October 2017 Summaries

Eager execution, introduced by the Google Brain Team, is a new imperative, define-by-run interface for TensorFlow that allows operations to be executed immediately as they are called from Python, enhancing ease of use and intuitiveness for research and development. This approach supports fast debugging, dynamic models with Python control flow, and custom gradients, while maintaining almost all existing TensorFlow operations. Eager execution eliminates the need for Session.run(), enabling direct inspection of intermediate results and facilitating the development of dynamic models. It also allows for the definition of custom gradients, improving efficiency and numerical stability in operations like the computation of cross-entropy. The integration with object-oriented layers and the ability to switch between eager and graph modes provides flexibility in model development and deployment, making it suitable for both interactive development and high-performance production environments. As an experimental feature, it seeks feedback from the community to guide its future development, with support available through documentation and examples on GitHub.

On October 24, 2017, Google announced that the Gmail Add-ons framework, initially previewed to select partners, is now available to all developers, enabling them to integrate their applications directly into Gmail to enhance business workflows. Gmail Add-ons are designed using native UI context cards, which can include interactive elements such as text dialogs, images, links, buttons, and forms, allowing users to access app functionalities seamlessly within Gmail. Developers can create add-ons that are compatible with both web and mobile platforms by writing code once, using a variety of widgets to craft custom interfaces. An example highlighted is an add-on for expediting expense reporting by collating email receipts and processing them through Google Sheets. While developers cannot publish their add-ons immediately, they can utilize available resources such as documentation and codelabs to begin building and testing their creations, with a notification system in place for when publishing becomes available.

In collaboration with Awwwards, Google introduced the Mobile Excellence Badge and Mobile Excellence Award to recognize outstanding mobile web experiences, emphasizing the importance of speed and usability in mobile site design. Websites submitted to Awwwards can earn the Mobile Excellence Badge if they meet Google's mobile performance criteria, with top performers eligible for Mobile Site of the Week, Month, and Year honors, the latter presented at the Awwwards Conference in Berlin. The initiative highlights the critical need for web developers to enhance mobile site performance, addressing the issue that 53% of mobile visits are abandoned if pages load in over 3 seconds, while the current global average load time is 22 seconds, posing a significant risk to conversion rates.

In 2017, Google Play introduced new features and innovations to help app and game developers succeed in a rapidly growing market, with over 8 billion new installs per month globally. Key initiatives include the revamped Play Console, which offers tools to improve app quality and manage releases, as well as the Google Play Security Reward Program to incentivize security research. Developers can benefit from enhanced features such as Android vitals, pre-launch reports, and expanded device coverage to address performance issues. Additionally, Google Play supports subscription business growth with improved billing management and testing tools. The platform is enhancing user experience through curated content, improved game discovery features, and Android Instant Apps integration. These efforts aim to foster a trusted ecosystem and facilitate app developers in achieving their business objectives.

Google announced a significant educational initiative through the Grow with Google program, offering 50,000 Udacity Scholarship Challenges aimed at U.S. Android and web developers to bolster their skills and employment prospects. The initiative demonstrates Google's commitment to leveraging technology's economic potential by supporting both novice and experienced developers through targeted courses and Nanodegree programs. For beginners, 25,000 scholarships are available, focusing on Android Development for Beginners and Intro to HTML & CSS, while experienced developers have access to courses in Developing Android Apps and Offline Web Applications. The top 5,000 participants will receive full Nanodegree scholarships in Android or web development, with applications open until November 30th. This effort reflects a broader strategy of providing educational resources and grants to organizations assisting job-seekers in acquiring essential digital skills.

Dialogflow, formerly known as API.AI, is rebranded to better reflect its expanded capabilities beyond just providing an API for natural language processing, aiming to be a comprehensive platform for creating conversational experiences. Despite the name change, the mission remains the same: to support developers in building and sharing applications with millions of users. New features include an in-line code editor for writing and testing fulfillment logic directly within the console, and improved multi-lingual agent support, allowing developers to easily add multiple languages and locales to their projects. The Dialogflow team continues to encourage developers to explore these new tools and remain engaged with their ongoing projects.

Google Assistant is expanding its capabilities with new languages, devices, and features, offering developers more opportunities to create and share apps. Actions on Google now supports German, French, Japanese, Korean, and both French and English in Canada, enabling the development of apps in these languages. Apps are also becoming available on new devices like the Pixelbook, headphones optimized for Google Assistant, and Android TV, allowing users to experience them on larger screens and diverse platforms. Developers can create family-friendly apps with a dedicated badge, and these apps will initially be available in US English. Google provides templates for easy app creation, allowing developers to build trivia games, flash card apps, or personality quizzes without coding. Additionally, transactional apps can now be developed for Google Assistant on phones, enabling users to make payments and receive order updates. A new developer community program offers benefits such as Google Cloud credits and other perks to encourage app development and celebrate milestones.

Cloud Firestore, launched in October 2017 and now in public beta, is a fully-managed NoSQL document database designed for mobile and web app development, offering real-time data synchronization, offline data access, and seamless integration with Firebase's platform. Built in collaboration with the Google Cloud Platform team, it supports a wide range of SDKs including iOS, Android, Web, Node.js, Python, Go, and Java, and emphasizes ease of use with automatic scaling and strong data consistency across multiple regions. Cloud Firestore addresses the limitations of the Firebase Realtime Database by providing better data structuring, querying, and scaling capabilities, while allowing developers to use both databases in tandem if needed. It simplifies app development by managing server scaling, connectivity issues, and low latency data delivery, and features powerful security rules for data access and validation. Developers are encouraged to try Cloud Firestore for new projects, with detailed documentation and resources available to support its adoption.