Google I/O 2017 Extended Roadshow

Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. Google I/O 2017 was held in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California on May 17-19. GDG Philippines brought the I/O experience to different cities with Google I/O 2017 Extended Roadshow, a series of talks and workshops to help professional and student developers deep dive in the new technologies announced. We visited Rizal, Manila, Laguna, Palawan, and Naga this year.

Rizal

The first leg, Google I/O 2017 Extended Rizal, was held in University of Rizal System - Morong Campus on June 24. I talked about the latest updates from Google I/O 2017 in the morning plenary and conducted a basic android workshop in the afternoon.

Manila

Google I/O 2017 Extended Manila was held on July 1 at University of Sto. Tomas. I had a talk/workshop about Android Instant Apps in the afternoon breakout session.

Laguna

We were back in UP Los Baños for Google I/O 2017 Extended Laguna (July 15). I conducted a basic android workshop in the afternoon.

Palawan

Google I/O 2017 Extended Palawan was held on July 28 at Palawan State University. I had another Android workshop in the afternoon breakout session.

Naga

The last leg, Google I/O 2017 Extended Naga, was held at Ateneo De Naga University on August 12. I talked about the latest updates about Android Development from Google I/O 2017 in the morning plenary and conducted a basic android workshop in the afternoon.

Google I/O 2017: What's New for Android Developers

Google I/O 2017 was held in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California on May 17-19. There were a lot of announcements and new stuff from the event. Here are some of the new things relevant for Android developers:

Android Go

Android Go is Android (starting with the O release) optimized to run smoothly on entry-level devices. Google will also design their apps to use less memory, storage space, and mobile data (like YouTube Go).

Project Treble

Also starting with the O release, Project Treble is a new Android framework designed to help reduce the time and effort it takes device makers to upgrade a phone to a new version of Android.

Android O Developer Preview

The next version of Android, Android O, has beta-quality developer preview now. Android O includes changes like Notification channels and dots, Picture-in-picture, Smart text selection, Autofill, Adaptive icons, XML font resource, Downloadable fonts and emojis, Autosizing textviews, and more.

Developers can try the preview, the updated SDK, system images, and tools from developer.android.com/preview. They can also enroll their devices to Android Beta to get pre-release versions and automatically receive OTA updates.

Kotlin

Kotlin is now an officially supported language for developing Android apps. You can learn more about Android and Kotlin at https://developer.android.com/kotlin.

Android Architecture Components

Architecture Components is a set of Android libraries that help you structure your app in a way that is robust, testable, and maintainable. They also released a Guide to App Architecture, which you can use even if you won't be using Android Architecture Components .

Android Studio 3.0 Canary

Android Studio 3.0 is now available in the Canary Channel It includes Kotlin support, Java 8 language features, Layout editor, Adaptive icon wizard, XML fonts and downloadable fonts, Android Things Support, IntelliJ Platform Update, Instant Apps Support, Build Speeds Improvement, Google Maven Repository, Google Play System Image, Emulator openGL ES3.0 Support, Emulator App Bug Reporter, Emulator Proxy Support, Emulator Android Wear Rotary Controls, APK Debugging, Layout Inspector, Device File Explorer, Android Profiler, CPU Profiler, Memory Profiler, Network Profiler, and APK Analyzer Improvements.

Instant Apps

Instant Apps allow users to run Android apps without installations from search, social media, messaging or other deep links. Android Instant Apps is now open to all developers. You can learn more about Instant Apps at http://g.co/instantapps .

Google Play Console

Google announced several powerful, new features and reports in the Play Console to help developers improve their app's performance, manage releases with confidence, reach a global audience, and grow their business. These includes Statistics, Android Vitals, Release dashboard, Device catalog, App Signing, Pre-launch report, Retained installer data, Subscriptions dashboard, and Reviews analysis.

Videos and Codelabs

You can check this Playlist for the videos of Android-related sessions. There are also various codelabs for Android, Android Auto, Android TV, Android Wear, and more.

Firebase for Android Developers

At Google I/O 2016, Google announced that Firebase is expanding to become a unified app platform for Android, iOS and mobile web development. Firebase includes features and integrations designed to help you develop high-quality apps, grow your user base, and earn more money.

Firebase features work independently and you can choose the features that you need. At the heart of Firebase is Firebase Analytics, a free and unlimited analytics solution for mobile apps.

Develop

• Cloud Messaging: Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) is now Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM). FCM is a cross-platform messaging solution that lets you reliably send and receive messages to Android, iOS, or the Web at no cost.
• Authentication: Firebase Authentication provided backend services to authenticate users via Google, Facebook, Twittter, and Github sign-in, email and password, and even custom auth system.
• Realtime Database: Firebase Realtime Database is a NoSQL cloud database that syncs data across connected clients in realtime, even when your app becomes offline.
• Storage: Firebase Storage, powered by Google Cloud Storage, provides easy, secure, and scalable uploads and downloads of images, audio files, videos, and other user-generated contents. It also gracefully handles poor network conditions.
• Hosting:Firebase Hosting allows developers to quickly deploy web apps and static content to a secure content delivery network.
• Remote Config: Firebase Remote Config is a cloud service that allows you to customize the look and feel of your app without downloading updates, via instantly-updatable parameters.
• Test Lab:Cloud Test Lab is now Firebase Test Lab for Android. It is a platform where you can automate testing of your app on real devices hosted in Google data centers.
• Crash Reporting: Firebase Crash Reporting gives you prioritized, actionable reports to help you diagnose and fix problems in your published apps.

Grow

• Notifications: Firebase Notifications is a free service that enables targeted user notifications for Android and iOS devices without writing a line of code.
• App Indexing: Firebase App Indexing, formerly Google App Indexing, brings new and existing users to your app from Google search.
• Dynamic Links: Firebase Dynamic Links are smart URLs that work the way you want them to. They can link to different content depending on the platform they are opened and even persist across app installs.
• Invites: Firebase Invites is a cross-platform solution for easily sending referral codes or content via personalized SMS or email invitations to their network.
• AdWords: AdWords Google's advertising platform for user acquisition and engagement, is now integrated with Firebase.

Earn

• Admob: Firebase is integrated with AdMob, Google's mobile advertising platform that allows you to monetize mobile apps with targeted, in-app ads.

Android Setup

Firebase runs on Google Play Services (9.2+) and is available for Android 2.3 and higher. To add Firebase in your Android project:

1. Go to the Firebase Console. Create a new project or open an existing one. You can also Import Google Project if you already have one for your app.
2. Click Add Firebase to your Android app and provide your app's package name (required) and signing certificate (optional).
3. Download the google-services.json file and copy it to your project's module folder (app).
4. Add classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:3.0.0' in your project's build.gradle file.
   
5. Add apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services' at the bottom of your module folder's build.gradle file. Add the dependencies for the Firebase SDKs you want to use.
   

The Firebase SDK dependencies are in the com.google.firebase:firebase-x:9.2.0 format where x can be core (Analytics), database (Realtime Database), storage (Storage), crash (Crash Reporting), auth (Authentication), messaging (Cloud Messaging/Notifications), config (Remote Config), invites (Invites/Dynamic Links), ads (Admob). For Firebase App Indexing, the dependency is com.google.android.gms:play-services-appindexing:9.2.0

What's Next?

Try the Firebase Android Codelab and read the Firebase Docs to learn more about the new Firebase.

ConstraintLayout

One of the Android announcements at Google I/O 2016 was Android Studio 2.2 Preview, which includes the New Layout Editor and Constraint Layout.

ConstraintLayout is a new powerful and flexible Android layout that allows developers to create complex UIs without nesting multiple layouts. It is available in the Android Support Library and compatible with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and up. Using the new layout editor, which was built specially for ConstraintLayout will make it easier for developers to build Android UI.

Constraints describe how a view will be positioned relative to other elements in the layout file (another view, layout edge, or invisible guideline). The different types of constraints you can use are side connection with the layout, side connection with a view, side alignment with a view, baseline alignment with a view).

To use ConstraintLayout in your Android project, you should update Android Support Repository to version 32 or higher from the SDK manager, add compile 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.0-alpha2' in our Gradle dependencies, and Sync Project with Gradle Files.

Create a new layout by right-clicking your res/layout folder. Select New > Layout resource file. Type "android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout" as the root element (auto-complete also works so you can type the Con... in the root element). The layout editor will then be displayed.

The New Layout Editor

The Design Mode and Blueprint Mode allows you to view the design mode, blueprint mode, or both. The https://medium.com/@jomartigcal/constraintlayout-b89f135bd537 is used for resizing the view by dragging the corners. Side Constraint Handle specifies the location of the view. The Baseline Constraint Handle aligns text fields' baselines. Constraints are visualized as arrows or lines between views or between a view and the edge of the layout. Autoconnect, when on, automatically calculates the constraints for the view you are adding in the layout. Infer constraints creates constraints for all views in a layout. Show No constraints hides the constraints while Clear Constraints delete them.

Check out the codelab at https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/constraint-layout to try and learn more about ConstraintLayout. You can also watch the Android Layouts: A New World talk at Google I/O.

Google I/O 2016: What's New for Android Developers

Google I/O 2016 was held in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California on May 18-20. There were a lot of announcements and new stuff from the event. Here are some of the new things relevant for Android developers:

Android N Developer Preview

Preview 3 of the Android N Developer Preview is already beta-quality. Android N includes Multi-window, Direct Reply from notifications (via RemoteInput API from Android Wear), Bundled notifications, Java 8 support, Doze improvements, JIT Compiler, Vulkan, and more.

Developers can try the preview, the updated SDK, system images, and tools from developer.android.com/preview or via Android Beta. By enrolling devices to Android Beta, they can try pre-release Android versions and automatically receive OTA updates as soon as they are available.

Android N also provides high quality mobile virtual reality (VR) experience. You can use a Nexus 6P with N Preview 2 to setup a Daydream Development kit (as a headset phone). Daydream is Google's new platform for low-latency, immersive, and interactive mobile VR.

Android Studio 2.2 Preview

A big update to Android Studio was announced at I/O. This includes the New Layout Editor and Constraint Layout, Layout Inspector, Firebase Plugin, Expanded Android code analysis, Code Sample Browser, Espresso Test Recorder, APK Analyzer, Merged Manifest Viewer, and Enhanced accessibility. There's also Enhanced Jack compiler with Java 8 support and Expanded C++ support with CMake and NDK-Build.

Android Studio 2.2 is available for download in the Canary Channel.

Android Wear 2.0

The biggest update to Android Wear, Android Wear 2.0, was announced at I/O. Android Wear apps can now be standalone. There are also a number of UI changes: complications, keyboard and handwriting input methods, new notification templates. Android Wear 2.0 also include improved Google Fit platform, support for Android N, and Material Design guidelines.

You can try the Android Wear 2.0 Developer Preview at http://g.co/wearpreview.

What's new in Google Play

Android apps that are in open beta but aren't in production yet will soon appear on search results on Google Play and users will be able to opt-in from there. There will also be a new featured section called Google Play Early Access for these apps. Some of the other Google Play announcements include Pre-launch report (summary of issues found on a wide range of devices when alpha/beta testing your app on Firebase Test Lab for Android), Review benchmarks, review topics, Reply to Reviews API, User acquisition data by country and (soon) benchmarks compared to similar apps), and Pricing templates and price rounding.

To get your Android apps or games ready to meet the needs of billions of Android users globally (especially to those in emerging markets), they have released Building for Billions Guidelines and The Building for Billions Playbook.

Two new Play apps have also been announced: Google Play Developer Console App and Playbook by Google Play (in beta), where you can learn about the latest Android features, tips, best practices that will help you develop and launch your app, engage and grow your audience, and earn more revenue on Google Play.

Instant Apps

Instant Apps allow users to run Android apps without installations from search, social media, messaging or other deep links. It is compatible with all Android devices with Google Play services and running Jellybean (4.1) or higher. You can learn more about Instant Apps at http://g.co/instantapps .

Google Play Services 9.0

Google Play Services 9.0 include update to Ads, Nearby API, Player Stats API, and Video Recording API.

• Ads: new SDK initialization, Native Ads Express
• Nearby API: BLE beacon scanning without additional permissions, opt-in dialog connection for Nearby Messages
• Player Stats API: Predictive Analytics
• Video Recording API: add and share video recording

Android Apps on Chromebooks

Chromebooks will soon support the Google Play Store and Android apps. You can update your app so that it will be available on Chromebooks. You can read more about how to optimize your Android apps here.

Videos and Codelabs

Videos of Android-related sessions are already in YouTube. You can check this Playlist for these videos. There are also various codelabs for Android, Android Auto, Android TV, Android Wear, and more.

Google I/O 2016 Extended Roadshow

Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. Google I/O 2016 was held in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California on May 18-20. GDG Philippines will be bringing the I/O experience to different cities with Google I/O 2016 Extended Roadshow, a series of talks and workshops to help professional and student developers deep dive in the new technologies announced during Google I/O 2016.

The schedule for the I/O 2016 Extended Roadshow is: June 25 (Subic), July 2 (Manila), July 9-10 (Cavite), July 16 (Laguna), July 23 (Bulacan), July 29 (Palawan). There will be talks in the morning and hands-on workshops in the afternoon.

Event details are still being finalized. For updates, add GDG Philippines in your Google+ circles and check the events website at ioextended.gdgph.org

Google I/O 2016

Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. Google I/O 2016 was held in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California on May 18-20 and I was fortunate to attend it in person.

More than 7, 000 developers attended the event. Here is a video showing the highlights of the event.

This year's I/O was different from past year's I/O as the venue is an open area. There has been a lot of complaints here and there but personally, I was still able to enjoy the experience. I have attended several sessions and learned a lot of new and interesting stuff. It was also great to meet friends you haven't seen in a while and meet new friends.

If you are unable to attend I/O in person, you can watch all the session videos in this playlist from Google Developers. You can also try the codelabs at https://codelabs.developers.google.com/io2016.

GDG Philippines will also be bringing the I/O experience to different cities through the Google I/O 2016 Extended Roadshow, a series of talks and workshops to help professional and student developers deep dive in the new technologies announced during Google I/O 2016.

Google I/O 2016 Live

Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. Google I/O 2016 will be held in Mountain View, California on May 18-20. If you are not attending in person, you can get the I/O experience by watching I/O Live at the website or by attending Google I/O Extended events being organized by Google Developer Groups and other communities worldwide.

GDG Philippines is organizing I/O Extended Manila Live-viewing Party which will be in Globe Corporate Showroom, Valero Telepark, No. 111 Valero Street, Makati City. (Map: http://bit.ly/Map-ValeroTelepark) on May 18-19 (08:00 PM of May 18 to 05:00 AM of May 19).

Take the awesome opportunity to connect with other local talented developers and watch the keynote and other sessions live. We'll also have a short program before the keynote (more details to be announced soon). If you are interested to join this event, add GDG Philippines in your Google+ circles for updates about this event and our other events. Registration will be opened soon!

You can also check updates about I/O at the widget below:

Android at Google I/O 2015

Google I/O 2015 was held on May 28-29 at Moscone West in San Francisco, California. There were a lot of Android announcements and updates during I/O. Here are some of the updates related to Android.

Android M

Android M is the newest version of Android. It aims to improve the core user experience of Android and has big changes to the fundamentals of the platform.

What's New in Android M

New features include App Permisssions, Doze, App Links, Fingerprint support, and more. For development, new updates include Android Design Support Library, Google Play Services 7.5 (Smart Lock for Passwords, App Invites, and more), Android Studio 1.3 with NDK and C/C++ support, Data Binding, Google Cloud Messaging 3.0, among others. Also announced were Cloud Test Lab, Android Pay, and Brillo and Weave. Brillo extends the Android platform to connected devices while Weave is the IOT protocol for everything.

Android M Developer Preview

Google also released Developer Preview of Android M for Nexus 5, 6, 9, and Player. You can download the system image at https://developer.android.com/preview and flash it to your device. There will be OTA updates for the preview before they launch the official version in the third quarter of the year.

If you want to start playing around with the new APIs of Android M, you should download Android M (API 22, MNC Preview) packages using your SDK manager and use Android Studio 1.3 (available in the Canary channel). You can also check out the API Overview and samples

When creating new projects, you should use MNC: Android M (Preview) as the mimimum SDK. For existing projects, you can update your build.gradle file with the following values:

compileSdkVersion:'android-MNC'
minSdkVersion:'MNC'
targetSdkVersion:'MNC'

Android Training

Google announced Android Nanodegree. They also announced new Android training courses:

• Android App Development for Beginners
• Advanced Android App Development
• Android Ubiquitous Computing
• Android Performance
• Android Design for Developers
• Gradle for Android and Java
• Google Play Services: Location
• Google Play services: Analytics
• Google Play Services: AdMob
• Google Play Services: Maps
• Google Play Services: Identity

They also announced http://medium.com/google-developers, a collection of Medium Articles written by Google Developers. One of the things you should check out is the Developing for Android Article Series.

I/O Videos

In the keynote, there were a lot of Android announcements. The keynote is available for watching here. You can also watch videos of Android-related I/O sessions and 100 Days of Google Dev videos here.

Android @ #io15 YouTube Playlist

Google I/O 2015

I was able to attend Google I/O 2015 which was held at Moscone West in San Francisco, California on May 28 and 29.

It's really a different experience to watch the I/O keynote live. If you haven't watched the keynote here, you can watch it here. You can also videos of the sessions and more at https://events.google.com/io2015/videos.

After the keynote, we were given the new Cardboard. Then, we went on to the different sessions and talks happening at the same time. Like last year, I went to most of the talks (instead of the sessions which are being livestreamed and recorded). Most of the talks though have a lot of interested participants and the space is not enough for everyone.

There were a lot of cool stuff announced at I/O: Android M Developer Preview, Android Pay, Chrome Custom Tabs, Brillo and Weave, Cardboard Expeditions, Google Photos, ATAP's projects (Jacquard, Soli, Vault, Abacus, Ara), and many more.

The video below shows the highlights of this year's Google I/O

Attending Google I/O is really a great learning experience. I'm looking forward to cool stuff I could build next.

GDG Organizer Summit 2015

Most GDG (Google Developer Group) organizers going to I/O 2015 attended the GDG Organizer Summit at Computer History Museum in Mountain View on May 26 and 27.

On the morning of the first day, we had the welcome and community keynote, and talks about Google Translate Community, Web, and GDG Wisdom Gitbook. In the afternoon, we had two workshops: CSI:Lab (Creative Skills for Innovation) and Non-violent Communications.

The second day sessions were divided into six tracks. I attended the Firebase, Kubernetes, Community Leadership, GDG Attendance Counter, and GDG Creations sessions. In the GDG Creations/App Demo Lightning talk, I did a short demo of the GDG Android Wear Watch Face that I just published a few days before.

Photo taken by Esther from GDG Surabaya

Afterwards, we met shortly for the Study Jams Debrief and closing before going to Moscone to register and get our I/O badges.

I/O 2015 and I/O 2015 Extended

Google I/O 2015 will be on May 28-29 at Moscone West in San Francisco, California. Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies.

If you won't be able to go attend I/O in person, you can watch the sessions live from the event website or you can attend one of the I/O Extended events near you. GDG Philippines is organizing Google I/O 2015 Extended Manila on May 28-29 too at Globe Corporate Showroom, Valero Telepark, No. 111 Valero Street, Makati. For registration and other details, check out our blog post and add GDG Philippines in your Google+ circles.

The schedule for Google I/O 2015 is now available at https://events.google.com/io2015/schedule. The schedule for the live-streamed sessions can be found here (Day 1) and here (Day 2)

Google I/O 2015

Sundar Pichai, Google SVP of Android, Chrome and Apps announced on Google+ the dates for Google I/O 2015 in San Francisco: May 28-29.

The registration will be opened on March 17 at 09:00 AM PDT and will close on March 19 at 5:00PM PDT. After that, a lottery of tickets will be done to select the developers who will be able to purchase tickets. General Admission tickets cost $900 but Academic tickets are only $300.

If you won't be able to attend I/O in person, you can still join online (in the Google I/O website) or attend one of the I/O Extended events worldwide. GDG Philippines will have another I/O Extended event this year. For updates, add GDG Philippines in your Google+ circles.

2014: The Year That Was

A lot of things happened in 2014. Here are some of the highlights of the year that was.

Local Travel

From January 18 to 19, we went to Nueva Ecija, Tagaytay, and Manila. Wayne, Celine, Mama Chelle, Amit, Josh, Jona and I went to Nueva Ecija on January 18 for the Nueva Ecija Technologies @ Work (NETWORKS) Student Developers Day event. I did a talk about the basics of Android apps development there. The next day, Celine, Mama Chelle, Amit, Josh, Jona and I travelled to Tagaytay (People's Park in the Sky, Starbucks, Rowena's). After that, we visited the National Museum. It was my first time to visit there and it was a great experience. We then went to Intramuros and had lunch at Coco Bango Cafe. Afterwards, we went to San Agustin Church.

Celine and I went to La Salle University in Ozamiz City for the 5th ICT Youth Convention on February 27. I did a talk about Google Developer Tools and Technologies in the morning and conducted an Android Workshop in the afternoon.

Wayne and I went to Angeles, Pampanga on June 7 for a GBG Angeles-GDG Philippines Developer Meetup there. I was able to try Marco's 3-way Tinapa-flavor pizza and Pacencia a Kapampangan mom's sweet recipe pasta in Historic Camalig Restaurant. During dinner, I was able to try tilapia and chili frog in Apag Marangle, and Kabigting's Halo-Halo in Marquee Mall.

I followed Celine in Cagayan de Oro during their two-week work there and spent the weekend (October 10-12) with her. On October 11, we went to Camiguin Island and visited Katibawasan Falls, Ardent Hot Springs, Old Volcano, Sunken Cemetery, and Guiob Church Ruins, Soda Swimming Pool, and Sto. Niño Cold Spring Resort. In CDO, we went to St. Agustine Cathedral, Gaston Park, MacArthur Memorial Marker, and Capitol Grounds.

We went to Ilocos on December 2-3 for the Google Philippines and Philippine Science High School event. Our technical talks were in the afternoon of the second day so we were able to do a quick side trip to Vigan (and eat authentic Vigan empanada) in the morning.

International Travel

Celine, Mama Chelle, Mitch, Wayne, Jerome, and I went to South Korea from March 21 to 24 for a short vacation. We met with the GDG community managers there for dinner and also had lunch in the Google office. We visited Nami Island, different palaces, temples and other historical/cultural places there.

This year, I was also blessed to receive a US VISA so I was able to go to the United States for the GDG Organizer Summit (June 23-24), Google I/O 2014 (June 25-26), and a short trip to San Francisco, Oakland, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Personal Apps

Sweldong Pinoy apps were updated based from PhilHealth Circular 27 s.2013 and SSS Circular 2013-010. The tablet-optimized version of the Sweldong Pinoy Android app has also been released. Sweldong Pinoy was updated for Government employees (computing GSIS contributions instead of SSS contributions) and RHQ/ROHQ Employees (computing corresponding tax, deductions, and net pay). Check the Sweldong Pinoy Blog for more details.

I have also developed Thirteenth Month, a tool for Filipinos in computing their 13th-month pays. Thirteenth Month has a website/web app at http://13thmonth.sweldongpinoy.com and Android App.

Gadgets

I bought a Nexus 5 on February to replace the Nexus S that already stopped working. I also received an LG G Watch and a Moto 360 from Google I/O.

Runs

My only run for 2014 was Takbo.ph RunFest 2014 (July 13). On 2015, I am hoping I can do more runs, probably one per quarter. I had already registered for Takbo.PH 20 Miler Run 2015 (10 Miler/16k) and Condura Skyway Marathon 2015 (10k).

Trip to the United States

I went to the United States from June 21 to July 1 to attend the GDG Organizer Summit (June 23-24) and Google I/O 2014 (June 25-26). I was blessed to be granted a US VISA this time to go there.

We left Manila on June 21 and arrived in San Francisco on the same night. We stayed in Hyatt Regency San Francisco for the night. Our body was still under jet lag because we woke up at around four in the morning. We decided to walk outside and wait for the sunrise. We had breakfast then went back to SF International Airport for our shuttle for the summit hotel.

The GDG summit was held in Googleplex, Mountain View, California. The first day of the summit was in the Olympic Tech Talk of Quad 3 Building while on the second day, we were at the Main Campus. On the first day, we had various talks while on the second day was mostly unconferences. We also went to the Google Store to buy some stuff and to the Android statues to take pictures.

After the summit has ended, we went to Moscone West to register and get our badges and schwags. We checked in to Holiday Inn Civic Center afterwards. While most of the women went to the Women Techmakers Manila, we went to Intel's Official Unofficial Google I/O Pre-Party. We got the chance to receive an Acer Iconia Tab 8 there.

The next day is the first day of I/O. We woke up very early and lined up outside for the Keynote. It feels great to be able to watch the keynote live. After that, we joined the sessions, workshops, and 'box talks. In the evening after Day 1, we went to the After Hours in Yerba Buena Gardens. After the second day, we had a GDG farewell dinner at Google San Francisco office.

On June 27, we joined the GDG/GBG SEA tour. We went to the Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge, and Muir Woods National Monument. We also had wine tasting at Cline Cellars. We also dropped by the Conservatory of Flowers before going back to the hotel. Afterwards, we went to Ross to buy luggages and other stuff. We also went around to buy TSA locks and other different stuff. We rode a Cable car to Fisherman's Wharf and had dinner there.

On June 28, we went to Oakland International Airport for our flight to Las Vegas, Nevada. We will be there just for the night before going to Los Angeles, California. We stayed there in Blair House Suites. It was so hot in Vegas. The temperature was 40 degrees celcius! We decided to rest and sleep first. At around eight in the evening, we walked to Peppermill to have dinner and then we went to the different places there and took pictures.

The next day, we woke up really late. We went to Greyhound Bus Station for our six-hour travel to LA. Celine's Tita Vicky and Tito Deo picked me up from the station and we met with Celine's Tita Dioly, Tita Che, and cousin Stacy for dinner. They are very hospitable and they even toured me around the next day.

Wayne, Chelle, and I met in the Los Angles International Airport for our flight back to Manila on July 1. In the Starbucks near our boarding gate, I was able to use the $5 card I got during I/O and just paid a cent for a Double Chocolate Cookie and an Oatmeal Raisin Cran cookie.

Here is the Google+ story of my short trip to the United States:

My travel to the US is very short. I wish I can go back there again soon, and hopefully with Celine too.

Google I/O 2014

After so many years, I was finally able to attend Google I/O. Google I/O 2014 was held from June 25-26, 2014 at Moscone West in San Francisco, California.

It feels great watching the keynote live. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch the Google I/O 2014 Keynote video below:

There were a lot of announcements during the keynote: Material Design, Android L Developer Preview, Android Wear, Android Auto, Android TV, Google Fit, Google Play Services 5.0, and many more. They also announced the launch of LG G Watch and Samung Gear Live on July 7 and the upcoming release of Moto 360 in the next months. At the end of the keynote, every attendee was given a Cardboard.

After the keynote, many sessions and workshops are happening at the same time. It was so hard to choose where to go. I attended mostly the 'Box Talks and roam around in the Sandbox (Design/Develop/Distribute) areas because these won't be recorded. I'll just watch the other sessions from the I/O website.

It was a truly great experience to be a part of Google I/O. I learned a lot of things and met new friends. I'm feeling inspired and looking forward to building new stuff based from what I learned in I/O.

GDG Organizer Summit 2014

We attended the GDG Organizer Summit from June 23 to 24, 2014 in Googleplex, Mountain View, California. It was attended by around 350 GDG community managers from all over the world who are attending Google I/O 2014.

The first day of the summit was held in the Olympic Tech Talk of Quad 3 Building. There were a few talks in the morning. After lunch, we had a Google [x] talk, an a conversation with Howard Reingold. We then had the lightning talks. My proposed lightning talk was selected and I was one of those who did a lightning talk. I talked about Collaboration with other communities. I was so nervous during the 5-minute talk.

Photo taken by Reymart

Google talks and GDG Women Diversity Stories from the different GDG Women communities were next in the programme. We then closed the program, had dinner/after-party, and exchanged schwags with one another.

The second day of the summit was held in the Main Campus. We had a group photo before proceeding with two rounds of unconferences. We also had a meeting with the managers from South East Asia. Then, we went to the Google Store to buy some shirts and other stuff. In the afternoon, we had a Google Glass Design Sprint. After the closing talks, we all went to Moscone West to register for Google I/O and get our badges.

Google I/O 2014 Live Blog

Google I/O 2014 is going to be on June 25-26 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. If you won't be able to go to San Francisco to attend I/O, you can watch the sessions live from the website or you can attend one of the I/O Extended events. In the Philippines, the Google Developer Groups are organizing I/O Extended events in Manila, Baguio, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Nueva Ecija, and Zamboanga.

The event schedule can be found at https://www.google.com/events/io/schedule. You can also download the official Android app on Google Play Store.

I/O Bytes 2014

Google Developers is releasing over 100 I/O Bytes, which are short videos (less than 10 minutes) "help developers like you dive in and experience I/O anywhere, anytime. " They've been adding new videos everyday. The I/O Bytes 2014 YouTube playlist is available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOU2XLYxmsIIwGK7v7jg3gQvIAWJzdat_.

Google I/O 2014

Google I/O 2014 is going to be on June 25-26 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Google I/O is Google's annual developer conference, where they share the latest products and technologies. The theme this year is Design, Develop, and Distribute. There will be breakout sessions, workshops and code labs, app reviews and 'Box talks. I am looking forward to attending Google I/O, especially the sessions, workshops and 'box talks about Android and Wearables. Android Wear's official SDK and the 1.0 of Android Studio will probably be announced there.

If you won't be able to attend Google I/O, you can watch it live on the Google I/O website or attend an I/O Extended event near you. In the Philippines, the Google Developer Groups are organizing I/O Extended events in Manila, Baguio, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Nueva Ecija, and Zamboanga.

The event schedule can be found at https://www.google.com/events/io/schedule. You can also download the official Android app on Google Play Store.