April 2019 Summaries

The official Google I/O 2019 app has been launched for Android, with the iOS version arriving later the same week, offering a range of features to enhance the attendee experience at the conference scheduled for May 7-9 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. Users can customize and sync their schedules, reserve spots for various sessions, and add events to their personal calendars to receive notifications. New features include the ability to search content by sessions, topics, and speakers, and explore the venue using augmented reality. The app also facilitates pre-event engagement by allowing attendees to submit questions via Q&A forms to help shape session content. Additionally, the event has partnered with Aira to provide navigation assistance for attendees who are blind or have low vision.

Google announced the launch of its new Instagram account, @googledevs, dedicated to showcasing developer culture and connecting with communities worldwide. The platform aims to highlight events such as Google I/O, The Android Dev Summit, and Flutter Live, offering developers, designers, and thought leaders a space to interact and share their experiences. Managed by Social Media Manager Justin Juul, the account encourages followers to engage with the content and participate in the community, with the possibility of being featured in Instagram stories.

At the Google I/O 2019, the Actions on Google team, led by Mary Chen, introduced various sessions highlighting how developers can leverage Google Assistant to enhance user engagement across different platforms, including Android apps, websites, IoT devices, and more. The event featured talks tailored to diverse developer interests, such as building actions for the Google Assistant, integrating with Android apps, optimizing web presence with structured data, and developing smart home technologies. Attendees had the opportunity to explore interactive demos, codelabs, and technical discussions, either live or through livestreaming, to gain insights into designing conversational interfaces and expanding their reach to a broader audience. The event emphasized the potential of the Google Assistant in facilitating natural interactions and showcased best practices for creating high-quality actions and engaging games, along with strategies for reaching new users and building for the digital assistant era.

The Indie Games Accelerator, a special edition of the Launchpad Accelerator, aims to help indie game developers from emerging markets reach their full potential on Google Play, with a focus on regions such as Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Following a successful initial run with participants from India, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia, the program for 2019 is expanding to include developers from a list of select countries. Successful applicants will be invited to two gaming bootcamps in Singapore, where they will receive personalized mentorship from Google teams and industry experts, along with additional benefits like Google hardware and exclusive event invitations. Applications are now open for this program, which is designed to foster gaming talent and innovation across diverse markets.

Google has announced a new round of Google Africa Certification Scholarships to support African developers in gaining certifications in Google's Android, Web, and Cloud technologies, offering 30,000 scholarships and 1,000 grants for certifications like Associate Android Developer, Mobile Web Specialist, and Associate Cloud Engineer. This initiative is part of Google's broader effort to provide digital skills training and economic opportunities in Africa, where the World Bank projects a working-age population of 1.1 billion by 2034. The scholarships, delivered through partners Pluralsight and Andela, aim to prepare learners for software development roles and address unemployment by making developers more employable. The program highlights the impact of certification, exemplified by Adaobi Frank, who secured a significantly better job post-certification. This initiative reflects Google's commitment to fostering a robust ecosystem of African developers and startups.

Coral, a platform designed for on-device AI, has announced several updates to enhance its usability and expand its capabilities. The Edge TPU model compiler has been improved to support any model architecture, significantly increasing the variety of models that can be executed on the platform. Additionally, a new version of Mendel OS (3.0 Chef) has been released for the Dev Board, featuring the Mendel Development Tool for better board management and a new C++ API compatible with TensorFlow Lite for executing inferences on an Edge TPU. Both the Python and C++ APIs now support running multiple models in parallel using multiple Edge TPU devices. The launch of the Environmental Sensor Board adds new sensor input capabilities to the Coral Dev Platform, featuring integrated sensors and compatibility with Google Cloud IOT Core. Coral's collaboration with Oivi, which uses the platform for a handheld AI-camera to detect diabetic retinopathy, highlights its potential in healthcare. The distribution network is also expanding, with Seeed and NXP joining Mouser in selling Coral products globally. Users are encouraged to provide feedback to continue improving the platform.

Women Techmakers is dedicated to enhancing the visibility, community, and resources available for women in technology by hosting events, providing free training, and launching new initiatives globally in collaboration with partners. In 2019, they introduced a YouTube series called "Women Techmakers in 60 Seconds," which explains complex technical topics in under a minute. To expand their content's global accessibility, they partnered with the Google Developer Studio Localization team to overcome language and cultural barriers, ensuring a diverse user experience. This partnership enables the production of content that resonates with audiences worldwide by adapting references and concepts to suit different cultural contexts. New episodes are released bi-weekly, covering topics like APIs and Virtual Machines, with additional resources provided in video comments for further exploration. Interested individuals are encouraged to subscribe to the series and can become involved with Women Techmakers by visiting their website.