Google I/O is an annual software developer-focused conference held by Google in San Francisco, California. Google I/O features highly technical, in-depth sessions focused on building web, mobile, and enterprise applications with Google and open web technologies such as Android, Chrome, Chrome OS, Google APIs, Google Web Toolkit, App Engine, and more.
The Google I/O was started in 2008. The Google I/O 2015 is held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco on May 28-29. This year’s event is focused on delivering incredible experiences on mobile and helping developers build successful businesses through these key themes: Develop, Engage, and Earn.
Google Photos
At Google I/O 2015, Google has introduced Google Photos – a new, standalone product that gives you a home for all your photos and videos, helps you organize and bring your moments to life, and lets you share and save what matters.
Google Photos gives you a single, private place to keep a lifetime of memories, and access them from any device. They’re automatically backed up and synced, so you can have peace of mind that your photos are safe, available across all your devices.
There’s a new feature in Google Photos called “Assistant”, which is very similar to Autoawesome on Google+. It still automatically creates stories for you, but it also allows users to create their own albums, collages (mixes), movies, custom stories and animations. That means you won’t have to wait for Autoawesome to work its magic on its own – you can take matters into your own hands. This new Assistant feature seems easy enough to use, while also giving users plenty of control over their photos.
It will have the choice to share your photos and videos however you want across any service you choose, from Hangouts to Twitter to WhatsApp. Google Photos is available as an app on Android and Apple devices, and on the web.
Android M
Google has announced the latest version of Android, called Android M, at its annual Google I/O developer conference. Android M is the most powerful Android release yet, with hundreds of improvements made to the platform. Among the highlights, they have improved battery life and streamlined permissions for apps to make it easier for you to decide what information the apps on your phone can use.
According to Sundar Pichai, the Android M operating system will concentrate more on improving the stability and usability of the platform. There will be a lot more emphasis on the quality of the platform rather than a radically new look.
Project Brillo and Weave for IoT
Google announced Brillo, the “underlying operating system for the internet of things”. Pichai says Brillo is derived from Android, using minimum system requirements and easy to secure. A developer preview of Brillo is coming in Q3 of this year. It supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and other Android things.
Weave is the common language that will let Brillo devices, phones, and the internet all talk to one another. Weave will be coming in Q4. Android devices will auto-detect Brillo and Weave devices. Weave provides seamless and secure communication between devices both locally and through the cloud. It provides a core set of schemas that will enable apps and devices to seamlessly interact with each other.
Jump
Google unveils Jump, which lets creators capture moments in VR video. Rigs include 16 camera modules mounted in a circular array. Plans on building rigs will be available to everyone this summer. Google says they’re partnering with GoPro to build a 360-degree camera array compatible with Jump.
An Assembler takes all these video feeds and combines them together into one VR-ready video. Computer algorithms will align feeds so they appear seamless. Several rigs have been sent worldwide, from the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters to Iceland.
Jump assemblers will be available this summer. Meanwhile, YouTube will support VR videos from Jump, using both services and the Cardboard VR viewer.
Project Soli
Google ATAP Team has announced about an amazing new project which is named as Project Soli. Project Soli replaces the physical controls of smartwatches with your hands using radar to capture your movements.
Project Soli wants to make your hands and fingers the only user interface you’ll ever need. Soli itself is a tiny radar system that is small enough to fit into a wearable like a smartwatch, and is able to sense hand gestures. The small radar picks up on your movements in real-time, and uses movements you make to alter its signal.
It is open source and is completely alleviates any need to interact with a touch screen or with hardware controls.
Project Ara
Google ATAP Team’s Rafa Camargo has showed the Project Ara Demo at Google I/O 2015.
Project Ara is Google ATAP’s initiative which aims to build a modular smartphone where in you can assemble your own smartphone by adding modules such as a display, camera, processor, battery and so on.
Earlier this year, “Google has announced that it will launch Market Pilot of project ara phones later this year. Puerto Rico will be first place to receive Project Ara phones.”
Project Jacquard
Project Jacquard is a new system for weaving technology into fabric, transforming everyday objects, like clothes, into interactive surfaces. Project Jacquard will allow designers and developers to build connected, touch-sensitive textiles into their own products.
Besides the partnership with Levi’s the approach taken by Google ATAP to weave conductive fibres into fabric with miniature circuits seamlessly integrated into clothing is, we believe, the next step in technological innovation. Akin to the sci-fi predictions we’ve read in the years gone by.
Project Vault
Project Vault is a secure computer contained entirely on a micro SD sized device. Google’s ATAP said the micro SD format made sense because there’s already advanced security features on your phone, contained in the SIM card, which protects the things important to carriers. Inside that vault, you can connect to other Project Vault devices and participate in encrypted conversations. The tiny device includes an ARM-processor, near-field communication capability and an antenna.
The device runs its own ultra-secure operating system that’s partitioned from the rest of the host device with 4GB of storage for your most sensitive data. The system runs a custom-built Real Time Operating System (RTOS) with a suite of cryptographic solutions for keeping data secure and messaging with friends or super-secret spies that also have Vault.
According to Techcrunch, “In a demo, ATAP showed how Vault could be used to secure a chat conversation. Once the Vault micro SD is installed, the chat application just opens the virtualized two-file system with the read/write I/O. Vault takes care of encrypting the message and then sending it though as cypher text. The phones automatically decrypt the conversation, but never actually see any keys or algorithms on either end.”
Project Abacus
Project Abacus is a smart authentication system that aims to eliminate the password in future mobile devices. Instead of relying on a secure PIN or password to access your phone, Abacus analyzes who is using the phone based on daily habits.
In the demonstration on stage, Project Abacus was able to clearly tell the difference between two users, which means the security measure could eventually do things like lock down all of the apps in real time when someone who isn’t you picks up the phone.
Android Pay
Google has officially announced Android Pay at Google I/O 2015, it will be part of the Android M release later this year and it will also be supported on NFC compatible devices running Android 4.4 (Kitkat) and above. Android Pay can be used with Android M’s new built-in fingerprint support: purchases can be confirmed using users’ fingerprints.
Google says 7 out of 10 Android devices are ready for Pay and that 700,000 merchants can accept it in their stores. Spring, a mobile shopping app that has been beta testing Android Pay, has seen a measurable improvement in business with the “buy button” powered by Android Pay. “The payments are still secure but you can get creative with the design,” says CEO Alan Tisch.
Project Tango
Project Tango is a platform integrating custom sensors and software that allow developers to explore new user experiences enabled by 3D tracking and perception. Project Tango, which is a smartphone from Google in collaboration with Qualcomm’s tech.
The next generation smartphone, as it is being called, will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 and will combine the camera, gyroscope, and accelerometer to employ a 3D sensing technology to create a map of its environment. On board will be Adreno 430 GPU to handle the graphics and it seems that Project Tango is cordoned off for developers and device makers only.
The Project Tango Tablet development kit is available from the Google Store for a mere $512 after the discount.
Project Loon
Project Loon aims to provide Internet Access to rural and remote areas using high-altitude balloons.According to the latest updates from Google I/O, Google has two major updates surrounding its ambitious Project Loon program.
Firstly, Google has partially automated the balloon launching process with 50-foot-tall, cube-shaped units it calls the Autolauncher. It’s also referred to, internally, as the Bird House, because various iterations of the balloons have been named after birds.
Secondly, Google has managed to free many of its balloons from their need to be within range of a ground station. Now, Google’s balloons can communicate with one another as part of a giant mesh network. That reduces their need to rely on ground stations a significant deal, and it means that individual balloons can now theoretically travel anywhere from 400 to 800 kilometers away from a ground station and still have connectivity.
