July 2021 Summaries

Evgeny Kot, a Google Developer Expert in Web, Dart, and Flutter, began his journey with a homemade computer and a passion for programming, eventually becoming a key figure in the Russian and international tech community. Despite early setbacks, such as a failed attempt to rewrite company software, he learned valuable lessons from his mentor and sought international experience, which led him to roles at Dell and Wrike. At Wrike, he played a significant role in transitioning their product from JavaScript to Dart, contributing to the development of a robust Dart community through initiatives like Dart Up, a meetup that grew from a small gathering to a large international conference. His dedication to Dart and community building earned him a GDE badge, allowing him to connect with developers worldwide and participate in major tech conferences. Evgeny advises fellow developers to focus on the steps of their journey rather than the end goal, emphasizing the importance of community engagement and continuous learning.

Samuel Mugisha, a university student from Uganda, has made significant progress in developing the Immunization Calculator app, initially inspired by the challenges faced by his community in tracking children's vaccinations using handwritten cards. After winning the 2019 Google Developer Student Clubs Solution Challenge, Samuel and his team received mentorship and resources from Google, which helped them enhance the app's functionalities, including SMS reminders and offline capabilities through Firebase. An app user, Kabagweri Fionah, joined the team as a public relations officer, aiding in marketing and testing efforts. Their work has led to real-world testing opportunities in local hospitals, bringing them closer to their goal of improving vaccination tracking and accessibility in remote areas of Uganda. Samuel attributes their success and continued development to the support and resources from Google Developer Student Clubs, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the app's impact rather than its size or technical complexity.

Danny Thompson, a community organizer and software engineer, is leveraging his role with Google Developer Groups (GDG) Memphis to transform the lives of incarcerated individuals by teaching them coding skills, which significantly reduce recidivism rates. Thompson's journey from a gas station fry cook to a tech industry professional underscores his belief in the power of community and mentorship. Through his involvement in the non-profit Persevere, Danny provides hands-on training in programming, career guidance, and access to GDG events, enabling justice-involved individuals to gain the skills necessary for employment in the tech sector. His efforts have not only helped over 600 people secure jobs but also demonstrate that anyone can pursue a successful career in technology, regardless of their background or past.

Google is launching the second Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders, featuring 11 Black-led startups from across North America that are using technology to address challenges in various sectors, including medicine, education, and real estate. The program follows the success of the inaugural cohort and aims to support these startups by connecting them with Google's resources, products, and expertise over a three-month period. Notable startups in this cohort include Acclinate, which focuses on diverse clinical trial participation, and DOSS, a digital real estate marketplace. The program will culminate in a Demo Day event on October 21, 2021, showcasing the accomplishments of the participating founders.

The blog post discusses the transition from the App Engine ndb client library to the Cloud NDB for accessing Google Cloud's Datastore. It introduces a video tutorial and codelab designed to help developers migrate their applications, offering hands-on experience with a sample app. This transition is part of a broader modernization effort that includes moving to Python 3, adopting standalone services, and potentially breaking applications into microservices for platforms like Cloud Functions or containerizing them for Cloud Run. Cloud NDB, available for both Python 2 and 3, preserves much of the original App Engine ndb code and user experience while providing new features such as a context manager for more efficient data access. The post also highlights upcoming migration content and encourages developers to use the accompanying resources and official Cloud NDB migration guide for further assistance.

Homing Tam, a product manager at Lalamove and a Google Developer Expert (GDE), has had a diverse career journey focused on integrating and enhancing mapping solutions, particularly through the Google Maps API. With a background in geomatics and computing, he started as a GIS analyst and later became a solutions consultant, which sparked his involvement in the developer community and led to his GDE status. As an active member and organizer of the Google Developer Group in Hong Kong, Homing shares his expertise through talks and presentations, particularly emphasizing the importance of map styling and the practical applications of the Google Maps API for small business owners. He is passionate about leveraging technology, especially maps, to improve lives and is keen on organizing events like hackathons to further educate the community on new Maps features. Homing's current projects and interests highlight the significance of digital literacy and the potential of technology to enhance everyday experiences.

Olly Cohen, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, founded a Google Developer Student Club to foster a community of tech enthusiasts eager to apply classroom theories to real-world projects. The club quickly grew, with 150 initial members and a focus on socially beneficial projects, such as an app for the visually impaired. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Olly and fellow club member Daniel Sosebee undertook a significant project to aid frontline healthcare workers by developing a web app that digitally tracks personal protective equipment (PPE) needs at Wash U’s medical center. Collaborating with Google employees, university professors, and medical experts, they created a serverless web application that efficiently manages PPE requests, demonstrating the club's impact potential and aligning with its mission to use technology for community betterment.

The Google Calendar API has shifted from a daily to a per-minute monitoring and limiting of API queries as of May 2021, which enhances quota management by implementing rate-limiting rather than failing all requests once the quota is exceeded. This change allows developers to identify quota issues more quickly without impacting existing project performance. Developers are encouraged to utilize push notifications over polling, use randomized timing to avoid request bursts, and employ incremental synchronization with sync tokens to optimize API usage. Increasing the page size using the maxResults parameter and updating events only when necessary are recommended practices, alongside using exponential backoff for error retries. More details on managing quotas and handling errors can be accessed through their respective documentation, and developers can subscribe to the newsletter for updates on Google Workspace APIs.

Google Cloud has introduced a series of codelabs and videos to assist developers in migrating their apps from the webapp2 framework to Flask on Google App Engine, following the platform's 2018 update that requires frameworks to manage their own routing. While webapp2 was previously bundled with App Engine, the shift to Flask offers greater flexibility and portability, allowing apps to run on various platforms, including other clouds. Flask's popularity is bolstered by its larger user base, increased resources, and better support. The first module of this migration journey, part of the Serverless Migration Station series, guides developers through the transition process and provides step-by-step instructions, with resources such as sample code and tutorials available in the migration repository. Future modules will cover additional migrations, including transitioning from App Engine's ndb library to Cloud NDB, with plans to support Python 3 and other legacy runtimes like Java 8, PHP 5, and Go 1.11.

Google I/O 2021 highlighted several advancements and new features for developers using Google Assistant, focusing on App Actions, Conversational Actions, and Smart Home Actions. App Actions now integrate more deeply with Android, allowing developers to extend their apps with voice-activated shortcuts through a new capabilities API and the Google Assistant plugin for Android Studio. Conversational Actions are set to receive updates in Interactive Canvas and a streamlined transaction process on smart displays, while the Smart Home Actions segment introduced enhanced testing and analytics tools, expanded notification capabilities, and support for WebRTC and Bluetooth Seamless Setup. The event also emphasized the importance of community engagement through virtual meetups and sessions like the Women in Voice Meetup, showcasing the role of diverse voices in shaping the future of Voice AI.

Google Arts & Culture, in collaboration with the MediaPipe team, has developed Art Filter, a feature that utilizes augmented reality to bring culturally significant artworks to life on mobile devices. This innovative tool allows users to virtually try on famous art pieces, such as Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Monkey or Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, by projecting high-resolution gigapixel images onto 3D meshes. The Art Filter employs MediaPipe's face mesh technology to create custom effects that align with the original style of the artworks, ensuring that objects are viewable from all angles. The feature processes user images entirely on-device, preserving privacy by not collecting biometric data, and uses Physically Based Rendering shaders to enhance the realism of materials like the Tengu helmet. Art Filter is part of Google Arts & Culture's broader initiative to use machine learning to enhance user engagement with global art, offering additional features such as Art Selfie and Art Transfer.