Today sees the 15th anniversary of Google I/O, the tech giant’s annual event given by developers, for developers, to give the lowdown on its products, platforms and
future plans.
This year’s I/O offers keynotes, content and learning material on everything from Android and Google AR, to Google Pay and machine learning, together with a live chat facility and the ability to find community groups, all as part of one event with a somewhat irritating and, ironically, difficult-to-Google name.
Why is it called I/O?
Simply pronounced “I O” ignoring the slash in between, there are several reasons why Google adopted this name for its event in 2008, having more pragmatically called it ‘Google Developer Day’ the year before.
The explanation most people will be familiar with is that I/O stands for “input/output”, which describes the way computers interact with humans. This is also why many gaming website URLs end with .io, which is also actually the top-level domain code for the British Indian Ocean Territory. A second abbreviation that ties in with the name is “innovation in the open”.
However, Google also reminds us that it gets its company name from the number googol, which is one followed by 100 zeros. If you take just the first one and zero, it resembles the two letters that give the event its name.
If you’re not bored of this explanation yet, Google has kindly provided an even more long-winded one here.
Can I attend it?
Yes, anyone can register for the event, and there’s no need to go to Google’s California home to do it. Simply go to the event’s website and click ‘Register’ and you’ll be able to watch the keynotes and access other content online.
If you don’t already have one, Google will try to get you to create a developer profile upon registration. The event FAQs insist this isn’t mandatory, but say it will allow you to receive tailored content recommendations based on your selected interests.
Quite conveniently for UK audiences, the event starts this evening at 6:00 pm our time, so developers in a 9-to-5 office job will be able to tune into it when they get home. Alternatively, the keynotes and content will be made available on the site after the event.
If you catch any of the goings-on at Google I/O 2023, do let us know what you think – either by replying here or on our social media channels.
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