Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – October 1, 2021

New updates 

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers. 



New look and feel for Workspace Updates email subscriptions 
We’ve improved the look and feel of the emails you receive when you subscribe to Workspace Updates. 
  • The emails themselves will be sent from noreply@workspaceupdates.withgoogle.com, so be sure to update any inbox filters or labels you may have and check your spam folders if you don't immediately see them. 
  • Emails for the Workspace Updates Blog in non-English markets will update to this new format in the coming weeks. 
  • If you have any feedback about these emails after September 29th, please feel back to let us know in the linked form. 
Available now | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Workspace Updates Blog Email Subscription Feedback 



Porting in Google Voice now available in Canada 
If your organization has existing phone numbers with another service provider, you can port (or move) those numbers to Google Voice in Canada. | Learn more.



Previous announcements 

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details. 



Live translated captions in Google Meet available in beta 
Launching in beta, live translated captions help video call participants communicate better by translating a spoken language to captions in another language. | Learn more here and here. | Available to meetings organized by Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching & Learning Upgrade customers. | Apply to beta 



Add image watermarks in Google Docs 
You can now add image watermarks directly into Google Docs. This watermark image will repeat behind the text on every page of your document. | Learn more. 



Renaming “whitelisted domains” to “allowlisted domains” in the Admin console 
We’re updating instances of “whitelisted” in the Admin console to “allowlisted”. This change more accurately describes this action, as well as eliminates a non-inclusive term from our products. | Learn more.



Comment size increasing in Google Docs 
Comment width will intelligently scale based on your browser window to maximize the use of available screen space. | Learn more.



Replace your background with a video in Google Meet on Android 
In addition to replacing your Google Meet background with a static image on web and mobile, you can now replace your background with a video on Android. | Learn more. 



Quickly access Google Drive files in Chrome browser 
We’re adding a card onto the New Tab Page in your Chrome browser that will surface relevant files from your Google Drive, making it easier and more efficient to find the files you need. | Learn more.



View Alert Center notifications directly from the Admin console toolbar 
You can now quickly access Alert Center alerts from anywhere in the Admin console from the toolbar at top of the page. Selecting the new bell icon will surface the ten latest alerts, along with a brief description. | Learn more.



Use the “Slideshow” button in Google Slides 
We’re replacing what was previously the “Present” button in Slides to now say “Slideshow.” We hope this makes it clearer when you are beginning a slide show, and when you are sharing your screen in Meet. | Learn more. 



Review smart home devices used for work in your Admin console
Admins can now view and manage the smart displays and speakers that access work data in the Admin console, alongside other devices managed with Google endpoint management. | Learn more. 



For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Support for Responsive Video Ads in Scripts

Today we’re launching support for responsive video ads in Google Ads scripts. If you were using the TrueView for action campaign type, you must update your code to use the new video ad type. If you don’t update, your code will begin throwing errors starting approximately October 10, 2021. The old TrueView for action campaign type is being renamed to Video action campaign along with this change.

You can update your selectors with a new withCondition clause to separate Video action campaigns from other video campaign types in your code.

To get campaigns with the video action type: 

AdsApp.videoCampaigns()
    .withCondition("AdvertisingChannelSubType = VIDEO_ACTION")
    .get();
Or to get video campaigns of other types, which are unaffected by this change: 

AdsApp.videoCampaigns()
    .withCondition("AdvertisingChannelSubType != VIDEO_ACTION")
    .get();
Once you've identified that you're acting on a Video action campaign, create a new type of ad group that can house responsive video ads, and then construct a new type of ad at ad creation time. For other types of video campaigns, this new ad type isn’t available.

For creating the ad group, if you were using: 

videoCampaign.newVideoAdGroupBuilder().withAdGroupType("VIDEO_TRUE_VIEW_IN_STREAM")
Then update that code to: 

videoCampaign.newVideoAdGroupBuilder().withAdGroupType("VIDEO_RESPONSIVE")
For creating the ads themselves, if you were using: 

adGroup.newVideoAd().inStreamAdBuilder()
Then update that code to: 

adGroup.newVideoAd().responsiveVideoAdBuilder()
Check out the reference documentation for the new responsiveVideoAdBuilder for details on its fields and methods.

If you have any questions, please leave a post on our forum so that we can help.
- Mike Cloonan, Google Ads Scripts Team

Review smart home devices used for work in your Admin console

What’s changing

Admins can now view and manage the smart displays and speakers that access work data in the Admin console, alongside other devices managed with Google endpoint management. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

In addition to computers and mobile devices, the inclusion of smart displays and speakers in Google endpoint management gives admins a more complete inventory of the devices their users are using to access Google Workspace. Further, this allows admins to easily take action if needed, such as signing out of devices as needed and viewing information such as device type and user account information. 


Additional details 

For select Google Workspace editions, admins can view activity on smart home devices as part of device audit logs. You’ll be able to see information such as: 
  • Whether there has been an account registration change, 
  • If a user’s managed account synced on the device, 
  • If the device has been signed out by an admin. 

You can also set an alert to be notified when these activities occur. Visit the Help Center to learn more about device audit logs. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Review smart home devices used for work in your Admin console

What’s changing

Admins can now view and manage the smart displays and speakers that access work data in the Admin console, alongside other devices managed with Google endpoint management. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

In addition to computers and mobile devices, the inclusion of smart displays and speakers in Google endpoint management gives admins a more complete inventory of the devices their users are using to access Google Workspace. Further, this allows admins to easily take action if needed, such as signing out of devices as needed and viewing information such as device type and user account information. 


Additional details 

For select Google Workspace editions, admins can view activity on smart home devices as part of device audit logs. You’ll be able to see information such as: 
  • Whether there has been an account registration change, 
  • If a user’s managed account synced on the device, 
  • If the device has been signed out by an admin. 

You can also set an alert to be notified when these activities occur. Visit the Help Center to learn more about device audit logs. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Review smart home devices used for work in your Admin console

What’s changing

Admins can now view and manage the smart displays and speakers that access work data in the Admin console, alongside other devices managed with Google endpoint management. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

In addition to computers and mobile devices, the inclusion of smart displays and speakers in Google endpoint management gives admins a more complete inventory of the devices their users are using to access Google Workspace. Further, this allows admins to easily take action if needed, such as signing out of devices as needed and viewing information such as device type and user account information. 


Additional details 

For select Google Workspace editions, admins can view activity on smart home devices as part of device audit logs. You’ll be able to see information such as: 
  • Whether there has been an account registration change, 
  • If a user’s managed account synced on the device, 
  • If the device has been signed out by an admin. 

You can also set an alert to be notified when these activities occur. Visit the Help Center to learn more about device audit logs. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Introducing the Flutter Meetup Network!

Posted by Sarah Fullmer, Program Manager

Image of three blue Flutter birds

The Flutter Meetup Network (FMN) is an international network of Meetup groups united by their enthusiasm for Flutter. The FMN program mission is to foster a thriving worldwide community of Flutter developers by empowering community organizers to educate and inspire local communities with engaging events.

Meetups – and similar developer community groups - are a great resource. As Flutter has grown in popularity over the past few years, over 100 Meetup groups have sprung up organically around the world to celebrate and educate their members about Flutter. The volunteers who run these groups have hosted many awesome events and workshops.

Image of world map showing Flutter Meetup opportunities. Shows 102 groups across 52 countries

We, in the Flutter team, see and appreciate these amazing communities. ? The Flutter Meetup Network (FMN) is now being launched to support these groups officially. Network members will have access to various resources (more details available soon!), making it easier to plan and host Flutter-themed events.

Meetups have many benefits, aside from networking. When stuck on an issue in your current Flutter project, chances are good that you can find a developer in your local Flutter Meetup who has solved a similar problem. Or, maybe they know the perfect package for your needs.

We are thrilled to support our amazing and passionate organizers and can’t wait to see what the Flutter Meetup Network does moving forward.

Join a Meetup near you! https://www.meetup.com/pro/flutter

Answering your top questions on Android Game Development Kit

Posted by Wayne Lu, Technical Lead Manager, Android DevRel

hand holding a phone with game and chat

We launched the Android Game Development Kit (AGDK) in July, and have collected some top questions from developers - ranging from AGDK libraries and tools, optimizing memory in Android, and implementing graphics.


AGDK and game engines

Firstly, we’ve heard questions from early, rising game developers on how to use our set of AGDK libraries and tools. We have the following recommendations depending on your setup:

  1. For game developers using popular game engines such as Defold, Godot, Unity, or Unreal - you can follow our guides to learn how to develop apps on Android. Using these game engines lets you focus on building gameplay instead of the entire technology stack.
  2. If you're using Unreal Engine and targeting multiple platforms such as PC or consoles, Android Game Development Extension (AGDE) may be a great addition to your workflow.
  3. We also support developers who want to customize and write their own game engine - you can learn more about this with our C or C++ documentation.

After choosing your game engine and workflow, you should look into our tools such as the Android Studio Profiler to inspect your game, Android GPU Inspector to profile graphics and Android Performance Tuner to optimize frame rates and loading times.


Game Mode API and Interventions

Following this, we’ve received questions on developing for Android 12. While you don’t have to do anything special for your game to run on Android 12, we’ve introduced Game Mode API and interventions to help players customise their gaming experience.

  1. Read more about the Game Mode API, and find out how to optimize your game for the best performance or longest battery life when the user selects the corresponding game mode.
  2. Learn about the Game Mode interventions - these are set by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), to improve the performance of games that are no longer being updated by developers. For example: WindowManager backbuffer resize to reduce a device's GPU load.

Memory Access in Android

Secondly, you’ve asked us how memory access works in Android game development versus Windows. In short, here are a couple of pointers:

  1. Games need to share memory with the system. Some devices have less available memory than others, so testing is needed to check for low memory issues on a range of supported devices. Testing should be done on devices with typical apps that a user would have installed (i.e. not a clean device).
  2. The amount of memory a game can allocate depends on various factors such as the amount of physical memory, the number of dirty pages, and the amount of total zRam (for compressed swapping)
  3. Symptoms of low memory can be: onTrimMemory() calls, memory thrashing, or termination of the game by the Low Memory Killer. Use bugreport logs to check if the game was killed by the Low Memory Killer, or on Android 11 and later check the ApplicationExitInfo to see if the game was terminated because of REASON_LOW_MEMORY.
  4. Avoid memory thrashing: this occurs when there’s low but insufficient memory to kill the game. You can detect this via system tracing, and should reduce the overall memory footprint to avoid this issue.
  5. Use the Android Profiler and other tools to inspect your memory usage.

Implementing Graphics in Android

Thirdly, we’ve received questions about implementing graphics in Android. You have the following options: OpenGL ES or Vulkan graphics APIs:

  1. Learn how to configure OpenGL ES graphics for your C++ game engine by initializing variables, rendering with the game loop, scenes and objects.
  2. Read our Vulkan guides to learn how to draw a cube, compile shaders, setup validation layers, and other best practices.

Check out the Q&A video to view the top questions on AGDK and visit g.co/android/AGDK for our latest resources for Android game development.

Google Ads API, Google Ads scripts, and AdWords API issues on Oct 1

Between 2:50 am EDT and 6:40 am EDT on October 1, there was an outage that may have prevented some users from accessing the Google Ads API, Google Ads scripts, & the AdWords API. If you were using the Google Ads API or the AdWords API or running Google Ads scripts, then you may have experienced slowness or timeouts. Please check for any failed requests from these tools during the outage.

If you have any questions, please contact us via the forum.

Josh Radcliff, Google Ads API Team

Use the “Slideshow” button in Google Slides

Quick launch summary

We’re replacing what was previously the “Present” button in Slides to now say “Slideshow.” We hope this makes it clearer when you are beginning a slide show, and when you are sharing your screen in Meet.
New "Slideshow" button in Slides

"Present" button which formerly would begin a slideshow in Slides
Old "Present" button in Slides


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

 

Use the “Slideshow” button in Google Slides

Quick launch summary

We’re replacing what was previously the “Present” button in Slides to now say “Slideshow.” We hope this makes it clearer when you are beginning a slide show, and when you are sharing your screen in Meet.
New "Slideshow" button in Slides

"Present" button which formerly would begin a slideshow in Slides
Old "Present" button in Slides


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers