Monthly Archives: July 2015

Google Maps for Android Wear: Put the world on your wrist

Whether you’re exploring a new country or reconnecting with an old neighborhood this summer, Android Wear can help you get timely and local information, directly on your wrist. With an updated Google Maps app and API for Android Wear, it’s now even easier to know where you’re going, while leaving your phone in your pocket or purse.

Google Maps for Android Wear
Just say “Ok Google, navigate to…” to bring up Google Maps’ improved turn-by-turn guidance and full-screen navigation view on your watch. And with always-on screen support, your map view remains on your wrist in battery-saving mode, even when you’re not actively looking at your screen.


Glanceable maps in lots more apps
Many travel apps integrate with Google Maps on Android Wear to bring what’s around you to your wrist. Use HotelTonight to track hotel rates and get notified right on your watch when the price is right. Forgot to pack your toothbrush? Priceline customers can use Android Wear to locate the closest convenience store.

As you stroll through a neighborhood, Foursquare will make sure you won’t walk by and miss a restaurant’s legendary burrito. And TripAdvisor will tell you about the city’s best comedy club that you should visit now (or save for tomorrow night, directly from your watch). You’ll blend right in with the locals as you expertly navigate a new city’s public transport with Citymapper’s step-by-step directions right on your wrist.

No matter how caught up you get in your adventures, be sure to take the time to check-in with your loved ones. With Glympse on Android Wear, you won’t even need to take out your phone! And should your vacation inspire bigger life changes, use Trulia or Zillow to glance at all the home sale listings in your new, beloved neighborhood.

No matter where you go, Android Wear lets you stay on track while freeing your hands for an ice-cream cone—or two. So before you hit the road this summer, be sure to pack your Android Wear watch and your favorite travel apps.

Posted by Ben Greenwood, Product Manager, Google Maps

Search Ads on Google Play and new app promo tools roll out to advertisers and developers

[Cross posted from the Official AdWords Blog]

People turn to their phones billions of times a day for I want-to-know, I want-to-go, I want-to-do, and I want-to-buy moments. And in these intent-rich moments, they often turn to apps to get what they need. Runners may search for a “mileage tracker” app as they start training for a marathon, foodies may look for “restaurant” apps to check out the trendiest new places in town, and frequent fliers may search for “top games” to play before a long flight. In fact, search is one of the biggest drivers of app installs in the Play Store.

That’s why we’re investing in new ways to help people discover apps with Search Ads on Google Play and innovating on new technologies to simplify campaign management and improve measurement for developers.

They’ve arrived: Search Ads on Google Play
Search Ads on Google Play will begin to roll out today to all advertisers and developers who use Search app install campaigns on AdWords.



Google Play reaches more than 1 billion people on Android devices in more than 190 countries. With such an extensive reach, Search Ads on Google Play can provide consumers new ways to discover apps that they otherwise might have missed and help developers drive more awareness of their apps.

Companies like Booking.com and Nordeus are already extending their app promotion strategy to include showing ads on the Play Store.


Tomislav Mihajlović, CMO of Nordeus shared that, "Search has already been a key component of our app promotion strategy to reach high-quality users. With new Search Ads on Google Play, we have an even bigger opportunity to connect with people in the moments they’re looking for new apps to download. We are already seeing significantly more app installs from Search with the addition of Google Play inventory for our game Top Eleven.”

Improved conversion tracking for Android
As we expand the opportunities for developers to promote their apps, we’re also committed to providing conversion tracking tools that work seamlessly across channels and align with whichever measurement solution a developer chooses to use. That’s why we’re introducing Android first app opens, a new conversion tracking solution that measures when a user first opens an app after clicking on an ad and completing an Android app install. In addition to providing app conversion tracking across Search, Display and YouTube, this new solution also allows developers to better align the conversion volume they see in AdWords with the data they see in a third-party measurement solution. First app opens are the standard conversion type for third-party solutions, so we’re working with key partners like Tune, AppsFlyer, Kochava, Adjust and Apsalar to ensure data consistency and give developers the freedom to use reporting and optimization features across AdWords and third-party solutions of their choice.


An even easier way to scale your app install ads across Google networks
In a few weeks, Universal App Campaigns will make it even easier to promote your apps on Google Play and across all Google properties, including: Search, YouTube, the AdMob in-app network, and the 2M+ sites on the Google Display Network. Simply let us know what your ad will say, who you want to reach, your budget and target cost-per-install, and we’ll do the rest.

Improved conversion tracking for Android
As we expand the opportunities for developers to promote their apps, we’re also committed to providing conversion tracking tools that work seamlessly across channels and align with whichever measurement solution a developer chooses to use. That’s why we’re introducing Android first app opens, a new conversion tracking solution that measures when a user first opens an app after clicking on an ad and completing an Android app install. In addition to providing app conversion tracking across Search, Display and YouTube, this new solution also allows developers to better align the conversion volume they see in AdWords with the data they see in a third-party measurement solution. First app opens are the standard conversion type for third-party solutions, so we’re working with key partners like Tune, AppsFlyer, Kochava, Adjust and Apsalar to ensure data consistency and give developers the freedom to use reporting and optimization features across AdWords and third-party solutions of their choice.


An even easier way to scale your app install ads across Google networks
In a few weeks, Universal App Campaigns will make it even easier to promote your apps on Google Play and across all Google properties, including: Search, YouTube, the AdMob in-app network, and the 2M+ sites on the Google Display Network. Simply let us know what your ad will say, who you want to reach, your budget and target cost-per-install, and we’ll do the rest.

As the apps ecosystem continues to grow, we’re dedicated to creating products that help developers get their apps to the users who will love them. From adding search ads to Google Play, to improving Android conversion tracking and simplifying campaign management with Universal App Campaigns, we hope these new tools will bring even more success to our app developer community.

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Director, Product Management, Mobile Search Ads

Minimum purchase price for apps on Google Play reduced in India

India continues to be a major growth opportunity for developers to reach new users on Google Play. We’ve heard feedback from you — our global developer community — that you’d like more flexibility when choosing how much to charge for your apps and games in India.

Starting today, developers can reduce the price of their premium titles and in-app products, to as low as Rs. 10.

You can lower the price of your apps and games right away by visiting the Google Play Developer Console and clicking on “Pricing & Distribution” or “In-app Products” on the left menu.

We hope this additional lower price tier will allow you to reach more users in India and help you continue to build successful businesses on Google Play.

Posted by Alistair Pott, Product Manager, Google Play

Help me help you (improve the DFP API)

Believe it or not, the DFP API Team eat, breathe, and live the DFP API. We wake up in the morning thinking, "How can I make the DFP API even better?" Seriously, I have had dreams about the API. It’s weird, but I’m not embarrassed to admit that.

In an effort to delight our developers even more, we’re turning the proverbial mic over to you - our customers - to help us help you. Here’s your chance to let us know how we could be better – better support, better features in the client libraries, better content in workshops, better examples, better haircuts... really, anything. Simply fill out our survey with your thoughts here.

 - , DFP API Team

Q&A with Dave Vos, Head of Google’s Unmanned Delivery Vehicle Program

Dave Vos heads up Project Wing, Google's unmanned delivery vehicle program. Originally from Capetown, South Africa, he came to the United States at age 26 in order to do graduate work at MIT. While there, he earned his master's and PhD degrees. He has been involved in creating automated flying machines for over 20 years.


Q: It seems like everybody’s talking about developing delivery drones lately. Why the big fuss all of a sudden?
A: Many of the same technologies that have put smartphones in our pockets—smart software and small, inexpensive sensors like GPS and accelerometers—can be used to fly small vehicles on pre-planned routes. It’s become a lot easier for companies around the world to develop relatively inexpensive platforms for amateur and commercial users alike.
Q: Why is Google working on them?
A: Think about the congestion, pollution, and noise created by delivery trucks double-parked all over our cities, or the fact that we send a two-ton vehicle across town to deliver a two-pound package. On the other hand, a self-flying vehicle that can cover about a mile a minute would guarantee speed, accuracy, and on-time delivery. They could open up entirely new approaches to transporting and delivering goods—they’d be cheaper, faster, less wasteful, and more environmentally friendly than ground transportation. They also have the potential to help in crisis situations, like delivering medicine and batteries to cut-off areas after a natural disaster, or helping firefighters improve communication and visibility near a wildfire.  
Initially, we thought that defibrillator delivery would be a natural way to implement our vehicles—when a person needs a defibrillator, every second counts, and drones don’t have to deal with traffic. Ultimately, we had to put that ambition on hold because we realized there are many challenges with integrating into the emergency medical system that are outside our control. But we certainly hope we can try again someday.


Q: Where is Project Wing right now?
A: Last August, we successfully tested real-world deliveries in Australia using our prototype vehicles. But our goals require more than us building our own operational aircraft—we aren’t going to be the only game in town, and we need to ensure that everyone can operate their own unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) safely. Today, no system currently exists to manage the layer of airspace under 500 feet. So we’re also working on a traffic management system that could support a scalable, safe, and reliable commercial aerial delivery service, alongside others. As with any such project, we need to gather feedback, so we’ve been talking to regulators and aviation experts to develop a common approach from the very beginning.

Q: How’s your relationship with the FAA [national aviation authority for the US]?
A: It’s positive and collaborative—we often meet with them and other regulators to explain how our technology works. We recently held a seminar where we invited the FAA, members of the Small UAV Coalition, and other members of the aviation community to gather feedback on what sorts of technologies might enable safe flights at low altitude. Meetings like this help inform our own product development.


Q: How do you feel about the FAA’s proposed regulations, which allow for limited, low-risk operations, but effectively rule out an aerial delivery service like Project Wing?
A: While we don’t necessarily agree with everything in these proposed regulations, we’re supportive of the FAA’s goals of integrating UAS into the national airspace. We recently submitted comments to say that the FAA should be able to approve more advanced operations as operators demonstrate greater safety and reliability.
More generally, we’re committed to working with governments around the world, as well as the broader aviation industry, to safely integrate small UAVs into the airspace.
Q: How do UAVs know where to go—is there someone sitting behind a screen controlling them?
A: We’re still working this out—but the short answer is, while we’ll need to have an operator overseeing the vehicles, we’re designing our systems to be highly automated.
Q: How big are they?
A: The vehicle we’ve been testing is about one-and-a-half meters from wing tip to wing tip, and about one meter long (from nose to tail). But we’re looking at lots of different design options because different vehicles are good for different things. It’s too early to know what our final design, or designs, will look like.


Q: When will I see a self-flying vehicle delivering packages to my door?
A: There are a lot of technical and practical issues that still need to be resolved—for example, people’s concerns about safety, privacy, noise, or air congestion. Should self-flying vehicles be allowed to operate at all times of day? What’s the best way to let people know who’s flying vehicles above their property? We’d need to have answers to these kinds of questions before starting a full cargo delivery service. But we’re getting there—we’ve been testing people's responses to the design of the vehicle, its noise, and the drop-delivery experience—and will be listening carefully as we develop our technology further. We expect we’ll hit our safety and reliability targets in a matter of years, not decades.

Posted by Steven Claunch, Online Hiring and Insights Team

$1 million to creating moments that inspire young Australians with careers in STEM

When we talk with successful people working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths, we often hear a similar story: that one special moment, program or person that inspired them along the way. These are the kind of moments that stir curiosity, feed a long-held thirst for knowledge, or ignite some unknown passion.

For students, it could be a classroom visit from a software engineer, an after-school program on robotics, or an excursion to laboratory or science museum that opens up young minds to the diverse career opportunities offered by science and tech.

We think these moments are too important to be left to chance.

Australia is not keeping up with demand when it comes to graduates in fields like computer science, and when we look at girls, Indigenous Australians, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, that picture is even worse. 

That’s why we will work with three Australian not-for-profits to introduce and inspire 10,000 underrepresented students to careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. These landmark partnerships will put to use $1 million in cash grants from Google.org to deliver hands-on training and career programs that will reach these underrepresented groups.

(Talia Rose, science and engineering student at the University of Queensland and Engineers Without Borders Australia volunteer)

Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience will develop STEM content into their Year 7 and 8 curriculum for Indigenous students, making the subjects relevant through experience-based learning. The program will increase the digital skillset of 4,000 Indigenous students by 2018.

FIRST Robotics Australia will take its FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Robotics program into 150 new schools, providing a robotics set, teacher mentoring and support to student groups across Australia. FIRST will reach more than 1500 students in low-SES areas and regional schools, building teamwork and inspiring young Australians in the fields of engineering and computer science. To sign up, visit firstaustralia.org/new-grant

Engineers Without Borders Australia will expand its “Regioneering Roadshow”, which will give hands-on, STEM and computer science focused training to 5,000 young people, with a particular focus on young women. The Google grant will double the existing program’s geographic reach and connect young professional engineers to community, youth and school groups across regional Australia. 

Australia’s jobs of the future will require new skills, and it’s critical that students from all walks of life are introduced to this field and have the opportunity to shape it and benefit from it. We hope that these three organisations will create more moments that will inspire our kids.

For more STEM resources visit www.google.com.au/startwithcode 

Posted by Maile Carnegie, Managing Director, and Alan Noble, Engineering Director of Google Australia.

Meet AdMob at Casual Connect SF #AdMobCC15

The Google AdMob team is excited to attend the Casual Connect conference in San Francisco this year. If you’re attending, be sure to visit the Google booth. We’d love to hear about your game and share ways that you can supercharge monetization with AdMob.

We’ll be hosting two sessions at the conference. First, Google's US Gaming Partnerships Lead, Alejandro Manchado, will talk about how to use Google Analytics and AdMob to build data-driven monetization strategies for your game at 11am on Wednesday, August 12th.

Secondly, Sampada Telang, Strategic Partner Lead, will talk about native ads and how they have impacted free-to-play games at 5pm on Wednesday, August 12th.

We’d also like to invite you to Google's workshops on how to monetize using native ads and in-app purchase ads with AdMob. There are limited seats at the workshop, so if you’re interested, please fill out this form, and we'll follow up with details.

If you can’t attend the event this year, sign up for our mailing list now and we’ll send you exclusive content filmed live at Casual Connect.

We’ll also be live tweeting and sharing our app-themed musings on Google+ and Twitter, so stay in the loop with what’s happening with #AdMobCC15.

So see you there or online,
The AdMob Team

Source: Inside AdMob


Get your hands on Android Studio 1.3

Posted by Jamal Eason, Product Manager, Android

Previewed earlier this summer at Google I/O, Android Studio 1.3 is now available on the stable release channel. We appreciated the early feedback from those developers on our canary and beta channels to help ship a great product.

Android Studio 1.3 is our biggest feature release for the year so far, which includes a new memory profiler, improved testing support, and full editing and debugging support for C++. Let’s take a closer look.

New Features in Android Studio 1.3

Performance & Testing Tools

  • Android Memory (HPROF) Viewer

    Android Studio now allows you to capture and analyze memory snapshots in the native Android HPROF format.

  • Allocation Tracker

    In addition to displaying a table of memory allocations that your app uses, the updated allocation tracker now includes a visual way to view the your app allocations.

  • APK Tests in Modules

    For more flexibility in app testing, you now have the option to place your code tests in a separate module and use the new test plugin (‘com.android.test’) instead of keeping your tests right next to your app code. This feature does require your app project to use the Gradle Plugin 1.3.

Code and SDK Management

  • App permission annotations

    Android Studio now has inline code annotation support to help you manage the new app permissions model in the M release of Android. Learn more about code annotations.

  • Data Binding Support

    New data brinding features allow you to create declarative layouts in order to minimize boilerplate code by binding your application logic into your layouts. Learn more about data binding.

  • SDK Auto Update & SDK Manager

    Managing Android SDK updates is now a part of the Android Studio. By default, Android Studio will now prompt you about new SDK & Tool updates. You can still adjust your preferences with the new & integrated Android SDK Manager.

  • C++ Support

    As a part of the Android 1.3 stable release, we included an Early Access Preview of the C++ editor & debugger support paired with an experimental build plugin. See the Android C++ Preview page for information on how to get started. Support for more complex projects and build configurations is in development, but let us know your feedback.

Time to Update

An important thing to remember is that an update to Android Studio does not require you to change your Android app projects. With updating, you get the latest features but still have control of which build tools and app dependency versions you want to use for your Android app.

For current developers on Android Studio, you can check for updates from the navigation menu. For new users, you can learn more about Android Studio on the product overview page or download the stable version from the Android Studio download site.

We are excited to launch this set of features in Android Studio and we are hard at work developing the next set of tools to make develop Android development easier on Android Studio. As always we welcome feedback on how we can help you. Connect with the Android developer tools team on Google+.

ICSE 2015 and Software Engineering Research at Google

Posted by Mohsen Vakilian, Software Engineer

The large scale of our software engineering efforts at Google often pushes us to develop cutting-edge infrastructure. In May 2015, at the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2015), we shared some of our software engineering tools and practices and collaborated with the research community through a combination of publications, committee memberships, and workshops. Learn more about some of our research below (Googlers highlighted in blue).

Google was a Gold supporter of ICSE 2015.

Technical Research Papers:
A Flexible and Non-intrusive Approach for Computing Complex Structural Coverage Metrics
Michael W. Whalen, Suzette Person, Neha Rungta, Matt Staats, Daniela Grijincu

Automated Decomposition of Build Targets
Mohsen Vakilian, Raluca Sauciuc, David Morgenthaler, Vahab Mirrokni

Tricorder: Building a Program Analysis Ecosystem
Caitlin Sadowski, Jeffrey van Gogh, Ciera Jaspan, Emma Soederberg, Collin Winter

Software Engineering in Practice (SEIP) Papers:
Comparing Software Architecture Recovery Techniques Using Accurate Dependencies
Thibaud Lutellier, Devin Chollak, Joshua Garcia, Lin Tan, Derek Rayside, Nenad Medvidovic, Robert Kroeger

Technical Briefings:
Software Engineering for Privacy in-the-Large
Pauline Anthonysamy, Awais Rashid

Workshop Organizers:
2nd International Workshop on Requirements Engineering and Testing (RET 2015)
Elizabeth Bjarnason, Mirko Morandini, Markus Borg, Michael Unterkalmsteiner, Michael Felderer, Matthew Staats

Committee Members:
Caitlin Sadowski - Program Committee Member and Distinguished Reviewer Award Winner
James Andrews - Review Committee Member
Ray Buse - Software Engineering in Practice (SEIP) Committee Member and Demonstrations Committee Member
John Penix - Software Engineering in Practice (SEIP) Committee Member
Marija Mikic - Poster Co-chair
Daniel Popescu and Ivo Krka - Poster Committee Members

Iterate faster on Google Play with improved beta testing

Posted by Ellie Powers, Product Manager, Google Play

Today, Google Play is making it easier for you to manage beta tests and get your users to join them. Since we launched beta testing two years ago, developers have told us that it’s become a critical part of their workflow in testing ideas, gathering rapid feedback, and improving their apps. In fact, we’ve found that 80 percent of developers with popular apps routinely run beta tests as part of their workflow.

Improvements to managing a beta test in the Developer Console

Currently, the Google Play Developer Console lets developers release early versions of their app to selected users as an alpha or beta test before pushing updates to full production. The select user group downloads the app on Google Play as normal, but can’t review or rate it on the store. This gives you time to address bugs and other issues without negatively impacting your app listing.

Based on your feedback, we’re launching new features to more effectively manage your beta tests, and enable users to join with one click.

  • NEW! Open beta – Use an open beta when you want any user who has the link to be able to join your beta with just one click. One of the advantages of an open beta is that it allows you to scale to a large number of testers. However, you can also limit the maximum number of users who can join.
  • NEW! Closed beta using email addresses – If you want to restrict which users can access your beta, you have a new option: you can now set up a closed beta using lists of individual email addresses which you can add individually or upload as a .csv file. These users will be able to join your beta via a one-click opt-in link.
  • Closed beta with Google+ community or Google Group – This is the option that you’ve been using today, and you can continue to use betas with Google+ communities or Google Groups. You will also be able to move to an open beta while maintaining your existing testers.

How developers are finding success with beta testing

Beta testing is one of the fast iteration features of Google Play and Android that help drive success for developers like Wooga, the creators of hit games Diamond Dash, Jelly Splash, and Agent Alice. Find out more about how Wooga iterates on Android first from Sebastian Kriese, Head of Partnerships, and Pal Tamas Feher, Head of Engineering.


Kabam is a global leader in AAA quality mobile games developed in partnership with Hollywood studios for such franchises such as Fast & Furious, Marvel, Star Wars and The Hobbit. Beta testing helps Kabam engineers perfect the gameplay for Android devices before launch. “The ability to receive pointed feedback and rapidly reiterate via alpha/beta testing on Google Play has been extremely beneficial to our worldwide launches,” said Kabam VP Rob Oshima.

Matt Small, Co-Founder of Vector Unit recently told us how they’ve been using beta testing extensively to improve Beach Buggy Racing and uncover issues they may not have found otherwise. You can read Matt’s blog post about beta testing on Google Play on Gamasutra to hear about their experience. We’ve picked a few of Matt’s tips and shared them below:

  1. Limit more sensitive builds to a closed beta where you invite individual testers via email addresses. Once glaring problems are ironed out, publish your app to an open beta to gather feedback from a wider audience before going to production.
  2. Set expectations early. Let users know about the risks of beta testing (e.g. the software may not be stable) and tell them what you’re looking for in their feedback.
  3. Encourage critical feedback. Thank people when their criticisms are thoughtful and clearly explained and try to steer less-helpful feedback in a more productive direction.
  4. Respond quickly. The more people see actual responses from the game developer, the more encouraged they are to participate.
  5. Enable Google Play game services. To let testers access features like Achievements and Leaderboards before they are published, go into the Google Play game services testing panel and enable them.

We hope this update to beta testing makes it easier for you to test your app and gather valuable feedback and that these tips help you conduct successful tests. Visit the Developer Console Help Center to find out more about setting up beta testing for your app.