Google I/O Afterparty: Robots, Pinball, Jane’s Addiction, a Self-Driving Car and a Merry-Go-Round Powered by Bicycles

The Google I/O 2011 afterparty was geek entertainment at it’s best. Complete with a token 45-minute set by Jane’s Addiction (with Chris Chaney on bass – Eric Avery left the band last year) and dozens of extreme geeks holding up their newly gifted Samsung Galaxy Tabs to shoot a few clips of video (watch the set in HD below), the highlight of the event was likely the Maker Faire-esque playground of Google-powered and -inspired installations. Robotic symphonies performed by everyday kitchen appliances; the famous self-driving car; a mellow set by DJ Mark Farina; a pinball arcade; and this thrilling bicycle-powered carousel (warning: watching video may cause dizziness)….

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Click here to view Google I/O photo gallery on flickr.

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Google I/O 2011: Music Beta App Announced and… Movies from the Cloud

Google officially announced its long-rumored streaming-from-the-cloud music app for Android and the web at Google i/o at Moscone Center in San Francisco. It’s currently free (it is in beta after all) — request an invite at music.google.com. No comment on whether or not Google has come any closer to offering streaming legally, as licensed by the labels and publishers. Another exciting announcement — you can now rent videos on Android Market at http://market.android.com/movies. You have 30 days to stream each rental via web or mobile tablet or phone ($1.99 – $3.99 per rental).

In other news from the opening keynote: To date there have been:
* 100M Android activations
* 400,000 daily activations on 215 carriers
* 200,000 available apps on Market

It took:
* 2 years to 1 billion app installs
* 5 more months to 2 billion
* now 4.5 billion app installs from Android Market

Honeycomb 3.1 coming soon to all devices
USB output
Ice Cream Sandwich – new Android OS – 2.4 – coming soon

…and all 5,000 attendees at Google I/O are receiving the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet (a special-edition model, a month before it hits stores)!

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Click on thumbnails to view full image

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Web 2.0 Expo — So Far So Good

Morning keynotes offered a mix of gloom and doom (Zittrain, Andreesen) as well as glimpses of a hopeful future (Yahoo! Openness and Current News)

More to come. Here’s a photo of Erica Ogg and me at the Yahoo! Brickhouse party last night. Good times seeing lots of familiar faces and reminiscing about Annenberg with Erica.

I was also caught in action by Dan Tentler in Mashable’s post about their party at Mighty.

Andy Sternberg and Erica O. at Web 2.0 Yahoo! Brickhouse

photo by Brian Solis

Introducing The Schwaggin’ Wagon

schwagginwagon.com

Last week, Michael Liskin came up with a very bright, win-win-win-win idea that would help him get to SF, help sponsors pimp their wares, help conference-goers shed the extra free crap they attain, AND benefit underprivileged kids with tangible and wearable goods in the process.

It’s called The Schwaggin’ Wagon. I immediately jumped on board when Michael told me about last weekend and quickly set up a snazzy WordPress blog. I’ll also be hanging out and helping Weds night thru Saturday in San Francisco where I’m attending the Web 2.0 Expo for work. Michael, David Preciado, and Kyra Reed all took off this afternoon in the Wagon and Marjorie Kase is already ironing out logistics in SF. Awesome!

Everybody follow the Schwaggin’ Wagon!