I was fortunate to attend my third Google IO developer conference a few weeks back. Everyone focuses on the giveaways, which are nice. The reason I go back year after year is the raw computer science in practice that is on display and the topic of every session. Ne comprend pas? Just search for ‘Google IO 2012’ on Youtube and you’ll find every session available. Just dive into a couple of whatever looks good and you’ll most likely see what I mean. The good thing this year is I had stuff to bring back to Chatt*lab!

Last year I attended the Android ADK (Accessory Development Kit) session as I was digging Android in 2011. The ADK was an Arduino shield that allowed USB to Android development and was a really surprising piece of kit that was given to the ADK session attendees. This year I’m walking between sessions with a focus on big data and Google AppEngine and just happened to walk by the ADK session as the doors were opening. ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to snag another Arduino to take back to the *lab?’ I thought to myself. Well, I had no idea I’d be bringing home the equivalent of a stealth fighter.

As you can see it looks like a stealth fighter. This is one sweet piece of kit. It is essentially one giant collection of sensors held together by magnetic catches. The ADK team wanted to make a kit that would allow accessory development but in the process delivered the most hackable device chock full of sensors: light, color, proximity, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and acceleration. At the chewy center is a 32-bit ARM Cortex M3 processor and Arduino UNO. Did I mention Bluetooth support? A microSD card slot? Color LED numeric arrays and it is an alarm clock! It is an Arduino with all the bells and whistles and it is ours for prototyping.

For more pics of the conference see the link below.
Google IO 2012 Web Album