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.