Google shows off new Ara PCB prototype, announces dev conference will be livestreamed

Back in October we learned that Google will be hosting two different conferences for Project Ara developers early next year, the first on January 14th for the US/European crowd and the second on January 21st for the Asian market. While the conferences will take place in Mountain View and Singapore respectively, each event will also have several satellite locations.

The conferences are expected to be the launching ground of version .20 of the Module Development Kit. Google also intends to show off its new Ara Spiral 2 prototype hardware and discuss its plans for a limited commercial release of Ara in early 2015.

It’s amazing to think how quickly Ara has changed in the little time it’s been since it was first announced to the public. We already had seen the Spiral 2 shown off in a video from Phonebloks, but in a new post on G+, Google ATAP has given us an image of one of its printed circuit boards created for the new prototype hardware (seen above).

Obviously the pic is meant to get even more developers excited about Ara, but what if you’re interested and yet unable to attend? Google says that they will also livestream both events for free so that any developer (or even just enthusiasts like you and me) can virtually attend.

Are you excited for the future of Ara, or still unconvinced that it has long-term potential for success? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.