Although this year's Google developer conference was well over a month ago, today marks the tenth anniversary of I/O 2012, a landmark event for the company — in both good and bad. While we've lamented the loss of joy and whimsy from recent Google events, this particular occasion was anything but. Not only did the company announce some of its most and least loved products on stage within the span of a couple of hours, but it also took to the skies in one of the most daring — and infamous — stunts in I/O history.

Call this event "The Good, the Bad, and the Daring," because of everything that happened on stage ten years ago, the three biggest moments fall into those categories. Let's start with the daring, because it's one of the most insane things to ever occur on stage during I/O.

Ninety minutes into the event, while Vic Gundotra — then-Senior Vice President of Engineering — was on stage, Sergey Brin came running out, interrupting a fairly dull presentation on Google+ events with some news. Brin is wearing Google Glass, a gadget announced only two months prior and still shrouded in mystery. As Brin calls his demo "time-sensitive," it becomes obvious something special is about to happen, a feeling that only multiplies as he warns, "this can go wrong in about five hundred different ways."

Google I_O 2012 - Keynote Day 1 1-27-59 screenshot

The video screen behind the stage cuts to a live feed of San Francisco, shot from above and showing off a blimp hovering over the city skyline. As Brin tells the audience, he's there to show off Glass, and the specific model he wants to demo has been lent to a friend who happens to be a mile above the show floor. As the camera cuts to inside the aircraft, it becomes obvious we're watching history. Google is about to show a live recording over Hangouts of several Glass-equipped skydivers jumping into the air.

Ten years later, it's hard to call the picture quality glorious, and some of the technical issues with broadcasting between the two locations are glaring. Still, it's a wonderful moment to watch — in fact, I won't even describe what happens next in any further detail. Instead, just check out the video below. Sergey walks onto stage at about 1:27:45, though I've embedded the actual jump. In case our embed fails, the jump happens at 1:32:27.

The skydivers make their way to Moscone Convention Center, the crowd cheering as their chutes fly open. After just a couple of minutes, the group lands on top of the building, the video feed cutting to a sharper image of everyone celebrating. It was, truly, an absolutely insane feat accomplished by Google, something no one ever would've expected from a developer conference, and it made Glass into a gadget nearly everyone wanted.

With the stunt out of the way, Google returns to its regularly scheduled programming, turning the rest of the keynote into a more standard presentation surrounding Glass. In retrospect, the entire showcase is interesting, but nothing ever quite tops the skydiving event that blew everyone's minds in 2012.

Google I_O 2012 - Keynote Day 1 1-34-13 screenshot

Of course, ninety long minutes preceded this event, and in that timespan, Google announced two gadgets with two very different fates. The first, the Nexus 7, brought Google's first-party branding to tablets. Although the second-gen version was even better, this original model competed directly with the first-gen Kindle Fire. At $200, Google managed to match Amazon's price while giving users a stock Android experience and, more importantly, the Play Store. With access to apps like Gmail, it's no wonder the Nexus 7 was such a massive success compared to the competition.

With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Nexus 7 felt blazing fast compared to the rest of the (Android) competition. Google spent a long time talking up Project Butter on stage, and the difference it made was immediately apparent. The Nexus 7 was also the first gadget to ship with Google Now, and while Assistant may have replaced it ages ago,

But of course, who can forget the true highlight of this particular event: the Nexus Q.

I'll wait while you finish applauding.

The Nexus Q is, as The Verge so eloquently put it this morning, Google's worst hardware flop of all time. A $300 streaming device that only supported Google's Play-branded apps (and YouTube), with no sight of Netflix or Hulu. A "social streaming" component that predates the Chromecast by a year, allowing anyone — or anyone with the Nexus Q app, anyway — to add to the queue with their own music selections. Google also developed some dedicated bookshelf speakers for its media player, available as a separate purchase for the low, low price of $399.

And that was it. Reviews were mixed (at best), with many testers confused as to what the device was trying to accomplish. Google delayed its launch, and eventually, it disappeared into the history books. A year later, the newly-announced Chromecast offered a far better experience at a lower price, launching an all-new series of hardware for the company to compete alongside the likes of Amazon and Roku.

Google I/O 2012 was a truly astounding time for the company, a moment that looks totally foreign in retrospect. In many ways, this year has proven time is a flat circle: tablets are making a comeback, augmented reality glasses are a thing again, and the Chromecast continues to be one of our favorite gadgets from the company. It's just so unfortunate that everything is unveiled without that sense of playfulness seen from a bunch of skydivers landing on top of a building.

There's no doubt that live translations — the feature Google previewed to close out I/O 2022 — are more useful, more practical, and more beneficial to society than live-streaming a group of people plummeting to Earth. But to our frustration, we'll likely never hit that feeling of excitement, that feeling of the future becoming a reality before our very eyes, at these events ever again.