March 2011 Summaries

Scott Knaster introduces himself as the new editor of the Google Code Blog and outlines upcoming changes aimed at fostering a more personal connection between the blog's authors and its readers. He emphasizes the importance of individual voices in blogging and announces that authors' photos and information will be added to their posts to make them more relatable. Knaster also highlights plans to engage more with readers by responding to comments and increasing activity on the blog's Twitter account, @googlecode. He positions himself as a host who will support the contributors by editing their posts and occasionally writing his own, drawing on his extensive experience with APIs and platforms. Readers are encouraged to share feedback via email or comments to help enhance the blog's content.

Page Speed Online, a tool introduced by Google's Page Speed Team, aims to enhance web performance by providing specific suggestions for speeding up websites, with a particular focus on mobile optimization. Accessible from any browser, this tool not only analyzes web pages for performance improvements but also offers customized recommendations for mobile versions, addressing the unique challenges posed by mobile devices such as limited CPU capabilities and high network latency. The tool emphasizes mobile-specific best practices, including eliminating uncacheable landing page redirects and minimizing JavaScript parsing, to create a faster mobile browsing experience. Page Speed Online is built on the same technology that powers Chrome and Firefox extensions, as well as webpagetest.org, and invites user feedback to further refine its capabilities.

The Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2011 has begun its student application period, inviting university students worldwide to participate in a program that offers a stipend to write code for open-source projects over three months. This initiative pairs students with mentors from participating projects, providing real-world software development experience and potential employment opportunities related to their studies. In 2011, the program has expanded to accommodate up to 150 additional students due to its competitive nature. Applicants must submit proposals to mentoring organizations by April 8th, emphasizing quality to stand out, and are encouraged to consult the student manual and follow specific guidelines. Students can access further resources and updates through the Google Open Source blog, mailing lists, and IRC, with an emphasis on early proposal submission for feedback.

Page Speed for Chrome, launched on March 22, 2011, is an extension that provides performance suggestions to improve website speed directly within the Chrome browser, expanding the popular Page Speed tool previously available only for Firefox. The extension uses the same engine as the Firefox add-on, thanks to the integration of the Page Speed SDK, ensuring consistency across platforms. This launch introduces significant improvements such as enhanced scoring and suggestion ordering, enabling developers to prioritize optimizations with the highest impact and supports displaying rule results in 40 languages, reflecting a commitment to global web performance enhancement. The Page Speed tool suite, including the Chrome extension, supports performance analysis across different browser environments, offering a comprehensive solution for web developers. The development team invites user feedback to further enhance functionality and plans to incorporate advanced technologies like Native Client in future updates.

Google I/O Extended events in 2011 offered developers worldwide an opportunity to participate in the Google I/O conference through free viewing parties organized by Google offices, GTUG partners, and Student Ambassadors. These events were designed to foster community building and engagement by live-streaming the keynote and major sessions of Google I/O, allowing participants who could not attend in person to connect with fellow developers. Each event varied slightly in its offerings, and attendees were encouraged to check specific event details and register due to space limitations. Locations hosting these events spanned across continents, including cities in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, with local developer community leaders and university ambassadors coordinating the efforts.

Google has introduced a new version of show_ads.js to enhance the speed of web page loading by optimizing how AdSense advertisements are displayed. This updated script, used by over two million publishers, places ads within a same-origin iframe, allowing the browser to focus more efficiently on loading the rest of the web page. As a result, billions of pages load half a second faster, with the latency overhead from ads effectively eliminated, making the load times comparable to those of ad-free pages. The new implementation is a seamless replacement for the old one, requiring no changes from website owners, although it is currently only supported on Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer 8. For sites that manipulate ads in ways incompatible with the new method, there is an option to revert to the old blocking behavior, but Google encourages trying the new, faster approach for improved performance.

In a blog post by Jeffrey Posnick from Google Developer Relations, the implementation and impact of 2-step verification for Google Accounts are discussed, with a focus on its effect on programmatic account access through Google’s APIs. Three authentication methods are mentioned: AuthSub, OAuth, and ClientLogin, with the latter facing challenges when 2-step verification is enabled, leading to authentication failures. For developers using ClientLogin, two solutions are proposed: guiding users to generate application-specific passwords or transitioning to OAuth 2, the latter being the preferred method as it enhances security by using a web-based login flow hosted by Google. While migrating from ClientLogin to OAuth 2 may require effort, it ultimately benefits users by improving security and removing the need to share passwords directly with third-party applications.

Google announced its initiative to enhance the security of its APIs by mandating the use of SSL, which encrypts data communications to protect users’ data from interception by malicious parties. This security measure is being progressively implemented across various Google products, with many user-facing services like Gmail and Google web search already defaulting to SSL. The focus is now extending to developer-facing APIs, with several new APIs and versions being SSL-only. Notably, the Google Maps API, previously offering SSL exclusively to Premier customers, is now available to all developers. Starting September 15, 2011, APIs such as Google Documents List, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Sites will require SSL connections, with non-SSL HTTP requests resulting in a "400 Bad Request" response. Google advises developers to update their client libraries to the latest versions to ensure compatibility and recommends switching all API clients to SSL to enhance data protection. Existing OAuth and AuthSub tokens will remain functional with HTTPS URLs, and developers are encouraged to consult the updated API documentation for further details.

Tomorrow marks the start of the "Last Call for Google I/O" contest, kicking off with the Android challenge at 9:00 A.M. PDT on March 16, 2011. This event, announced by Vic, features a series of challenges across various Google platforms, including Chrome, App Engine, YouTube APIs, Game Developers, Google Maps/Geo, Commerce, Developer Tools/GWT, Accessibility, and Google Apps/Enterprise, each scheduled on different days with specific start times. Participants can find questions and submission forms by accessing the relevant tabs on the event site. The Google I/O team, represented by Monica Tran, expresses enthusiasm to see the innovative solutions that participants will bring to the contest.

OAuth 2.0 has been introduced by Google as an experimental and simplified way for developers to obtain user authorization for its APIs, such as Calendar and Docs, which require access to non-public data. Building on the growing use of OAuth since its initial support in 2008, OAuth 2.0 employs bearer tokens, allowing developers to achieve more with less code, thereby streamlining the development process. This new version includes a cleaner consent page, aligning with Google's commitment to open systems that provide users with value, transparency, and control over their data. Despite the OAuth 2.0 specification not being fully finalized, Google encourages developers to explore and utilize this protocol to create powerful applications that ensure user data safety and security.

Since its launch in the US, the Chrome Web Store has rapidly facilitated the growth of various web applications, with developers of apps like World Golf Tour, Sliderocket, Wikinvest, Todo.ly, and Springpad reporting significant benefits. These include increased user acquisition, as evidenced by Todo.ly, where over 50% of traffic originates from the Chrome Web Store, and enhanced user engagement, seen in apps like Springpad and Wikinvest, where Chrome app users interact with the apps up to twice as much as regular website visitors. Additionally, monetization has improved for premium apps, with companies like World Golf Tour and Sliderocket observing higher conversion rates and more business leads from Chrome app users. The process of publishing apps in the store is streamlined and requires minimal effort, encouraging developers to explore the potential of the platform further.

Google announced a contest called "Last Call for Google I/O" to give developers a chance to win tickets to the sold-out Google I/O 2011 event. The contest, running from March 16 to March 29, 2011, features 10 developer challenges focused on various Google products like Android, Chrome, App Engine, and more, with each challenge lasting 24 hours. Participants must complete an initial round of questions to qualify for the main coding challenge, which they have over 20 hours to complete. Open to residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, the contest aims to engage developers and offer 100 winners the opportunity to attend the conference, with winners announced on April 4. Additionally, Google plans to livestream keynotes and tape sessions for broader accessibility to the event's content.

In March 2011, an event called "The League of Extraordinary Hackers" was held at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, featuring a mix of developer-focused activities and entertainment. The event kicked off on March 13 with a series of rapid-fire API briefings from 1pm to 6pm, showcasing Google's latest developer offerings like Android, Chrome, and Google Maps, followed by office hours with speakers in the Speakeasy's rooftop lounge. Concurrently, Google TV and YouTube Leanback were demonstrated in the Leanback Lounge, providing a chill space with free WiFi. At 7pm, the SuperHappyDevHouse community joined for a night of hacking, lightning talks, and fun activities such as a LEGO MINDSTORMS sumobot competition, steampunk-themed events, and Google TV and Xbox 360 Kinect entertainment, complemented by music and themed cocktails. Sponsored by notable companies, including Google and The LEGO Group, the event offered an engaging alternative to the typical SXSW party scene, and attendees were encouraged to RSVP and follow updates via social media and hashtags.

Google introduced the Google APIs Explorer on March 7, 2011, as an interactive tool designed to simplify the process for developers to experiment with Google APIs directly from their browsers. Supporting over half a dozen APIs at launch, the Explorer allows users to view available methods, parameters, and inline documentation, enabling them to execute requests and view responses in real time. The tool facilitates easy exploration and testing of APIs by allowing users to input parameters and execute requests with a simple click. For APIs that require access to private data, users can switch to private access and authorize the Explorer accordingly. This initiative aims to help developers quickly discover and utilize Google APIs, enhancing their ability to integrate Google's services into their applications.

Google launched the Game Developer Central at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco to provide a centralized resource for game developers to explore Google's products and services that aid in game development, distribution, and monetization. This platform offers insights into various technologies such as Chrome, GWT, WebGL, and HTML5, along with monetization tools like AdMob. As the first iteration, Google plans to expand the content further in the coming months and encourages developers to provide feedback through their forum or visit their booth at the conference.