Blogging from the Beach

Well, I successfully arrived in London Saturday morning. Didn’t really sleep on the plane, and lost a few hours, so I just figured I’d forfeit that night’s sleep. So I set off to find Tink‘s flat in Islington. Successfully navigated the tube to King’s Cross, then got on the right bus, but going in the wrong direction. Eventually made it there, freshened up a bit and set out again to explore the city. Got to bed about 4 am, after being up around 40 hours.

Sunday we set out for Brighton. That took a train and a bus. Brighton is a great town. Really cool energy here. A great place for a conference. Checked into the Old Ship hotel, supposedly the oldest operating hotel in England, or something like that. I have an awesome seaside view. wound up at Aral‘s new place, where he hosted a wild and crazy party. Again, got to bed around 3-4 am.

Long and short of it, I’m already totally wiped out as the conference begins.

All that being said, this is lining up to be one of the best conferences I’ve been to. The venue is fantastic. The speaker line up is top notch. All attendees receive a very nice FOTB laptop bag filled with swag, including a FOTB t-shirt. Speakers get an additional Timbuktu laptop bag and another t-shirt. John Davey is going out of his way to take care of the speakers, and is doing an incredible job keeping things running smoothly. If you didn’t make this one, you’re really missing out.

Saw the keynote with Mike & Mike and Mark Anders – the usual keynote stuff :). One thing that was new for me was the Device Central app which allows you to preview mobile apps in a simulated phone, with profiles for every single mobile phone that supports Flash Lite, and adjust almost any parameter of the virtual phone’s environment and performance. Then I went to Craig Swann’s session, which was really inspiring. Now at lunch break.

I’ve taken a few hundred photos already. Will upload eventually and link to them. Will report later today or tomorrow.