Google DevFest 2010 Manila

And so I attended Google DevFest 2010 Manila 2 weeks ago (which makes this a really really late post).

DevFest events are a great opportunity to learn more about Google technologies and developer products. The events also give you a chance to meet developer advocates and engineers who work on those products and ask them any questions you might have

It wasn’t really held in Manila, but in TechnoHub, Commonwealth Avenue, UP Campus, Quezon City. It was my first time to attend an event in Technohub and also my first time to drive all the way to Quezon City.

I arrived a couple minutes late at Techportal. Perhaps it was a good thing because I didn’t have to join the hundreds of people during the registration. My estimate is that there were more than 300 developers who attended the event. I can only imagine that it was very crowded and I would’ve had to fall in a long line. I hate falling in long lines.  I missed the opening remarks and Maps API was already being discussed when I settled in my seat at the back of the conference room.

One of the highlights of the event was HTML5, which received a lot of oohs and aahs from the delighted developers. If I remember it correctly, the next part was about the Social APIs, but what caught my attention was PubSubHubbub and Salmon. PubSubHubbub provides servers near-instant notifications when a feed URL is updated. Salmon allows comments to be posted back “upstream” to its original sources. Check out the links for more info.

During the networking lunch, I was able to meet the top NullPointer.ph user, datenshi. Good thing I was wearing my NullPointer.ph shirt, so he easily recognized me and Nikki.

During the apps and demos part, the Google Devs talked about the Apps Markeplace and several volunteers gave demos about their projects that use Google technologies, including Nikki who presented the NullPointer.ph Job Board which is running on Google App Engine. The Code Labs was halted because of the poor internet connection in the conference room. It was difficult for everyone to finish the sample project when it was using the Maps API.

Google DevFest 2010 Manila

All in all, I think it was the best Google event I’ve attended. I’m already looking forward for the next one! Here are the relevant links from the presentations:

App Engine

• Google Cloud for Developer

HTML5

• Dive Into HTML5
• HTML5Rocks

Buzz

• Buzz Bingo

Maps

• Google Maps Manila Talk

Here are some links from those who attended the event:

• Randell’s Facebook Photos
• Aileen’s photos
• Aileen’s blog post
• Jerome Locson’s blog post
• Yolynne Medina’s Flickr photos
• Yolynne Medina’s Facebook Photos
• Yolynne Medina’s video of Jeremy Orlow
• Vignette style photos by Winston using an Android app
• Aris Royo’s blog post
• Design Pinoy’s blog post
• Videos from Charo: Brian’s proof of concept application using Google Maps API, Hardwire Demo, Nullpointer.ph demo, Demo from Wayne of GMA Network, Demonstration of inSync, BookMyPad

Don’t forget to keep yourself updated with other GTUG PH events by checking out the following links:

• GTUG PH Google Sites
• GTUG PH Facebook Group
• GTUG PH Twitter
• GTUG PH Blog