May 2012 Summaries

Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) is a global initiative born in 2009 from a partnership among major organizations like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, HP, NASA, and the World Bank, aiming to bring together a diverse community of over 4,000 tech-savvy volunteers to solve pressing humanitarian challenges through innovative technology solutions. The initiative hosts global hackathons, inviting participants such as programmers, engineers, designers, and subject matter experts from fields like disaster risk management and healthcare, to collaborate intensively over a weekend to prototype solutions for local community problems. Notable projects from past events include a mobile app in Trento, Italy, connecting food donors with charities, a web platform in Philadelphia for homeless service providers, a landslide risk visualization tool in Washington D.C., and a bushfire reporting tool in Sydney. Since its inception, RHoK has expanded to nearly 50 cities worldwide, backed by over 180 partner organizations, and plans for the June 2012 event include simultaneous hackathons in over 21 cities, encouraging global participation to harness technology for social good.

In May 2012, Google announced the impending shutdown of the Data Export API and urged users to migrate to the new Core Reporting API, which was introduced in December as its replacement. The transition was essential to avoid service disruptions, as requests to the old API would soon be redirected, and the Data Export API would be fully decommissioned by July 10th. To assist developers in adapting to the new system, Google provided updated developer guides and a "Hello Analytics API" tutorial, featuring sample code in Java, PHP, Python, and JavaScript, to guide users through registration, user authorization, and report querying. These resources aimed to ensure that developers could quickly build, update, or migrate their applications to leverage the new API effectively. The blog post was authored by members of the Google Analytics API team, who shared their expertise and interests beyond their professional roles.

In a playful entry on the Google Developers Blog, Scott Knaster highlights several intriguing topics, starting with a doodle that honors Bob Moog, the inventor of the Moog Synthesizer, which revolutionized electronic music. This interactive doodle was the first to employ the Web Audio API for sound creation, showcasing Google technologies while providing users with a delightful experience. The post also mentions the fascinating annual list of the top 10 new species compiled by the International Institute for Species Exploration, featuring remarkable creatures like a super-fast wasp and the Bonaire Banded Box Jelly. Additionally, the blog encourages readers to explore captivating images of a recent annular eclipse, emphasizing the blog's eclectic approach to content that transcends typical developer topics.

The Google APIs Explorer, introduced to facilitate quick and interactive exploration of Google APIs, has been revamped to enhance user experience with a new design and additional features. Improvements include an indexed history of API calls, an enhanced request body editor, and a search box for easier navigation of APIs and methods. The Explorer now supports over two dozen Google APIs, expanding from its initial half dozen, and includes indicators for methods requiring authentication. Sample requests demonstrate its capabilities, such as using the Google+ API for public profile searches or accessing personal activities. The tool aims to simplify the use of Google APIs, with comprehensive documentation available and a Public Forum for user feedback. Antonio Fuentes and Jake Moshenko, part of the Google Developer Team, emphasize making Google APIs accessible, with Moshenko focusing on ensuring ease of use from Google platforms.

On May 18, 2012, the Google Developers Blog introduced "Story of Send," a site detailing the journey of an email after hitting send, featuring engaging animations, photos, and a video offering a glimpse inside a Google data center. Additionally, pioneering advancements in robotics and neuroscience were highlighted, showcasing a breakthrough where paralyzed individuals controlled robotic arms with their thoughts, marking a significant moment as one participant, paralyzed for 15 years, used the arm to drink from a bottle. The blog also noted the upcoming May 19 launch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, set to reach the International Space Station, encouraging space enthusiasts to watch the event, while emphasizing that the weekly Fridaygram shares intriguing stories from Google and beyond, not limited to developer topics.

In May 2012, Google announced an update to the Google+ Hangouts API, introducing features like real-time response to facial movements within apps, and launched a two-week Hangouts Hackathon to explore its potential. This initiative involved five developers from various backgrounds, including agencies and independent creators, who were tasked with experimenting and sharing their findings. The event encouraged developers to engage with the new API, inviting them to discuss their projects on the Google+ Developers page using the hashtag #hangoutshackathon. This collaborative effort aimed to inspire innovative uses of the API and foster a community of creative developers.

Google App Engine introduced a much-anticipated full-text search feature this week, enhancing its reputation for continuous innovation. The new App Engine Search API allows users to conduct document searches with various options, such as field-specific searches and result snippet creation. Meanwhile, a separate intriguing story involves a chimp named Santino, known for collecting and throwing stones at zoo visitors, sparking debate among scientists about whether his actions are premeditated. This playful and curious narrative showcases Google Developers Blog's Fridaygram, where diverse and interesting content, not strictly limited to developer topics, is shared for entertainment and engagement.

Google Cloud SQL, a fully managed database service for Google App Engine applications, provides developers with a MySQL-based platform hosted on Google's infrastructure. Since its preview launch in October 2011, it has attracted over 10,000 developers and introduced features like scheduled backups and multihoming for enhanced performance and availability. The service offers two pricing options: a flexible "per use" scheme for lightweight applications and more economical package plans for high-traffic applications, with charging set to begin on June 12th. The announcement highlights the availability of more powerful instances with up to 4GB of RAM, and Google Cloud SQL remains in limited preview.

The Google Analytics Easy Dashboard Library, developed by the Google Analytics API team in collaboration with students from the University of California Irvine, streamlines the process of creating custom dashboards by simplifying the use of the Google Analytics API into three steps: registering with the Google APIs Console, copying and pasting JavaScript code, and configuring the code to query data and choose a chart type. This library enables developers to quickly create custom visualizations, like a line chart of visitors and visits over the last 30 days, with minimal coding effort. The team is working on further enhancements to the library and encourages user feedback through a dedicated Google Group to ensure the tool meets user needs efficiently. The library aims to save time and enhance user engagement with Google Analytics, and ongoing development includes collaboration with additional UC Irvine students to add new features based on user input.

Google I/O 2012 is set to expand its reach beyond the 5,500 developers who attended in person in 2011 by offering enhanced virtual participation options, including I/O Extended events and I/O Live streaming. While hosting developers from 161 countries via livestream, the upcoming event on June 27-29 will feature three days of keynotes, sessions, and Sandbox demos. I/O Extended allows local organizers to host gatherings that leverage the event's momentum, while I/O Live provides a virtual experience with livestreaming of keynotes and select sessions, doubling the number of sessions available online compared to previous years. All sessions will be recorded and accessible online within 48 hours, ensuring that developers worldwide can engage with the content at their convenience. The event aims to foster a global community of developers, offering various ways to participate and stay updated through the Google I/O site, blog, and Google Developers platforms.

Google Plugin for Eclipse (GPE) version 2.6 has been released with enhanced features for Cloud SQL and Google APIs, offering improved tooling for Java developers. The update introduces the ability to use the Java Persistence API (JPA) for accessing Cloud SQL, allowing developers to configure it as a project facet within the Eclipse Web Tools Platform. Additionally, the update simplifies the process of importing the latest Google APIs into GPE projects, providing a seamless way to download the necessary Java client libraries and dependencies for Google APIs directly within App Engine projects. Users will also receive notifications for API version updates to ensure client libraries remain current. The release aims to improve the developer experience for those working with Google's cloud services and is accompanied by installation instructions and a feedback channel through the GPE group.

Google Developers Blog Editor, Scott Knaster, shares a whimsical Fridaygram post that covers a variety of intriguing topics. The post highlights the Doodle 4 Google competition, which invites US students from grades K-12 to create their own versions of the Google logo, showcasing the creativity of the 50 state finalists and encouraging public voting until May 10th. It also delves into a paleontological tidbit about prehistoric fleas, Pseudopulex jurassicus and Pseudopulex magnus, which were significantly larger than today's fleas and plagued dinosaurs. Additionally, the post features a delightful mash-up of a world map created entirely out of cupcakes, celebrating the joy of combining two beloved things. Published weekly, Fridaygram includes an assortment of interesting topics beyond developer subjects, like a nod to Star Wars Day with the playful phrase, "May the 4th be with you."

GitHub Archive, spearheaded by Ilya Grigorik, is a project designed to record, archive, and analyze public GitHub activities, providing insights into various trends such as programming language popularity and contribution metrics. With over 2.6 million public projects and daily archiving of more than 120,000 activities, the data encompasses new commits, fork events, and ticket updates, each with detailed metadata. To analyze this vast dataset, Grigorik utilized Google BigQuery, a tool based on Google's internal Dremel system that allows for rapid querying of large-scale datasets using SQL-like syntax. Thanks to a collaboration between GitHub and BigQuery, the dataset is publicly available, enabling users to perform their analyses without the complexities of data gathering and database management. The initiative not only facilitates trend analysis but also encourages participation through initiatives like the GitHub Data Challenge.

Google BigQuery, announced as publicly available in May 2012, offers businesses and developers the ability to perform real-time big data analytics without the need for upfront hardware or software investments. This cloud-based service enables users to leverage Google's extensive computing power to gain insights from massive datasets, with the flexibility to store unlimited data while paying only for what is used. BigQuery can be accessed through a user-friendly interface or a REST API, offering robust security and data export options. Since its limited preview, companies like Claritics and Crystalloids have utilized BigQuery for applications ranging from user behavior analysis to optimizing marketing strategies for increased revenue. Google offers a free monthly query limit of up to 100 GB, with additional storage and query options available under an introductory pricing plan. Ju-kay Kwek, the Product Management Lead, emphasizes the potential of BigQuery to empower businesses with real-time insights, inviting users to share their experiences and feedback.

SPDY, designed as a replacement for HTTP to accelerate web page transfers, demonstrates promising performance improvements on mobile networks, particularly on devices like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus using SPDY-enabled browsers such as Chrome for Android. Implemented in browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Amazon Silk, and supported by Google and Apache's mod_spdy, SPDY shows a mean page load time improvement of 23% over HTTP across 77 web pages from 31 popular domains, equating to a speedup of 1.3 times over HTTP. While further enhancements are needed for optimal performance on 3G and 4G networks, the study by Google’s Mobile Web Performance Team highlights SPDY's potential to significantly reduce load times, sometimes by up to 50%, in all but one tested case, marking a promising step forward in mobile web optimization.