Big day for Google yesterday as 6,000 developers were the event center, while 1,000,000 joined live via YouTube for the 3-hour I/O 2013 keynotes. Many announcements were made ranging from Search, Google+, to Maps, and having surfed the web, we’ve stumbled on a very handy compilation from TNW so you can catch up and make sure you haven’t missed anything.
Google announces 900 million Android activations, 48 billion apps downloaded
- there have been more than 900 million Android activations in total
- 48 billion apps have been downloaded on Android
- 2.5 billion apps are installed every month
Google’s new App Translation service lets developers get pro localization services right in Console
- developers will now be able to request their apps to be translated directly in the Developer Console, making the process easier and faster
Google announces beta testing and staged rollouts to help app developers pilot new features
- a new feature for developers will facilitate alpha testing within apps
- the feature allows developers to pick a percentage of users that will get an update, in order to alpha test it, before sending it out to the rest of the users
Google announces Android Studio: An IDE built just for Android developers
- an integrated developer environment, set to replace Eclipse, has been announced. It will be called Android Studio.
- Google also announced cloud messaging will be integrated into the platform
- the aim behind Studio is to help developers be faster and more productive
Cross-platform Google Play games services unveiled with cloud saving, achievements and multiplayer
- a new set of APIs have been released, targeted at game developers specifically
- the games platform will allow users to save their progress on the cloud, meaning they can leave and pick up from different devices
- leaderboards will be created, linked with users’ Google+ accounts and permitting friends to connect in particular circles
- Google Play services will now have Cloud Messaging (GCM) integration
- persistent connections, upstream messaging and notification synchronisation are all additions that will be brought to the service
- Google revealed it is sending 200,000 push messages every second, or 17 billion messages a day
- a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 running the Nexus OS has been revealed
- the phone will be sold via Google Play from June 26 at $649 a piece
- Google is launching a new music streaming service
- the service will cost you $9.99 per month, or $7.99 if you take a subscription by June 30. There is also a free 30-day trial period
- songs will be updated according to user tastes and preferences, and songs can be removed from playlists with a simple swipe motion
Google Play for Education: Google goes after Apple’s K-12 stranglehold with cheap apps, tablets
- Google has announced a store aimed at, and curated for, young children
- the Google Play for Education will have apps sorted by age and genre
- Administrators of accounts will be able to push out apps to multiple devices in one go
Google is giving a free Chromebook Pixel to all I/O attendees
- all attendees of this morning’s keynote were told they would be receiving a free Chromebook Pixel
Google announces 41 new Google+ features including Pinterest-like card-based Stream
- Google+ is getting 41 new features affecting the Stream, Hangouts and Photos sections
- Stream is getting a new, multi-column design, which will be going live today, though if you do not like the new layout you will be able to go back to single-column view
- one of the new features will let you click on pictures to flip them over and reveal related pictures under the same hashtag. Users will be able to opt their pictures out of the feature
Google+ Photos gets automatic photo combiner and Gif maker Auto Awesome
- Auto Awesome is a new feature that automatically combines pictures together in order to create new ones
- it will be able to create gifs by linking multiple images with each other
- it will also have an automatic panorama option, creating panoramic photos from pictures taken side by side
- Hangouts is a new messaging service that replaces the current multiple services Google offers
- it has launched today and is available as an app for iOS, Android and Chrome
- in Hangouts you can start one-on-one or group conversations.
Google’s new Google+ photo features: 15GB full-size storage, Auto Highlight, Auto Enhance and more
- new features were announced for photos on Google+, notably that you will now get 15GB free storage for full-size pictures, as well as unlimited space for standard resolution images
- an Auto Highlight feature will automatically decide which of your pictures are the best and put them at the forefront
- Auto Enhance will automatically make your pictures the best they can be with some smart editing
- over 1 million sites use Google Maps
- a new version of the app, to run on the iPad, was teased
- the new version will incorporate a new suggestion engine to help you find relevant places nearby
- it will also have life traffic incident reporting and re-routing features
Google unveils new Google Maps for desktop with unified imagery, new interface, live 3D and more
- the desktop version of Google Maps is getting a new version, that includes an improved interface, imagery and services unification, and more a personalised experience
- this new version of maps will be tailored to individual users, using the same data Google Now employs
- images from Google Earth, Street View and special projects will all be available from one place
- WebGL is used to augment the new views and produce a more interactive and detailed imagery
Google CEO Larry Page speaks at I/O about competition and negativity in innovation
- CEO Larry Page shared some personal stories up on stage, as well as his views on the importance of technology
- he also went on about the products are being created at Google, and the drawbacks of negativity
