We'd love to hear from you

By Peter Deng, Google Developer Programs

Thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback about Google Developer Day. It really makes a difference. For instance, some of you pointed out that the U.S. session videos looked blurry, so we reencoded them at a higher bit rate. Others have asked for more code samples from the sessions. We're working on that too, so stay tuned.

Keep it coming! We're looking for feedback not just on GDD but on our developer program as a whole. We're always trying to make our APIs better. Sure, we have ideas about what to do next, but who better to tell us where to focus than you? Please take our survey before Wednesday, June 18. We promise to read all of your comments!

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Google Developer Day: A fantastic worldwide day

By Dion Almaer, Google Developer Programs

We have enjoyed a fantastic day so far. Watching the worldwide map throb new locations to life throughout an entire worldwide day has been a real treat.

Each of the developer day events had their own feel, but the buzz seemed to be the same.

With the announcement of Google Gears, Mapplets, and the like, there has been a lot to talk about.

There is a lot of information out there, but a brief roundup:

Google Gears

• Aaron Boodman kicks it off with his Google Gears talk, using an offline presentation tool. The finishing touch is the need to search for the last page!
• Google Gears Fireside Chat
• Google Gears for WebKit
• Google Reader goes offline
• The Google Gears blog is born

Google Web Toolkit

• GWT and Gears
• GWT reaches a million downloads

Google Geo

• Driving directions added to the Google Maps API
• Mapplets

Other

• Google Mashup Editor was shown off by Paul McDonald
• Jeff Huber Keynote writeup
• YouTube API session writeup
• Adam Sah on Google Gadgets APIs session writeup

And this is the tip of the iceberg.

For more, check out the growing list of YouTube videos of the sessions, view the pictures from the event, and see what people are saying about it.

Now it is time to watch the last marker go red at the party back at the Googleplex.

Then tomorrow comes, and we get back to work to take in the suggestions and ideas from the community, and to press on from here!

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Developer week in (p)review

By Andrew Bowers, Google Developer Programs

Google Developer Day is here! Our first worldwide developer event has kicked off in Sydney and won't stop until it's reached 10 locations around the world, finishing up 29 hours later at Google's offices in Mountain View, California. If you can't make it in person, you should try to catch one of the sessions online. We're webcasting live sessions from London and California, and will post videos from all our events shortly afterwards on the Developer Day website.

Developer Day isn't the only thing that's kept us busy this week. We've also released a bunch of new products, which I'll let the respective teams say more about. Here's a roundup of some of this week's releases:

• Learn about going offline with Google Gears, an open source browser extension for creating offline web applications.
• Make mashup of mashups with Mapplets, mini-applications that can be embedded into the Google Maps site.
• And it is mashups made easy with the Google Mashup Editor, an an online code editor for creating and deploying mashups.
  
• Watch as GWT Gears up with the Google API Library for Google Web Toolkit, an open source library to help GWT developers take advantage of Google APIs, starting with Google Gears.
• Just in time to get to San Jose, we added driving directions to the Google Maps API, giving developers even more ways to create compelling maps mashups.

Check them out, then come join us at Developer Day. See you here!

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Google Developer Day sessions move to San Jose Convention Center

Posted by Andrew Bowers, Google Developer Programs

Thanks to the incredible interest in Google Developer Day, we've moved the session portion of the day to the San Jose Convention Center. From 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., we'll be bringing ourselves and a little of the Google campus a few miles south. After the sessions wrap up at 5:30, everyone will head back up to Google for food, music, and general chilling out with other developers from around the United States and the world.

For everyone's convenience, from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Google will provide shuttle buses continually between the Convention Center and the Google campus. For those of you driving, parking will also be available at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

We'll be posting more information about the event in the next few days, so check back at code.google.com for the latest information.

Update: Clarified that the sessions run until 5:30 pm.

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Additional spots added at Google Developer Day

Posted by Andrew Bowers, Google Developer Programs

Wow, what a response! We knew a few people would sign up for Google Developer Day, but not all in the first several hours. I'm really excited to see this much interest from around the world, and I personally can't wait to meet the folks coming to Mountain View.

Since there has been so much interest, we've decided to expand a bit and add additional spots for the event. If you haven't signed up yet, please head on over to the registration site and sign up now.

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Announcing Google Developer Day

Posted by Andrew Bowers, Google Developer Programs

One of the things I like best about working at Google is that you are encouraged to try new things. So when the idea of holding a Google Developer Day around the world came up, some thought it was ambitious but no one thought it was crazy. In fact, everyone rallied behind the idea. It seemed like a good way to connect with our developer community given that some of the best Google maps mashups, Google Gadgets, and applications are developed by programmers outside the United States.

As I posted over on the Google Blog, we're working out the session details but already have an exciting list of speakers and participants. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to May 31^st. In the meantime, visit the Google Developer Day website and reserve your spot today.

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