March 2018 Summaries

Google announced the phase-out of its URL Shortener service, goo.gl, which was launched in 2009 to aid in sharing links and measuring online traffic, due to the emergence of various popular URL shortening services and the shift in how users find content across different platforms. As part of this transition, they introduced Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL), which offer smart URLs directing users to specific locations within iOS, Android, or web apps. While existing goo.gl links will continue to redirect properly, the ability to create new links via the goo.gl console was limited starting April 13, 2018, for consumers, and May 30, 2018, for developers, with a complete discontinuation of the console and API by March 30, 2019. Users are encouraged to adopt alternative services like Bitly and Ow.ly or migrate to FDL APIs, which provide advanced features like dynamic platform detection and seamless redirection even after app installation. Despite the sunset of goo.gl, Google expressed enthusiasm for the future possibilities that Firebase Dynamic Links bring to developers and users alike.

Google and NVIDIA have announced the integration of NVIDIA's TensorRT with TensorFlow, aiming to optimize deep learning models for inference on GPUs by enhancing performance and reducing latency. TensorRT introduces FP16 and INT8 optimizations within TensorFlow, allowing for automatic selection of platform-specific kernels to enhance throughput. The integration simplifies workflows by enabling TensorFlow to utilize TensorRT for optimizing compatible sub-graphs, while TensorFlow handles the remaining execution. This approach allows models to be developed with TensorFlow's extensive feature set while benefiting from TensorRT's powerful optimizations. In tests, models like ResNet-50 showed significant performance improvements with this integration. The new TensorFlow API facilitates these optimizations by transforming frozen TensorFlow graphs into TensorRT inference graphs. TensorRT also supports INT8 quantizations, which can speed up computations and reduce memory requirements with minimal accuracy loss, using a calibration process to maintain performance. This integration also leverages NVIDIA Volta GPUs' Tensor Cores for further enhancements in throughput. The release is expected to ensure high performance while maintaining TensorFlow's flexibility and ease of use, with the integration available through the standard pip installation process once TensorFlow 1.7 is released.

Hamilton and the design agency Posse developed a mobile app for the Broadway hit in just three months using Flutter, Google's mobile UI framework, achieving over one million installs and engaging half a million monthly active users. The app, available on both the App Store and Google Play, offers features such as a ticket lottery, merchandise purchasing, trivia games, selfie-taking with a #HamCam, and up-to-date news and interviews. This success highlights Flutter's capabilities in creating high-performing apps for both iOS and Android platforms. More insights into the app's development process can be found on Posse's blog. Flutter is a free, open-source tool available for developers to explore at flutter.io.

Google, in partnership with Udacity and Andela, announced the Africa Web and Android Scholarship program, providing 15,000 scholarships to help develop employable digital skills in Africa. This initiative aligns with Google's pledge to train ten million Africans in digital skills and 100,000 in mobile development, as announced by CEO Sundar Pichai. The program offers 10,000 scholarships to beginners and 5,000 to professional developers across Android and mobile web development tracks. Participants will access online courses through Udacity, supported by the Andela Learning Community's mentorship and community engagement in Nigeria and Kenya. Completing these courses and actively participating in the community can lead to further opportunities, with the top 500 students earning full Nanodegree scholarships. The application deadline is April 24th.

Firebase Crashlytics has graduated from its beta phase and is now the default crash reporter for Firebase, replacing Firebase Crash Reporting, which will be retired by September 8, 2018. The upgraded Crashlytics offers enhanced features such as integration with Analytics events, which includes a "breadcrumbs" feature that retraces user actions leading up to a crash, and crash insights that analyze aggregated data to highlight potential root causes of issues. Additionally, users can pin important builds to facilitate collaboration and use a new dSYM uploader tool for manually uploading dSYM files in complex scenarios. The transition to Crashlytics aims to streamline Firebase's crash reporting capabilities, and users can easily upgrade their projects by selecting Crashlytics in their console. Integration options are available for those using both Firebase and Fabric, with plans to further simplify the linking process in the future.

In March 2018, Kit Merker from JFrog announced a collaboration with Google to provide Artifactory Pro, a software repository management tool, hosted on Google Cloud Platform free of charge for qualifying open source projects. This initiative aims to support the often underappreciated work of open source maintainers by allowing them to reliably share build outputs among team members for development, testing, and deployment, thus enhancing the productivity and accessibility of open source projects used by developers worldwide. Since the announcement, more than 30 projects, including OpenMRS, Psono, and Grails, have joined the program, and open source project maintainers are encouraged to apply for this offering.

Google launched a global series of events focused on "Actions on Google," organized by Google Developers Groups and other community groups, to help developers learn about developing for the Google Assistant and connect with others interested in conversational UI. These events, which offer both introductory and advanced tutorials crafted by Google engineers, aim to equip participants with the skills needed to create their own Actions for their communities, whether local or interest-based. Participants are encouraged to join existing events or organize their own, with support from Google, making it an exciting year for developers in this field. More details about the events can be found on the dedicated event website.

Resonance Audio, a spatial audio SDK initially launched by Google, is now open-sourced to foster a community-driven development model, enhancing the creation of realistic VR and AR experiences across various platforms. This initiative allows developers to integrate spatial audio into their projects without significant cost concerns, utilizing tools such as YouTube's Ambisonic-based spatial audio decoder and a library of optimized DSP classes under an Apache 2.0 license. The project supports cross-platform development by providing reference implementations and resources for encoding, sound field manipulation, and head-related transfer functions, along with newly introduced features like the Spectral Reverb. Engine plugins for popular platforms like Unity, Unreal, FMOD, and Wwise remain open source, with future maintenance handled by partners such as Unity, Epic, Firelight Technologies, and Audiokinetic. Developers are encouraged to contribute to the project via GitHub, facilitating the advancement of immersive audio technologies.

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2018 has opened applications for university students worldwide who are interested in enhancing their software development skills through real-world experience in open source projects. Now in its 14th year, GSoC provides students with the opportunity to work from home on projects guided by a community of mentors, offering stipends for successful contributions. The program helps participants refine technical skills, gain confidence, expand professional networks, and improve resumes. Students can submit their project proposals until March 27, 2018, encouraged to start early by browsing participating organizations and developing strong proposals to increase their chances of selection. Additional resources and guidance are available on the program’s website, including timelines, FAQs, and a mailing list for discussions.

In March 2018, Google announced a series of updates to its Actions on Google platform at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, highlighting new features designed to enhance user engagement and creativity. These updates include a media response API that enables developers to create more immersive audio-focused Actions, such as interactive stories and news briefings, with controls available on voice-activated devices and Android phones. Additionally, a new browse carousel allows for visually engaging content experiences. Google also introduced daily updates and push notifications to re-engage users, and new capabilities for integrating digital purchases from Android apps, enabling seamless premium experiences across devices. Furthermore, Google launched Custom Device Actions for more flexible device capabilities, allowing users to interact with Assistant-enabled devices in a more natural manner. To inspire developers, Google shared creative experiments and case studies from various teams, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Domino's, and Ticketmaster, emphasizing the potential of the platform in enhancing conversational technology and user engagement.

In a post by the Google Open Source Team, the first round of Open Source Peer Bonus winners for the new year was announced, celebrating the contributions of open source contributors from various countries. This program, initiated by Google seven years ago, allows Google employees to nominate external contributors to open source projects for their impactful work, especially on projects utilized by Google. A volunteer team reviews the nominations, and winners receive recognition and tokens of appreciation for their efforts. To date, more than 600 contributors across over 400 projects have been acknowledged through this program. The blog post lists recipients who agreed to be publicly thanked, highlighting the diversity and global reach of their contributions to projects like Kubernetes, Node.js, Angular, and many others. The post concludes with gratitude for the invaluable contributions these individuals have made to the open source community.

The Grow with Google Developer Scholarship, in partnership with Udacity, provides learning opportunities to aspiring developers across the U.S., enabling them to transform their careers and lives. The program highlights success stories like Rei Blanco, who immigrated from Cuba and is now advancing in front-end web development; Paul Koutroulakis, who shifted from managing restaurants to pursuing web development after losing his business in 2008; and Mary Weidner, who transitioned from finance to co-founding a fitness app and is enhancing her coding skills to further her business. These individuals exemplify the scholarship's impact by demonstrating how dedication to learning and skill development can lead to significant career advancements and personal growth, regardless of one's background or previous career path.

Google Slides Add-ons have been introduced to allow developers to enhance the functionality of Google Slides by integrating features from their own applications, with possibilities extending to other Google apps like Docs, Sheets, and Gmail. One innovative use case demonstrated by G Suite Developer Advocate Wesley Chun and Engineer Grant Timmerman involves creating progress bars within presentations using Google Apps Script. This add-on enables users to display or hide progress bars, represented as rectangles at the bottom of slide pages, providing a visual indication of progress during presentations. The implementation involves a script that calculates the completion ratio and adjusts the rectangle size accordingly, showcasing the potential of Apps Script to transform and automate Google Slides functionalities. For those interested in exploring further, resources such as the Google Slides Add-on Quickstart and additional examples of programmatic access to Google Slides are available, offering a gateway to developing various add-ons through Apps Script.

Google's Machine Learning Crash Course (MLCC), initially created for its engineers and taken by over 18,000 Googlers, is now available to the public for free in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, and French. The course provides an intuitive understanding of fundamental machine learning concepts, such as loss, gradient descent, classification models, and neural networks, while also introducing TensorFlow through programming exercises that require minimal Python knowledge. Designed to be accessible to those with a basic understanding of algebra and statistics, the course includes videos, text lessons, and interactive tools to facilitate learning without needing extensive programming skills. MLCC concludes with practical lessons on designing real-world machine learning systems and offers an opportunity to apply newly acquired skills through a Kaggle competition aimed at helping DonorsChoose.org improve the screening process of educational project proposals. This initiative is part of Google's broader effort to make machine learning education widely accessible, as highlighted in their Learn with Google AI program.