5 Big Announcements Google Just Made In Its Annual Developer Conference

If you're an avid IndianWeb2 reader, then you might be aware of our obsession with AI and machine learning and how we make sure that we keep our readers caught up on all the latest happenings in the fields. So, when tech giant Google showed off some of the best practical applications of AI and machine learning this week at its annual developer conference in Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California, we decided to give all our fellow tech enthusiasts a quick rundown on the 5 big announcements that the tech giant made.

VPS - Visual Positioning System

It's been a while since the GPS (global positioning system) has been making our lives easier. Though the technology is of great use when travelling around large areas outside, but when it comes to finding more accurate location of things, the technology somewhere flatlines. This is where Google's visual positioning system (VPS) comes into action.

According to Google’s head of virtual reality, Clay Bavor, while GPS can help you get you to the door, VPS can take you to the exact location of the item that you’re looking for. The technology makes use of Tango, a 3D visualisation technology to search for recognisable objects around the user to find out exactly where you are, with an accuracy of a few centimetres.

The one big limitation with VPS is, that there are hardly any smartphones currently in the market have the Tango technology. This means, even if Google gets VPS ready today, it would only reach a few people.

Daydream Becomes Better

Tech giant Google got every tech enthusiast excited last year when it announced its Daydream virtual reality (VR) platform along with a headset that one could easily slip a smartphone in to create a wonderful VR experience, that too without spending a bomb.

This year, Google made a few announcements on the Daydream front. Firstly, it unveiled that the new Samsung Galaxy devices will be compatible with Daydream. This is being considered as an interesting development considering the fact that until now Samsung devices only worked with Gear VR, a Samsung manufactured headset that ran Facebook's Oculus VR. On why would Samsung want to get associated with Daydream when it has its own Gear VR is something that everyone is trying to decrypt.

The second big announcement that Google made in regards to Daydream was that it is planning to launch two standalone Daydream headsets that wouldn’t require the user to add a smartphone in order to enjoy the VR experience. Though no specific date has been announced on when we will be able to see the two standalone handsets in action, but Google did announce that it has joined hands with HTC and Lenovo to make the devices.

Google Lens

Trust Google to keep making things better and better. The tech giant has now turned its artificial intelligence to cameras. According to what Google showed at its conference this week, our camera will soon be able to remove unwanted items from the view so that we can get that masterpiece that we all aim to capture with each of our click. In addition to this, the app which has been in the development stage for quite some time now, uses image recognition to identify objects appearing in your camera lens in real-time. It means you can point at a dish in a restaurant and be told exactly what it is. According to Google, soon pointing our cameras at a restaurant will show us its reviews in real-time, after its AI identifies the restaurant.

Though Google has still not given a concrete date for when Google Lens will be available, but it did unveil that it would be a part of its assistant and photos app at first.

Google Home

The tech giant's standalone assistant, Google Home has been for fighting a losing battle against Amazon’s Alexa device. In order to take a control of the situation, Google announced that it has decided to make a few new additions to its Google Home. Firstly, the tech giant announced that now a Google Home user will be able to make phone calls using the assistant. In fact, the device's voice recognition capabilities allows different family members to call from their own separate numbers through the same Home device.

Secondly, Google announced that Google Home will now offer proactive information, rather than simply answer the questions that the user has asked. For example, now the assistant will be able to refer the Google calendar and tell the user if they need to be present somewhere at a certain time, and if the traffic situation on their route their was bad.

Thirdly, Google has decided to release a software development kit (SDK) for Google Home to allow third-party developers to integrate Google’s assistant into their own products. Interestingly, Amazon did the same thing with Alexa a while ago.

Clever Photo Tools For Better Pictures

It was only recently the tech giant announced that its Photo app now has over 500 million users. Experts claim that the reason for the app's massive success is the machine learning capability that Google has incorporated in it using which the app can sort through a user's pictures and understand what they contain.

During the keynote, Google announced that the next step for the Google Photo app is to allow its users share their pictures more easily. The giant said that it has observed that people often take a lot of pictures but then end up doing nothing with them. But now, using facial recognition, Google Photos will be able to spot a person, let's say Jessica and automatically suggest you send the picture, or a group of them, straight to Jessica. According to the giant, with this new feature, it aims to remove a little of the friction that is currently present with photo-sharing.

The shared Libraries takes this feature a step further, allowing a parent to share, for example, any picture of their kids automatically with their partner. The software will automatically recognise the faces and create the album for the user. Though Google has assured that there would be no unexpected sharing of pictures you want to keep secret, but only time will tell how safe this feature is exactly.

[Top Image: Business Insider]

Google to launch cars running Android Auto software later this year

Google has come up with a great solution for all those phone lovers who can’t even put their phones down while driving. Google with its Android Auto gives you easy access to your messaging, media and navigation in a way that ensures you keep driving safely.

The first batch of cars running the Android Auto can be expected to hit the markets later this year. This was announced by the internet giant at its Google I/O event on Wednesday. The company has partnered with around 40 automobile companies so as to make this possible.

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.



Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

According to Google, Android Auto has been designed keeping safety in mind. Its simple and intuitive interface, integrated steering wheel controls, and powerful new voice actions minimizes distraction so that the driver can stay focused on the road. It automatically brings the user the useful information, and organizes it into simple cards that appear just when they’re needed.



With Android Auto, you can use the Google Maps on the go.  It’s easy to get to the destination with free voice-guided navigation, live traffic information, lane guidance, and more. Android Auto even lets the driver access and stream their favorite music with apps like Google Play Music, Spotify and Pandora.

Android Auto comes with the best in class speech technology which makes controlling everything with your voice easy and fast. It even lets you hit the road with your favorite apps. It lets you access your favorite apps and content in the car.

Google’s Android Auto will not have it easy. It will have to battle it out with Apple’s CarPlay for market space. Both the Android Auto and CarPlay are very similar in features and are expected to hit the market around the same time.

Google to launch cars running Android Auto software later this year

Google has come up with a great solution for all those phone lovers who can’t even put their phones down while driving. Google with its Android Auto gives you easy access to your messaging, media and navigation in a way that ensures you keep driving safely.

The first batch of cars running the Android Auto can be expected to hit the markets later this year. This was announced by the internet giant at its Google I/O event on Wednesday. The company has partnered with around 40 automobile companies so as to make this possible.

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.



Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

According to Google, Android Auto has been designed keeping safety in mind. Its simple and intuitive interface, integrated steering wheel controls, and powerful new voice actions minimizes distraction so that the driver can stay focused on the road. It automatically brings the user the useful information, and organizes it into simple cards that appear just when they’re needed.



With Android Auto, you can use the Google Maps on the go.  It’s easy to get to the destination with free voice-guided navigation, live traffic information, lane guidance, and more. Android Auto even lets the driver access and stream their favorite music with apps like Google Play Music, Spotify and Pandora.

Android Auto comes with the best in class speech technology which makes controlling everything with your voice easy and fast. It even lets you hit the road with your favorite apps. It lets you access your favorite apps and content in the car.

Google’s Android Auto will not have it easy. It will have to battle it out with Apple’s CarPlay for market space. Both the Android Auto and CarPlay are very similar in features and are expected to hit the market around the same time.

Complete Digest to new announcements made at Google I/O event

Google I/O wasn’t an event to be missed but if due to some reason you couldn’t tune into the action, there is nothing to worry at all. As we at IndianWeb2 bring to you a complete list of all the important things that were announced at the conference.

Around 6,000 developers attended 7th annual Google I/O developer conference. The crowd in San Francisco was joined by millions more watching on the livestream and 597 I/O Extended events, in 90+ countries on six continents.

Google estimated that more than 20 billion text messages sent every day. 1.5 trillion steps taken with an Android. And more importantly, a roughly estimated 93 million selfies.

This year Google brought loads of things in Android, apps, new chrome features etc. Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & apps addresses the event along with and reveal interesting initiatives Google is taking up from this year onwards, this includes few interesting devices and Android wearable gadgets as well.

Below are all major announcements Google made at Google I/O event:

Android One

The annual developer conference started with the announcement of the Android One initiative. It is a program that aims at providing guidelines to those manufacturing Smartphones for the developing market so as to give a unified Android experience.

This initiative allows the internet giant the right to dictate some minimum hardware requirements for manufacturers all around the globe.

Under this initiative, Google has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

Android Auto

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.

Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

The Android Auto will be made available to the masses later this year. For this, the tech giant has partnered with over 40 companies which include Porsche and Hyundai.

Bringing work and play together

The tech giant also announced Android for Work program at the I/O event. It is a unique program which lets the app live in one place. It gives a wonderful opportunity to the user to connect his or her work with personal life into one single device.

Microsoft Office editing has become possible in the Google Docs due to Android from Work. Google in addition to this also announced a premium Google Drive for enterprise customers which will offer unlimited storage for $10 per month per use.

L Developer Preview  

The upcoming Android L release supports Material Design which is a new cross platform User Interface. It makes available the app developers with more precise tools so as to make customized typography, color and grid changes.

Material Design makes it possible for designers to add smooth animations at 60 fps using a prototyping tool, Polymer. Further, in order to help the designers in building a consistent feel and look, it has added a guideline.

In order to make developers learn a thing or two about battery life, Google also launched Project Volta. It will help them in identifying battery discharge patterns so as to increase the overall consumption.

With a 64-bit compatibility and a new Android Extension Pack to back 3D graphics, Google openly boosted about the L’s enhanced performance. Google has also ensured the best of security for L.

Android Wear

Google demonstrated its Android Wear at the Google I/O event. Users can swipe across Google Now Cards and supported applications from the paired Smartphone by using its touchscreen User Interface.

In order to create reminders, notes, alarms and more, the users can make use of the “Ok Google” prompt. Material design is also in attendance in this wearable platform.

A wearable counterpart is installed on the Smartwatch whenever the user installs an app from the Play store on their Smartphone. This is ensures that all the features are synced immediately.

The Moto360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are some of the Android Wear equipped products. Out of these, Samsung and LG are currently available in the Play store.

Google Cloud



Google also announced improvements to its Google Cloud engine. Developers can debug a live application which is running on hundred of servers using this platform. In addition, they can also set alerts or reminders to monitor performance of various events.

Appurify, which is a mobile test automation service, has been acquired by Google in order to optimize app testing and building.

The tech giant also introduced Cloud Dataflow, which will let the user create data pipelines for ingesting large data sets.

Android TV



Putting all the rumors to rest, Google finally unveiled its Android TV. Google with its Android TV has tried to combine all entertainment into one device. The TV lets the user watch live TV or stream content like cast information and related YouTube clips. The TV also promises a fluid search experience to the user.

The Android TV will be a joyride for casual gamers. Google supports games on the new TV and this gives the gamers a great chance to engage in their favorite mobile games on the big television screen.

Chromebook gets Android Apps

Now you can unlock Chromebooks with the help of your phone, this feature is similar to the new L update which permits the user to unlock their phone when using context and location.

To provide its users with a continuous experience, Android will now be sending notifications directly to the Chromebooks. Some selected Android apps have been made compatible on the Chromebook.

Google Play

Google Play now has a Games Profile feature with the saved games section. The section will have a screencap of the user’s game progress and leader boards. In order to encourage the gamers to set goals, it now has “Quests”.

Users will now be able to have a direct carrier billing for tablets which will let them charge everything at one place.

Chromecast Update

The much needed Chromecast update is here. Now, you no longer have to be on the same Wi-Fi network to cast content to Chromecast. You can search the nearby devices and connect via the cloud.

A backdrop feature has also been added which permits background photo customization by drawing photos from the user’s library.

Google Fit

The conference also saw the launch of Google Fit. It is an open, multi-OS API platform for fitness related apps and devices. Google Fit is very similar to the recently announced Apple’s HealthKit.

Google Fit assembles all of the user’s fitness data into one single place. Google Fit has partners in  Withings, Adidas and Nike.

Complete Digest to new announcements made at Google I/O event

Google I/O wasn’t an event to be missed but if due to some reason you couldn’t tune into the action, there is nothing to worry at all. As we at IndianWeb2 bring to you a complete list of all the important things that were announced at the conference.

Around 6,000 developers attended 7th annual Google I/O developer conference. The crowd in San Francisco was joined by millions more watching on the livestream and 597 I/O Extended events, in 90+ countries on six continents.

Google estimated that more than 20 billion text messages sent every day. 1.5 trillion steps taken with an Android. And more importantly, a roughly estimated 93 million selfies.

This year Google brought loads of things in Android, apps, new chrome features etc. Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome & apps addresses the event along with and reveal interesting initiatives Google is taking up from this year onwards, this includes few interesting devices and Android wearable gadgets as well.

Below are all major announcements Google made at Google I/O event:

Android One

The annual developer conference started with the announcement of the Android One initiative. It is a program that aims at providing guidelines to those manufacturing Smartphones for the developing market so as to give a unified Android experience.

This initiative allows the internet giant the right to dictate some minimum hardware requirements for manufacturers all around the globe.

Under this initiative, Google has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

Android Auto

Android Auto is completely voice enabled and has been manufactured so as to help the developers. It does so by creating a seamless and safe solution for using connected devices while driving.

Android Auto works by connecting the driver’s Smartphone to a compatible car, its UI then displays on the car’s screen with quick shortcuts to location searches, navigation and suggestions. It also has a feature which enables the driver to send and receive text messages while driving by using the voice command features.

The Android Auto will be made available to the masses later this year. For this, the tech giant has partnered with over 40 companies which include Porsche and Hyundai.

Bringing work and play together

The tech giant also announced Android for Work program at the I/O event. It is a unique program which lets the app live in one place. It gives a wonderful opportunity to the user to connect his or her work with personal life into one single device.

Microsoft Office editing has become possible in the Google Docs due to Android from Work. Google in addition to this also announced a premium Google Drive for enterprise customers which will offer unlimited storage for $10 per month per use.

L Developer Preview  

The upcoming Android L release supports Material Design which is a new cross platform User Interface. It makes available the app developers with more precise tools so as to make customized typography, color and grid changes.

Material Design makes it possible for designers to add smooth animations at 60 fps using a prototyping tool, Polymer. Further, in order to help the designers in building a consistent feel and look, it has added a guideline.

In order to make developers learn a thing or two about battery life, Google also launched Project Volta. It will help them in identifying battery discharge patterns so as to increase the overall consumption.

With a 64-bit compatibility and a new Android Extension Pack to back 3D graphics, Google openly boosted about the L’s enhanced performance. Google has also ensured the best of security for L.

Android Wear

Google demonstrated its Android Wear at the Google I/O event. Users can swipe across Google Now Cards and supported applications from the paired Smartphone by using its touchscreen User Interface.

In order to create reminders, notes, alarms and more, the users can make use of the “Ok Google” prompt. Material design is also in attendance in this wearable platform.

A wearable counterpart is installed on the Smartwatch whenever the user installs an app from the Play store on their Smartphone. This is ensures that all the features are synced immediately.

The Moto360, LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live are some of the Android Wear equipped products. Out of these, Samsung and LG are currently available in the Play store.

Google Cloud



Google also announced improvements to its Google Cloud engine. Developers can debug a live application which is running on hundred of servers using this platform. In addition, they can also set alerts or reminders to monitor performance of various events.

Appurify, which is a mobile test automation service, has been acquired by Google in order to optimize app testing and building.

The tech giant also introduced Cloud Dataflow, which will let the user create data pipelines for ingesting large data sets.

Android TV



Putting all the rumors to rest, Google finally unveiled its Android TV. Google with its Android TV has tried to combine all entertainment into one device. The TV lets the user watch live TV or stream content like cast information and related YouTube clips. The TV also promises a fluid search experience to the user.

The Android TV will be a joyride for casual gamers. Google supports games on the new TV and this gives the gamers a great chance to engage in their favorite mobile games on the big television screen.

Chromebook gets Android Apps

Now you can unlock Chromebooks with the help of your phone, this feature is similar to the new L update which permits the user to unlock their phone when using context and location.

To provide its users with a continuous experience, Android will now be sending notifications directly to the Chromebooks. Some selected Android apps have been made compatible on the Chromebook.

Google Play

Google Play now has a Games Profile feature with the saved games section. The section will have a screencap of the user’s game progress and leader boards. In order to encourage the gamers to set goals, it now has “Quests”.

Users will now be able to have a direct carrier billing for tablets which will let them charge everything at one place.

Chromecast Update

The much needed Chromecast update is here. Now, you no longer have to be on the same Wi-Fi network to cast content to Chromecast. You can search the nearby devices and connect via the cloud.

A backdrop feature has also been added which permits background photo customization by drawing photos from the user’s library.

Google Fit

The conference also saw the launch of Google Fit. It is an open, multi-OS API platform for fitness related apps and devices. Google Fit is very similar to the recently announced Apple’s HealthKit.

Google Fit assembles all of the user’s fitness data into one single place. Google Fit has partners in  Withings, Adidas and Nike.

Google to tie up with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch smartphones under $100 (Rs 6,000)

Google, the internet giant has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

This news was announced in Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday by the company’s senior vice-president Sundar Pichai. If experts are to be believed, this move by Google will shoot up the Indian brands popularity and credibility all over the world. It will also increase the already stiff competition in the entry-level Smartphone market of the country.

This initiative by Google has been named the Android One initiative. Under this initiative, the Indian handset-makers will be provided with hardware reference models so as to create high quality Smartphones that too at low cost.

According to Sundar, the Smartphones will be first unveiled in India and then launched globally. These phones can be expected to run a standardized version of Android which will permit faster updates.

Pichai while showcasing a 4.5 inch Micromax device with dual SIM slots, FM radio and expandable memory also added that Google is also currently working with Indian carriers so as to make these Smartphone users available with affordable data packs.

The first batch of these Smartphones can be expected to hit the Indian markets in somewhere around early September. In all possibility, these phones can be co-branded as the tech giant may not want to venture into the hardware business again after no additional follow ups on Nexus and selling off Motorola.

These Smartphones will take the low end phone market competition, where Samsung and Nokia are already functioning to an all new level.

Whatever may be the case, the customers are expected to gain considerably from the tech giants this move. The customers are expected to get more value and the overall experience is set to become better and faster as with the standard Google platform, the updates will be quicker.

Google’s this initiative has not come as a surprise, as everyone wants to reap in the fruits of the booming Indian Smartphone market. According to the data made available by IDC, the Smartphone market in India tripled itself in the first quarter of this year with 17.59 million devices being shipped compared to 6.4 million during the same time interval last year.

Top Image - [Flickr]

Google to tie up with Micromax, Karbonn and Spice to launch smartphones under $100 (Rs 6,000)

Google, the internet giant has decided to partner with Indian handset-makers Spice, Micromax and Karbonn to launch $100 (Rs.6,000) Smartphones. Some of these Smartphones are expected to be launched in early September.

This news was announced in Google’s annual developer conference on Wednesday by the company’s senior vice-president Sundar Pichai. If experts are to be believed, this move by Google will shoot up the Indian brands popularity and credibility all over the world. It will also increase the already stiff competition in the entry-level Smartphone market of the country.

This initiative by Google has been named the Android One initiative. Under this initiative, the Indian handset-makers will be provided with hardware reference models so as to create high quality Smartphones that too at low cost.

According to Sundar, the Smartphones will be first unveiled in India and then launched globally. These phones can be expected to run a standardized version of Android which will permit faster updates.

Pichai while showcasing a 4.5 inch Micromax device with dual SIM slots, FM radio and expandable memory also added that Google is also currently working with Indian carriers so as to make these Smartphone users available with affordable data packs.

The first batch of these Smartphones can be expected to hit the Indian markets in somewhere around early September. In all possibility, these phones can be co-branded as the tech giant may not want to venture into the hardware business again after no additional follow ups on Nexus and selling off Motorola.

These Smartphones will take the low end phone market competition, where Samsung and Nokia are already functioning to an all new level.

Whatever may be the case, the customers are expected to gain considerably from the tech giants this move. The customers are expected to get more value and the overall experience is set to become better and faster as with the standard Google platform, the updates will be quicker.

Google’s this initiative has not come as a surprise, as everyone wants to reap in the fruits of the booming Indian Smartphone market. According to the data made available by IDC, the Smartphone market in India tripled itself in the first quarter of this year with 17.59 million devices being shipped compared to 6.4 million during the same time interval last year.

Top Image - [Flickr]