Google I/O 2011: No love for Academia?

Reading blogs on the web would make one believe that attendees of last year’s Google I/O conference are allowed to register January 31, a week before general registration opens.

Yet a couple days ago I received an email telling me to “mark my calendar for February 7th, when general registration will open.”  Last year I attended the conference using the Academia discount, and as far as I can tell, the Academia discount is the reason why there is no preference.

Why isn’t Google showing appreciation to their peers in academia?

Using Google Alerts for the inside scoop on Google I/O

Just a couple weeks ago I wrote a post on how to get the inside scoop on Google I/O. I listed a couple Twitter accounts to follow and also explained how to set up a Google Alert for details about conference registration.

Since setting up the Google Alert on January 1st, I gotten twenty-six alerts. Some have been interesting, most have been worthless, but one of them was great! It appears that Google indexed the preregistration page, and sent me an alert saying so.

While this alert didn’t allow me to register earlier than anybody else, I was able to know that registration was coming soon before I saw it on any other blogs.

Tips for traveling to Google I/O 2011

Are you planning on attending Google I/O 2011? The event is now less than four months from today and registration is likely to open next week.

San Francisco is the 12th most populous city in the United States, and offers some great tourist attractions to see during your visit. After attending the conference and sight-seeing, you’ll need a place to rest your feet.

As part of the conference, Google will offer a discounted hotel rate. Last year the Marriot San Francisco Marquis hotel sold out its discounted rooms by April. Of course, the hotel route isn’t the only way to travel.

San Francisco is home to many hostels that offer practical and convenient living while attending the conference. Last year I stayed at Pacific Tradewinds Backpacker Hostel. The hostel was really close, only 10 blocks walking distance from the conference. This was my first time staying in a hostel and it will not be my last.

San Francisco also offers more than 1,100 places for rent through airbnb. I just used airbnb on my recent trip to New York and it worked out beautifully. Airbnb allows you to rent entire homes/apartments, private rooms, shared rooms, and even couches. This provides price points for all travelers, and the feedback system gives both parties safety.

There are also websites similar to airbnb, such as HomeAway and CouchSurfing. HomeAway uses the same model as airbnb, while CouchSurfing is generally free housing.

Predictions for Google I/O 2011

As the registration date looms somewhere in the near future, I decided to write my predictions for this years conference. In this post, I will cover my predictions for the registration date and unveilings.

The big topic right now is when the registration will open. Most press releases and announcements are released on a Tuesday morning. Monday is usually the day where people catch up on emails and work from the previous week and weekend. Tuesday is thus the earliest day in the week for publicity to reach an empty inbox.

Vic Gundotra tweeted on Tuesday, January 4th, that “Google I/O registration opens this month”.

History repeats the Tuesday trend with the Google I/O 2010 registration opening on Tuesday, January 12, 2010. Further, Google tweeted on Thursday, November 12, 2010 about the registration date. Therefore:

1. Google will announce the registration date for Google I/O 2011 today (January 13, 2011).
2. The early-bird registration will open on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

Need further proof that it is coming real soon? The web page for Google I/O has just been updated within the past couple days to fix dates and remove old data.

Now that the dates are out of the way, the following is a list of what I believe will be unveiled at the event.

3. A publicly-available SDK for Google TV
4. The 1.0 release of the new Google Translate that does conversation translations on the fly. This was just released today as an alpha release. With May only being four short months away, Google is likely timing the public release to fall inline with Android 3.0.
5. Devices supporting Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). Google previewed Android 3.0 at CES just last week. Asus is now saying that they may not ship their tablets until summer, allowing preview devices to be distributed at Google I/O.
6. Unlimited storage for Google Docs.
7. Data sync for Chrome OS. Download a file on one Chrome OS machine and it will be synced to your cloud Chrome OS profile.
8. A more public preview of Google’s autonomous cars. In October 2010, Google wrote a blog post stating that they had now driven over 140,000 miles autonomously.
9. And the last prediction will be a far out one… Google TV adds a set-top gaming environment. The games will use Chrome’s Native Client and will have traditional video game controllers.

What do you think will be announced at Google I/O 2011? How far off will I be?

Google I/O 2011: Get the info

I’ve been getting a lot of visits related to Google I/O since my previous post about the announcement of the registration date.

Registration for Google I/O 2011 will be announced very soon and even after the registration there are sure to be more announcements to come.

If you want to stay up to date with the Google I/O news, you should do the following:

1. Follow @googleio and @vicgundotra on Twitter
2. Check the official Google blog for any annoucements
3. Visit http://code.google.com/events/io/
4. Check out the Code Blog and
5. Stay connected on Buzz.

Rumors on the internet state that last years conference sold out before the Early Bird registration ended. Attendees got access to Google developers, key announcements, Motorola Droid or Nexus One, Sprint Evo 4G (before they were released to the public), and many more perks.

This upcoming Google I/O is sure to be exciting. I attended my first one last year and can’t wait to attend another.