a pop for this conference. (We found out later why).

6. There are definitely pros and cons for Open Source. Pleasantly surprised to see so many vendors out there. Microsoft has a lot of competition.

7. Like Microsoft, Google is a giant. Unlike Microsoft, Google is liked by everybody. Why? Because consumers don't write checks directly to Google? Or because Google acts a big brother/moderator promoting collaboration from vendors?

8. Google brought bean-bag chairs, pool-tables, air-hockey tables, M&M's, unlimited snacks and drinks, and many more to the common areas. Google really has a friendly culture.

9. Breakfast: 9 points (on the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best). Lunch: 4(!!). The burgers were cold. Many lunch choices however.

10. It's cool to attend a non-Microsoft event. Helps me think more.

After 5pm:

Since we wanted to have a breath of fresh air after a day long conference, we trekked to Chinatown for dinner. We took Stockton which was mostly an uphill walk from Market Street. We needed to turn into a tunnel which was littered with trash and urine smell. So we knew we were close to Chinatown(!). Actually we knew where we were because (a) I had checked Google Maps on my phone with GPS before, and (b) some of us have been to San Francisco Chinatown numerous times before.

I picked this Chinese restaurant because this was the one I frequented when I was still attending college in Reno (we on average drove to San Francisco Chinatown about once a month!). The meal was delicious. We ordered a $300-a-bottle wine, lobsters... JUST KIDDING! We did order a plate of "abalone-shaped" mushrooms with vegetables in season. Yum! (Just for the kick of it, we ordered a dish of "fish heads".)

On the way back we visited an Apple store. We checked out the Macbook Air. Really thin! Stephen and I checked out a few Macs too. I LOVE the 20+ inch Macs! Kevin gave us a lecture on Macs as well.

We decided to head back to Moscone West and check out what Google had planned for us.

Google I/O San Francisco Part 1

Stephen, Kevin and I finally arrived at the Moscone West in San Francisco for the 2-day Google I/O conference. Look at the long lines! All of the geeks (including us) gathered outside as 'door-busters' slightly before 8am on 5/28/2008 Wednesday.

According to the keynote speaker, they did not stop the on-site registration. The effect? The whole place was packed! Some people needed to sit on the floor.

A recap of the trip on-route from San Diego last night:

It was a wonderful journey. Virgin America is simply excellent. The plane was clean and the seats were great looking. Their top-notched touch screen multi-media system (named "RED") provided *live* TV (such as CNN), movies, radios, and if you're really that hungry, you could order your meal and swipe your credit card. (The non-alcholic drinks were free.) This system reminded the touch-screen system project that we (now defunct MassHysteria/EchoLink) did as a sub-contractor for Intel Corp in Madison Square Garden, New York. It was a very challenging project. Good times? Perhaps. Because I got to see a lot of "free" New York Knicks (NBA) and NHL games. (Ok, there were WNBA games as well, but who cares?)

The multi-media system in the Virgin America flight had a few good surprises. There were taped TV programs from Hong Kong (TVB) which occupied Kevin's and my time. I saw 2 Cantonese game shows. One of which was similar to the "Iron Chef" but featuring female artists instead of real chefs. It was fun to watch. (Yes, I can easily be entertained!) But at one point I wasn't sure if I should change my channel when the "chefs" were chopping up fish heads. I knew the gals sitting next to me had funny looks on them.

The map system was actually Google Maps. They tuned it so that you couldn't zoom in at the street level.

After deplaning I realized that we were at the SFO International terminal. Huge 747s were "parking" next to us. We walked to the BART station which wasn't too far away. The trip to downtown San Francisco took us half an hour and $5.35 each. We got off the train at Powell station and the Marriott was only a few downtown blocks away. The lobby layout of this hotel, again, reminded my countless number of nights I spent at the Marriott in New York when I was on the Madison Square Garden project. I believe both hotels were built on the same blueprint.

Soon after I got into my room, I realized that the Internet connection was NOT free! It's $12.95 a day - from noon to noon. What a rip-off. Boo! Fortunately I have my AT&T Tilt which acted as the 3G modem for my laptop - and I was still able to make phone calls. NEAT! Kevin wasn't that lucky because he needed Wi-Fi. Thanks to Kevin, he went back to Walgreens and picked up a huge bottle water for me! He said he picked up sanitary items but I am still not sure what.

I didn't go to bed until slightly after 1am because there was a huge LCD HDTV in my room. I was able to catch the late-night news in Cantonese (KTSF 26). Cool!

夜"訓"

夜晚看中文電視, 竟然是在直播香港奧運火炬傳送接力, 不其然地便坐下看, 見證了祖國和香港一個歷史盛事. 在過程中, 雖然夾雜了政治和商業味道, 但始終這件事是令中國人振奮的.

上回聖火到港, 是1964年的事, 那時是香港漸漸起飛的年代, 40多年後的香港是那麼的不同. 記得97年前香港人追求居英權, 怒罵那些"左仔", 把"文匯報"讀成"文匪報", 而現在在公仔箱看到的, 是一片紅海. 亦記得在中學畢業禮中"奏"英國國歌(其實是播帶)時,台下沒有一人識唱,也可能是沒有人願意唱,但在火炬傳送接力閉幕禮中, 銀樂隊奏出"義勇軍進行曲"時, 不少人都會唱.

轉轉話題. 不知何時殺出"港大女生陳巧文展示雪山獅子旗". 雖然我對於西藏事件有一個看法, 但若果有不同意的, 尤其是出自一個中國(香港)人, 我當然有興趣查個究竟. 但似乎陳巧文在很多方面都有不足, 當被問到她是否支持西藏獨立時, 她的回答是"我其實不是完全支持藏獨, 但每一個民族都有他們的自主權, 所以要站出來為他們說話" 試問陳巧文的立場是甚麼? 時事評論員李怡在他的Blog(http://www.xanga.com/plutobreakfast/654614123/item.html)上說陳巧文是香港大學生中的小數, 她的敢言"為大學生挽回不少面子"和"值得鼓勵與珍惜". 若果陳巧文真的"有備而來", 做足功課, 立場清晰, 我會認同李怡的講法. 我只恐怕她成為建制派所謂"為反對而反對"的一分子.

很久沒有Blogging...

原來已經有差不多一年時間沒有寫blog. 可能是因為Vivian把相片放在另一個website, 所以便沒有更新這裡.

貼上2張相片, 是我在年初到墨西哥短宣時拍下的. 我們已經去過數次, 而明天晚上我們會再去, 主要是接觸當地中國移民, 了解他們的需要.

- Ed