Skip to content

Everything You Need to Know About Google I/O 2016

BetterCloud

May 18, 2016

5 minute read

General Google Apps Green

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Another Google I/O is in the books and a slew of new software releases, hardware announcements, and more made their official entrance into the world.

We’ve pulled together some hot takes from around the web for your convience. Enjoy!

Google “Echoes” Amazon with the Introduction of Google Home

It appears Google chose to follow Amazon’s lead with a home entertainment device of their own called Google Home. Home will help you get basic answers from Google, manage basic tasks, and stream music.

That was easy…

Have to give credit where credit is due! My question is, will there be a Home (for Work) version? I could see a Google Home for Work device serve as a potential replacement for Chromebox for Meetings down the line.

Say ‘Allo to These New Messaging and Video Chat Apps

Google introduces its Facetime and Skype competitor, but what does this mean for Hangouts?

This guy seems to think Hangouts is on its way out. Time will tell.

#thankssteve

With incognito chats, Allo acts much like Snapchat, turning itself into a black hole of disappearing messages. Also, all messages while chatting in Allo incognito mode are encrypted.

It’s amazing how far we’ve come and how far we still can go when it comes to technology. At what point are computers just going to do the talking for us? Schedule meetings? Write letters? Allo and Duo will be available this summer on Android and iOS, and you can read about both right here.

The OS Without a Name: Android N

It seems Google placed a ton of emphasis on security this year, which is likely music to many ears out there. On Twitter, it seemed to be one of the biggest takeaways from the events Android N portion of the keynote. Google themselves state their intention quite clearly on the company’s added security focus.

Those are some good seats, and we agree. Always good to see security front and center.

Awesome new feature and one that only seemed like a matter of time. Developers can read more about the new multi-window feature on Google’s official Android developer blog.

??????????????

9 to 5 Google has all the details about the Android N announcement. Check it out here.

A New Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is one of the hottest topics in tech, and at Google I/O it received a fair bit of attention.

Virtual reality possibilities are endless. But for now, this is more a first step than a magic leap forward (pun intended).

It seems Google Cardboard was just the beginning of Google’s foray into VR. This subtle change may mark a much more significant shift for the future of VR. Wired has the in-depth look at Google Daydream.

Android Wear Gets an Upgrade

A Google I/O drinking game seems like good sport. Good luck. Words like machine learning, Google Cloud Platform, and wearables may run the well dry rather quickly.

Android Wear 2.0 is live!

Well, at least the preview is…

Check out The Verge’s first look with Android Wear 2.0.

Developers Rejoice! Enter Firebase

Likely the loudest applause of the keynote.

For the lazy, you can learn more about Firebase right here.

A New Take on Native Apps: Android Instant Apps

Android Instant Apps was my favorite feature enhancement announcement during the I/O keynote. The Android Instant Apps announcement also garnered overwhelming positive reactions on Twitter.

Yet, there were some who were quick to bring up security fears with the new feature.

Others were more existential, wondering what this meant for the future of apps and websites and what appears to be a continued meshing of the two.

Techcrunch has you covered if you’d like to learn more about Android Instant Apps.

Machine Learning and Closing Comments

For those out of the loop, Google recently open-sourced something called “Parsey McParseface” and apparently, it’s kind of a big deal. According to Google, Parsey McParseface is “an English parser that we have trained for you and that you can use to analyze English text.”

I have a feeling machine learning will be one of the technologies dominating tech blogs for years to come.

Overall, Google brought a ton of new announcements and technology to the table. What did you think about the event? Tell us in the comments section below.

Categories

Related Articles