October 2016 Summaries

Google's Open Source Report Card highlights the company's significant contributions to open source projects, showcasing its commitment to innovation and collaboration by releasing over 20 million lines of code. The report emphasizes the importance of open source in Google's operations, enabling rapid development and problem-solving by leveraging existing technologies. Among the notable projects released are Android, Chromium, Angular, TensorFlow, Go, Kubernetes, and more, which have become integral to various technological advancements. Google has a substantial presence on GitHub, with over 84 organizations and 3,499 repositories, reflecting the diverse programming languages and tools used by Googlers. The report also details specific projects released in 2016, such as Seesaw, VSAQ, OpenThread, Magenta, Omnitone, Science Journal, and Cartographer, which demonstrate Google's dedication to enhancing areas like load balancing, security assessments, connected devices, machine learning, virtual reality, educational tools, and robotics. Through these initiatives, Google continues to contribute to the open source community, fostering a collaborative environment for developers worldwide.

The Polymer Summit Livestream 2016, introduced by Taylor Savage, Product Manager at Polymer, presents a comprehensive overview of the Polymer project, focusing on its history, current developments, and future directions. The event features a keynote address from the core Polymer team and a series of sessions aimed at enhancing web application development using Polymer. The summit includes discussions on a new Polymer experience and insights from partners, encouraging audience interaction through the hashtag #PolymerSummit.

A new eBook titled "The No-Nonsense Guide to Native Ads" has been released by AdMob, aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of native ads, which are ad formats that seamlessly integrate with the app's content to meet the growing expectations of app users for high-quality user experiences. As the demand and spending for native ads are projected to increase significantly, reaching $21 billion by 2018, this guide offers an opportunity for publishers to enhance user experience and boost revenue. It includes design principles, practical implementation tips, best practices, and guidance on conducting A/B tests for native ads, while also highlighting how AdMob can assist in their implementation.

Blockly for iOS was announced as part of Google's ongoing investment in Blockly, providing developers with an open-source developer preview to build enhanced mobile experiences. This release introduces multi-touch and enhanced animations as experimental features, allowing tighter integration and improved performance within iOS apps compared to using WebView. It aims to support consistent, high-quality programming experiences by making coding more accessible and removing syntax errors. The developer preview is optimized for tablets but can be customized for various apps, and it includes updated tools for creating custom blocks and configuring Blockly, such as editing block libraries and managing toolboxes. This initiative is part of Google’s effort to empower people globally by making coding more than just technical skills but a means to imagine and explore.

Google has announced the continuation of its student programs, Google Code-in and Google Summer of Code, aimed at encouraging contributions to open source software by students worldwide. Google Code-in, starting on November 28, 2016, targets pre-university students aged 13-17, offering them a chance to engage with open source through tasks in categories like coding, documentation, outreach, quality assurance, and user interface design. Students can choose tasks from participating organizations and work with online mentors to complete them, providing an educational introduction to open source. Meanwhile, Google Summer of Code, with applications opening on March 20, 2017, invites university students to collaborate on open source projects during their summer break, offering them real-world experience and a stipend upon successful project completion. Both programs are designed to enhance students' skills and provide them with mentorship opportunities, and interested students and organizations are encouraged to start preparing early by exploring previous projects and resources available on the program's website.

The Polymer Summit 2016 is set to commence on October 17th at Tobacco Dock in London, starting at 10:00 AM GMT, and offers both in-person and online participation through live streaming on the Polymer project's website. Attendees are encouraged to review the list of speakers and talk schedules available online to maximize their experience. For those unable to attend in person, the summit will be fully accessible via a livestream, including the keynote and all sessions, and viewers can opt to receive a reminder to tune in. Additionally, talks from the event will be published on the Chrome Developers YouTube Channel. Participants, whether attending physically or virtually, are invited to engage in social media discussions using the hashtag #PolymerSummit.

Material Design, a comprehensive design system from Google, draws significant inspiration from Japanese art and culture, as seen in its emphasis on clear typography, systematic layouts, and intentional use of color and white space. Matias Duarte, VP of Material Design at Google, reflects on how his early exposure to Japanese pop culture and the creative dialogue between Western and Asian artists in the late 1800s influenced the development of Material Design. This influence is celebrated at SPAN Tokyo, an annual design event that showcases how design and technology impact daily life, featuring diverse contributions from local Japanese designers and artists. As part of this initiative, Google has translated its Material Design Guidelines into Japanese, signaling a commitment to fostering a global conversation on design. The event features notable speakers and highlights various aspects of Japan's contemporary visual culture, including art generated through technology and traditional practices like ikebana and type design.

The Noto font project, initiated by Google five years ago, aims to eliminate the issue of "tofu"—blank boxes that appear when text cannot be displayed—by providing a consistent and comprehensive digital typeface for every symbol in the Unicode standard. This open-source initiative covers over 800 languages and 110,000 characters, requiring extensive design and technical collaboration with experts and organizations like Monotype and Adobe. Originally started to meet the needs of Google's Android and Chrome OS, the project has grown into a significant cultural and historical preservation effort, ensuring even rare languages are digitized and maintained. Google commits to updating the Noto font family as new characters are added to Unicode, emphasizing the accessibility and innovation inherent in open-source projects. The complete Noto font family, along with design files and the font building pipeline, is freely available online for public use and enjoyment.

Google has announced several enhancements to its API experience to facilitate developers' work, including faster key generation, a streamlined 'getting-started' process, and an API Dashboard for ongoing usage monitoring. The new key generation process simplifies the initial interaction with Google APIs by reducing it to a single click, eliminating the need for platform and restriction choices during creation while still encouraging scope management. The 'getting-started' flow is improved with an in-flow credential setup directly within the developer documentation, beginning with Google Maps APIs and expanding to other documentation in the coming months. The API Dashboard offers an easy way for developers to monitor their API usage, providing insights into usage, error, and latency data and allowing detailed traffic analysis by methods, credentials, versions, and response codes. These updates aim to make API usage more efficient and less cumbersome, enabling developers to focus on creating innovative applications.

Native advertising is increasingly becoming a significant component in mobile advertising, with projections estimating spending on native ads to reach $21 billion by 2018. Native ads are designed to blend seamlessly with the app's user experience and visual design, enhancing user engagement by offering relevant content that complements the surrounding app environment. This style of advertising is not new, having evolved from traditional media like radio and newspapers, but it has adapted to digital platforms, with pioneers like Google using search ads that align with search results. The principle of native advertising focuses on preserving the user experience by integrating ads that are visually cohesive and engaging without disrupting users. Developers can easily incorporate native ads into their apps through platforms like AdMob, which offers customizable ad units that align with the app's interface and user experience.