GDG Summit and Google I/O 2016 Recap

Last week I was in San Francisco and Mountain View for two conferences - Global Google Developer Groups(GDG) Summit & Google I/O 2016. 

Day 0: GDG Summit

The annual global GDG Summit is held every year before Google I/O. GDG is a community run group for Google technology enthusiasts. You can learn more about the Philly group here. The global summit  is where GDG organizers from all over the world who are attending Google I/O gather and catch up with other organizers. Some of the fun things we did were the sharing table before the summit and a Firebase, lego and Arduino workshop at the summit.



Night 0: Women Techmakers Dinner


The day before Google I/O, we had a dinner hosted by Women Techmakers which helps women in tech become more visible. 






Day 1 to 3: Google I/O

Google I/O is an annual developer conference that celebrates Google technologies. This year, it was held in Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View for 3 days.


This was the first time I tried sketch-noting at a conference which is a great way to retain information instead of writing notes.

A lot of the talks and content are already available online on YouTube so I'm going to focus on the things that stood out to me in the keynote and sessions:

Google


  • Assistant - a conversational assistant that is available across all Google products like Hangouts, Home etc
  • Home - a device that recognizes your voice and is powered by Google Assistant
  • Allo - a messaging app with smart replies
  • Duo - a video conferencing app with live video of the other caller before you pick up

Android


  • Instant Apps - lets a user open up a part of your app without installing it from the Play Store
  • ConstraintLayouts - a new Android layout still in preview
  • Improvements to Material Design
  • Improvements to Google Play Store Beta testing
  • Wear 2.0 which brings other app functions on your watch face
  • Tons of improvements in Android Studio Preview 2.2
  • More features in Android N including VR

Firebase

Mobile-backend expansion to support notifications, analytics, crash reporting etc all under one roof.

Virtual Reality 

Daydream - a mobile virtual reality platform with headsets and controllers coming to Android N.

Fun fact I learned in a VR controller session: Do you know why Google Cardboard has no head straps? Because your head moves faster on its own and holding Cardboard up with your hands makes sure you move your head slowly to experience VR better.


Nights 1 and 2

Google had some fun after hours concerts featuring Charlie XCX and Kygo on Night 1. They also had Arcades, Concerts and other fun stuff on Night 2.


And to end it all, here's something I always look forward to at I/O: Code Labs!





















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recap of Android Summit 2017

I recently attended and spoke at Android Summit , an Android conference organized by the folks at Capital One. Special shoutout to Jared A Sheehan, Michael Jones and the entire organizing committee for running a fabulous event which raised $6000 for Women who Code. All speakers received a Phillips Hue Starter Kit as a speaker gift which I've used to toggle and dim my living room lights via Amazon Echo. So much fun! I had a prior commitment and could only attend Day 1 but here are my highlights. Process & Workflow A common theme on Day 1 was process and workflow talks which tied in beautifully with Kelly Shuster 's keynote. Kelly is an excellent story teller. In her keynote, she connected a story of communication from her theatre background to how developers, designers and testers need to work together to reduce boiler plate conversations when designing and developing apps. I gave a similar talk earlier this year at  Chicago Roboto  with my co-worker and designer  J
Read more

Team Charter and Norms: Working together

Image
In my previous blog post , I wrote about setting up a Team Charter and Team Norms on a team. In this post, I elaborate on some of the rules of engagement that teams I have worked on have generally used. Most software development teams that I have worked on have used some sort of Agile practices like the Scrum framework where cross-functional teams use iterative and incremental processes to improve their software delivery process. I have always used Agile in a way that works best for my team and the company’s culture at that time.  🧱 Team Structure I have had to occasionally run Scrum meetings as an Engineering leader since I have been on teams without dedicated Scrum Facilitators or Product Owners. Each Scrum team usually includes an Engineering Manager, Scrum Facilitator or Project Manager, Product Manager and Developers. In the absence of dedicated Project Managers or if there is leadership interest on the team, I make the Scrum lead role rotational so that every person on the team
Read more

Chicago Roboto 2018 Recap + First Keynote!

Chicago Roboto was back again this year as a single track conference and there were a lot of excellent talks.  Last year I gave a talk with my co-worker and product designer extraordinaire Jess Moon about design and development workflows and this year I was back again but as a Keynote speaker. Keynote Giving a keynote was a stretch goal I set for myself in 2018 and I managed to achieve it early thanks to the Chicago Roboto review committee. The topic I chose was being an Android Advocate who brings teams and communities together. I will be writing a follow up blog post about my keynote process soon but before that, a quick shout out to Corey Latislaw and my coworkers at Warner Bros. Digital Labs who took a look at my first and second drafts and listened to all my half-baked thoughts and ideas. Achievement unlocked 🎉🎉🎉 - Gave my first keynote @chicagoroboto #chicagoroboto Slides with resources available at https://t.co/OJVbZa3Akj — Yash Prabhu (@yashvprabhu)
Read more