Newsletter - January 2018

This edition marks our 1 year anniversary ! 2017 was a memorable year with lots of great news: Fabric and Firebase joined forces. Android Instant Apps became publicly available for all developers. Android Studio added support for Kotlin . The Web Components website and AdMob were revamped, while Google Open Source got a new home. We introduced the Google Assistant SDK , ARCore , Cloud Firestore , AMP Start , AIY Projects , and many other developer tools and features. We also started the Google Developers Launchpad Studio to help accelerate applied ML and AI innovation. And together, we celebrated the winners of the 2nd annual Google Play Indie Games Festival .

We hope to bring you more exciting news throughout 2018. Thank you for being a loyal reader.

Android / Google Play

• Congratulations to the newly added Android Excellence apps and games .
• ICYMI, the ARCore SDK Preview 2 is out and includes technical improvements such as a new C API, functionality that enables pausing and resuming sessions, and more.
  
• During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, a number of our OEM partners announced their first set of products powered by Android Things .
  
• If you missed Playtime 2017, we launched innovations to app discovery and engagement on Google Play, as well as new features in the Play Console to improve your app quality and help your business succeed. Watch the session recordings .
  
• Google Play is getting improved app security and performance , including requiring that new apps and app updates target recent Android API levels.
• Don’t forget to vote for your favorite finalist of the Google Play Indie Games Contest in London on February 13th.

Firebase / Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

• Firebase was featured in MightySignal's report as one of the fastest growing SDKs of 2017 . Hurray!
• Cloud Firestore has added Flutter support in FlutterFire. Check out these examples on how to use the Firestore plugins to learn more.
  

Web

• Images take up massive amounts of internet bandwidth because they often have large file sizes. But adding images to a page or making existing images larger have proven to increase conversion rates. Learn how to invest in an efficient compression strategy with these image optimization best practices .

Misc

• Launchpad Space in San Francisco is now 1 year old, and continues to advance its mission of bringing together the tech community to share opportunities to learn, grow successful businesses, and network. On its own, and in its inaugural year, Space engaged over 10K startups, connected them to over 30 Google teams, and brought together entrepreneurs and developers from 179 countries. Find upcoming events .
  
• Class 5 of Launchpad Accelerator just kicked off with 24 new global startups. Startups like Mapan and EdGE Networks who were part of previous classes have seen success since graduating from the program! Express interest in applying .
  
• Actions on Google just got a new directory, increased device availability, and improved smart home controls.
  
• Be the first to hear about new Google open source releases by following the Google Open Source newly launched Twitter , Facebook , and Google+ accounts.
  
• Googler Mustafa Kurtuldu offers some research and design approaches to improve mobile performance - both perceived and measured.
  
• GAPID (Graphics API Debugger) is a new 3D debugging tool to diagnose rendering and performance issues and save you precious development time.
• To help you find more valuable users for your app, check out the first course of our new AdWords Universal App Campaign (UAC) education program. Zynga, a mobile gaming company, saw a 54% higher return than their target goal by using UAC .