Google I/O 2018

Our developers attended the three-day Google I/O conference earlier this month. They participated in sessions hosted by experts and authors of Google software and products we use to support our customers including: Android, Firebase, Google Play, Web, Google Home, AI, Tensorflow, Augmented Reality, Google Cloud Platform, and more.

Although most of the sessions were developer focused, our team also had an opportunity to hear from industry experts regarding where Google's User Experience and Design (UX) is heading, allowing them to bring value back to our customers so that both new and existing applications can take forward-looking design into account.

About Objects - Google Home Partner

For the past 4 years, About Objects has partnered with the Google Home team, who developed Chromecast, Google Home, and Google Home Mini devices. The About Objects team has worked side-by-side with Google engineers to help our customers integrate these devices into their systems for things like video-on-demand and live, DRM protected video streaming.

Once again this year, our developers participated in the Google Home Workshop prior to Google I/O. The workshop gave our team an opportunity to prototype against preview releases of the new SDK updates as well as learn about what is coming down the pike.

Takeaways

One of the main things our engineers took away from the week at I/O is the degree to which Google is invested in the future of Google Home. With the recent advancements of technology around AI, more and more of these devices play a significant role in our daily lives not only in our homes and our mobile devices, but increasingly in cars and public places. About Objects is proud of our ongoing relationship with the Google Home team.

To that end, engineers are currently planning a large integration of Google Home / Google Cast that includes pictures, voice, text and live video streams from mobile phones to devices in their home, bringing a unique integration of mobile + voice + video to the industry.

Our engineers brought back a lot from I/O including:

• Details of the upcoming release of Android P
• How new build improvements can benefit development turnaround time
• How to integrate Android Slices
• How to improve app maintainability using Android Jetpack and Nitrogen
• How to use ML Kit to integrate machine learning into Android apps
• Ways that Firebase and Google Play are supporting GDPR
• Using advanced features in Android Studio and other development tools
• Integrating App Actions
• What's changed with Material Design 2.0 and how to use it cross-platform
• Updates to Android TV
• Things to look out for when building Android apps to support Chromebooks
• Best practices and expert advice directly from Google engineers

Of all the updates at Google I/O, our team was most excited by two things– how AI can be used to help predict medical events for doctors, and how the Google Assistant is becoming a true assistant by making phone calls and scheduling appointments for you. We are excited to help our clients integrate these technologies and solutions into their applications.