BREW DevCon 2006, which lasted from 5/31/06-6/2/06, was incredibly fun and also quite educational; expect a blog post soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures, kicking off with my one shot of the Partner Pavilion. I figured out later that cameras probably weren't allowed since security at the doors were turning away people without badges. This was taken during Happy Hour the first night; you can see the bar in the middle. Oh, wait... actually, this is a still from a movie. The actual picture is next.

There we go; this is much clearer. Like I said I shouldn't have taken it, but I don't think there's any business info here so it's probably OK. Qualcomm themselves ran some small, focused stations towards the left; the bulk of exhibits were run by other companies, including ourselves.

The first shot from my hotel window. San Diego looks gorgeous; I'm definitely going back sometime.

Another angle. Our hotel was on the edge of Harbor Street; our room faced towards downtown, the other side is very close to the shore.

And now in wide angle! There are some incongrous restaurants towards the bottom left, include KC BBQ. Nice skyline, huh?

And here's the red trolley! According to the map you can take it all the way to Tijuana, which is pretty cool. Random fact: San Diego has the highest rate of light rail fatalities in the nation.

This is a marina or something by the back of the hotel. There weren't too many boats on the water while we were there, I'm guessing you'd see more on a weekend.

A nice big ship. There are also some classic 19th-century vessels and a huge aircraft carrier docked nearby.

Part of our table at the Welcome Reception. Erik is on the left, Josh in the middle, and James on the right.

Here's... oh, shoot, I'm blanking on her name. She's a new hire working on Published Apps on the other side of the office. To the right is Richard.

This big globe changed colors. It was pretty cool. From a distance, we initially thought it was one of those things that you bounce around inside of.

Josh and Chris Haseman visiting the bar under the globe.

Looking back at the Hyatt from the Embarcadero.

The beatboxer was amazing. He performed for two hours with just one short break.

A slightly clearer picture of the beatboxer.

A still from the hip-hop-enfused opening act for "BREW Your Way," which struck the combination of earnestness and awkwardness that would mark the conference's keynotes. In case you're curious: I'm posting the stills even though they always look bad, just because I think it'll make it easier for me to find the videos if I ever need them.

Another still from Peggy's introduction of Dr. Paul Jacobs, the CEO of Qualcomm.

A still from the rhythm section. They were actually pretty good, but under-utilized.

Another still from the rhythm section.

This is the Seaport Tower, where my room was. It's way cooler than the Harbor Tower on the other side of the Hyatt.

I'm really bummed this picture didn't turn out. This one dude and a girl totally started dancing in the Java Lounge, which wasn't set up as a dance floor. They were really good.

People starting to gather outside before Earth Wind & Fire take the stage.

I actually remember to take a group shot. From left to right: Sasha, Josh, Cathy, the girl whose name I can't remember, Jenny, and Rajiv. This picture is taken about seven hours before Rajiv needs to head to the airport to fly to India to get married.

Earth, Wind & Fire!

A still from their show. As Graham put it, "I was totally hating on these guys before the show, but they actually sound good."

I was pretty impressed by the instrumentalists. I think the guy on the far right, on the drums, is one of the only original members still with the band.

And here is the bassist, another original. This guy was amazing. The concert wouldn't have been half as cool if he hadn't been there.

His energy and enthusiasm were amazing. And he displayed an incredibly degree of confidence, which I guess is a pre-requisite for wearing a see-through shirt and tight pants.

A guitar solo. Hey, check out that mobile phone! I'm really impressed by how vivid it is in this picture.

I think this might be the table where we were doing shots. And that's Death to the right. In the center are James, Graham, and... argh! Why can't I remember her name?

Back to the stage once more.

Heh... there's a story here I may cover in the blog in more depth. There was a kind of creepy guy who sat at our table earlier in the night; by this point he was pretty sloshed and did a really enthusiastic rendition of Guns 'n Roses' "Paradise City." I saw him in a conference the next day and he avoided eye contact.

Here is Jim, who as of this night earned the honor of "Best Boss Ever." I think this was taken after we did the Oxygen Bar.

And here's the dance floor! I have no idea why, but the female to male ratio drastically improved over what we saw in the conference. I wonder if Qualcomm bussed in some sororities or something.

Here's more of the dance floor. In retrospect I wish I had taken more advantage of it, but I had a great time with karaoke and the chillout lounge.

From the little I did observe, the music was pretty good (kind of pop-heavy), and the lighting and general setup was quite impressive.

And FINALLY, after hours of waiting, we got to hear Josh, Graham and James perform The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." This still is from the very beginning of a three-minute video which is my most treasured keepsake of the entire conference.

Erik at the start of CCR's "Proud Mary." He is seriously an excellent singer, and arguably had no business in that room.

This is a still from the video of Erik's song. In a few seconds, Cathy and Graham move into the frame and dance through the rest of the song. That was really fun.

Chris Haseman jumped on the pillar towards the end of the night. I think this was during the last song, the excellently-chosen "Every Little Thing Gonna Be Alright" by Bob Marley.

A frame from a brief, disturbing video of myself that recalls the last scene from The Blair Witch Project. The rest of the night was off-limits to photography; check my blog later for the rest of the story. Anyways, that's the end of my pictures! The confrence concluded the next day with several good events but evidently nothing photo-worthy.