June 2017 Summaries

Google Calendar API allows developers to seamlessly integrate and modify events in user calendars, enhancing efficiency and user experience. While email markup can insert events, it has limitations in updating them, so the Calendar API is recommended for more robust functionality, including creating and modifying repeating events. For instance, as a customer's interest grows, meetings can be automatically adjusted to recurring syncs using a JSON request payload and the API's events().patch() method. The API, combined with tools like Google Apps Script, enables app developers to programmatically access and update calendars, thus improving the functionality of CRM systems and personal scheduling.

Area 120, Google's internal workshop for experimental ideas, is exploring new native, mobile VR ad formats to help developers monetize their VR applications. The team is focusing on creating ad experiences that are non-disruptive, easy to implement, and customizable for developers while being engaging and non-intrusive for users. Their initial concept involves a cube in the VR environment that users can interact with to trigger a video ad, which can be easily closed after viewing. Encouraging results have been seen with initial test partners, and Area 120 is inviting VR developers to participate in an early access program to further refine and test this ad format across platforms like Cardboard, Daydream, and Samsung Gear VR. An early-stage SDK is available for developers interested in joining this initiative.

Google has implemented the Brotli compression algorithm to enhance the efficiency of Google Display Ads, aiming to support publishers in monetizing their content while ensuring fast site loading times to optimize user experience. Introduced almost two years prior, Brotli has shown a significant improvement over standard gzip compression, achieving data savings of 15% on average and, in some cases, over 40%. This innovation drastically reduces the data sent to end-users, amounting to tens of thousands of gigabytes daily, which in turn accelerates page load times and decreases battery consumption. The success of Brotli in this application is hoped to inspire broader adoption and further advancement of web standards related to compression.

Google introduced Team Drives, an enterprise-focused feature within Google Drive, aimed at enhancing team collaboration and efficiency. Integrated into the existing Google Drive API, Team Drives allows developers to build applications that leverage its functionalities without needing to learn a new API. Key operations supported by Team Drives include creating Team Drives, adding members, organizing folders, and uploading files, similar to operations in regular Google Drive. With support available in both Drive API v2 and v3, Team Drives is designed to aid Independent Software Vendors, System Integrators, and IT professionals in enhancing productivity, migrating to G Suite, and automating workflows. The initiative encourages developers to explore its capabilities further and contribute innovative solutions using this collaborative tool.

Blockly 1.0 has been released for Android and iOS, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for integrating block-based coding experiences into mobile apps. Developed over five years and used in various educational and electronics projects, Blockly now supports native mobile app development with features like custom blocks, toolbox categories, functions, variables, and code generation in multiple programming languages. This release also enhances internationalization, including support for right-to-left languages, and improves performance with structured APIs and better touch support for mobile web applications. Additionally, cross-platform development is facilitated by allowing JSON-defined blocks to be used across web, iOS, and Android platforms, and the update includes enhanced support for Internet Explorer and Edge. Users are encouraged to explore the documentation, engage with the community, and utilize resources like the iOS Codelab and upcoming Android resources to leverage Blockly's capabilities.

Google has integrated Brotli compression into the Google AMP Cache, allowing all AMP documents served from the cache to benefit from this more efficient compression algorithm. Developed by Jyrki Alakuijala and Zoltán Szabadka, Brotli offers significant bandwidth savings, notably reducing document size by an average of 10% compared to gzip, which translates to hundreds of gigabytes saved daily. This improvement not only accelerates page load times but also benefits users with limited data plans. While the current implementation focuses on the AMP Cache, Google is expanding Brotli support to other products, aiming to enhance bandwidth efficiency across the company's services.