Every year, with this year being the fourth in succession, there is Where 2.0 Conference by O’Reily. And every weekend after the conference, there is WhereCamp. Here is an excerpt from O’Reily’s website that describes the Where 2.0 Conference:

Now in its fourth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. In the O’Reilly conference tradition, Where 2.0 presents leading trends rather than chasing them.

At Where 2.0, you’ll find source mapping tools, open standards for data and location web services, and sensors for obtaining location data. We’ll learn how the established geo industry is reacting to the first businesses making money from their grassroots geospatial projects. There’s no better place to meet the people behind the mash-ups, the people behind the platforms, and the people looking ahead to the future of geospatial. Join us at Where 2.0 to debate and discuss what’s viable now, and what’s lurking just below the radar

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Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to Where 2.0 Conference, but able to make it to WhereCamp! Originally, I was supposed to head to TiECon in Santa Clara, but didn’t have a ride to there, so I convinced my parents to let me go to the GooglePlex in Mountain View, CA, where WhereCamp 2008 was held. We spent night atthe GooglePlex, where they were handing out tents for those who didn’t have money to spend on lodging. Who knew that I’d be sleeping under the stars on the premises of my favorite search company?

I got there at around 8:00 PM, and met up with two people, Robert Scoble and Rex Pechler.

At around 10:00, I started talking to the Poly9 folks. I met the CEO and Chief Architect. Then, without me even knowing, a much younger man (but still older than me) comes and sits next to me and Poly9 folks. We started talking about Press and Media Badges, when the CEO of Poly9 asked who he was. He had a Google badge on, so we though he was a Google Employee. The Poly9 CEO (Greg) quickly googled his name, and his blog, On the iPhone, comes up. We all looked at each other, and said in awe, that he was the first to unlock (to allow a phone to operate on a network that’s not the phone’s distributing carrier) the iPhone! George Hotz was sitting next to me and chatting with me for about 20 minutes before we realized who he was. Greg quickly asked him to sit down to talk, George sat down, and we ended up talking for about 8 hours, from 10:30 at night until about 6:30 in the morning. This had to be one of the best nights of my life. We were all asking questions, and of course, Qikking. Here is Rex’s and my stream:

This was such an amazing night. For more Qik Videos, please either go to my channel, or Rex’s. To conclude, here’s a photo with George and myself: