The day has finally come, folks - registration for Google I/O 2012, which is happening June 27-29 in San Francisco, opens today.
Back in November, Google announced that it would be moving the annual Input/Output (I/O) developers' conference from April 24-25 to June 27-29. We've all been waiting patiently for registration to open for the now three-day even since then, and Vic Gundotra announced earlier today on G+ that users will be able to register beginning on March 27th at 7AM PT.
While it's good to finally know when registration will open, there is a bit of bad news. If you attended last year's conference, then you probably remember paying somewhere in the range of $450 for your ticket. That won't be the case this year, as the ticket prices have doubled.
Okay, I have some good news and some bad news. First, the good: Google has decided to extend next year's I/O convention to three days instead of the usual two! That's more time to spend hitting the booths, attending sessions, and chatting it up with the Google devs. Awesome.
Oh, the bad news - since the event is now three days long, the dates for the event have been pushed back a couple of months. Instead of happening April 24-25, it will be going on June 27-29. The venue, Moscone Center West in San Francisco, is still the same.
Another interesting bit of info to come of this is that Google is advising against making travel arrangements at this time.
If you picked up the recently released Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, then there's a good chance that you want some accessories to go along with it. Right now, if you use the coupon code GOOGLEIO2011 at Sammy's official online store, then you'll score a cool 30% off of all accessories. There is a catch, though - 60% of the currently released accessories are out of stock at the moment. However, if you're in the market to grab the stylus, vehicle charger, travel charger, or data cable - then you're in luck, as those are the only items currently in stock.
Beginning and experienced developers will appreciate the latest altruistic move by the core Android team member Roman Nurik who, now that the Google I/O conference is over, revealed the full sources for the I/O 2011 Android app for everyone to see.
If you haven't used the app yet, I am here to tell you that it's an Android masterpiece, in both UI/UX (user interface/usability) and coding paradigms. The app utilizes the new Fragments API heavily, so the source should provide plenty of implementation guidelines for those just picking it up. Thanks to the said Fragments, it runs great on both Honeycomb tablets and phones, making its code the perfect example of a relatively complex Android app done very-very right.
A lot of interesting products and services have been demoed at Google I/O 2011, including a number of interesting features for Ice Cream Sandwich, Android's forthcoming iteration. One of the less flashier features demoed is the 0-click peer-to-peer NFC sharing. This allows compatible Android devices to share content (contacts, links, YouTube videos) between the devices by simply placing them in close proximity to each other. No app needs to be run and no buttons need to be clicked - hence the "0-click" moniker.
Sharing data between devices in this manner is not a completely novel concept as the cross-platform app Bump already provides similar features.
Shortly after Honeycomb dropped, we were told that the next version of Android would bridge the gap between tablets and phones. That bridge was officially announced this morning at Google I/O: Ice Cream Sandwich.
Ice Cream Sandwich will be the newest version of Android, and it's going to bring the goodness of Honeycomb to phones, along with Gingerbread features to tablets. The update is due out in Q4 of this year, and the goal is to unify the Android experience across devices, which is a huge step towards ending fragmentation as we know it.
It's clear that between this and the Android Alliance, Google has really paid attention to the biggest problems in Android and is making a collaborative effort to efficiently address them.
With Google I/O 2011 around the corner - in fact it starts in less than 8 hours - I can barely contain the excitement (the 5 beers at today's Samsung and Lookout parties failed to numb that feeling).
Google Music (and movies?), the new Google TV, the next-gen Android dubbed "Ice Cream Sandwich," new games, and possible tablet/phone giveaways are among this year's rumor chart toppers. Will all of them come true? It's likely. Will some? Most definitely (Music and the next-gen Google TV are pretty much sure things now). Stay tuned to Android Police, and we'll make sure to bring you the full event coverage and as much on-location content as possible.
Ever since my visit to Google I/O last year, I've been waiting for this year's event with great anticipation - after all, I/O still remains the most exciting conference for Android fans and developers. To help attendees navigate around it, this morning Google updated the official I/O app that has been sitting idle for almost a year.
If you're trying to manage all the sessions on your own, just stop - this is exactly what the I/O app will do for you. You can see the whole schedule, including all the necessary details, star the ones you want to attend, take notes (using Catch integration), and guide yourself around the floor.
Google I/O 2011 is almost here - can you feel it in the air? Personally, I'm counting down days to May 10th when I'll be waking up extra early to gallop over to the Moscone Center in San Francisco and try to attend at least some of the 22 planned Android sessions, including fireside chats and office hours with the Android team.
The [almost - there's 1 TBA] final schedule for these sessions is now up at the I/O site, so if you're one of the lucky attendees, have a look below or hop on over to this document to see the whole timetable in its full glory.






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