Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Google is hiding I/O tickets in developer documentation images (android.com)
23 points by nolanbrown23 on April 18, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 23 comments


Ok, I followed a shortened link and it drops me into a fairly cool terminal simulator with a space MUD-style game in it. But it's kind of creepy to have the prompt print out as <my actual first name>@io

I know Google knows I'm logged in right now. I know that Google knows that I know that I'm logged in right now. Still, it feels weird.


That's because you're using Chrome?


Just found one. It's the "opportunity to purchase" a ticket to I/O. Registration code should arrive within 24-48 hours.


Darn ... I found four but none worked :(


    $ find /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/sdk/docs/images -type f | sed 's_/Applications/Android\ Studio.app/sdk/docs/images_http://developer.android.com/images_' | wget -x -i -
    $ diff -r developer.android.com/images /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/sdk/docs/images
    Binary files developer.android.com/images/admin/device-admin-activate-prompt.png and /Applications/Android Studio.app/sdk/docs/images/admin/device-admin-activate-prompt.png differ
    [...]
    
Sadly, they're all gone.


    1. Start scraping all images from http://developer.android.com/training/ inside div.gc-documentation    
    2. Inspect manually
    3. Profit
Fun!


Very clever approach by Google (I was hoping for a coding test though :), after getting the code (which is the URL), you will be directed to sign in to your Google Account and then would have to complete the Space Mercury Mission (Console Game) to win the Code for IO 2014. For the curious, this is what the game looks like: http://i.imgur.com/b1LVoG8.png


There's the one in... http://developer.android.com/images/tools/as-buildvariants.p... ...but I've tried everything I can make of that awful font and can't seem to get the proper chars for the URL.


First char is a 5.


It looks like they were hiding them in other places, such as old video annotations...

Source: https://twitter.com/jc4p/status/456881857481547776


example image with code for the curious : https://cloudup.com/cwt9rS66Agu


what the game looks like: http://i.imgur.com/b1LVoG8.png


What do you think Google is doing it that way? Do they want us all to read/spend more time in their developer docs examining the images?


It says I don't have valid credentials for the four or so I found. They all seem like the same text adventure.


Same here. Is it because I'm not in the US?


I'm in the US and tried at least 10, all with failure.


Ditto. Not in the US also.


I have only come across the two, both on the link in the OP.

Has anyone found others?


Argh, too late as usual.


where are you seeing the hiding I/O tickets?


It looks like they changed the image to remove the watermark. The actual code has already been claimed.


FML


I can still see the 2 URLs?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: