May 28, 2016

Google I/O 2016

Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. Google I/O 2016 was held in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California on May 18-20 and I was fortunate to attend it in person.



More than 7, 000 developers attended the event. Here is a video showing the highlights of the event.



This year's I/O was different from past year's I/O as the venue is an open area. There has been a lot of complaints here and there but personally, I was still able to enjoy the experience. I have attended several sessions and learned a lot of new and interesting stuff. It was also great to meet friends you haven't seen in a while and meet new friends.

If you are unable to attend I/O in person, you can watch all the session videos in this playlist from Google Developers. You can also try the codelabs at https://codelabs.developers.google.com/io2016.



GDG Philippines will also be bringing the I/O experience to different cities through the Google I/O 2016 Extended Roadshow, a series of talks and workshops to help professional and student developers deep dive in the new technologies announced during Google I/O 2016.


May 21, 2016

Korea Transit Tour

I had a quite long layover (around 12 hours!) at South Korea before my flight to SFO. I arrived at around five in the morning at Incheon International Airport and decided to join a Transit Tour. These transit tours are for people with long layovers. Tours are free and don't require you to have a Korean VISA.

The transit tours range from an hour to 5 hours. I chose the 2-hour Incheon Temple tour because I have already visited some of the other destinations in the other tours. Also, I still want to explore the airport after the tour and before my boarding time.

The Incheon Temple tour includes visit to Heungryunsa Temple and Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing Operation. I chose the 9-11 morning tour so I can have lunch and airport tour afterwards.


Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing Operation

More photos are available in this Google Photos album. Joining the Transit Tour has been a great experience. If you have a long stopover in South Korea, I highly recommend you try one of their tours.