January 2013 Summaries

The January 25, 2013 edition of Fridaygram from the Google Developers Blog highlights various intriguing topics, including initiatives to encourage women in technology, such as Women Techmakers and Computer Science on Air, which feature hangouts with female Google engineers to inspire young girls interested in tech careers. It also covers a fascinating study showing dung beetles use stars for navigation, demonstrating their ability to travel in straight lines under a simulated Milky Way. Additionally, the post invites readers to enjoy live demos from the LA Video Hackathon on Google Developers Live, showcasing innovative uses of YouTube and Google TV, and encourages interactive participation through comments. The Fridaygram is described as a collection of diverse and nerdy content, with acknowledgments to contributors Ashleigh Rentz and Phoebe Peronto.

In January 2013, Ryan Boyd, a Developer Advocate for Google Cloud Platform, announced a collaborative Sports Hack Day event in Seattle, coinciding with the Super Bowl weekend. The event, organized in partnership with companies like Twilio, Splunk, ESPN, and Cloudant, offered participants 48 hours to creatively engage with sports data using various APIs and technologies, such as Google App Engine, Google BigQuery, and Google Compute Engine. The hackathon, scheduled from February 1st to 3rd, promised an engaging experience with workshops, assistance from experts, and opportunities to win prizes, along with a social viewing of the game. Additional details could be found on sportshackday.com.

Google announced that Google Cloud Platform resources are now available on GitHub, offering a centralized location for sample code and tools related to services like App Engine, BigQuery, Compute Engine, Cloud SQL, and Cloud Storage. This GitHub organization houses 36 public repositories, serving as a hub for developers to access and contribute to open-source projects. The initiative aims to facilitate easy access to starter projects and tools, such as an OAuth 2.0 helper, and encourages community involvement through issue monitoring and pull requests. Julia Ferraioli, a Developer Advocate for Google Compute Engine, emphasizes the opportunity for developers to engage with Google’s infrastructure and participate in code reviews, fostering a collaborative environment for innovation and problem-solving.

Each year, the Doodle 4 Google competition invites K-12 students in the U.S. to submit their artwork for a chance to be featured on the Google homepage and win prizes, with the current submission period open until March 22. This year's announcement aims to inform participants earlier than last year, when the mention came post-competition. Scientists have recently suggested that wrinkled fingers from prolonged water exposure might have evolved to improve grip on wet objects, a trait potentially useful in ancestral food gathering. Additionally, the article highlights a captivating 25-minute video tour of the International Space Station led by Sunita Williams, offering viewers a unique glimpse of space regardless of their previous exposure to it. This piece is part of the weekly Fridaygram series, which diverges from usual developer topics to share intriguing stories from both Google and beyond.

Hardcode is a secure coding contest organized by Google in collaboration with SyScan, aimed at promoting secure software development among students. The contest is open to teams of up to five full-time undergraduate or high school students who will develop open source applications on the Google App Engine platform, focusing on both functional and security requirements. The competition comprises two stages: a qualifying round with global participation where teams submit their applications and describe their security design, and a final round held at SyScan in Singapore, where the top five teams enhance their applications by adding features and fixing security flaws. The contest offers substantial monetary prizes, with the winning team receiving $20,000 Singapore dollars, while the second to fifth place teams receive $15,000, $10,000, $5,000, and $5,000 Singapore dollars, respectively. The event kicks off on January 18th, with further details available through a mailing list subscription.

Google Developers Blog Editor Scott Knaster shares highlights from various fields, including renewable energy, space exploration, and automotive technology. Google has invested in the Spinning Spur Wind Farm in Texas, marking its 11th venture into renewable energy projects, with the aim of benefiting the environment and business. In space news, NASA and the Keck Institute for Space Studies have proposed a mission to capture a small near-Earth asteroid and position it in lunar orbit by 2025, which would provide opportunities for scientific research and asteroid landings. Additionally, a video is recommended that envisions the future adaptation to self-driving cars, showcasing technological advancements. These topics are part of the "Fridaygram," a weekly segment that diverges from typical developer content to highlight intriguing developments from Google and beyond.