Google broadcast their Google I/O Extended conference from the US, as an adjunct to their much larger Google I/O conference.

Owen Cutajar of FutureTech hosted a live screening of the various announcements, guidance and tech gossip at The Forum, Mt Havelock, Douglas. Attracting a sizeable audience, possibly attracted by the free pizza sponsored by MICTA, there was plenty of opportunity to watch, absorb, chat and munch on pizza and sweets.

The night was captured on the Isle of Man’s Google I/O page.

The Forum is an ideal facility for meeting and learning with like-minded individuals. A number of events are held there, including training courses and seminars by the Isle of Man branch of the British Computer Society and the new and successful, Code Club.

Lots of topics were discussed, covering wearable technology such as Google Glass and watches, home automation using the recently-acquired Google/Nest, Cryptocurrencies and Android.

Although not a Google fan myself, I found the event particularly useful to fill in gaps of my knowledge of another side of the tech industry which I have views upon, though from an outsider’s perspective. Whilst I’m not going to run out and kit my house out with Nest or buy an Android phone, the opportunity to talk through the technologies with other audience members provided fresh insight. It would be nice to see the same applied to the other key players and conferences in the technology landscape, such as those by Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.