Hasta La Gadget!

I think that it is a given these days whenever a company with a particularly large or fanatical following hold an event or conference, tickets to such events and conferences will be snapped up fast as there are limited places available. The thing is, with the advent of the online purchase system, selling such tickets are a whole lot easier, and it would not be surprising to see such events sold out in a matter of hours, or even minutes. Well, we bring you word that the tickets for this year’s Google I/O conference have already been sold out, taking less than an hour to do so, although it did not manage to break last year’s 30 minute sell out record.

Regular attendees will have to fork out $900 per head, while students and faculty staff are able to enjoy a far lower rate at $300 per ticket. If last year were to be of any indication, attendees to Google I/O tend to walk away not empty handed, but rather, receive a slew of high-tech devices from the announcement that should easily match or surpass what you have paid for in the first place.

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Tickets to Google’s annual Google I/O developer event, taking place in mid-May 2013, have gone on sale, prompting the usual mad rush to secure attendance before all seats are taken. Sales began at 7AM PDT across the globe, with tickets priced at $900 for a general attendee or $300 if you can prove you’re a student or faculty member; Google says there will be 5,500 I/O attendees this year, with topics of discussion including Android, Google+, Glass, Google TV, and more.

However, another draw for the event has traditionally been the swag on offer. Google-addicts who managed to secure a place generally come home with a bag full of goodies: last year, not only a new Nexus tablet, but the short-lived Nexus Q home entertainment orb.

The real purpose of I/O, of course, is pushing the Google ecosystem, as well as giving the search giant the opportunity to demonstrate its latest and greatest technologies. In addition to the keynote – which SlashGear will be attending, to bring you back all the latest news – there are three days of developer sessions and sandbox groups, where Google’s own team mingle with third-party devs.

If last year is anything to go by, tickets to I/O will sell out fast. In fact, 2012 saw all of the spaces taken within the space of thirty minutes, leaving many frustrated. Google has implemented a no-sales and no-transfers policy – in an attempt to curtail touts buying tickets and then auctioning them off for a profit on eBay – but demand still vastly outstrips supply.

The company’s advice is to get in line early – you can find the registration page here – and make sure your Google Wallet account is up to date, since that’s the only way to pay for a ticket.

“If you’re assigned a ticket, you’ll have 5 minutes to complete the purchase of your ticket. That’s plenty of time, but if you haven’t completed your payment in 5 minutes, we’ll return the ticket to the available pool. After you’ve completed your payment, we’ll ask you to fill out a registration form. You can take as long as you need for the registration form – there’s no clock” Google

Meanwhile, only open one browser, and one tab in that browser, and don’t be surprised if you hang about on a waiting page while the system hunts down a ticket. “Expect to be on this page for up to six minutes” Google warns. “On this page, don’t refresh your browser or your ticket search will restart.”

If you’re not lucky enough to get a spot, don’t fret. Google will be livestreaming the keynotes and some of the sessions, and there’ll be YouTube videos off all of the sessions after I/O finishes.

Google I/O tickets on sale now: Get ‘em while they’re hot! is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google is known for its liberal use of Easter eggs among its products and software, and the Google I/O 2013 website is no exception. The website was just updated, and it is packed full of Easter eggs and fun surprises to hunt down. Check out a few of them after the jump, then head over to the website yourself to see how many of them you can find.

First things first, head on over to the official Google I/O website here and give the “I/O” characters on the page a click. You’ll notice the Is and Os showing up along the bottom with your pattern. Figuring out the correct codes will pull up different Easter eggs, and there are quite a bit to find, it seems, so get busy clicking. One example is the hotdog/hamburger combo I found that you see above.

You’ll know when you find a valid code, because the box around the characters you selected will turn green, and once this happens the default I/O will slide to the left, pulling in the Easter egg image. Getting tired of searching? Here are a few patterns to try out: “OOIIIOOI”, “IOOIOOOO”, and “IOOOOOOI” (hint: the last one is a game of pong).

The fun doesn’t end there, though, with more Easter eggs being scattered around the website. According to the folks over at The Next Web, there are sound effects and hidden pages to be found as well. And cats. Don’t forget the cats. Head on over and have a look yourself, then come back and let us know what you discover in the comments!

[via Android Community]

Google packs its I/O 2013 website with Easter eggs is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A few days ago, one of Qualcomm‘s roadmaps leaked all over the Internet before getting pulled after Android Police, which first reported on it, got a nastygram over copyright infringement. While the original leak showed some sensitive information about Qualcomm, new information from the leaked slides has appeared, pointing to a spring release of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.

Both sources familiar with the matter and multiple reports have stated that the leaked Qualcomm slides contain information about it and Google’s plans over the coming months. Among the plans is a spring 2013 K-release of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. The mobile operating system itself is also detailed in the leaks.

Of course, while it is nice to get confirmation, this isn’t the most surprising batch of information to ever leak. Google’s upcoming I/O event is when new iterations of Android are announced, and nothing had suggested that wouldn’t be the case for Key Lime Pie. The event will take place on May 15 through 17.

Whether the leaked information was taken down because of the Google materials it contained, or because of the Qualcomm data (or perhaps both) is unknown. If the quick suppression of the leaks indicate anything, though, it is that the information they contained is true – companies don’t often go to such efforts to eradicate leaks that contain false info, after all.

[via Android Community]

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie will release this spring according to Qualcomm leak is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If there’s one element in the news universe here that tells us Google is doing things right, it’s the constant talk and response to a new Nexus smartphone – even when the current model is doing exceedingly well on the market. Here in first quarter of 2013 heading into Spring (or maybe that’s just wishful thinking), we’ve got rumors galore of a Nexus 5 being worked on for release at Mobile World Congress 2013 from LG, none other than the manufacturers of the Nexus 4. Today they’ve confirmed that no, that doesn’t make any sense, and that yes, they’re still making massive amounts of the current Google hero Nexus 4 for the time being.

The word was that even thought the Google Nexus 4, manufactured by LG, was doing much better on the market than anyone had guessed, that they’d be creating a Nexus 5 with ever-so-slightly improved specifications all around plus a modified body with no sparkly back panel. One rumor suggested that a brand new Nexus 5 would be shown off a MWC 2013 (which we’ll be at with bells on one way or another), while another rumor with a bit more realistic an outlook suggested they’d show a new Nexus at Google I/O 2013 later this Summer.

“Our domestic Pyeongtaek manufacturing plant has been producing the Nexus 4 without a hitch. There is no problem in supplying. [Nexus 5 rumors] are unfounded. The Nexus 4 by LG is significant in that it’s becoming more successful than the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and [Mobile World Congress 2013 products] have not been finalized.” – LG Electronics Official (roughly translated)

LG today has spoken to the publication known as Chosun Biz, confirming that they’re still very much invested in the Nexus 4 in its current state, projecting production well into the future for this extremely hot-selling beast. For those of you that are unaware, this machine has sold so well that the online Google Play store had to push shipments back several weeks back in the later weeks of 2012, only now coming up to speed with availability across the USA and Europe. Rest assured, Nexus 4 owners, your device will be the Google hero for many moons.

If you’d like to know more about the Google Nexus 4 by LG, be sure to check our not one, but two big reviews! First have a look at our original Google Nexus 4 review, then see our T-Mobile Nexus 4 review, taken from a slightly different angle. Be sure to jump in to our Android portal as well for more Google mobile OS action than you can possible handle!

[via Android Community]

LG confirms Nexus 4 still in production with no 5 on the books is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.