July 2014 Summaries

In 2014, Google announced the end of support for Calendar API versions 1 and 2, encouraging developers to migrate to the more advanced Calendar APIv3 by November 17 of that year. Launched in 2011, APIv3 offers improved features like enhanced support for recurring events and a more efficient JSON-based resource representation. Developers were given a three-year period to transition to the new version to ensure their applications continued functioning seamlessly and to benefit from APIv3's advancements. Google provided resources like migration and getting started guides, and encouraged developers to seek assistance on StackOverflow using the #google-calendar tag. The announcement was made by Lucia Fedorova, Tech Lead of the Google Calendar API team, and shared by Googler Louis Gray.

Christian Robertson, an Android Visual Designer, discusses the updates to the Roboto type family released alongside the Material Design guidelines. The revised font is designed to perform across various screen sizes and devices, from watches to cars, retaining its core character while undergoing substantial modifications to each glyph. Robertson highlights the evolving nature of digital typefaces, contrasting it with the static design of traditional metal typefaces, emphasizing the need for continuous updates in a rapidly advancing operating system. Notable changes include the complete redrawing of certain letters and improved rhythm and spacing, particularly for capital letters, to enhance on-screen texture. These adjustments, such as rounding the dots on the letter 'i' and smoothing the edges of uppercase letters, are aimed at creating a friendlier appearance and better weight balance between characters. The overall goal of the Roboto updates, in tandem with Material Design, is to enhance content clarity and user understanding.

Noto Sans CJK is a free, high-quality Pan-CJK font family developed by Google in collaboration with Adobe, designed to enhance the reading experience for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) users by providing a unified yet aesthetically pleasing representation of each language's unique script. This sans serif typeface, released as part of Google's Noto font family and Adobe's Source family, supports a wide array of characters, including tens of thousands of ideographic characters, Japanese kana, and Korean Hangeul, ensuring each script retains its distinctive look while harmonizing with others. Available in seven weights, Noto Sans CJK is suitable for various digital platforms, including user interfaces and electronic books, and is freely accessible under the Apache License, version 2.0. The collaboration involved significant contributions from Google and Adobe, alongside the expertise of three leading East Asian type foundries, to address the extensive requirements of supporting diverse language systems and to further Google's mission of organizing global information accessibly.

Design sprints at Google are a streamlined approach to product design that condenses traditional processes into a week or less, enabling rapid development and problem-solving by bringing together designers, developers, product managers, and other stakeholders. Used widely at Google for both external and internal projects like Ads, Glass, and Project Loon, design sprints facilitate quick insights and solutions through collaborative efforts. The method emphasizes the importance of constraints and was a focal point at Google I/O 2014, where developers engaged in brief, hands-on sprints. Google continues to promote this approach by hosting design sprints for select developers, particularly in the Bay Area, to enhance their skills in designing for platforms such as Glass and Android Wear and applying the material design philosophy.

Tech Comm on a Map is an innovative project by Sarah Maddox of the Google Developer Relations team that showcases technical communication activities globally using an interactive map powered by the Google Maps JavaScript API. The project integrates data from a Google Sheets spreadsheet, allowing technical communicators to add and immediately visualize conferences, societies, groups, and businesses on the map, with the data processed and displayed using the new Data layer in the Maps JavaScript API. Users can interact with the map by selecting specific categories, hovering over markers to view information, and utilizing the Google Places API for location searches. The project is collaborative, inviting contributions from the community, and its open-source code is available on GitHub for adaptation to other special interest groups.

DevArt, an exhibition at London's Barbican as part of the Digital Revolution Exhibition, highlights the intersection of technology and art by showcasing innovative digital art installations created by developers using code as their medium. Commissioned by Google and the Barbican, artists like Karsten Schmidt, Zach Lieberman, and the duo Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet have crafted interactive pieces utilizing technologies such as Google Compute Engine, Web Speech API, and openFrameworks. These installations include musical compositions from live radio stations, visualizations of whispered wishes, and user-generated digital art, which can be fabricated in 3D. Additionally, Béatrice Lartigue and Cyril Diagne's work transforms visitor movements into a surreal animated performance. The exhibition will tour globally for up to five years, and the DevArt Young Creators program will launch to inspire young coders, aligning with the UK's new computing curriculum by offering workshops and lesson plans for students aged 9-13.