Google's New Navigation Interface in a Google+ Screenshot

Remember the new navigation interface tested by Google a few months ago? It replaces the black bar with a new menu similar to Chrome's app launcher.

A screenshot from a Google+ "learn more" page shows a new Google+ interface that uses the app launcher, an updated share button and a new search box without a search button. The screenshot shows the old Google+ notification button, not the Mr. Jingles bell.

{ via Google Plus Daily, spotted by Gabriel Komarnicki. }

Google Maps Views

There's a new community site for Google Maps and it's called Views. It's a place where you can upload panoramic images created using the Photo Sphere feature, which is limited to Android 4.2 and Nexus devices.

"The photo sphere camera mode on your Android phone makes it easy to capture a series of photos and automatically turn them into a seamless 360º experience. You can also turn your DSLR camera panoramas into photo spheres," explains Google. This page has more information about the photo sphere mode and about creating panoramic images manually.

Google Maps Views has a camera button that lets you add photos from Google+. You can also use Android's share feature and share a photo from the gallery with Google Maps, so that it's quickly uploaded. Google creates a page like this one with all your photo spheres.

Google Maps Views showcases popular photo spheres and some special Street View collections, including landmarks (Eiffel Tower), natural wonders (Grand Canyon), museums, arenas, restaurants and small businesses. You can also use the search box and find a list of popular photos and top photographers for that location.

Photos spheres don't replace Street View, they only complement Street View with a fun, fresh and personal perspective that captures the the world around you.

Keyboard Shortcut for Google Voice Search

If you use Chrome, you've probably noticed the small microphone icon from Google's search box. It lets you search Google using your voice and it's now just as good as the voice search feature from Google's mobile apps.

There's even a keyboard shortcut for this feature: Ctrl+Shift+. (or ⌘-Shift-. for Mac). Yes, that's a dot, full stop or period.

"Say your question and hear an answer back on your desktop Chrome browser. All you will need is a built-in or attached microphone. Also, be sure to have the volume up on your computer to hear your answer loud and clear. Please note Voice Search with spoken answers back is available for US English only," informs Google.

"Open the Chrome browser and go to http://www.google.com/. You'll see a small gray microphone on the right-hand side of the search box. Click the microphone or press Ctrl+Shift+Period (Mac: ⌘-Shift-Period) with your cursor in the search box to start voice search. When the large red microphone icon appears, begin speaking. You can press ESC or click the red button to cancel. As you speak, Google will interpret your voice input. Afterwards, your results show up just as if you had typed the search term," mentions a help center article.

{ via Mike Downes }

Unlocking More Users, with Tablets and Games

Posted by Purnima Kochikar, Director of Business Development, Games & Applications

Last week, we unveiled a number of new things in the world of Android. And while we already showcased the new tools available at your disposal in Android 4.3, we also unveiled a new Nexus 7 tablet, as well as the Google Play Games app, both of which represent opportunities to take advantage of a growing number of users.

Nexus 7 and the Android tablet revolution

If you’re a developer optimizing your app for Android tablets, no doubt you’re familiar with the original Nexus 7. It was Google’s statement on what a great Android tablet experience should look like, and since then, the Android tablet ecosystem has come a long way. There have already been more than 70 million activations of Android tablets, with more than 1 in 2 tablets sold today running Android. We’re starting to see with Android tablets what could be the hockey stick growth all of us experienced a couple of years ago with Android smartphones, and we hope that the new Nexus 7 continues to fuel this growth even further.

Most top developers on Android have already prepared their applications for this wave of new Android tablet users, including many of the essentials, like the New York Times, Zappos, Evernote, Flipboard, Pinterest and more. To help users find your tablet-designed apps more easily on Google Play, you can now choose to only see apps designed for tablets in the top lists. There are also over 50 new collections, which highlight outstanding tablet apps.

To take advantage of the Android tablet revolution, check out our Tablet App Quality Checklist, which has tips and techniques on how to deliver a great app experience for tablet users. It details all of the key things you need to do to optimize your app for tablets, like taking advantage of the extra screen real estate and adjusting font sizes and touch targets, to things you can do on the distribution side, like declaring support for tablet screens and showcasing your tablet UI on Google Play by uploading tablet-specific screenshots. Optimizing your app for Android tablets will unlock a whole new group of users, like those who are about to receive their new Nexus 7 tablets.

Taking your game to the next level

The Android games category on Google Play is on fire; in fact, the vast majority of top mobile game developers are building Android tablet games, and most new titles launch immediately on Android. To help game developers take advantage of the next generation of games, at Google I/O in May, we introduced Google Play game services, our gaming platform for Android, iOS, and the web. By building on Google’s strengths in mobile and cloud services, Google Play game services allows game developers to focus on what they’re good at: creating great gaming experiences for their users.

Turbocharging that growth even more, on Wednesday we introduced the Google Play Games app, which brings your friends together with the games you love, where you can invite a friend and start challenging gamers around the world, compete for top achievements, and race to the top of the leaderboard.

Since the launch at Google I/O, just over two months ago, over one thousand games have added Google Play game services, with millions of users enjoying features like leaderboards and multiplayer inside of the games they love. Some of those early developers using Google Play game services are reporting incredible upticks in vital engagement metrics; for instance, Concrete Software is seeing session length up 15%, and Glu is reporting a 40% increase in 7-day user retention.

Here are a few things you can do to take your game to the next level with Google Play:

• Integrate with Play Games using achievements and leaderboards to activate your players.


• Add real-time multiplayer to competitive and cooperative games and increase engagement.


• Use Play Games branding guidelines and create rich visuals that bolster your presence in the Google Play Games app.

Whether it be getting your app ready for the wave of new Android tablets that are lighting up each day, or opening up a whole new set of features for your users with Google Play game services, a great Android experience starts with a great app or game. That’s why we’re working hard to help provide you with the tools and features needed to create those great experiences for your users, and to help you reach as many of them as possible in the process, with Google Play.

Join the discussion on



+Android Developers

Google Image Search Collections

Google works on a new image search feature that lets you create collections, add image search results to your collections and annotate them. The source code includes multiple references to "collections", "notes", "folios", "clips", "groups" and the feature could integrate with Google Profiles.

For some reason, this looks like a standalone feature and notes aren't added to Google Keep.

Bing Image Search used to have a scratchpad, where users could save their images.

Google also had Notebook, a product that worked well for saving image search results. "Google Notebook is a simple way for users to save and organize their thoughts when conducting research online. This personal browser tool permits users to clip text, images, and links from the pages they're browsing, save them to an online notebook that is accessible from any computer, and share them with others," explained Google back in 2006.

{ Thanks, Florian K. }

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Chromecast

You don't need a teardown to notice that Chromecast's model number is H2G2-42. From iFixit:

"Wasn't 42 the answer to life, the universe, and everything in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? And H2G2 is an abbreviation given to the book, as well as the name of a website dedicated to making a guide to life, the universe, and everything."

If you check YouTube.com's source code, you'll find some references to "hitchhiker".

One of YouTube's sprites has "hitchhiker" in the filename.

Google Play Easter Egg: Dancing Robot

Here's a nice Easter Egg from the old Google Play interface. You can still find it in Google Cache: scroll to the bottom of the page, click the colorful bar next to the footer and you'll see the Android mascot. Click the robot and it will start dancing.

I uploaded a video that shows this Easter Egg:

Music: Teddybears - Cole (Zero Gravity Reveal Mix). The song was also used in the Google Music tour and it's available for free here.

{ Thanks, observant tipster. }

YouTube's Geek Week Easter Egg

YouTube has a new Easter Egg: search for [/ geekweek] and the interface changes to look more like a command-line Linux app.

What's Geek Week? "On August 4-10 we'll celebrate this content with a special programming event: our first-ever YouTube Geek Week at YouTube.com/GeekWeek," informs YouTube. "Produced in conjunction with geek powerhouse Nerdist in the U.S. and Channel Flip in the U.K., Geek Week will showcase more than 100 channels that fans love, unveiling new videos, series premieres and creative collaborations, as well as highlighting some of the best geek videos and shows already on YouTube." Sci-fi, fantasy, animation, superheroes, supernatural, video games - an entire week for geeks. "For our 3l33t geeks out there, keep your eyes out for Easter eggs all week, and you'll also be able to collect badges from the eggs and select #geekweek videos when logged in and visiting YouTube.com/GeekWeek."

Update: As Enrico Altavilla noticed, the Easter Egg works for any query that starts with "/ ":

{ via TechRadar. Thanks, Mati. }

Google Cast: Cloud AirPlay

AirPlay is one of the greatest iOS features. It lets you wirelessly stream music, videos, send photos and even mirror your device's display on your TV. It's simple to use, it's supported by many apps and devices, but the most important thing is that it just works. Sure, you'll need to buy an Apple TV or an Airport Express and AirPlay is mostly limited to Apple devices and accessories that license AirPlay from Apple. AirPlay works because it's a native feature, has a consistent interface and it's very easy to understand.

Android OEMs tried to solve the problem of sending content to a TV by adding HDMI ports, supporting MHL and adding software for DLNA. It's obvious that people don't like cables and a mobile device shouldn't be restricted by a cable. DLNA has a lot of compatibility issues and doesn't work well for streaming online content. Last year, HTC and Samsung added an AirPlay-like feature to their flagship phones and started to sell companion devices. The issue was that the features were limited to a few apps. This should've been an Android feature, not two different APIs limited to a few HTC and Samsung devices.

Google started to address this issue when it added support for watching YouTube videos on a TV using the mobile YouTube apps. Pair your mobile phone with your TV and you can easily send the video you're currently watching to the TV. You can also your phone as a remote control and pause the video, change the volume or switch to a different video.

YouTube's "send to TV" is the backbone of Google Cast, a feature that can finally compete with AirPlay. Developers can use "the Google Cast SDK to enable mobile and web apps to cast content to the TV". Google Cast is not limited to Android, it works on Google's favorite platforms: Android, iOS and Chrome. There are already a few apps that support Google Cast: YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies & TV, Netflix. To use this feature, you need to buy Chromecast, a very cheap device that connects to your TV's HDMI port and runs a simplified version of Chrome OS Google TV. It only costs $35 and it's a lot smaller than an Apple TV. You can buy it from Google Play, Amazon and Best Buy, but only if you're in the US.

Google Cast is only the cloud version of AirPlay: it only works with content that's stored online, so you can't send a song that's stored on your tablet or a video you've just recorded. Just like for AirPlay, the mobile device controls what's playing on your TV, but the content is streamed directly to the Chromecast. There are a few differences: Google Cast works on Android, iOS and Chrome and the Chromecast functionality will be integrated in other devices, including Google TV devices. Another difference is that any mobile device from the same network can control an existing Google Cast stream, so you can have multiple remotes.

Here's the Google Cast icon: it's not displayed when there's no device available.

"While content is playing on TV, a user can multitask on their device. For example, a user can search for a video on their phone's YouTube application and then send it to their TV via a Google Cast device. They are able to play, pause, seek, and control volume using their phone and still be able to check their email while the content keeps playing on the TV," according to the developer documentation.

There's also support for mirroring. "In addition to apps like Netflix, you can use Chromecast to bring a broad range of content available on the web to your big screen, thanks to a new feature in the Chrome browser that allows you to project any browser tab to your TV. From sharing your family photos to enjoying a video clip from your favorite news site, it's as simple as pressing a button. This feature is launching in beta, but we're excited for people to try it out and give us their feedback," explains Google.

Here's a video that shows this feature in action:

To use Google Cast, you first need a Chromecast. It's a low-cost device that connects to one of your TV's HDMI ports and uses USB for power. For only $35, you get a lot: the Chromecast dongle (only 34 grams), a USB cable and power adapter and an HDMI extender. To setup the device, you need to visit google.com/chromecast/setup and install an app. It's interesting to notice that Chromecast only supports 2.4GHz WiFi networks and the only Chromebook you can use to setup Chromecast is Chromebook Pixel.

To cast from your computer, you need to install the Google Cast extension for Chrome. There are only 2 Cast-optimized sites: YouTube and Netflix. For all the other sites, you can cast a tab and mirror it on your TV. Unfortunately, casting a tab requires a powerful computer even for standard streaming: at least a Core i3 PC, a Macbook Pro 2010, a Macbook Air 2011 or a Chromebook Pixel. You need a Core i5 PC, a Macbook Pro 2011, a Macbook Air 2012 or a Chromebook Pixel for high-quality streaming. Casting a tab is limited to 720p streaming, so you won't get 1080p mirroring.

For Android devices, you can use a few apps: YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies & TV and Netflix. "To cast to your TV from your smartphone, tablet or laptop, simply open up a Cast supported app, press the the Cast button and the Cast button will turn blue, letting you know you're connected. Once you are connected, you can Cast videos, movies and TV shows directly to your TV," explains Google. For now, the only iOS apps that support Google Cast are Netflix and YouTube.

I haven't tried Google Cast, so I don't know how well it performs, but these are the early days. Once more apps add support for Google Cast and more devices include Chromecast's functionality, it will be a lot more useful. Chromecast is a Chrome device, so it will constantly improve and add new features.

Android 4.3: Jelly Bean Improvements

After a long wait, Google finally released Android 4.3 yesterday. It's a minor update that has more new APIs and improvements for the existing features than exciting new features.

The third and final Jelly Bean installment brings support for virtual surround sound, OpenGL ES 3.0, wireless display, Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Low-Energy), Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 (displays song metadata), restricted profiles, WiFi location detection even when WiFi is disabled. There's also a new tab for disabled apps in the settings and the phone app suggests numbers and names when you enable "Dial pad autocomplete".

"Restricted profiles enable parental controls, so certain family members are prevented from accessing mature content. Likewise, retail stores can use tablets to show off product information, and shops can use tablets as point of sale systems," explains Google. Restricted profiles let you limit access to apps and content.

Many Android devices already support Bluetooth 4.0, but now there's native Android support. Bluetooth 4.0 is great for low-power devices. "Android-powered Bluetooth Smart Ready devices running the latest OS will be compatible with virtually any Bluetooth enabled product — from the keyboards or headphones they already own, to the latest generation of power-efficient Bluetooth Smart appcessories (accessories + companion apps) like Fitbit or the Pebble watch," informs Bluetooth.com. More smart accessories will be able to connect to Android devices, Google Glass will have a better battery life when it will be released, smart watches will have to be recharged less often and there's a long list of medical and fitness devices that become smarter: thermometers, heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors, pedometers, weight scales and more.

OpenGL ES 3.0 is the latest version of the popular 3D graphics API that enhances the rendering pipeline to accelerate more advanced visual effects, has better support for textures and texture compression. The specs were published last year and Qualcomm's latest Adreno GPUs already support it. You can find them in devices like HTC One, Galaxy S4, Nexus 4 and the latest Nexus 7. ARM's Mali T604 also supports it and you can find it in Nexus 10. The native OpenGL ES 3.0 will mean that you'll be able to play the latest games and see all the enhancements.

The first device that ships with Android 4.3 is the new Nexus 7. All the Nexus devices that were updated to Android 4.2 will be updated to Android 4.3: Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, the original Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. You'll probably wait for the OTA updates, but Google also provides the firmware here. Galaxy Nexus is the first Nexus device that gets 3 significant Android updates.

Find Auto Awesome Google+ Images

Google+ has a feature called Auto Awesome, which automatically creates new photos that use the photos you've uploaded. For example, when you upload similar images at different exposures, Google+ will add an image that simulates HDR. When you upload a series of photos in succession, Google+ will create an animated image. "If you've taken a series of photos with overlapping landscape views, Auto Awesome will stitch these photos together into a panoramic image."

Unfortunately, it's not always easy to find these images. Here's a way to find the animated images created by Google: go to Google+ Photos and search for [motion.gif]. This works because all the animated GIFs created by Google+ include "motion" in the filename. You may also find other images that include "motion" in the filename or caption, but they weren't created by Google+. The nice thing is that Google's thumbnails are also animated GIFs, so it's easy to spot Auto Awesome images.

If you can't find Auto Awesome animated GIFs, click "From your circles" below the search box and you'll certainly find some GIFs if you follow the right people.

This post should have an included an animated screenshot, but I decided to add a YouTube video:

If you'd like to find panoramic images, search for pano.jpg. For HDR images, search for hdr.jpg, but you'll probably get a lot of false positives.

To find Auto Awesome images shared by other Google+ users, you can search for #autoawesome in Google+ and restrict the results to photos. There's also a community for Auto Awesome images.

You can also use Google Image Search and search for [site:plus.google.com inurl:motion.gif] for animated images and [site:plus.google.com inurl:pano.jpg inurl:googleusercontent.com] for panoramas.

{ via Jeremy Milo }

Google+ Photos App: Not Just For Chromebooks

Remember the Google+ Photos app for Chromebooks? It was originally launched as a Chromebook Pixel exclusive, but it worked well on my Samsung Series 5 Chromebook.

The app is available in the Chrome Web Store. If you switch to French (or any language other than English), the app's description changes and it reveals something interesting:

Google+ Photos will currently instantly upload all .jpg files from the default pictures folder on your computer every time it is run. These directories include:

Windows XP: C:\Users\yourname\Pictures
Windows 7: C:\My Documents\yourname\My Pictures
Linux: /home/yourname/Pictures
Mac: /Users/yourname/Pictures

This means that the app will also work in Windows, Linux and Mac OS, not just in Chrome OS. Right now, when you install the app in Chrome for Windows, you get this error message:

{ Thanks, Jonathan. }

Introducing Android 4.3, a sweeter Jelly Bean

Today we’re releasing Android 4.3 — an upgrade to Jelly Bean that introduces a number of new features, including restricted profiles. Android 4.3 also adds Bluetooth Smart support (a.k.a Bluetooth Low-Energy); the latest in 3D graphics through OpenGL ES 3.0; and more.

Restricted profiles for tablets
Lightweight and portable, tablets are perfect for sharing with others. Last October we added support for multiple users. Each person has a separate space and can freely customize the tablet experience, from lockscreen to wallpaper, apps and folders.

In Android 4.3, we're introducing restricted profiles, which let you manage per-user access to apps and content. Restricted profiles can be used in any number of situations. For example, restricted profiles enable parental controls, so certain family members are prevented from accessing mature content. Alternately, retail stores can use tablets as kiosks that show product information, or shops can use tablets as point of sale systems, all while limiting access to apps.

To set up restricted profiles on your tablet, go to the Users section under Settings. Learn more.

Bluetooth Smart support (a.k.a. Bluetooth Low-Energy)
Fitness sensors and other devices that use Bluetooth Smart technology open the door for a whole new class of mobile applications. Bluetooth Smart minimizes power usage while measuring and transmitting data, making both sensors and the phones or tablets connected to them more battery-efficient.

With Android 4.3, Nexus 4 can now connect to Bluetooth Smart sensors. Runtastic and many other developers are making Android apps compatible with these sensors.

Accelerated 3D graphics with OpenGL ES 3.0
Devices like the new Nexus 7 support OpenGL ES 3.0, the latest industry standard for accelerated 3D graphics. This brings photorealism to a whole new level in the games you're playing: blades of grass on the soccer field come alive, asphalt on the street looks real as you screech by, stubble on a villains' face almost pokes out of the screen. And with sophisticated effects like self-shadows, that villain looks even more menacing, casting a shadow on himself.

Dial pad autocomplete
With Android 4.3 we’ve introduced a new autocomplete feature in the dial pad. Just start touching numbers or letters and the dial pad will suggest phone numbers or names. To turn on this feature, open your phone app settings and enable “Dial pad autocomplete”.

Improved support for Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, and more

We’ve made major progress on enabling right-to-left layouts across the platform user interface: dialer, home and lock screens, settings, and more. This work builds on the support that we introduced for right-to-left layouts for Hebrew and Arabic speakers in Android 4.2. We’ve also added support for Hindi, Afrikaans, Amharic, Swahili, and Zulu.

There’s more to Android 4.3 than we can fit in this post, so for a detailed list of changes, click here.

Android 4.3 is now rolling out now to Nexus devices, and will be available on the new Nexus 7 and Google Play edition devices soon. Let us know what you think on our Google+ page for Android.

Posted by Dave Burke and Gabe Cohen, Android Platform team

From TVs to tablets: Everything you love, across all your screens

When I was growing up, my family had a single screen we huddled around every day: the television set in the living room. Nowadays, we “huddle” around multiple screens—laptops, smartphones and tablets—using them almost interchangeably as we navigate through our day. In a world of ubiquitous computing, life would be a lot simpler if we didn’t have to learn new behaviors and interfaces each time we switched screens—if we could have one consistent, intuitive experience no matter where we are or what we’re doing. Today, with the launch of Chromecast and the new Nexus 7 tablet, it’s even more effortless to enjoy content you care about—whether it’s video, music, movies, games—wherever you are, across your devices. Introducing ChromecastTo help make it easy to bring your favorite online entertainment to the biggest screen in your house—the TV—we’re introducing Chromecast. Chromecast is a small and affordable ($35) device that you simply plug in to your high-definition (HD) TV and it allows you to use your phone, tablet or laptop to "cast" online content to your TV screen. It works with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Music, with more apps like Pandora coming soon. With Chromecast, we wanted to create an easy solution that works for everyone, for every TV in the house.

 

Remote-freeOnce your Chromecast is set up, you can use your phone, tablet or laptop to browse and cast content to your TV, play and pause, control the volume, and more. But unlike other streaming solutions, you can still multitask—send emails or surf the web—while enjoying what’s on the TV screen. It works across platforms—Android tablets and smartphones, iPhones, iPads, Chrome for Mac and Windows (more to come), so your personal device is also now your remote control. Cast the web to your TVIn addition to apps like Netflix, you can use Chromecast to bring a broad range of content available on the web to your big screen, thanks to a new feature in the Chrome browser that allows you to project any browser tab to your TV. From sharing your family photos to enjoying a video clip from your favorite news site, it’s as simple as pressing a button. This feature is launching in beta, but we’re excited for people to try it out and give us their feedback.

 
Google Cast SDK preview for developersTo ensure a great Chromecast experience over time, we've built Google Cast, a technology that enables developers to build consistent, intuitive multi-screen experiences across mobile devices and TVs. Today, we’re launching a preview version of Google Cast with more information for developers on our Google Developers blog. A handful of early developers are already working on enabling Google Cast technology in their apps, so more supported apps are coming soon. And while the Chromecast device is the first instantiation of Google Cast, we expect the technology to be embedded in a range of hardware from our partners in the future.

The new Nexus 7—the sharpest 7” tablet screen everTogether with ASUS, we took what you loved about the original Nexus 7 and made it even better. The first thing you’ll notice is the sharpness of the screen: the 323 pixels packed into every inch of the screen makes it the world's highest-resolution 7-inch tablet. It’s lighter than ever, with more than nine hours of HD video playback and 10 hours of web browsing or reading. Nexus 7 now features stereo speakers and virtual surround sound from Fraunhofer (the inventors of the MP3 format), giving you rich and immersive audio. Android 4.3—a sweeter Jelly BeanNexus 7 is the first device to ship with Android 4.3, the newest version of Android. Tablets are perfect for sharing with others, so in Android 4.3, we're introducing restricted profiles, which let you limit access to apps and content. For example, restricted profiles enable parental controls, so certain family members are prevented from accessing mature content. Likewise, retail stores can use tablets to show off product information, and shops can use tablets as point of sale systems. Android 4.3 also now supports Bluetooth Smart technology, opening the door to mobile apps that connect to new devices like fitness sensors. Android 4.3 is rolling out to Nexus devices starting today. Ready to PlayThe new Google Play Games app brings your friends together with the games you love, where you can invite a friend and start challenging gamers around the world, compete for top achievements, and race to the top of the leaderboard. You can also enjoy the world’s largest collection of eBooks, listen to millions of music tracks and immerse yourself in thousands of movies, TV shows, magazines and apps on Google Play. Plus, Nexus 7 comes loaded with your favorite Google apps, like Chrome, Maps, YouTube, Gmail and Google Now.

 
How to get Chromecast and the new Nexus 7Starting today, the Chromecast device is available for $35 on Google Play, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. It will be available in Best Buy stores across the U.S. starting July 28. For a limited time, you also get three months of Netflix included. More info available in Google Play. Nexus 7 starts at $229, and is available in the U.S. beginning July 30 (with more countries coming soon!). Buy Nexus 7 online on Google Play, or check it out at Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Amazon, Home Shopping Network, Radio Shack, J&R and B&H Photo. Nexus 7 (LTE) is coming soon with support for T-Mobile and Verizon in the coming weeks. Learn more on our Nexus site.

Android 4.3 and Updated Developer Tools

Posted by Dave Burke, Engineering Director, Android Platform

Today in San Francisco we announced Android 4.3, a sweeter version of Jelly Bean that includes great new features for users and developers. Android 4.3 powers the new Nexus 7 tablet that's coming soon to Google Play and retail outlets, and it’s rolling out now as an update to Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ devices across the world.

For developers, Android 4.3 includes the latest performance enhancements to keep your apps fast, smooth, and efficient, together with new APIs and capabilities to use in your apps. Here's a taste of what's new:

• OpenGL ES 3.0 — Game developers can now take advantage of OpenGL ES 3.0 and EGL extensions as standard features of Android, with access from either framework or native APIs.


• Bluetooth Smart — Now your apps can communicate with the many types of low-power Bluetooth Smart devices and sensors available today, to provide new features for fitness, medical, location, proximity, and more.


• Restricted profiles — Tablet owners can create restricted profiles to limit access to apps, for family, friends, kiosks, and more. Your app can offer various types of restrictions to let tablet owners control its capabilities in each profile.


• New media capabilities — A modular DRM framework enables media application developers to more easily integrate DRM into their own streaming protocols such as MPEG DASH. Apps can also access a built-in VP8 encoder from framework or native APIs for high-quality video capture.


• Notification access — Your apps can now access and interact with the stream of status bar notifications as they are posted. You can display them in any way you want, including routing them to nearby Bluetooth devices, and you can update and dismiss notifications as needed.


• Improved profiling tools — New tags in the Systrace tool and on-screen GPU profiling give you new ways to build great performance into your app.

Check out the Android 4.3 platform highlights for a complete overview of what’s new for developers. To read more about the new APIs and how to use them, take a look at the API Overview or watch the new DevBytes videos.

Along with the new Android 4.3 platform we’re releasing an update to the Android NDK (r9). The new NDK gives you native access to the OpenGL ES 3.0 APIs and other stable APIs in Android 4.3, so if you use high-performance graphics in your games or apps, make sure to check it out.

Last, we’ve updated the Android Support Library (r18) with several key APIs to help you build great apps with broad compatibility. Most important, we've added an Action Bar API to let you build this essential Android design pattern into your app with compatibility back to Android 2.1. For apps targeting RTL languages, there's a new BidiFormatter utility you can use to manage RTL strings with compatibility back to Android 2.1. Also, watch for a new RenderScript feature coming soon that will let you take advantage of hardware-accelerated computation with compatibility back to Android 2.2.

You can get started developing and testing on Android 4.3 right away, in Android Studio or in ADT/Ant. You can download the Android 4.3 Platform (API level 18), as well as the SDK Tools, Platform Tools, and Support Library from the Android SDK Manager.

Join the discussion on



+Android Developers

Chrome's App Launcher, Ready for Windows

Google has yet to officially launch the Chrome app launcher, but there's a simple way to get the launcher right now if you use Windows: go to this page and click "Get the launcher" (the link only works in Chrome for Windows). If you're not signed in to Chrome, you'll need to do that. Probably Google uses Chrome's sync feature to enable the launcher.

Chrome adds a new icon to the taskbar and a new desktop shortcut, at least in Windows. The launcher shows all the apps that are also displayed in Chrome's new tab page. It also shows a search box that lets you quickly launch an app.

Engadget reports that the app launcher has been automatically added for some users. "On our own PCs, the installation placed the launcher app on the start page, taskbar and desktop for Windows 8 and in Windows 7's menu bar."

Chrome's launcher is connected to the new-style Chrome apps. Google wants to move from the old apps that were mostly bookmarks to some new apps that work offline, use powerful APIs that integrate with web services and devices like USB drives and Bluetooth speakers.

Some examples of new-style Chrome apps: Google Keep and Google+ Photos. Both apps work offline, while Google+ Photos automatically uploads the photos from an SD card. More examples here.

It's interesting that Chrome's Web Store is now all about apps. Extensions and themes are still available, but you need to explicitly click "extensions" or "themes" to find them. They're no longer promoted on the homepage and search results show the apps first.

{ via Engadget. Thanks, Florian K. }

Try the New Google Maps (No Invitation Required)

You can now use the new Google Maps interface without requesting an invite. That's a great news, even though invitations weren't hard to get.

You first need to go to maps.google.com/preview and click "Try Now". Google explains that "the new Google Maps draws you a tailored map for every search and click you make. So whatever you're trying to find or wherever you're trying to go, you'll always have a map highlighting the things that matter most."

So what happens after clicking "Try Now"? You see this message: "Sign in with your Google Account to try the new Google Maps."

While search results are better if you are signed in and you also use Google+, it's strange to see that you need to sign in. After all, the mobile apps for Google Maps work even when you're not signed in.

After signing in, Google shows another message: "Almost there... During this preview, we may email you with product updates or to request your feedback. Please let us know what you think!"

Then you can finally use the new Google Maps.

You can sign out and Google Maps will continue to work.

I hope that the new Google Maps won't require a Google Account (or Google+) when it will replace the existing interface. Just like Google Search, Google Maps works well even when it doesn't return personalized results. Google found a way to personalize search results when you're not logged in, maybe Google Maps will do the same.

Full-screen Gmail Compose Box

There are plenty of shortcuts for opening Gmail's compose box in a new tab or a new window. Not many people use keyboard shortcuts and opening the box in a new page is awkward, so Google decided to add an inline full-screen option.

It's not exactly full-screen, it's more like a maximized box that still lets you see your labels and your chat contacts. You can manually enable the "full-screen" mode every time you want to use it or set is as the default option.

"When this option is enabled, the compose window is centered in your inbox and expands to fit on your screen. In addition, the formatting toolbar is on by default. You can click on the expand button in the top right to switch to full-screen or set full-screen as the default by selecting Default to full-screen in the more options menu in the bottom right," informs Google.

There's a help center article that provides more information:

"Compose messages in a window that's right for you. The default is a small compose window that's great for checking other emails as you type and getting things done quickly. If you prefer a larger window, you can switch to full-screen when you need it, or set full-screen as default."

It turns out that the new expand button for the full-screen mode replaces the pop-out button, which opened the compose box in a new window. To open the box in a new window, you now need to shift-click the expand button.

The full-screen mode also works when you reply to a message, but it's more cumbersome to use. "To compose in a larger window, click the Recipient arrow next to the recipient's name and select Pop out reply. Once you've popped out the reply, click the expand icon expand to compose in full-screen."

As usual, this feature is gradually rolling out to all Gmail accounts, so check back later if you don't see it right away. Obviously, this only works in the new compose interface.

Change Chrome's Search Engine to Google.com

Two years ago, I wrote a post that explained how to change the domain used by Chrome when performing a Google search from the omnibox. The trick still works (thanks, Peter Kasting!), but there's a much simpler way to change the Google domain used by Chrome's omnibox from google.tld (your local Google domain) to google.com.

This is only useful if you're not in the US and you'd like to use google.com to see the latest Google features. The nice thing is that it works in the desktop Chrome, in Chrome for Android and Chrome for iOS.

1. Type google.com/ncr in the address bar and search for something (use Google's search box, not the browser's omnibox).

2. Close Chrome. If you're using the desktop Chrome, close all Chrome windows or click Exit in the menu. If you're using the mobile Chrome, press the home button and use your operating system's multitasking feature to force close Chrome. Here are the instructions for iOS. Android instructions are different, depending on the device you use: some Android devices have a button that shows a list of recent apps, while others require to press and hold the home button or double-tap it. Swipe Chrome's thumbnail to force close it.

3. Launch Chrome again, open a new tab and search for something using Chrome's omnibox.

4. You should see an infobar that asks you: "would you like to search with google.com instead of [your local Google domain]?". Click or tap "switch to google.com" and that's all.

The screenshot is from a Nexus 7, but this should work in Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android and iOS. Here's a similar screenshot from Chrome for Windows:

You'll also see google.com instead of your local Google domain in Chrome's settings (this feature is not available in Chrome for iOS).

To go back to your local Google domain, you can use similar instructions. Visit google.tld (replace this with your country's Google domain), search for something, restart the browser, search using Chrome's omnibox and click "switch to google.tld" in the infobar that should show up.

{ Thanks, Sushubh Mittal and Jérôme Flipo. }

Making Beautiful Android App Icons

Posted by Roman Nurik, Android Developer Relations

For most users, the launcher icon (sometimes referred to as the app icon) is the first impression of your app. As higher density screens on both phones and tablets gain popularity, it's important to make sure your launcher icon is crisp and high quality. To do this, make sure you’re including XHDPI (320dpi) and XXHDPI (480dpi) versions of the icon in your app.

In addition to the current launcher icon guidelines, please also refer to these additional important guidelines when creating your icons:

• Launcher icons are 48dp square and should be provided for MDPI, HDPI, XHDPI, and XXHDPI densities—at the very least XHDPI and XXHDPI.


• The 512px Google Play listing icon should have the same content as the launcher icon, except for minor additional badging.


• Launcher icons should be designed specifically for Android. As per the Pure Android design guidelines, avoid mimicking visual elements and styles from other platforms.


• 
  Launcher icons should be three-dimensional, front view, with a slight perspective as if viewed from above, so that users perceive some depth.


• Launcher icons should have a distinct silhouette, meaning that you should avoid simple square/circle icons and instead opt for unique shapes.


• Launcher icons should be simple at the macro level but still detailed at the micro level (e.g. include subtle edge effects, gradients and textures).


• Launcher icons should employ lightweight background protection such as a subtle drop shadow, but it should not be too dark or visually prominent.


• Launcher icons should include between 0dp and 3dp of padding. Vary the padding for optical alignment and weight normalization purposes (e.g. thinner icons can use smaller padding and thicker icons can use less padding for a more consistent icon mass across icons).

Note that tablets and other large screen devices request a launcher icon that is one density size larger than the device's actual density, so you should provide your launcher icon at the highest density possible. For example, if a tablet has an XHDPI screen, it will request the XXHDPI version of the launcher icon.

Join the discussion on



+Android Developers

YouTube Tests Center-Aligned Layout

Nedas Petravičius spotted a new YouTube experiment that changes the user interface: there's a bigger sidebar that's now overlaid, the Dashboard/Video Manager/Analytics menu has been moved to the right corner of the page and the Upload button is blue. YouTube now shows the same sidebar from the homepage on video pages, so you no longer see a list of suggested videos.

The biggest change is that the video page is now centered. YouTube's pages used to be centered, but they're now aligned to the left, ever since YouTube redesigned the pages and added the sidebar guide. There are many extensions and scripts that center the pages.

The new sidebar has a lot in common with the Google+ sidebar. There are some differences: you need to click the menu icon to display/hide the sidebar and the sidebar continues to be displayed when you click one of its options.

Since the sidebar is hidden by default, there's more room for your favorite videos:

This drop-down menu is placed next to the upload button in the regular interface:

Here's a video:

Here's how you can enable the experimental feature. If you use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Internet Explorer 8+:

1. open youtube.com in a new tab

2. load your browser's developer console:

* Chrome/Opera 15 - press Ctrl+Shift+J for Windows/Linux/ChromeOS or Command-Option-J for Mac

* Firefox - press Ctrl+Shift+K for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-K for Mac

* Opera 12 - press Ctrl+Shift+I for Windows/Linux or Command-Option-I for Mac, then click "Console"

* Safari - check this article

* Internet Explorer - press F12 and select the "Console" tab.

3. paste the following code which changes a YouTube cookie:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=ULHzU8CeVLo; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

4. press Enter and close the console.

To go back to the regular interface, use the same instructions, but replace the code from step 3 with this one:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();

{ Thanks, Nedas. }