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Kicking off on June 25, the annual two-day Google I/O developers conference gets under way this week in San Francisco with a full schedule of events, announcements, seminars, training sessions and much more to help Google developers add to their skills and product-building tool boxes.
The theme for this year’s I/O conference is all about helping developers design, develop and distribute their applications and innovations using Google tools and resources, through a deep list of intriguing sessions, many of which can be viewed remotely via live webcasts.
To help prepare attendees and remote participants for the event, Google developers have put together several blog posts to highlight some of the most interesting upcoming sessions, including topical sessions by the Google Android, Chrome and Cloud Platform teams.
The live-streamed sessions will include a “What’s new in Android” presentation from 4 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET on June 25, which will cover the latest developments in Android technologies and APIs, according to a June 23 post by Reto Meier, manager of the Scalable Developer Advocacy team in Google’s Developer Relations organization, on the Google Developers Blog.
Also to be live-streamed is a “Making the mobile Web fast, feature-rich and beautiful” session from 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. ET on June 26, which will detail topics such as the mobile Web and how it should be approached by developers, wrote Meier. “The mobile Web is often the first experience new users have with your brand, and you’re on the hook for delivering success to them. There’s been massive investment in mobile browsers; so now we have the speed, the features, and the tools to help you make great mobile Web apps.”
“Predicting the future with the Google Cloud Platform” will be the topic of a 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. ET session on June 26, where developers will learn about data extraction, modeling and prediction, while watching the generation of a live dashboard to visualize the results, wrote Meier. “We’ll demonstrate how you can use Google Cloud and open source technologies to make predictions about the biggest soccer matches in the world. You’ll see how to use Google BigQuery for data analytics and Monte Carlo simulations, as well as how to create machine learning models in R and pandas. We predict that after this talk you’ll have the necessary tools to cast your own eye on the future.”
Notable speakers at this year’s I/O event include Ray Kurzweil, Regina Dugan, Peter Norvig and a panel of robotics experts hosted by Women Techmakers.
Meanwhile, the design theme at the conference will include sessions about “Designing for wearables,” which will be held June 25 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET, featuring Google designers who will discuss the process for Android Wear and Glass, and give tips for developers and designers working in this emerging space, according to a June 20 post by Roman Nurik, a Google design advocate, on the Google Developers Blog. “By attending you’ll hear our take on new design approaches to wearable technology. This is just one of a number of sessions from Google user experience researchers and designers discussing our approach to cross-platform design, as well as opportunities to learn about testing and rapid prototyping. Filter by ‘Design, Sessions, Live Streaming’ to find the design sessions we’ll be playing over the live stream.”
Also scheduled is a “Design sprints with Google Ventures” workshop from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on June 26 where a full slate of interactive workshops will be offered about designing for Glass, effectively using data in your design processes and more, wrote Nurik.
The “Cross-platform design panel” will be offered from 4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on June 26 where Google designers will share their thoughts on designing for multiple platforms, while providing background information on how the design team creates consistent, intuitive and delightful experiences in a multi-platform world, wrote Nurik. “There are many opportunities like this as well as for UX reviews and informal ‘Box talks in the Design Sandbox,’ offering you opportunities to connect with Googlers who share your passion for designing simple and engaging applications.”
The full Google I/O schedule can be viewed on the event’s Website.
Your Guide to Google I/O 2014, From Android to Apps and More
Earlier this month, Google unveiled its new Google I/O 2014 app for Android to help participants prepare for the company’s developer conference. The app can help attendees and remote participants track the events they want to attend, as well as set up their own customized schedules.
Among the big announcements expected at this year’s conference is a rumored new health data tracking service called Google Fit as part of its recent push into high-tech wearables, according to an earlier eWEEK report. Google Fit is expected to use open APIs to allow user health data to interact with popular fitness trackers and health-related apps, according to reports.
The Google I/O developer conference is arguably the most important and hotly awaited Google developer event of the spring.
In 2012, Google I/O was the stuff of legend, featuring the introduction of Google Glass, with an amazing live-video stunt with parachutists from an airship wearing Google Glass headsets landing on the Moscone West rooftop and rappelling, bicycling and running into the conference to the cheers of thousands in order to give the wearable computers to Google co-founder Sergey Brin—who was already wearing one himself.