We’ll update the post title as soon as we know why we’re here.

We’re here at the Google campfire event, where Google is celebrating the first birthday of App Engine and is planning planning to unveil new developer-related features. The event is being held in Google’s Building 43 instead of an outdoor amphitheater because of rain, but Google has decked out the room with a virtual fireplace, log podium, and atmospheric lighting.

At this point Google hasn’t publicly announced what they’re launching tonight. We’ve heard that Java might be coming soon, but that could also be coming at Google’s I/O conference next month.

We’ll begin live blogging as soon as the event begins. For now, we’re live streaming video from inside the virtual campfire.

7:37 PM PST: The event is starting

• Google launched App Engine because people were spending too much time as Sys Admins rather than building their web apps.
• 150,000 developers have built more than 50,000 applications
• Google has started using App Engine internally, including Google Moderator, which was built as a way for Google employees to ask questions during company meetings. Recently Whitehouse.gov used it for its Town Hall.
• Google has been soliciting feedback from devs for the last year. Based on that, they have new features for tonight. Including cron support, database importing, access to firewalled data, and Java Support

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