For the most part I’m a big Google fanboy (well except for some things here and there). And because I’m nominally a web developer, I certainly will try to attend as many developer-oriented Google events as I can. The first event I attended was the Google TechTalk last November 2007 and the second one was the first ever Google DevFest Manila back in November 2008. So it should not come as a surprise that I turned up at the Google-Globe Developer Workshop last June 20. This event was held at Tech Portal of the really, really, really cool U.P.-Ayala Land TechnoHub in U.P. Diliman (see a rough map at OpenStreetMap ). Did I mention that the TechnoHub is really cool?

For this workshop, Google partnered with Globe Telecom and they both presented a bunch of APIs and other related technologies that can be used by developers for their applications. So while web applications are very prominent—this being a Google event—mobile applications are also encouraged with Globe contributing to the mix.

Here’s one thing I only realized just now and this bears emphasizing: There was no discussion of the Android OS at all during the workshop. Android is the mobile OS that Google is championing, in competition to the Nokia-backed Symbian OS, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, Apple’s iPhone OS, and RIM’s BlackBerry OS. I’m speculating that the reason for the Android omission is the presence of Globe. (There could be other innocuous reasons but I like this one. ) While Globe brought the iPhone to the Philippines, Smart has exclusive distribution rights (starting July) to the HTC Magic, the first Android-based phone in the country. It would be in extremely poor taste for Google to talk about developing apps on the Android platform in front of Globe reps when Smart is the only one to have phones that can run the said apps (at least for the moment).

The main guest from Google was Patrick Chanezon. He talked mainly about how the Web and the browser is fast becoming the platform of choice for deploying applications. He rehashed various material from the recent Google I/O conference and gave examples of how powerful HTML5 is. I was actually quite impressed by the various things one can already do with HTML5; check out Patrick’s Delicious links for the possibilities.

After Google, Globe gave a couple of presentations on their APIs. Of the three they currently offer—voice, SMS/MMS, and LBS (location-based services)—I’m most interested in the LBS one. (This should not come as a surprise to my readers. ) I’m actually also quite interested in the SMS/MMS API since (I think) you can create those nifty “type SHOUTOUT, space, your message, then send to 2366” services. I can already foresee a use for it in a website I’m developing.

I consider this workshop to be just a tad better than last year’s DevFest. While the venue is a developer haven and the power outlets plentiful, the promised Wi-Fi was completely non-existent, unlike last year when it was just intermittent. I also liked last year’s snacks better. But in terms of content, I think both had plenty of stuff to chew on. Also, the DevFest was more fun because of Pamela Fox’s crazy antics.

Listed below are some post-event blog posts from elsewhere.

• “The Globe + Google Developers Workshop” by Jerome Locson, who attended the workshop all the way from Zamboanga (just like he did in the DevFest)

• “Google Seminar @ Ayala Technohub” by Mhel Garrido

• “Had a Google Week” by Hubert Ursua

• “Hello SE Asia” by Stephanie Liu, Google Developer Relations

Coy also made a short video coverage of the event.