Google I/O 2017: What you need to know

Google I/O 2017 (17th-19th May) has come to a close and the internet giant has yet again blown away our minds with their adventurous yet futuristic vision.

The predominant theme for this year’s event was AI — Google is adding AI to anything and everything and it is, to be honest, pretty damn cool!

In case you missed the event, we’ve got you covered. Here are the key announcements which we, at Axioned, are very excited about:

• Google.ai — Research and tools from Google and its Brain Team are made available to everyone. This is AI done the right way!
• Kotlin + Android — Now you can code your Android apps in Kotlin instead of Java, adds more features, more options for developers.
• Daydream 2.0 — You won’t need a PC or phone to experience VR. It will track virtual space with “WorldSense” powered by its Tango augmented reality system. Google is partnering up with HTC and Lenovo to build these standalone VR headsets.

• Google Assistant — Started from Pixel, this has made its way to millions of Android AND — wait for it — iOS devices! It now adds third-party apps support, allowing you to do more with such integrations.
• Android O — This was one of the most anticipated news with 2 Billion people using Android devices, 800 million monthly active users. Now available in beta, Android O (still not named) adds in features like picture-in-picture, notification dots and lots more.

No, that’s not all, by no means. Here are some of the other things that Google is showcased in its annual developer conference:

• Google Home v2 — Stepping up the game, adds proactive assistance — nudges when Google thinks you need it. Have an upcoming appointment? It can alert you to traffic delays in advance for the event, and more.
• Google Lens — Point the camera at something and it will figure out what that is. Whoa! (Coming soon)

• Shared Libraries and more for Google Photos
• 2nd-gen Tensor Processing Units — Its own tensor processing units chips for machine learning, with 180 teraflops of performance.

With all the buzz this year around AI and VR/AR, it is an exhilarating time for us here at Axioned (and developers everywhere) as we take steps toward embracing these into our products and services.