January 2012 Summaries

Angry Birds for Chrome has integrated the Web Audio API to enhance its in-game audio experience for Chrome users, eliminating the need for plugins and ensuring high fidelity and low latency sound. This update is part of a broader effort, supported by the PlayN library and Google Web Toolkit (GWT), to provide an optimized web experience through cross-browser audio compatibility. The gwt-voices library plays a key role by selecting the most suitable audio API—whether it be the Web Audio API, Flash, HTML5 Audio, or native audio—based on the user's browser and platform capabilities. This ensures that users of various supported browsers continue to receive sound through alternative methods like Flash or HTML5, depending on their setup. Fred Sauer, a Developer Advocate at Google, contributes to this development and has created several GWT-related open-source projects to support cross-browser functionalities.

In an effort to bridge the gap between JavaScript and Dart, Aaron Wheeler and Marcin Wichary developed the JavaScript to Dart Synonym app, inspired by a recent Dart hackathon. As experienced JavaScript developers, they sought to map familiar JavaScript idioms to their Dart counterparts, covering a range of elements including variables, arrays, functions, classes, and DOM manipulation. The application, created with the assistance of the Dart team, aims to facilitate a smoother transition for developers exploring Dart by providing a practical reference for common coding patterns. The creators encourage user feedback to refine the app and contribute to the evolution of Dart, reflecting the language's adaptability. Wheeler and Wichary bring their expertise in user experience and design to the project, with Wheeler balancing his professional pursuits with artistic and mechanical hobbies, and Wichary contributing to the Chrome browser and interactive web features.

On March 24-25, Google, in partnership with Badir Technology Incubator, will host the g|saudi arabia 2.0 event in Jeddah, marking the first event of 2012 for Google MENA. This event aims to engage developers, programmers, IT professionals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses with a series of technology and business-focused sessions. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with Google engineers, product managers, and business leaders through various formats, including hands-on workshops and dedicated sessions for women in technology. The event seeks to showcase Saudi Arabia's developer talent and continues Google MENA's efforts in fostering relationships and promoting Google technologies within the Middle East and North Africa region.

In a January 2012 post on the Google Code Blog, Scott Knaster discusses various initiatives aimed at enhancing web speed and machine durability, as well as celebrating Earth's beauty. The post highlights Google's efforts to accelerate web performance through improvements in TCP and the SPDY protocol, which have gained community and HTTPbis Working Group support. Additionally, it touches on scientific research inspired by the yellow fattail scorpion's resilience against sandstorms, aiming to create erosion-resistant machinery. The post concludes with a nod to NASA's "Blue Marble" images, emphasizing Earth's aesthetic appeal, while framing these diverse topics as part of a lighthearted, engaging Fridaygram series intended for tech enthusiasts.

SPDY is a protocol developed by Google to enhance web speed and security, and since its announcement, it has gained traction in the web community, with implementations in Chrome, Android Honeycomb devices, and Google's servers leading to reduced search latency. The protocol has seen widespread adoption, with Firefox adding SPDY support and server-side implementations underway by nginx and Strangeloop, among others. Google engineers Roberto Peon and Will Chan are leading efforts to develop SPDY, working on acceptance tests and best practices to assist website operators in optimizing their sites. With Mozilla's collaboration, SPDY draft-3 was targeted for implementation in early 2012, coinciding with standardization discussions at the IETF, aiming to further improve web performance and security.

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), a fundamental component of internet communication, faces challenges in delivering web content efficiently due to its inherent limitations, leading to high latency in many cases. Researchers, including Yuchung Cheng from the Make The Web Faster Team, are exploring several enhancements to reduce this latency and improve TCP performance. Key strategies include increasing the TCP initial congestion window to 10 packets, which reduces network latency by over 10%, and decreasing the initial timeout from 3 seconds to 1 second to better fit modern internet speeds. The implementation of TCP Fast Open (TFO) allows for the inclusion of HTTP requests in the initial TCP SYN packet, effectively reducing page load times by an average of 10% and more in certain situations. Additionally, the Proportional Rate Reduction (PRR) algorithm is introduced to manage packet loss more efficiently by adjusting transmission rates based on network congestion, and it is now part of the Linux kernel. All these innovations are open-source, and the team aims to collaborate with industry and academia to enhance TCP across the internet, disseminating their work through Linux kernel updates, IETF standards proposals, and research publications.

On January 20, 2012, the web experienced significant changes as numerous popular sites went dark or altered their appearance to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which were under debate in the U.S. Congress. These legislative proposals, criticized for potentially censoring the internet and undermining due process without effectively combating piracy, spurred a petition signed by over 7 million Americans. Alongside this serious topic, the blog post also highlights a remarkable discovery by Howard Falcon-Lang at the British Geological Survey: rock samples collected by Charles Darwin during his 1830s HMS Beagle voyages, forgotten for 165 years, were found in a wooden cabinet. The post concludes with a lighter note, encouraging readers to enjoy a video exploring the Helix Nebula, embodying the fun spirit of its "Fridaygram" series designed for nerd enjoyment.

In January 2012, Nicolas Garnier from Google's Developer Relations Team shared insights about the ongoing Google Apps EMEA Developer Tour, which aims to engage developers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa through events such as hackathons and conferences. Having already visited countries like Germany, France, Russia, and Spain, the tour continues with Google Apps Script hackathons in cities such as Vienna, Milan, Madrid, Munich, and Dublin, offering developers a hands-on opportunity to learn about and provide feedback on Google Apps Script. For updates and registration, developers are encouraged to visit the official tour website or follow announcements on the Google Apps Developer Blog. Nicolas Garnier, who joined Google in 2008, is based in Zurich and has a background in developing web applications for scientific researchers at Airbus and the French Space Agency.

Google Cloud Storage has introduced new features to enhance control over data management and integration with Java applications. Developers can now utilize version-based concurrency control, which assigns a 32-bit sequence number to objects upon updates, allowing for better management of concurrent writes and supporting features like strongly consistent write operations and distributed locking. This feature is currently experimental and aims to address user requests for improved write concurrency management. Additionally, an App Engine Files API is now available for Java applications, following its earlier release for Python, facilitating easier data manipulation in Google Cloud Storage. Both features are experimental and reflect Google's commitment to advancing simple and reliable software infrastructure, with feedback from users encouraged to further refine these offerings.

Google launched the 2012 Google Science Fair for students aged 13 to 18, encouraging young scientists to engage in scientific inquiry by posing questions and reporting their results online. The competition will select 90 regional finalists, with the top 15 invited to Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, where Nobel laureates and other experts will judge the projects. In related scientific exploration, researchers in Papua New Guinea discovered Paedophryne amauensis, the world's smallest vertebrate, at an average length of 7.7 millimeters, during their study of the rain forest floor. Additionally, a nod to superstitions is highlighted through a reflection on a Friday the 13th party from 1940, where participants engaged in activities such as breaking mirrors and walking under ladders, all for the fun of tempting fate. Fridaygram posts aim to provide enjoyable and intriguing content for the weekend, resonating with those who appreciate nerdy interests.

Google Africa's team had a productive 2011, expanding their g|Day developer and business conference to eight countries, up from five in 2010 and two in 2009, engaging business professionals, entrepreneurs, and developers with innovative technologies like Android, Chrome, and App Engine. As part of their ongoing efforts to connect with new communities passionate about technology, Google is launching its 2012 G-Day roadshow with inaugural events in Tanzania and Ethiopia. G-Tanzania will take place on February 2nd and 3rd at the Mlimani City Conference Center in Dar es Salaam, while G-Ethiopia will occur on February 7th and 8th at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center in Addis Ababa. These free events are open for registration, though space is limited, and they aim to further expand engagement with local developers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs.

Google Web Fonts has introduced a new compression method, MicroType Express, in collaboration with Monotype Imaging, to enhance the loading speed of web fonts by reducing file sizes by approximately 15% compared to gzip alone. This optimization, which initially benefits Internet Explorer browsers, will also extend to other modern browsers such as Google Chrome. The update is designed to be seamless for designers, automatically upgrading CSS snippets and font files without requiring manual adjustments. Additionally, MicroType Express is publicly available at no cost, fostering both open-source and proprietary use. The implementation is integrated into the open-source sfntly library, which facilitates font subsetting and optimization. This initiative aligns with Google's commitment to making web experiences faster and is expected to support broader adoption and improved performance of web fonts across the internet.