O'Reilly's Android Open conference, which is happening October 9-11, is our first real media sponsorship of an Android event (yay!), and as media partners, we were given 2 free tickets to the event, along with an exclusive 20% off code: AN11AP.
Since nothing would make us happier than giving away the 2 free tickets we've gotten (worth $1295 each) to the most deserving AP readers, I had Cameron immediately fire up the giveaway last week. After receiving about 50 entries, it's now time to announce the two winners who would be getting entry to the conference and Sunday workshops for free.
In fact, O'Reilly liked the entries so much that they've awarded an extra ticket to the 3rd place, who will now be joining the two original winners. I hope the winners will be able to find each other (maybe add some sort of AP references to your name tags?) and hang out together at the conference, soaking in as much knowledge as possible!
So, without further ado, drumroll! The winners of the giveaway, as selected by O'Reilly and AP are:
petetandon (do you really work for Vevo, Pete?) who said:
At work, I'm the only android developer; its not exactly the easy being the android/java guy in a c# shop. Heck I cant even get them to pay for a trip to this conf. Its kinda hard to live up to this title because I feel the need to learn and do more ( better stronger, faster). If people started calling you the android guy you might feel this way too.
I'd love to be lucky enough to be chosen, as I'd make it a point to learn as much as I could from the conference and take and share my notes and experiences with the rest of the police community.
A few of the presentations that really have me dying to go are the Sunday "Ignite" (and if I get to go you better believe I'd get up there and do a 10minute on Droidfu/Ignition-support and why Its the best tool in your kit), the "Beautiful Android" (we really need to make our apps visually appealing and spread the info on how to do complex things flexing the drawable api without dropping in any graphical images. I could go on and on.....
Best of luck to those that enter, and congratz in advance to the luckiest of luckies.
I am a software engineer by day working on a product line that uses Java, C++, Objective C, Flex and Javascript. By night, I have been learning Android development in my spare time. Over the last 8 months, I have read several "teach yourself android" books, watched Google IO videos, and made a few sample apps that I have installed on my EVO phone.
Attending the Android Open Conference would definitely take my android education to the next level. Looking at the session schedule, these are my top picks so far:
1. Getting Physical with Android: Open Accessories & NFC
2. Scala as a Java Replacement on Android
3. Building Android Accessories using the Open Accessory Development Kit and Arduino
4. Cross-Platform App Development with Flex Mobile
5. The Honeycomb Action Bar: Front to Back
I really love that I would get a chance to learn more about the ADK and NFC as these topics are best presented with live demos.
Ok… Now I am super excited about going!!!
If I am chosen as one of the lucky winners, I will tweet out my experiences each day (so Android Police users can follow along in the action). I will also share my session notes online in my blog so everyone can benefit.
For an android fan girl like myself, attending this conference would be like winning Miss America! Best of luck to everyone who posted and congrats to the winners!
I am an huge Android fan and a developer by profession. I am also the proud father of a three year old little boy with special needs. He really enjoys using our Android phones.
I would like to learn more about Android development to be able to create Apps for children with special needs to reinforce their therapy/school and engage them in games and activities on Android powered devices that can help with their development
Congratulations, guys (and gal!) - all of you will be contacted by O'Reilly for your information and awarded the conference + Sunday workshop passes.
Everyone else who entered, you will be getting something too - your consolation prize will be an exclusive 50% off code that you won't find anywhere else. We'll email you with the details shortly.
P.S. If you get a chance, gather 'round, snap a group photo at the conference, and send it over to us - we'd love to see it!