For those who are keen to know but still unsure about the Google I/O Extended Sri Lanka, it’s basically an event where everyone gets together to stay up all night and watch the Google I/O conference while it takes place in San Fransisco. This is the climax of the Google (and tech-world) calendar, as it announces its latest technologies including their mobile and web based applications, which cover Android, Chrome and Chrome OS.
This year, Google I/O was held for the second consecutive year from the 25th to the 26th June (5.30 p.m – 6 a.m) at the Sri Lanka Foundation. Google I/O Extended Colombo gives you the closest experience of the magic and innovation of Google I/O, second only to being present in SanFran itself. Since there’s a huge time difference between San Francisco and here, the local speakers kept it going with other activities like hackathons, hangout sessions and of course, free WiFi. To fuel the crowd through the night, plenty of Domino’s pizzas were passed around along with Red bulls energizers!
“1500 was the amount we expected for this year but when we stopped receiving the applications, it was 5000 registrations,” were the welcoming words by the country Manager of Google, Rohan Jayaweera. He then went on to finish his speech up by thanking “Mobitel for sponsoring it and especially for paying a very huge bill for the pizzas till next day morning.”
When the local sessions ended, the time had finally arrived. The keynote presentation was started by a countdown 5,4,3,2,1…. followed by a massive round of applause and was kept short and simple.
During the keynote Google introduced plenty of new stuff, some of which were Android Auto, Android TV, Chromecast, new health apps and a new API for games.
The event eventually came to a close with another round of games, hackathons and competitions. With the partnership of internet giant Google, this was another successful event that paved the way for Sri Lankans to reach an info-com and knowledge-rich society.
