Game Shows And Office Hours: Google Launches Developers Live To Extend I/O Year-Round

Next week, Google is holding its annual I/O developers conference in San Francisco, but that’s apparently not stopping the company from making some developer-focused announcements now. With Google Developers Live, which is launching today, the company plans to “bring you the excitement of Google I/O year-round.” As Louis Gray, a program manager on Google’s developer relations team notes (and here we thought he was working on Google+), Google plans to use this new site to “feature live, interactive broadcasts ranging from developer-focused game shows to Office Hours where you can connect with the engineers who created and work on your favorite Google product.”

Most of these programs, it seems, will also feature interactive Q&A sessions. The service, Google says, will use streaming video and Google+ hangouts to connect Google’s engineers with the developers that use their products. The site currently lists upcoming office hours for a number of Google products, including YouTube, Google TV and Google’s Ads and Maps APIs. Google also plans to host code labs and let developers “listen to Google employees review new applications.”

The whole effort feels a bit similar to what Microsoft is doing with its developer-focused video site Channel 9. Just like Google aims to extend the experience of Google I/O with Developers Live, Microsoft also often talks about Channel 9 as an extension to its developer conferences like PDC and Build.