Google I/O 2015 Conference Live Stream and Blog
Hey all! Google's I/O 2015 conference falls on Thursday and Friday this year, May 28th and 29th of 2015. I've decided to include a live stream below, so it's easy for people remote to follow along, as well as live posting some of my favorite talks and updates! Enjoy the stream below and stay tuned for my updates, where I will highlight cool new security features and Android features below the steam!!
Live Update (Day1 9:00am PT):
Keynote kicks off in a half hour! While we wait it was cool to watch a giant conference sized game of Pong being played via projectors in the main conference room.
Live Update (Day1 9:45am PT): Keynote
A lot of this keynote covered the explosive growth and market share of Android. One of the key facts cited that I noted is that, "8 out of 10 mobile devices shipping today are running Android". Now they are starting to put Android into automobiles, with Android-Auto! Android-TV is also growing massively, with large retailers such as Sony using it, as well as Chromecast! Google announced App Permissions, you can now selectively agree to app permissions that make sense to you, such that an application will now ask for permissions the first time it tries to use a feature, no longer at instillation! This is a one time request (although you can modify those selected permissions in settings), however it gives the users selective control over permissions, which was unheard of before (it was all or nothing at install). They also added in platform application linking, which is a secure and interesting way to handle links to sites, which then redirect to specific applications. Android Pay was also another big announcement, using NFC to perform transactions. This is interesting because it dosn't use your real credit card to perform the transaction, but rather a sudo-account number managed by Google. They also introducing system support for fingerprint readers, which can be used from an API perspective to integrate fingerprint support or from a user perspective can use this to authenticate stuff such as Android Pay.
Live Update (Day1 1:00pm PT): What's new in Android?
Talking more about Android M, of specific note is again the user getting full control of App Permissions, both at use and in Settings. There will be an entire session on App Permissions in M, later in Google I/O 2015. There were also lots of quality updates to the OS, although less security updates.
Live Update (Day1 2:00pm PT): What's New in Android Development Tools?
New compiler for Android applications called Jack! They are also releasing a suite of Android testing libraries, a virtual lab environment to enable testing, and even Google Play Store testing!
Live Update (Day1 3:00pm PT): Android Pay: The next generation of payments on Android
This talk was great, as it discussed how Google opened up key APIs for developers to be able to use the NFC components on Android phones, to enable Android Pay. Android Pay will work on any carrier phone that supports KitKat or greater. Further, they worked with the payment networks to avoid storing any actual credit card data on the phone, but rather a secure token that authorizes payments through Android Pay (a great security feature)! The Android Pay feature is also protected with the screen lock, requiring that extra step of verification before a payment is processed. This was followed with some live demos of Android Pay for the first time on stage, which worked flawlessly on stage (despite leaking the presenters lock screen code)! The next demo showed Android Pay being used with a vending machine (and apparently there are already 85k vending machines equipped w/ Android Pay support around the world). Android Pay also supports in app purchases, which is again secured with an additional unlock authentication screen.
Live Update (Day1 4:00pm PT): Making apps context aware: Opportunities, tools, lessons and the future
This talk was all about using the sensors built into the phone to bring more context to the actions we take on the phone. This was an interesting talk, as they introduced a bunch of security controls that revolved around sensor data. One example was an unlocked phone, gets picked up, walked around with, and then was still unlocked, based on 'On-Body' detection. This also introduced Trusted Places, which can keep the device unlocked in selected places (based on the Place Picker and Geofencing APIs). This was all rolled into the Activity Recognition API, which attempts to detect the physical activity in action and then lets the application developers trigger events based on these physical activities.
Live Update (Day2 11:00am PT): Helping Moonshots Survive Contact with the Real World
This was a very interesting talk, but I only caught some of it, discussing interesting projects used and tested by GoogleX. It presented a very interesting and pragmatic methodology of failing fast and finding huge hangups which restrict such projects. This was a good presentation not only for the insight into GoogleX but also as advice for feeling out the potential success factor of any project.
Live Update (Day2 2:00pm PT): Android M Permissions
Back into Android! And this time into the nitty gritty details of what was covered in the key note regarding the granular, accept at run-time, permission model of Android M. In the past with Android we've seen limited control over app permissions, install friction with the all or nothing model, amd no control over permission control in regards to updates. Android M introduces fewer and simpler permissions, prompts the user for access at run time, and finally the user can audit all permissions granted to apps through the settings. New high-level permissions groups also simplify things, reducing the groups to: location, camera, microphone, phone, sms, contacts, calendar, sensors. This also enables app installs and updates to happen automatically and seamlessly as permissions are now granted at run time vs the install wall. This is also unique per user, so different users can run the same apps differently as they see fit. Apps can ask for privileges multiple times (if rejected), but subsequent requests can also be permanently silenced by users, creating interesting new dynamics with apps and users. Finally, with all apps now subject to toggle permissions in their settings, the users finally have the power to concisely audit the permissions exposed on their phone. This even works for apps published before M that are now running on M (lol can't wait to see what that breaks). Really looking forward to this fine grained permissions control that has been missing from Android for a long while, basically can't wait to main one of the Android M phones!
Live Update (Day1 9:00am PT):
Keynote kicks off in a half hour! While we wait it was cool to watch a giant conference sized game of Pong being played via projectors in the main conference room.
Live Update (Day1 9:45am PT): Keynote
A lot of this keynote covered the explosive growth and market share of Android. One of the key facts cited that I noted is that, "8 out of 10 mobile devices shipping today are running Android". Now they are starting to put Android into automobiles, with Android-Auto! Android-TV is also growing massively, with large retailers such as Sony using it, as well as Chromecast! Google announced App Permissions, you can now selectively agree to app permissions that make sense to you, such that an application will now ask for permissions the first time it tries to use a feature, no longer at instillation! This is a one time request (although you can modify those selected permissions in settings), however it gives the users selective control over permissions, which was unheard of before (it was all or nothing at install). They also added in platform application linking, which is a secure and interesting way to handle links to sites, which then redirect to specific applications. Android Pay was also another big announcement, using NFC to perform transactions. This is interesting because it dosn't use your real credit card to perform the transaction, but rather a sudo-account number managed by Google. They also introducing system support for fingerprint readers, which can be used from an API perspective to integrate fingerprint support or from a user perspective can use this to authenticate stuff such as Android Pay.
Live Update (Day1 1:00pm PT): What's new in Android?
Talking more about Android M, of specific note is again the user getting full control of App Permissions, both at use and in Settings. There will be an entire session on App Permissions in M, later in Google I/O 2015. There were also lots of quality updates to the OS, although less security updates.
Live Update (Day1 2:00pm PT): What's New in Android Development Tools?
New compiler for Android applications called Jack! They are also releasing a suite of Android testing libraries, a virtual lab environment to enable testing, and even Google Play Store testing!
Live Update (Day1 3:00pm PT): Android Pay: The next generation of payments on Android
This talk was great, as it discussed how Google opened up key APIs for developers to be able to use the NFC components on Android phones, to enable Android Pay. Android Pay will work on any carrier phone that supports KitKat or greater. Further, they worked with the payment networks to avoid storing any actual credit card data on the phone, but rather a secure token that authorizes payments through Android Pay (a great security feature)! The Android Pay feature is also protected with the screen lock, requiring that extra step of verification before a payment is processed. This was followed with some live demos of Android Pay for the first time on stage, which worked flawlessly on stage (despite leaking the presenters lock screen code)! The next demo showed Android Pay being used with a vending machine (and apparently there are already 85k vending machines equipped w/ Android Pay support around the world). Android Pay also supports in app purchases, which is again secured with an additional unlock authentication screen.
Live Update (Day1 4:00pm PT): Making apps context aware: Opportunities, tools, lessons and the future
This talk was all about using the sensors built into the phone to bring more context to the actions we take on the phone. This was an interesting talk, as they introduced a bunch of security controls that revolved around sensor data. One example was an unlocked phone, gets picked up, walked around with, and then was still unlocked, based on 'On-Body' detection. This also introduced Trusted Places, which can keep the device unlocked in selected places (based on the Place Picker and Geofencing APIs). This was all rolled into the Activity Recognition API, which attempts to detect the physical activity in action and then lets the application developers trigger events based on these physical activities.
Live Update (Day2 11:00am PT): Helping Moonshots Survive Contact with the Real World
This was a very interesting talk, but I only caught some of it, discussing interesting projects used and tested by GoogleX. It presented a very interesting and pragmatic methodology of failing fast and finding huge hangups which restrict such projects. This was a good presentation not only for the insight into GoogleX but also as advice for feeling out the potential success factor of any project.
Live Update (Day2 2:00pm PT): Android M Permissions
Back into Android! And this time into the nitty gritty details of what was covered in the key note regarding the granular, accept at run-time, permission model of Android M. In the past with Android we've seen limited control over app permissions, install friction with the all or nothing model, amd no control over permission control in regards to updates. Android M introduces fewer and simpler permissions, prompts the user for access at run time, and finally the user can audit all permissions granted to apps through the settings. New high-level permissions groups also simplify things, reducing the groups to: location, camera, microphone, phone, sms, contacts, calendar, sensors. This also enables app installs and updates to happen automatically and seamlessly as permissions are now granted at run time vs the install wall. This is also unique per user, so different users can run the same apps differently as they see fit. Apps can ask for privileges multiple times (if rejected), but subsequent requests can also be permanently silenced by users, creating interesting new dynamics with apps and users. Finally, with all apps now subject to toggle permissions in their settings, the users finally have the power to concisely audit the permissions exposed on their phone. This even works for apps published before M that are now running on M (lol can't wait to see what that breaks). Really looking forward to this fine grained permissions control that has been missing from Android for a long while, basically can't wait to main one of the Android M phones!