When Google published its traditional I/O puzzle yesterday, it was exciting. The company described it as “an interactive puzzle and sound toy brought to you by Google Developers. Complete the challenges to reveal details about an upcoming event!” The event mentioned was undoubtedly Google I/O, the company’s annual developer conference, and the solution to the four-part puzzle revealed the dates for I/O 2022.
The developer conference will be held on May 11th and 12th at the Shoreline Amphitheater. It will be the first I/O since 2019 to have an in-person audience, as an additional treat. But hold your horses, for it will be the online route (again!) for you and me. It will be streamed live in front of a limited live audience, which is surmised to consist primarily of Google employees and some partners. So online it is.
The news is all the sweeter because the I/O event had been derailed by the pandemic over the past two years. While Google had to completely cancel the event in 2020, I/O 2021 was held entirely online. With things slowly easing back to normalcy, can we expect I/O 2023 to be open to a larger audience? Time will tell.
In a FAQ, the company revealed that one will not need a ticket to attend the event, and the registration is free (set to begin this month). If you register for Google I/O 2022, then you can save and view relevant content, create a developer profile, and stay up-to-date on Google I/O, developer events, and other relevant news.
This news comes with the question that is common to all announcements regarding developer conferences – what will be revealed at the event? If you remember, I/O 2021 shed light on various features – such as updates to Google Workspace, Android 12’s “Material You” design, and the merging of WearOS and Tizen into Wear OS 3. One major contender for this year’s I/O is the Android 13, of which Google has already released the first preview, but nothing is set in stone.
Once the live-stream is over, Google will make available keynotes and sessions on-demand that you can watch when you can. Content will also be provided in multiple languages, and some translated content such as captioned videos may be available shortly after the event as well.
Google also promised that there will be demos and other interactive experiences within I/O Adventure, which is its virtual event experience. If you have created a developer profile, then My I/O will be enabled and you can fully access I/O Adventure. This will enable you to chat in I/O Adventure, earn event badges, and keep track of and save content you are interested in.
