I’m writing this post on my Transformer Prime from Google’s campus near Liverpool Street. It’s a really cool place and I’m glad I came here for this Google TV event.
My work was contacted by the organiser, and it seemed like nobody else was interested in taking part, so I offered to help out anyone who was going to use the API. Sadly our public API is currently closed, but I came along to speak about the future of connected televisions and things like that. It was only a very brief thing in front of a bunch of Android developers, but I was so nervous leading up to it.
It turned out that there was no need to be. It’s been a really cool experience, and it’s been cool to meet quite a few people who work in interesting places around London.
Some of the crowd I spoke to as viewed from the back where I was hiding.
It felt weird being one of the people that others looked to as if I know the whole idea inside out, but I guess through my work I have kind of just got used to the whole concept, and how it could be used, and what some potential issues might be.
I do like the Google TV idea, and I think the execution is pretty good so far. I would like to see quite a few changes to things though. It seems there’s no concept of user profiles, much like on a phone or a tablet. That means you can sign your TV into your Facebook account, leave the room, and quickly get Facebook raped by your nearest and dearest.
It’s good that Google are doing more with the interface guidelines and being a bit more prescriptive with how things should really work. One speaker suggested there’s a bit more stringent process involved in getting a TV app onto the market. I think that’s a good thing, mostly. As long as it doesn’t turn into an Apple-like situation.
Anyway, I think I’ve spent enough time talking crap on my blog. I should probably take a wander around the place and see what people are doing. It’s crazy seeing how quickly the apps get developed. It’s how I used to love doing things before working on big corporate projects. It’s nice to be free of the whole management side of things. You just have an idea and start coding it. Ordinarily we’d just be scheduling in the meeting to determine when the sprint planning would begin, and when the stand-ups would be.