Campus Party

It could be argued that I have the best job in the world. I certainly think so.
This week, I've been sent to the Campus Party in Valencia.
Well, actually in the Feria de Valencia, which is either a town, or a conference centre, depending on who you speak to.
Either way, here's the place, using a handy embed from Google Maps.

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Anyway, it's a 7 day conference slash lan party, where people can geek out with friends and strangers, and share a love of computers. As you can probably tell from that map above you (if you're on a browser that can handle the javascripts), this place is HUGE. The third floor is given over to tables (see below) and a few stands. The second floor is given over to camping.
Yes, that's right.
Camping.

Part (or perhaps most) of the Campus Party is the camping, and as an attendee, you can live here for the whole time. It means that actually, most stuff happens after midnight, and people are mostly passed out during the day.

We provided some tents last year. It seems like many have made a triumphant return.

Anyway, here's their YT channel.
Google has a pretty big stand
I'm here to pimp Maps, OpenSocial, iGoogle themes, apps, gadgets and some other stuff too.

Right now, I'm watching Mike Jennings speak about Android, and actually learning quite a lot, which isn't supposed to sound as rude as perhaps it does.

It's more that I had no idea what was involved with Android before, and now have a great understanding.

There's also an iPhone app development talk going on in the next booth, which is a Telefonica booth. I guess they're distributing the phone in Spain, eh? Yep, a quick search proves that they are!

Anyway, what else is going on here? There are about a zillion people with their own rigs here, almost exclusively playing WoW, as far as I can tell. I'll wander around with a camera at some point, and get some shots, but my favourite so far is a water-cooled rig installed in a toy fire engine. Splendid!

I also saw an Xbox setup last night, whilst wandering in a drunken stupor. I'll try and find that again later today, after Mike's finished. Actually, after Mike is Ruth, who has built Android apps already, and is going to talk about how easy and awesome Android development is. At least, I hope she is. Time will tell. Ruth entered the Android Developer Challenge, although I'm not sure how she did. Anyway, I'll post an update after her talk, so you're all up to speed.

Oh, and I'll write about the Google Earthwalk and Google Earth Umbrella in another post.