Category Archives: Google Developers Blog

News and insights on Google platforms, tools and events

Google Dev Library Letters: 21st Edition

Posted by Swathi Dharshna Subbaraj, Google Dev Library

In this newsletter, we highlight the best projects developed with Google technologies that have been contributed to the Google Dev Library platform. We hope this will spark some inspiration for your next project!

Highlights of the Month

In the past two months, we asked contributors to look back, revisit, and update their older Dev Library contributions as a best practice. Most contributors took the time to revise their content and incorporate recent releases. This campaign encourages developers to update their repositories with the latest Google technologies, which is advantageous to users and the broader developer community.

Here are some of the standout up-to-date projects:

  • Sheets Compose Dialogs by Maximilian Keppeler

See how an Android library that offers dialogs and views for various use cases - built with Jetpack Compose for Compose projects. All dialogs and views are easy and quick to implement. 

 

  • Round Corner Progress Bar by Somkiat Khitwongwattana

Progress Bar Animation
Use this extensive “Rounded Corner progress bar” library for your own Android projects. 

During the campaign, we noticed that some new projects were submitted. Here are some of the new projects from our contributors:

  • Android TV sample projects by Ademir Queiroga

Android TV Project
See some of the Android TV sample projects on the main topics around Android TV development, and the project follows Google's best practices with a few experience-based insights.  
 

  • Storage provisioning with Cloud SQL using Workload Identity by Fermin Blanco

Learn how to create a production ready GKE cluster in a matter of seconds. 

Android


Using Android’s new Credential Manager API by Priya Sindkar
Dive into this blog on how Android's new Credential Manager API provides a seamless way for your app’s users to log in with one-click solutions.  

KStore by Isuru Rajapakse
Learn how the tiny Kotlin multiplatform library that assists in saving and restoring objects to and from disk using kotlinx.coroutines, kotlinx.serialisation and okio.  

DevBricksX by Nan YE
Discover how DevBricksX is a remarkable remake and extended version of DevBricks, this project covers various aspects of daily development, from low-level database tasks to user interface design, as it eliminates the need for repetitive work.  

Dose app by Waseef Akhtar
Learn how Dose, a reminder app for people to take their medications on time, was built using Kotlin and Jetpack Compose with MVVM + clean architecture.  

Compose_adaptive_scaffold by Thomas Künneth
Explore how to write Jetpack Compose apps that support large screens and foldables.  

Cloud


Troubleshooting reachability with a Network Intelligence Center connectivity test by Gaurav Madan
Learn how network troubleshooting processes become crucial when time is of the essence, and how to do so efficiently.  

From data chaos to data insights with Google Cloud and GitLab CI: A cutting-edge solution by Gursimar Singh
Take a look at a streamlined, effective approach to acquire important insights from data and learn how to deal with the turmoil of manual data deployment and analysis easily.  

Machine Learning


Client-side in-decent content checking
Discover a JavaScript library to help you quickly identify unseemly images; all in the client's browser.  

YoloV7 in Tensorflow.js by Hugo Zanini
Learn object detection using Yolov7 in tensorflow.js, and how it’s trained on the MS COCO dataset to recognizes up to 80 different classes  

Flutter


Exploring Inherited Widget: The powerful state management solution by Muhammad Salman
Take a deep dive into the backstory of state management in Flutter and explore one of the most important concepts in Flutter state management, the Inherited Widget.  

Control your Flutter app on the fly with Firebase Remote Config by Mangirdas Kazlauskas
Flutter Forward agenda app
Learn the overview of Firebase Remote Config and how to use it to enable real-time features in your Flutter application.  

The ultimate Flutter Navigator 2.0 series using AutoRoute by Cavin Macwan
Explore the differences between Navigator 1.0 and 2.0 and why you need Navigator 2.0. You’ll also learn how you can implement Navigator 2.0 using the Auto Route package in Flutter.  

Angular


Papanasi (UI library) by Quique Fdez Guerra
Learn to use this frontend UI library across frameworks.  

How to manage complex forms in Angular by Roland Tubongye Wabubindja
See how to save and modify data from a form containing several FormArray.  

Community Updates


🚀 Announcing Google Maps Platform added to Dev Library

Progress Bar AnimationGoogle Maps platform in Dev Library

Google Maps Platform has now been officially added to the Dev Library! With these resources, developers can create applications that enable them to visualize geospatial data and build projects ranging from hyperlocal logistics to location-driven app development, and have access to even more resources to take their projects to the next level.

Dev Library contributors will be better able to write and create innovative and useful applications that utilize Google’s mapping, places, and routing data and features.

Visit the Google Maps Platform product page in Dev Library



Browse Dev Library | Google Developers Online on Discord | Newsletter Archives

Celebrating Google Dev Library’s Women Contributors in AI/ML

Posted by Swathi Dharshna Subbaraj, Google Dev Library

Women have made remarkable progress in advancing AI/ML technology through their contributions to open source projects. They have developed and maintained tools, algorithms, and frameworks that enable researchers, developers, and businesses to create and implement cutting edge AI/ML solutions.

To celebrate those achievements, Google Dev Library has featured outstanding contributions from developers worldwide. It has also provided an opportunity to showcase contributions from women developers who are working on AI/ML projects. Read on to learn their projects and insights.

Contributors in Spotlight


Suzen Fylke

Suzen is a machine learning engineer with a passion for helping mission-driven and socially-minded companies leverage AI and data to drive impactful outcomes. With 3 years of experience at Twitter, Suzen developed platform tools that streamlined model development and deployment processes, allowing for faster iteration and improved efficiency. Sue recently shared her blog post titled "How to Visualize Custom TFX Artifacts With InteractiveContext" with Dev Library. Let's speak with Sue and learn more about her experience.

Headshot of Suzen Fylke, smiling

1.    Tell us more about your recent Dev Library submission on inspecting TFX artifactswith InteractiveContext and why you consider it invaluable for debugging TFX pipelines?
    One of my favorite things about TFX is being able to run pipeline steps individually and interactively inspect their results with InteractiveContext. I used to think you could only display standard artifacts with built-in visualizations, but, as it turns out, you can also use InteractiveContext with custom artifacts. Since I hadn't found any examples or documentation explaining how to display custom artifacts, I wrote a tutorial.


    2.    Can you walk me through your process for creating technical documentation for your projects to help other developers?   

    When I create technical documentation for work or open source projects, I do my best to follow the community's best practices and style guides and to center the reader. I think a lot about what readers can hope to learn or be able to do after reading the docs. I followed a similar approach when writing the tutorial I submitted.

    Most of my personal projects are active learning exercises. When I write about such projects, I focus much more on the process of building them than on the outcome. So, in addition to showing how they work, I describe what inspired me to create them, the challenges I encountered, and what's next for the project. I also include lots of links to resources I found helpful for understanding the tools and concepts I learned about.

    3.    What advice do you have for other women interested in developing open source AL/ML projects, and how can they get started? 

    I recommend contributing to communities you care about and projects you use and want to help improve. Create things using the project. Ask questions when documentation needs to be clarified. Report bugs when you encounter them. If you build something cool, demo it or write about it. If you find a problem you can fix, volunteer to do so. And if you get stuck or don't understand something, ask for help. I also recommend reading GitHub's "How to Contribute to Open Source" guide (https://opensource.guide/how-to-contribute/). My favorite takeaway is that open source projects are more than code and that there are many different ways to contribute based on your interests.

    4.    Your Dev Library author profile bio states that you’re exploring how to “make learning languages fun and approachable.” Can you walk me through that process? 
     
    This is aspirational and mainly a hobby right now. I love learning languages and learning how to learn languages. Languages are my "thing I can talk about for hours without getting bored." I don't actually have a process for this. Instead, I do a lot of exploring and experimenting and let my curiosity guide me. Sometimes this involves reading linguistics textbooks, trying different language-learning apps, contributing to projects like Common Voice, or learning how to use libraries like spaCy.

    5.    How do you see the field of open source AI/ML development evolving in the coming years, and how are you preparing for these changes?
    I see the continued development of tools and platforms aimed at democratizing machine learning. I hope this will enable people to meaningfully engage with the models and AI-powered products they use and better understand how they work. I also hope this will lead to more grassroots participatory research communities like Masakhane and encourage people without ML or software engineering backgrounds to create and contribute to open source projects.

    Aqsa is a passionate machine learning engineer with a strong curiosity for technology and a desire to share ideas with others. She has practical experience in diverse projects, including footfall forecasting, cataract detection, augmented reality, object detection, and recommender systems. Aqsa shared her blog post titled "Callbacks in TensorFlow — Customize the Behavior of your training" with Dev Library. Let's speak with Aqsa and learn more about her experience.

    Photo of Aqsa Kausar holding a microphone
    1.    Being Pakistan’s first Google Developer Expert (GDE), how do you approach building inclusive and diverse communities around you?
      As a Google Developer Expert (GDE), my responsibility is to help improve the tech community through inclusive and diverse events, workshops, and mentorship. With support from Google, fellow GDEs, and Google Developer Groups, we aim to create accessible opportunities for everyone, regardless of their background or experience level. As a speaker, I share my knowledge in ML with diverse audiences and offer mentorship to underrepresented individuals in tech, including women, minorities, and individuals from different backgrounds. I provide guidance on educational and career opportunities and connect people with resources, catering to as many as I can through various means of communication.

      2.     How do you approach collaborating with other developers on open source AI/ML projects, and what are some best practices you follow to ensure success?

      In our GDE community, we have active open source contributors who collaborate in groups for tutorials, research papers, and more. Collaboration is encouraged, and Googlers sometimes lead open source projects with GDEs. When you express interest, developers are open to working together. To foster a positive culture, we emphasize value and respect, clear goals, manageable tasks, communication channels, open communication, constructive feedback, and celebrating milestones. Successful collaboration hinges on valuing each other's time and skills.

      3.    How do you balance the need for technical rigor with the need for usability and accessibility in your open source projects?

      Understanding your audience and their needs is crucial to strike the right balance between technical rigor and usability. Simplify technical concepts for non-technical audiences and focus on practical applications. In open source projects, you have more flexibility, but in workshops or training, choose tools and technologies suitable for your audience. For beginners, use simpler language and interactive demos. For intermediate or advanced audiences, go deeper into technical details with coding snippets and complex concepts.

      4.    Why do you think it is important for technical writers to revise your content or projects regularly? Do you think it’s important that every tech writer or open source maintainer follow this best practice?

      Technology is ever-changing, so technical writers need to revise content regularly to ensure accuracy. Feedback from the audience can help make it accessible and relevant. However, contributors may not always have time to update their work due to busy schedules. Nevertheless, tech blogs and projects still provide a valuable kickstart for new developers, who can contribute with updates or follow-up blogs.

      5.    Can you tell me about a project you've worked on that you're particularly proud of, and what impact it has had on the open source community?

      I have been part of impactful initiatives such as Google Women Developer Academy, where I was a mentor for their pilot. The program helps women in tech improve their communication skills and prepares them for showcasing their talents, boosting their confidence. I also collaborated with fellow Google Developer Experts (GDEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic to create an open source course called "ML for Rookies," which simplifies machine learning concepts. Currently, I am working on a Cloud AI project supported by GCP and have started an open source "Cloud Playground" repo to make cloud-ai learning more accessible.

      Margaret, an ML Google Developer Expert (GDE) since 2018, is an ML research engineer who applies AI/ML to real world applications ranging from climate change to art and design. With expertise in deep learning, computer vision, TensorFlow, and on-device ML, she often writes and speaks at conferences. Margaret has shared multiple projects in topics like TensorFlow Lite with Dev Library. Let's speak with Margaret and learn more about her experience.

      Photo of Margaret Maynard-Reid, smiling

      1.    Can you share the Google technologies you work with?  
       
      Some of the Google technologies I work with are TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite, Keras, Android, MediaPipe, and ML Kit. 

      2.    How do you approach collaborating with other developers on open source projects, and what are some best practices you follow to ensure a successful collaboration? 

      I’ve collaborated with Googlers, ML GDEs, students and professionals in tech. Consistent communication and observing best practices, such as code check-in and code reviews, are helpful to ensure a successful collaboration. 

      3.    What is your development process like for creating and maintaining open source AI/ML projects, and how do you prioritize which projects to work on? 

      There is limited time so prioritization is super important. I like to showcase new technologies or areas where developers including myself may have challenges with. Aside from code and tutorials, I also like to share my knowledge with sketchnotes and visual illustrations. 

      4.    You have been sharing learning resources on TensorFlow Lite. What advice do you have for other women interested in developing open source projects, and how can they get started? 
       
      There are many ways to contribute to open source projects: provide feedback on documentation or product features; write a tutorial with sample code; help fix bugs or contribute to libraries etc. It’s best to start simple and easy first, and then progress to more challenging projects. 

      5.    How do you see the field of open source AI/ML development evolving in the coming years, and how are you preparing for these changes? 

      Open source is becoming increasingly important for AI/ML development, evident in the recent development of generative AI and on-device machine learning for example. There will be even more opportunities for open source projects. Keep contributing because open source projects are a great way to learn the latest while helping others.

      Are you actively contributing to the AI/ML community? Become a Google Dev Library Contributor!

      Google Dev Library is a platform for showcasing open source projects featuring Google technologies. Join our global community of developers to showcase your projects. Submit your content.

      MediaPipe: Enhancing Virtual Humans to be more realistic

      A guest post by the XR Development team at KDDI & Alpha-U

      Please note that the information, uses, and applications expressed in the below post are solely those of our guest author, KDDI.

      AI generated rendering of virtual human ‘Metako’
      KDDI is integrating text-to-speech & Cloud Rendering to virtual human ‘Metako’

      VTubers, or virtual YouTubers, are online entertainers who use a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. This digital trend originated in Japan in the mid-2010s, and has become an international online phenomenon. A majority of VTubers are English and Japanese-speaking YouTubers or live streamers who use avatar designs.

      KDDI, a telecommunications operator in Japan with over 40 million customers, wanted to experiment with various technologies built on its 5G network but found that getting accurate movements and human-like facial expressions in real-time was challenging.


      Creating virtual humans in real-time

      Announced at Google I/O 2023 in May, the MediaPipe Face Landmarker solution detects facial landmarks and outputs blendshape scores to render a 3D face model that matches the user. With the MediaPipe Face Landmarker solution, KDDI and the Google Partner Innovation team successfully brought realism to their avatars.


      Technical Implementation

      Using Mediapipe's powerful and efficient Python package, KDDI developers were able to detect the performer’s facial features and extract 52 blendshapes in real-time.

      import mediapipe as mp from mediapipe.tasks import python as mp_python MP_TASK_FILE = "face_landmarker_with_blendshapes.task" class FaceMeshDetector: def __init__(self): with open(MP_TASK_FILE, mode="rb") as f: f_buffer = f.read() base_options = mp_python.BaseOptions(model_asset_buffer=f_buffer) options = mp_python.vision.FaceLandmarkerOptions( base_options=base_options, output_face_blendshapes=True, output_facial_transformation_matrixes=True, running_mode=mp.tasks.vision.RunningMode.LIVE_STREAM, num_faces=1, result_callback=self.mp_callback) self.model = mp_python.vision.FaceLandmarker.create_from_options( options) self.landmarks = None self.blendshapes = None self.latest_time_ms = 0 def mp_callback(self, mp_result, output_image, timestamp_ms: int): if len(mp_result.face_landmarks) >= 1 and len( mp_result.face_blendshapes) >= 1: self.landmarks = mp_result.face_landmarks[0] self.blendshapes = [b.score for b in mp_result.face_blendshapes[0]] def update(self, frame): t_ms = int(time.time() * 1000) if t_ms <= self.latest_time_ms: return frame_mp = mp.Image(image_format=mp.ImageFormat.SRGB, data=frame) self.model.detect_async(frame_mp, t_ms) self.latest_time_ms = t_ms def get_results(self): return self.landmarks, self.blendshapes

      The Firebase Realtime Database stores a collection of 52 blendshape float values. Each row corresponds to a specific blendshape, listed in order.

      _neutral, browDownLeft, browDownRight, browInnerUp, browOuterUpLeft, ...

      These blendshape values are continuously updated in real-time as the camera is open and the FaceMesh model is running. With each frame, the database reflects the latest blendshape values, capturing the dynamic changes in facial expressions as detected by the FaceMesh model.

      Screenshot of realtime Database

      After extracting the blendshapes data, the next step involves transmitting it to the Firebase Realtime Database. Leveraging this advanced database system ensures a seamless flow of real-time data to the clients, eliminating concerns about server scalability and enabling KDDI to focus on delivering a streamlined user experience.

      import concurrent.futures import time import cv2 import firebase_admin import mediapipe as mp import numpy as np from firebase_admin import credentials, db pool = concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=4) cred = credentials.Certificate('your-certificate.json') firebase_admin.initialize_app( cred, { 'databaseURL': 'https://your-project.firebasedatabase.app/' }) ref = db.reference('projects/1234/blendshapes') def main(): facemesh_detector = FaceMeshDetector() cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0) while True: ret, frame = cap.read() facemesh_detector.update(frame) landmarks, blendshapes = facemesh_detector.get_results() if (landmarks is None) or (blendshapes is None): continue blendshapes_dict = {k: v for k, v in enumerate(blendshapes)} exe = pool.submit(ref.set, blendshapes_dict) cv2.imshow('frame', frame) if cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF == ord('q'): break cap.release() cv2.destroyAllWindows() exit()

       

      To continue the progress, developers seamlessly transmit the blendshapes data from the Firebase Realtime Database to Google Cloud's Immersive Stream for XR instances in real-time. Google Cloud’s Immersive Stream for XR is a managed service that runs Unreal Engine project in the cloud, renders and streams immersive photorealistic 3D and Augmented Reality (AR) experiences to smartphones and browsers in real time.

      This integration enables KDDI to drive character face animation and achieve real-time streaming of facial animation with minimal latency, ensuring an immersive user experience.

      Illustrative example of how KDDI transmits data from the Firebase Realtime Database to Google Cloud Immersive Stream for XR in real time to render and stream photorealistic 3D and AR experiences like character face animation with minimal latency

      On the Unreal Engine side running by the Immersive Stream for XR, we use the Firebase C++ SDK to seamlessly receive data from the Firebase. By establishing a database listener, we can instantly retrieve blendshape values as soon as updates occur in the Firebase Realtime database table. This integration allows for real-time access to the latest blendshape data, enabling dynamic and responsive facial animation in Unreal Engine projects.

      Screenshot of Modify Curve node in use in Unreal Engine

      After retrieving blendshape values from the Firebase SDK, we can drive the face animation in Unreal Engine by using the "Modify Curve" node in the animation blueprint. Each blendshape value is assigned to the character individually on every frame, allowing for precise and real-time control over the character's facial expressions.

      Flowchart demonstrating how BlendshapesReceiver handles the database connection, authentication, and continuous data reception

      An effective approach for implementing a realtime database listener in Unreal Engine is to utilize the GameInstance Subsystem, which serves as an alternative singleton pattern. This allows for the creation of a dedicated BlendshapesReceiver instance responsible for handling the database connection, authentication, and continuous data reception in the background.

      By leveraging the GameInstance Subsystem, the BlendshapesReceiver instance can be instantiated and maintained throughout the lifespan of the game session. This ensures a persistent database connection while the animation blueprint reads and drives the face animation using the received blendshape data.

      Using just a local PC running MediaPipe, KDDI succeeded in capturing the real performer’s facial expression and movement, and created high-quality 3D re-target animation in real time.

      Flow chart showing how a real performer's facial expression and movement being captured and run through MediaPipe on a Local PC, and the high quality 3D re-target animation being rendered in real time by KDDI
            

      KDDI is collaborating with developers of Metaverse anime fashion like Adastria Co., Ltd.


      Getting started

      To learn more, watch Google I/O 2023 sessions: Easy on-device ML with MediaPipe, Supercharge your web app with machine learning and MediaPipe, What's new in machine learning, and check out the official documentation over on developers.google.com/mediapipe.


      What’s next?

      This MediaPipe integration is one example of how KDDI is eliminating the boundary between the real and virtual worlds, allowing users to enjoy everyday experiences such as attending live music performances, enjoying art, having conversations with friends, and shopping―anytime, anywhere. 

      KDDI’s αU provides services for the Web3 era, including the metaverse, live streaming, and virtual shopping, shaping an ecosystem where anyone can become a creator, supporting the new generation of users who effortlessly move between the real and virtual worlds.

      Meet the students using Google technologies to address the UN’s sustainability goals around the globe

      Posted by Rachel Francois, Global Program Manager, Google Developer Student Clubs


      Every year, university students who are members of Google Developer Student Clubs around the world are invited to create innovative solutions for real-world problems as part of the Solution Challenge. Participating students use Google products and platforms like Android, Firebase, TensorFlow, Google Cloud, and Flutter to build solutions for one or more of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which promote employment for all, economic growth, and climate action, to name a few. Agreed upon in 2015 by all 193 United Nations Member States, the goals aim to end poverty, ensure prosperity, and protect the planet by 2030.

      On Demo Day, August 3, live on YouTube, the final 10 teams of the 2023 Solution Challenge will present their solutions to a panel of Google judges and a global audience of developers. These top 10 finalists were selected among the top 100 teams globally. During the live event, judges will review team projects, ask questions, and choose the top 3 grand prize winners!

      Want to be part of this awesome event? RSVP here to tune into Demo Day, vote for the People’s Choice Award, and watch the action as it unfolds in real time.

      In the meantime, learn more about our top 10 finalists and their amazing solutions.

      The Top 10 Projects


      Buzzbusters, Universidad Mayor de San Andres in Bolivia 🇧🇴

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities, Goal 17: Partnerships

      Buzzbusters is an early warning system designed to prevent epidemics of mosquito-borne diseases, like dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever, by using Google Cloud monitoring technologies like Vertex AI, TensorFlow, Firebase, Flutter, Google Cloud Storage, Google Maps, and Google Colab.

      Creators: Sergio Mauricio Nuñez, Saleth Jhoselin Mamani Huanca, Moises David Cisneros Laura, and Wendy Nayely Huayhua López


      FarmX, Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria 🇳🇬

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption & Production, Goal 13: Climate Action

      FarmX is an app that empowers farmers to decide which crops to plant, how to implement precision agriculture, and how to detect crop diseases, using TensorFlow, Flutter, Firebase, and Google Cloud.

      Creators: Victor Olufemi, Oluwaseun Salako, Lekan Adesina, and Festus Idowu


      Femunity, Vellore Institute of Technology in India 🇮🇳

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 5: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

      Femunity is an innovative social media platform that empowers women by providing a safe and inclusive online space, using Flutter and Firebase.

      Creators: Amritansh Sharma and Arin Yadav


      HeadHome, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore 🇸🇬

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities

      HeadHome is an app focused on tackling wandering by dementia patients, who can receive instructions from a dedicated watch or receive assistance from caregivers and volunteers. HeadHome is built on Google Cloud, using Cloud Run, Google Maps, and Firebase.

      Creators: Chang Dao Zheng, Chay Hui Xiang, Ong Jing Xuan, and Marc Chern Di Yong


      HearSitter, Yonsei University Seoul Campus in South Korea 🇰🇷

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing

      HearSitter is a mobile app that helps deaf parents with young children be aware of their children's needs, alerting parents to a baby’s cry or sudden noises. HearSitter was built using Flutter, Go Lang, Fiber, and AngularJS.

      Creators: DongJae Kim, Juii Kim, HyoJeong Park, and YoungMin Jin


      Project REMORA, University of Southampton in United Kingdom 🇬🇧

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 6: Clean Water & Sanitation

      Project Remora is a smart water pollution tracking device that uses sensors to identify sources of water pollution, providing geo-tagged results that allow users to identify pollution sources using the concentration gradient. Project Remora was developed in the MIT App Inventor using Firebase, Realtime Database, and the Google Maps API.

      Creators: Tong En Lim, Shao Qian Choong, Isaac Lim Rudd, and Aiman Haziq Bin Hairel Anuar


      ReVita, Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan 🇰🇿

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, & Infrastructure

      ReVita is a mobile app that addresses the mental and emotional challenges faced by organ transplant recipients, as well as the physical challenges of recovering from surgery. The ReVita app is built on GoLang, Flutter, Firebase, Google Fit, Google Maps API, Google Chat, Google Meet API, and Google Calendar API.

      Creators: Dias Baimukhanov, Madiyar Moldabayev, Dinmukhamed Nuran, and Ansar Serikbayev


      SlugLoop, University of California, Santa Cruz in United States 🇺🇸

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities, Goal 13: Climate Action

      SlugLoop is a real-time bus tracking app that provides accurate route information for buses at the University of California Santa Cruz, allowing students to get to class on time, while reducing their carbon footprint. The SlugLoop app is built with React, Firebase, and Google Maps.

      Creators: Bill Zhang, Alex Liu, Annie Liu, and Nicholas Szwed


      Wonder, Korea University Seoul Campus in South Korea 🇰🇷

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing

      Wonder partners with local volunteer organizations to provide opportunities for users to engage in walking-based activities that contribute to their communities, like walking dogs for shelters or delivering meals to isolated seniors. Wonder is built with Flutter and utilizes TensorFlow, Google Maps, and Google Cloud.

      Creators: Chanho Park, Keo Kim, Boyoung Kim, and Sukyung Baek


      Wonder Reader, Binus University International in Indonesia 🇮🇩

      UN Sustainable Goals Addressed: Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

      Wonder Reader is a 3D printed digital braille reader that helps visually impaired students learn by connecting wirelessly to a smartphone, allowing teachers to send questions to the device through Bluetooth and students to reply using the built-in braille keyboard. Wonder Reader was built using Google Cloud, Firebase, Flutter, and Google Text to Speech API.

      Creators: Philipus Adriel Tandra, Aric Hernando, Jason Jeremy Wijadi, and Jason Christian Hailianto

      Special thanks to our Google mentors and Google Developer Experts for supporting the students as they developed their fascinating projects.

      Feeling inspired and ready to learn more about Google Developer Student Clubs? Find a club near you, and be sure to RSVP and tune in to the upcoming Solution Challenge Demo Day livestream on August 3 at 10:00am ET.

      #WeArePlay | Meet the people creating apps and games in Japan

      Posted by Leticia Lago, Developer Marketing

      #WeArePlay is on a virtual world tour: starting first with the U.S. last summer by spotlighting the stories of app and game founders from every state, then visiting India sharing stories from across the country, and more recently visiting Europe by sharing stories from countries across the region.

      Today, we’re continuing our tour with one more stop: Japan. From a snowboarding app made by a paralympian, to a game inspired by the enchanting landmarks of Gifu. Discover the people growing apps and games businesses on Google Play.

      We’re starting with stories from Chubu, Chugoku & Shikoku and Kinki, with more following throughout the year. Let’s explore some of the stories from across these 3 regions.

      Image of Takao Hayashi, founder of Ateam Entertainment
      Takao Hayashi, founder of Ateam Entertainment

      First, Takao Hayashi from Nagoya, Aichi. When Takao’s father sadly passed away when he was only 9 years old, he decided to double down on his hobby of coding and help his family become financially secure. He eventually launched Ateam, and after releasing various apps and games in Japan, his company began to focus on expansion into new markets. Their efforts are paying off, as real-time battle RPG Unison League has become a global hit. The Japanese art in the game has become so popular that some fans have even adopted the style of their favorite characters into their fashion. Next, Takao wants to release new games and reach players in more parts of the world, including India and Latin America.

      Image of Keiji Okamoto, founder of yukiyama
      Keiji Okamoto, founder of yukiyama

      Next, Keiji Okamoto from Kobe, Hyogo. Keiji worked hard to pursue his passion for snowboarding all the way to a professional level. However, an accident on the slopes left him with a spinal injury and the news that he might never snowboard again. With his future plans uncertain and hoping to contribute to the sport despite no longer being able to snowboard, Keiji founded yukiyama: a platform where snowsports enthusiasts can access ski resort maps and track their distances down the slopes. Today the app is used all over Japan. The team plans to make it accessible to tourists too by localizing it to other languages. As the app grows, so does Keiji's sports career, who now competes in the Paralympics.

      Image of  Hitomi Wada, founder of blazeworks
      Hitomi Wada, founder of blazeworks

      Now, Hitomi Wada from Kakamigahara, Gifu. Hitomi has been a fan of fantasy role-playing games since a friend first introduced her to them as a child. Years later she got inspired to create her own game, Gifu Quest, while exploring the enchanting sights and landmarks of the Gifu prefecture. Players must save all 42 municipalities from ruin and can even play a role in the game’s creation - with some of their photos of Gifu featuring in the game, and many sharing their travels to the places that appear in the game under the hashtag #realgifuquest. Next, Hitomi wants to create new games and eventually feature the whole of Japan.

      Image of Masaomi Kurokawa, Managing Director of KEMCO
      Masaomi Kurokawa, Managing Director of KEMCO

      And last but not least, Masaomi Kurokawa from Kure, Hiroshima. Masaomi’s love of computers and gaming began back in middle school, when his dad bought him his first computer to program. Later, during the mid-2000s, he decided he wanted to revive classic retro games from his childhood. His RPG title Dragon Lapis has a characteristic old-school aesthetic - with dragons, legends and battles, and is hugely popular with fans of the RPG-genre. His nostalgic games have a loyal fanbase both in Japan and overseas. Masaomi has more games in the works and, in the future, wants to take on new challenges like moving into the app space.

      Discover more #WeArePlay stories from Japan, and stories from across the globe.


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      Developers Share How They Built Their Careers: From Machine Learning to Cloud

      Posted by Lyanne Alfaro, DevRel Program Manager, Google Developer Studio

      Google Developer Student Club Alums Reflect On Their Journey To Google Developer Experts

      Developer Journey is a monthly series highlighting diverse and global developers sharing relatable challenges, opportunities, and wins in their journey. Every month, we will spotlight developers around the world, the Google tools they leverage, and the kind of products they are building.

      This month, we spoke with several Google Developer Experts to learn more about their path from being Google Developer Student Clubs leads to connoisseurs of their craft.


      Suvaditya Mukherjee

      Headshot of Suvaditya Mukherjee smiling
      Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
      Google Developer Expert, Machine Learning
      Google Summer of Code Org Admin + ML Research Engineer Intern at Ivy
      Research Intern at IIIT-Hyderabad

      What are some key skills and knowledge you gained as a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead that helped you excel in your role as a Google Developer Expert?

      Every day I spent as a lead was a learning experience, but what stood out to me was the holistic learning opportunities that the program brought. For example, as someone specializing in AI, I never found a need to learn Web Development until I had to help audit and create complex web apps for hosting competitions. Additionally, I learned how to absorb newer technical skills as quickly as possible, which proved to be incredibly valuable over time. I also learned the importance of soft skills, which helped me communicate better with my community. As an expert, it’s important to steward your community, and the leadership skills imparted by the program helped me build a deeper understanding of communication, logistics, and team-building.

      What has been the impact of being part of the Google Developer Student Clubs community on your personal and professional growth?

      As a Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) Lead, I benefited from participating in networking opportunities with like-minded folks and potential mentors who helped immensely in my journey. They helped shape my technical skills, and improve my soft skills. I also had the opportunity to speak in front of large crowds, develop content, manage teams, and closely understand what makes a community tick. As a GDE, it becomes important to have a pulse on the community's needs and requirements. The GDSC Program taught me how to measure these metrics at a grassroots level. I have had the privilege of working with the most skilled, dedicated, professional – and most importantly – humble folks as part of the GDSC Community. The program allowed me the privilege of communicating and building friendships with awesome people over time.

      What Google tools have you used to build?

      I have used quite a few Google tools in different projects and endeavors, including but not limited to Firebase, Flutter, and Android for hackathons. I have also made use of the Google Cloud Platform to develop and host scalable backend infrastructures during projects and internships in different places. But my most used tool is TensorFlow.

      Which tool has been your favorite? Why?

      As an ML Practitioner, TensorFlow and Keras have been a boon to simplify days of work into potentially hours or even minutes. The power it delivers to end-users in the most open and democratic way possible while constantly innovating for newer advances is something I have always appreciated. One of the biggest reasons I love Keras has to be the awesome community around it that welcomes everyone with open arms.

      Tell us about something you've built in the past using Google tools.

      I have hacked around a few projects over time. The most notable among them was an application I personally call TranscribeMate. Imagine you’re in an ongoing lecture and the professor is going quicker than usual, hindering your ability to take notes. TranscribeMate (built with Flutter, Firebase, and MLKit) allows you to use OCR technology to transcribe notes from simple photos of the classroom blackboard, allow newer annotations as a note-taking application, and save them for later use. This was an application I developed for a college course- but I ended up tweaking it a bit more and making use of it on my personal device as well for more general tasks too.

      What will you create with Google Bard?

      I have been using Bard for a while now; it has a permanent home on my browser. Bard helps me with random questions I have, and Python-related problems. Bard has helped me find solutions in seconds, compared to hours of work when done through traditional search methods. I have been using Bard's help on several projects I have been working on within my research, in projects at Ivy, and the Keras Team. Stay tuned for what comes next!

      What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

      Seek new experiences to learn. No one can learn by working within a narrow niche. Having a working knowledge of different technologies at once allows you to have a diverse and multi-faceted approach to problem-solving. Optimizations in your systems become far more apparent, and you slowly end up learning how to write better code and design scalable systems with ease. Lastly, find a community. Find like-minded folks, talk to them, share notes on what you're building, and if you find yourself too shy to do so, then try anyway. Start by just showing up for one event near you. Then make it two. Then ask a question. The power of collaborative learning is immeasurable.


      Veronica Putri Anggraini

      Headshot of Veronica Putri Anggraini, smiling
      Jakarta, Indonesia
      Google Developer Expert, Android
      GDSC Semarang State Polytechnic Lead Alumni (2017)
      Google Developer Group
      Women Techmakers Ambassador
      Software Engineer Android, @ eWIDEPLUS

      What are some key skills and knowledge you gained as a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead that helped you excel in your role as a Google Developer Expert?

      Through GDSC, I learn a lot about Android technology, practice building Android projects, and do workshops for our members every week. This process improves my technical, writing, problem solving and public speaking skills at the same time. I started presenting as a student with a small group workshop of 5-10 people and grew to speaking in front of 1,000 people. This was also one of the necessary criteria to become a GDE.

      Can you share some insights on the impact of being part of the Google Developer Student Clubs community on your personal and professional growth?

      Exploring different resources while I was a student helped me develop sample app portfolios. I feel like I actually started my professional career as a curriculum developer and trainer for mobile development. I got an offer when I was a speaker at a tech event that discussed Android technology through the GDSC program. In fact, the CEO immediately offered the position after the event ended.

      What Google tools have you used to build?

      I have a lot of exploration with Jetpack Compose. I currently work closely with the CameraX, AndroidX Library, Google Analytics and Maps API.

      Which tool has been your favorite? Why?

      CameraX is one of my favorites, because it automatically manages camera resources and avoids unnecessary background work, so I got better performance.

      Tell us about something you've built in the past using Google tools.

      At my current company, we build a digital bank app product natively. This allows users to use Liveness as a verified onboarding process, QRPay, personalize promo campaigns, and other financial services that we build using Google tools.

      What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

      Gain experience in dealing with issues in the stack that serve as a focus. Be consistent in learning, and don't give up easily when stuck. In other words, be the person that says: "Challenge Accepted".

      You should know that learning together is more fun than learning alone, so join the community and learn everything you need and extend your network.


      Anubhav Singh

      Headshot of Anubhav Singh, smiling
      Prayagraj, India
      Google Developer Expert, Firebase
      GDSC NSEC Kolkata Lead Alumni (2019-20)
      GDG Cloud Kolkata Organizer & TFUG Kolkata Co-Organizer
      Co-founder, Dynopii

      What are some key skills and knowledge you gained as a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead that helped you excel in your role as a Google Developer Expert?

      A major part of being a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead was to enable growth for those around me by learning together. I would often find myself guiding club members on various fronts – sometimes by taking knowledge-sharing sessions on technical topics, sometimes by diving deep into their projects’ code to help them overcome challenges they were facing and sometimes creating videos or written content for them to be able to follow along later.

      Through partaking in these activities, I learned public speaking skills, mentoring, and how to be helpful to others experiencing roadblocks. These skills have proved important in my role as a Google Developer Expert.

      What has been the impact of being part of the Google Developer Student Clubs community on your personal and professional growth?

      Being a GDSC Lead helped me further steer teams with the same passion I have for building communities. As a GDSC Lead, you get to connect with a lot of amazing people. The community itself is highly diverse and vibrant. When I was organizing a workshop for the club during my time as a GDSC Lead, I was fortunate to meet two individuals who later became the co-founders of my startup. In that same club, three of our members became Google Developer Experts in the fields of their interest. Thus, being a GDSC Lead has had a very positive impact on both my professional and personal growth.

      What Google tools have you used to build?

      I’ve been working in the software development field for almost 12 years now and have used several Google tools over the years, including some that no longer exist. Some of the currently available tools that I most often work with are:

      1. Google Cloud Platform: Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Workflows, GKE, GCE, App Engine, Vertex AI and other AI based products, etc.
      2. Google Postmaster Tools, Search Console Tools, Analytics, Pagespeed Insights
      3. TensorFlow, Keras
      4. Google Maps API
      5. Firebase
      6. reCaptcha

      Which tool has been your favorite? Why?

      Firebase, hands down. As someone who loves building solutions that are useful to people, Firebase has been my go-to tool for prototyping solutions and MVPs rapidly. I’ve used it to build some simple tools which have been used by thousands of people over the years - all hosted for free and delivered with blazing speed! Even today, during my sessions as a GDE, I always use Firebase to build the UI part of the demo applications I present during the talk.

      Tell us about something you've built in the past using Google tools.

      I built Fireshort - a URL shortener solution running purely on Firebase. This project is completely open source and has been used by several companies as a base for their in-house URL shortening needs. I’ve been working on the next version of this project at Linkborg.

      I’ve also built several real-time updating monitoring products using Firebase and Pub/Sub, mostly for enterprise clients.

      As a proof of concept, I also built KolPay, which is a completely event-driven clone of EasyCard - RFID based payment wallet using Firebase, Pub/Sub, Cloud Firestore and Cloud Functions, along with hardware components like Raspberry Pi, RFID Reader/Card.

      What will you create with Google Bard?

      Building with Google Bard is an exciting prospect. It will be fun to no longer have to write the repetitive parts of code which I need whenever I am setting up a new project or a module within an existing project. Since I spend a lot of my day coding, I will be very happy to automate parts of it and having an AI do that would be amazing!

      What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

      Starting a developer journey can be a daunting prospect - everyone’s talking about AI and everyone wants to build the next viral thing. If you are new to this field, step back, relax and start building a solution to any problem that has irked you for a long time. While you’re at it - read a lot of tech blogs about solving that problem, become a part of developer communities, either virtual or in person, and meet people who will share their insights about building similar products.


      Kartik Derasari

      Headshot of Kartik Derasari, smiling
      Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
      Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud
      GDSC Silver Oak University Lead Alumni (2020-2021)
      Google Developers Group Cloud Organizer
      Full-Stack Engineer at Persistent

      What are some key skills and knowledge you gained as a Google Developer Student Clubs Lead that helped you excel in your role as a Google Developer Expert?

      As a GDSC Lead, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with Googlers, Google Developer Experts, and Google Developer Groups Community Leads on various projects which helped me explore different technologies and choose what’s best for me. Knowledge sharing and public speaking is what I learned from the Google Developer Experts. Since then, I started my journey as a Technical Speaker where I share my learnings on Machine Learning & TensorFlow, Web, Firebase, and Google Cloud. I also had the opportunity to share my learnings across conferences like DevFest, Google Cloud Community Days, and GDSC WOW. These are some of the learnings that really helped me shape as a Google Developer Expert and excel in my journey.

      Can you share some insights on the impact of being part of the Google Developer Student Clubs community on your personal and professional growth?

      Being a GDSC Lead created a positive impact in my personal and professional journey. I came in touch with the tech community and I learned about Google Developer Groups & Google Developer Experts programs. I started volunteering for the GDG Cloud Ahmedabad chapter during my GDSC tenure and later I became one of the Community Organizers. I also started collaborating with Google Developer Experts on Web, Firebase, and Machine Learning projects and made some open-source contributions.

      Everyone from the community was so welcoming and helpful. I’d highly recommend everyone join these developer programs by Google and get the best out of it. I also received mentorship from GDG Community Leads and Google Developer Experts for my professional career. They helped me connect with the right set of people and guided me to kick-start my professional career with MediaAgility, which is part of the Google Cloud Partner ecosystem. Since then, I have been working on Web & Google Cloud in my professional capacity and in my personal capacity as well.

      I was motivated by the Google Cloud ecosystem in India and I cleared six Google Cloud Certifications, which created a huge impact in my personal and professional growth.

      What Google tools have you used to build?

      I started using Firebase as a Web Engineer. It has been very helpful when it comes to adding Authentication, storing application data in Firestore, and hosting web-app front-end static files over a CDN using Firebase Hosting. While building a set of web apps, I started exploring Machine Learning and used TensorFlow for building ML models for different use cases. Since then, I started using Google Cloud ML APIs and Cloud Functions for adding more functionalities to my web apps.

      While working on these projects, I came across the Google Cloud Partner ecosystem and joined MediaAgility (now part of Persistent Systems) as a Full-Stack Engineer. Since then, I have been working on Google Cloud with Google Cloud PSO and enterprise customers.

      Which tool has been your favorite? Why?

      Cloud Run is something that I really like as an Application Developer. Since it’s a serverless compute platform, I can spend more time on building my application rather than worrying about my infrastructure. Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, and Cloud Storage are also tools that I really love. They help me create full-stack apps and ship faster to production.

      Tell us about something you've built in the past using Google tools. What will you create with Google Bard?

      Since we’re in the wave of Generative AI right now, I have been working on building a number of apps using Google Cloud Run, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Generative AI studio, Model Garden on Vertex AI and PaLM models. Recently, I built a chat application interface which provides insights from structured enterprise data warehouse and unstructured files, along with enterprise-grade data governance and security.

      What advice would you give someone starting in their developer journey?

      Be a consistent learner and a persistent explorer. It’s great to cultivate a learning habit, which will help you all the way in your personal and professional journey. This will not only help you explore new things, but it will also help you master something that you really love to do. As a beginner, it would be good to start with something that you find interesting, and then you can add a flavor of other things. For example, if you find building web apps interesting, try it. When you think you’re good at it, you can add a flavor of Machine Learning to it. That’s how you explore new things and experiment with what you know.

      #WeArePlay | Meet Yoshihiko from Japan. More stories from Spain, Cameroon and Malaysia

      Posted by Leticia Lago, Developer Marketing

      In our latest #WeArePlay stories, meet app and game founders from around the world bringing creative new ideas to their industries. From a mountaineering app that is helping to save lives, to game studios incorporating playful cultural nods and inclusive designs in their titles.


      In our latest film, meet Yosihiko from Japan who founded YAMAP - an app for mountain climbers. After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, he was inspired to bring people closer to nature and save lives. Despite having no programming experience, he and his team created a platform which enables mountaineers to safely check their location and share their climb activity logs, even when there’s no phone signal. The app has become very popular with climbers, who have also formed a YAMAP community. Yoshihiko also recently partnered with the local government to aid mountain rescues.


      Image of Alvaro and Valeria sitting on a counch with coffe cups in their hands, smiling. Text reads #WeArePlay g.co/play/weareplay Alvaro & Valeria Platonic Games Madrid, Spain

      Next, Valeria and Álvaro from Spain - founders of Platonic Games. Born in Uruguay, Valeria moved to Spain as a child. Her parents loved video games so she grew up playing them with her family. After studying computer science and traveling the world with her PR job, she transitioned into game development and launched her own studio, Platonic Games, with friend and co-founder Álvaro. Noticing that games for girls were often limited to a handful of genres, the pair decided to design something new for a female audience. Happy Hop is an addictive racing game featuring kawaii-inspired “Miimo” characters.


      Image of Olivier looking off to the right. Text reads #WeArePlay g.co/play/weareplay Olivier Kiroo Games Yaounde, Cameroon

      And now, Olivier from Cameroon - founder of Kiroo Games. Growing up around his father’s video store and a huge collection of science magazines, Olivier was exposed to technology from an early age. So it’s no surprise that he studied computer science and soon began creating PC games. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, he was able to release the African fantasy RPG, Aurion. Partly inspired by Japanese manga, the game is an allegory for geopolitical themes, with players following the King and Queen of Zama as they fight corruption in Aurion. Next, he hopes to transform Aurion into a global African-fantasy gaming brand.


      Headshot of Yiwei, smiling. Text reads #WeArePlay g.co/play/weareplay Yiwei Kurechii Cyberjaya, Malaysia

      Lastly, Yiwei from Malaysia - founder of Kurechii. He started his career as a web designer, but as a keen gamer himself he soon transitioned into game development and launched his own studio Kurechii. As he watched busy commuters in Tokyo playing on their phone while carrying their briefcases, he got the idea to create a game that could be played single-handedly, but still feature adventurous role playing. In Postknight, players follow a knight as he makes dangerous journeys across the kingdom of Kurestal to deliver parcels. After releasing the popular sequel Postknight 2 with brand new characters, the team are now working to enhance both games, as well as brainstorm ideas for new titles.

      Check out their stories now at g.co/play/weareplay and keep an eye out for more stories coming soon.


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      Champion Innovator Elyes Manai, based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

      Posted by Max Saltonstall, Developer Relations Engineer

      In this ongoing interview series we sit down with Google Cloud Champion Innovators across the world to learn more about their journeys, their technology focus, and what excites them. Today we're talking to Elyes Manai. Elyes is a Machine Learning Consultant, Educator and Mentor. He helps companies tap into the power of data science to reduce costs and increase revenue as well as build relationships with relevant target audiences through educational content and community building.


      What is a Champion Innovator?

      Champion Innovators are a global network of more than 500 non-Google professionals, who are technical experts in Google Cloud products and services. Each Champion specializes in one of nine different technical categories which are cloud AI/ML, data analytics, hybrid multi-cloud, modern architecture, security and networking, serverless app development, storage, Workspace and databases.


      What tech area has you most fascinated right now, and why?

      Machine Learning: There are so many new insights we can gain from applying ML and AI to problems right now. Especially in security. I'm currently pursuing my PhD in AI applied to Cybersecurity, and am eager to teach the next generation about computer science, AI and security.

      I fell into ML by accident, after trying to pursue something else in university. I had hoped to study architecture, but did not do nearly well enough in high school (in Tunisia, where I'm from). I ended up at my last choice of universities, in an IT program. And then I tried to transfer to an architecture school, but my paperwork got messed up so it didn't work out.

      There I was, in a field I had not chosen, and yet I liked it. It felt pretty easy to do, I got good grades, and I realized I could make a career out of it. I liked solving problems with code, and progressed to doing web development and managing a team. From there I started thinking about what I wanted to do next.

      I really love teaching, so I began looking into how to become a professor. That led me to the computer science? 50 class at Harvard, where I saw many signs pointing to a big AI trend, and so I decided to pursue a masters in computer science.


      How do you like to learn new services, tools, and applications?

      I dive right in; learn by doing. I frequently bounce around between subjects. I keep a list of ideas that come to me, and then when I'm ready for something new, I just scan through the list and pick one. This helps me stay fresh and excited.

      Whenever I'm learning new skills I remind myself to go with the flow. I start small, learn just enough to start using the technology or tool. I'll ask myself:

      • What key concepts or pillars do I need to understand this more deeply?
      • How do I branch out from there?
      • Who should I talk to?
      • What can I make?

      Since I'm in the middle of a doctoral program right now, I always challenge myself to make that idea somehow connect to my research, so I can bring it back to a common theme that's pervasive through all my work.


      What are some exciting projects you have in flight right now?

      Explainable AI, especially applied to less frequently used spoken languages in the world. We have a wealth of research on English language AI models, but what about applying BERT (and other technologies) on some lesser used languages, to expand the benefit to a wider population?

      I'm also very excited about how we (as researchers) can optimize AI models to be more secure, be more private in terms of protecting our data, and be more useful to a wide variety of use cases.


      What engages you outside of the technology world?

      I love biking, and whenever it's warm enough in Québec I will go bike outside.

      I like to read, especially science fiction. I recently started reading autobiographies to know more about the world from different perspectives. I'm currently reading autobiographies of Scott Kelley and Sohaila Abdulali.

      I also keep a big list of ideas outside of tech for me to pursue: people to meet, foods to try, places to go. I'm always working on new experiences and adventures from that list, to broaden my world and learn more about what's all around me.


      What brought you into the Innovators program?

      I've been a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for two years and then got an invitation to join the Innovators program, after I attended a GDE event. It's helped me gain some respect and credibility, as I have a little bit of Google's reputation behind my voice now when I share my perspective or opinion. Also they have helped me get some great swag!


      What's one thing our readers should do next?

      Very few things stand the test of time, as our industry is shifting so quickly. I think CS50 on YouTube still has relevance for folks new to computer science.

      I also want to encourage people to create social connections, and go meet the people behind the systems you are using. There are humans out there who can help you find the next project or position, and getting to know them is so important.


      Each Champion Innovator is not affiliated with Google nor do they offer services on behalf of Google.

      Register for Google Cloud Next ‘23 and get some sweet perks

      Posted by Brian Hall, Vice President, Product and Industry Marketing, Google Cloud & Max Saltonstall, Developer Relations Engineer Google Cloud Next is coming to San Francisco, August 29-31, 2023

      Developers - it’s finally here . . . the Google Cloud Next ‘23 session library is live!

      So many awesome sessions to choose from, it's tough!

      Of course we start with the big story of the year, the thing on everyone's (everything's?) mind: AI!

      Machine learning and AI

      Check out "5 practical considerations for adopting AI" to get started or "Build your organization’s future on Google AI and machine learning infrastructure" for teams that are looking to expand into cross-functional AI-powered innovation.

      Building modern apps

      Sometimes you've got an awesome idea, and you are looking for a way to speed up getting it to market. We can help. Attend "Building fast, scalable and reliable apps with Firebase and Cloud Run" to learn about serverless, accessible and language-agnostic tools to enable higher cloud velocity. Or come to "Build your first event driven app in less than 5 minutes" and walk away with a reference app for your own event-driven architecture use later on.

      Lots of folks take a measured approach to public cloud adoption, especially with how rapidly technology is changing. This is especially true in corporate IT, where change can be tough. Check out "The future of modern enterprise applications with GKE" to learn more about moving your company's apps and workflows to the cloud.

      Data insights and analytics

      We're all drowning in data these days, and cloud offers many (MANY!) tools to help. Learn where you can get a handle on your data, analytics and insights with "What's next for Data and AI?" and then point your data engineering teams to "What's new with BigQuery" for the latest advances.

      Cloud migrations

      If you are looking at how you secure your own migration to cloud-based apps and services, make sure you attend "What’s new in cloud-first CI/CD" to get up to speed on Cloud Build, Artifact Registry, Cloud Deploy and more. These interconnected tools can accelerate development, help with segmentation of roles and responsibilities, and allow for zero to worldwide scale with very little operational overhead.

      Industry Solutions

      For developers building apps for specific industries, we've got a wide variety of sessions from Retail to Games to Public Sector to Manufacturing. Come learn from customers about AI applications in automation and personalization in "From vision to practice: AI applications in financial services" and take advantage of the latest tools. Or you could dive into the latest craze with "Media’s AI frontier: Navigating the future of entertainment” and start to answer the question we've all been asking: was this blog written by a person or an AI?

      Amazing experts

      There are sessions for every flavor of developer, architect, designer and operator, and so many opportunities to engage with experts from industry. So join us at Google Cloud Next to learn about key topics from speakers like Gerrit Kazmaier, Dave Nettleton, Keelin McDonnell, Donna Schit, and more.

      And that's not all! You can find a series of training workshops available for all skill levels, and a dedicated learning and certification booth to help you on your way to your new cloudy career and skilling journey. Plus we've got a set of lightning talks to give you bite-sized chunks of knowledge across every cloud topic.

      Oh no, I'm out of time and I haven't even gotten to the return of Drone Racing League at Next. Guess you'll just have to come and find out. See you there!

      Register for Google Cloud Next ‘23 now: August 29-31 in San Francisco.

      Code for all: 10 principles for LGBTQIA+ product inclusion

      Posted by Danny Rozenblit, Developer Marketing

      As LGBTQIA+ Pride Month comes to a close, we will see rainbows leaving shopfronts and social media logos. The need for thoughtful inclusion, however, persists: developers have the opportunity to embrace Pride 365 days of the year by building LGBTQIA+ inclusive products, thinking about how testing and design choices affect others every day.

      Ultimately, making your site, app, game, or software system more inclusive for LGBTQIA+ people can improve the user experience for everyone. Therefore, we’re showcasing 10 ways developers can build LGBTQIA+ inclusive products.

      While this is a non-exhaustive list, below are some core principles to consider as you build for everyone.

      Illustration of speech bubbles in the colors of the trans flag's white, pink, and blue contatining squiggles and heart shape, all connected by a curved line

      Language matters

      1. Use gender-inclusive and non-binary language
      2. Language plays a significant role in creating an inclusive environment. Avoid assumptions about gender and strive to use gender-neutral language whenever possible. Instead of using gendered terms like "he" or "she," opt for gender-neutral alternatives like "they" or "their." Provide options for users to specify their pronouns or use gender-neutral terms like "user" or "person" in your interface. At the same time, don’t make pronoun selection mandatory to access any essential content, as not everyone will feel comfortable sharing. In addition, consider not requesting and/or tracking gendered selections unless it’s absolutely necessary.
      3. Beware of gendered terms
      4. As an example, use “parents” rather than a singular “mother” or “father” as a way to incorporate gender-neutral language into your product. By adopting gender-inclusive language, you create a more welcoming experience for all users, regardless of their sexuality and gender identity.
      5. Understand pronouns and gender identity selection
      6. If asking users to select their gender, really understand what you are hoping to optimize. Is it understanding audience division? Is it specifically catered to garner insights from non-cisgender folks? If so, make sure your options reflect that.

        A general example might include the question and answers,

        • Select the gender that most closely aligns to you:
        • A) Woman B) Man C) Non-Binary D) Genderqueer E) Other.

        If you are differentiating between cis and non-cis folks, make sure that there is a reason or objective behind it. For example, it might make sense to specify on a health survey, but not on an event like a summit registration. Additionally, don't assume pronouns based on gender identity, or if you are doing this, ensure the request and reasoning are transparent.

      7. Avoid stereotypes and assumptions
      8. When designing and developing your product, steer clear of reinforcing stereotypes or making assumptions about LGBTQIA+ individuals. Avoid using clichéd or offensive imagery that may perpetuate dominant ideas and perspectives of the community. Instead, focus on representing diverse identities and experiences authentically. Real people deserve to see themselves accurately reflected in your work. In turn, it makes your product more accessible, useful, and realistic.
        Illustration of a privacy and security sheild in half indigo and half violet, superimposed by a white, rounded, encrypted password box with four black asterisks on the right, and a white circle with a black as asterisk on the left. Elements are connected by a curved line

        Privacy and discretion above all else

      9. Implement Privacy and Safety features
      10. Creating a safe and secure environment is essential for all users, especially for LGBTQIA+ individuals who may face unique risks and privacy concerns. Allow users to control their privacy settings and provide options to hide personal information that might disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity. Collecting data on LGBTQIA+ status can be dangerous to people living in certain countries. Implement robust reporting and moderation features to address harassment, hate speech, or any form of discrimination within your product. By prioritizing privacy and safety, you demonstrate your commitment to protecting the well-being of your LGBTQIA+ users.
      11. Offer flexible account setup
      12. Many platforms require users to provide personal information during the account setup process. However, this can be a sensitive area for LGBTQIA+ individuals who may not feel comfortable disclosing their gender identity or sexual orientation. Consider providing optional fields or allowing users to skip certain questions that are not necessary for the core functionality of your product. In addition, not requiring users to publicly share information provides a more inclusive user experience.
      13. Allow easy updates to users’ gender, name, and email address in their settings
      14. Consider ways to make it easily accessible and frictionless for people to update their user and profile names. If additional documentation is required (banking, credit bureaus, health), be clear about the steps to make this change. Ideally, this process could be done without a user having to contact support as this can feel extremely vulnerable.
        Illustration of three slanted bars in red, orange, and white, ascending in height. Flanking the bars on the left and right are a small white circle with a black checkmark on the left and a larger yelllow circle with a black checkmark on the right. Elements are connected by a curved line

        Be accountable for growth

      15. Understand and educate yourself
      16. To build inclusive products, it's crucial to have a deep understanding of the LGBTQIA+ community and the challenges they face as well as one’s own dynamics around gender identity and sexuality. Take the time to educate yourself about gender and sexual diversity, LGBTQIA+ terminology, and relevant social issues. Engage with LGBTQIA+ communities, attend workshops or conferences, and read reputable sources to broaden your knowledge. By familiarizing yourself with these topics, you'll be better equipped to create products that reflect and respect the diverse experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals.
      17. Inclusive user research
      18. By conducting user research and with LGBTQIA+ individuals, developers can gain deep insights into their unique needs, preferences, and challenges. This approach enables the creation of products that are truly inclusive and tailored to the diverse experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community.

        Remember to think about intersectionality when considering what users you are attempting to reach within the community. Other identity factors such as race, nationality, disability, familiar status and class interpose with gender and sexuality to craft unique and multi-faceted experiences. No matter who your targeted user is, these additional identities affect their experience. After collecting LGBTQIA+ perspectives, continue to incorporate them in future testing phases.

      19. Regularly update and iterate:
      20. Inclusion is an ongoing process, and it's important to continuously evaluate and improve your product's inclusivity. Stay informed about evolving LGBTQIA+ terminology, issues, and advancements. Actively seek feedback from users and be open to suggestions for improvements. Regularly update your product to address any shortcomings and ensure that it remains inclusive as technologies and social contexts evolve.

      Learn more about LGBTQIA+ inclusion: