Google’s annual developer conference website was updated on Wednesday with a series of punchcard puzzles, with no other information. The reward for solving those puzzles? The date of Google I/O 2021.
I tried to figure out the second puzzle on my own, but quickly realized I know nothing about punchcards and it was pointless. Thankfully, 9to5Google spent the time and effort to go through all 10 puzzles on the site (and even included screenshots of the solutions on its site).
At the end of the journey, Google reveals that I/O will be held from May 18-20 as a virtual event. Google says the event will be free for everyone, which is usually the case for developers who watch the livestream of sessions and keynotes.
Registration for Google I/O 2021 is open right now and provides a way to sign up for workshops, along with question and answer sessions with Google employees.
Google typically uses I/O to announce new software products and occasionally hardware. This year we expect Android 12 will move from the developer beta to a public beta, and Google will finally show off some of the consumer-facing features in the upcoming release.
Updates to Chrome, Chrome OS, Nest and Google Assistant are likely also in the works.
What are you hoping to see Google announce at I/O this year? Let us know in the comments.
