This is the registration booth, which goes on forever and divides attendees up based on their role. Press registration was just around the far end.”There’s always bike parking at Google I/O, and this year was no exception. That cardboard sign was also part of the overall theme.”Google I/O also always has a store, this time it was filled with unique clothing and other items with designs commissioned by artists. I didn’t buy anything.”This was the first floor ‘Playground,’ which basically acted as a giant cafeteria and viewing room for those who couldn’t fit in sessions.”Here’s the big screen in that same space, with Astro Teller giving some updates about self-driving cars to the assembled lunch crowd.”Look at all those boxed lunches. Developers are very hungry.”See ya later first floor. I wonder if there’s more wood and cardboard upstairs?”Oh look there is more wood! This is the design booth, which occupied about a quarter of the second floor.”These design booths had whiteboard walls, presumably for little breakout sessions and consults. It’s so bright and sunny u2013 designers live in the light.”Here’s the area dedicated to monetization help for developers. They were probably telling everyone pop-up ads are great.”Snacks on the second floor. Your choices were apparently coffee, cupcakes, or coffee.”There were a lot of these sort of conical room type things peppered around, generally made of thin wood lattice or cardboard boxes.”These boombox-style things let developers try out their apps on Android Auto, using Pioneer decks. I wanted to take one home, but they wouldn’t let me.”Part of the second floor’s so-called ‘Playground’ was the developer training section. Note the Udacity sign: Google is promoting their Android development nano degree in a big way.”These were around a few places, holding up kitsch for no apparently purpose other than whimsy.”There were loads of Andy the Android statues around, too. This one was made up to look like topiary.”Here’s one that looks like a jungle gym, square in the middle of the second-floor Playground.”It’s a literal playground, by the way.”These people were doing some kind of weird teeter-totter balancing act that looked like it wouldn’t end well.”The Playground also had an arcade, in addition to the actual playground. Fooseball was always busy.”This guy is reenacting his favorite scene from ‘Ready Player One.’”There were a few gaming stations rigged up with the new Nvidia SHIELD Android TV device for people to relax with.”These weird room things were used for less formal sessions that didn’t require real walls or seats.”Everyone needs to bean.”Here’s a wide angle of the second-floor Playground area.”This is the stage for Google’s own-hosted ongoing commentary show for I/O.”This area had tinker toy type things, where people could just hang out and assemble small structures.”Leaving floor 2, you see this tower of tubes, which was just another lounge area for some of the talks.”Another view from the escalator, showing an area where you could test on a range of devices.”On the third (top) floor, there was a skeletal house that housed (ha) Cast and Android TV, among others.”The great wall of fragmentation.”Google’s recent slogan for Android, which it uses in combination with those Androidify modded Andy mascots.”Play for Families had its own skeletal house type structure.”Cast got a bunch of new powers at I/O, even though it wasn’t part of the keynote. Here you could try some of those out.”This is a Tango-powered shooting game that uses Google’s unique area-sensing camera combined with augmented reality.”Ara had a presence at the show, but not a big one. Looking forward to see more of this.”This is the ATAP project that detects fine movement for gesture input. Super cool.”ATAP’s Jacquard, which embeds circuitry into real fabric.”Jacquard is a really cool tech that could make connected clothing practical and fashionable.”This is the ATAP booth. They had a strong floor presence at I/O this year.”Find your way, summer camp style.”Hit the open road.”A huge selection of Android Wear devices was on display, and those big ones rotated through every Android Wear watch face currently available on Play.”This is a huge Cardboard atop the Cardboard VR testing booth area. It was the last stop before the press room.”And then I went to work.”
What’s it like to be at Google I/O? Here’s a walking tour of this year’s show floor at Moscone West, from registration all the way up to the inner den of the press room.
Writer covering space, science and health tech. Formerly covering automotive and mobility tech, and previously an employee of Apple and also of Shopify.
