Google to use open-source sensors to monitor I/O conference

Google will literally track the footsteps of developers attending the annual Google I/O conference in San Francisco this week as part of an effort to understand how visitors navigate and behave at the event.

The Google Cloud Platform Development Relations team announced in a blogpost on Monday that it is running an experiment with O'Reilly Data Sensing Lab, which will see hundreds of Arduino-based environmental sensors deployed across the Moscone Centre to monitor what is going on at all times.

The open-source sensors will work with software based on the Google Cloud Platform to record real-time information on temperature, humidity and air quality. The system will also record noise levels and footsteps to understand where people are in the conference centre.

Google is using hundreds of open-source sensors to record conditions at the annual I/O conference (Photo: Google)

The Arduino hardware designs and the information collected during the conference will be available online when the conference has finished.

The results of the experiment could impact the way that conferences and corporate events are run as they could highlight which parts of the conference were busy and which parts generated little interest.

"Networked sensor technology is in the early stages of revolutionising business logistics, city planning, and consumer products," writes blogpost author and Google developer programs engineer Michael Manoochehri. "We are looking forward to sharing the Data Sensing Lab with Google I/O attendees, because we want to show how using open hardware together with the Google Cloud Platform can make this technology accessible to anyone."

Google I/O runs from May 15 to May 17 and will be attended by those that managed to get a $900 (£590) ticket before they sold out, less than one hour after going on sale.

Some of the major announcements made at last year's event included Google Glass, the Nexus 7 and Android 4.1(Jelly Bean).

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Google adds Gladstone, Mo., as fifth recipient of Google Fiber

(Credit: Google)

Google's Fiber web is growing a little bigger in the Midwest.

The Gladstone, Mo., city council on Monday approved expansion of the Web giant's speedy Internet and video service into the Kansas City suburb, Google announced Monday.

Already available in Kansas City, the first location to get the high-speed Internet service, Google Fiber's expansion plans have been picking up speed in recent months. The Gladstone decision comes a little more than a week after Shawnee, Kan. -- another city located near Kansas City -- voted to bring Google Fiber to its residents. Google also plans to install the network in Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah.

As usual, Google cautioned that planning and installation of the gigabit Internet service takes time and there is no firm timetable for service to begin in Gladstone.

The acceleration in rollout plans comes about a year after Google launched its 1-gigabit-per-second broadband service in Kansas City and unveiled a new interactive television service called Google Fiber TV. Google offers three packages, including the high-end $120 a month for the Gigabit and Fiber TV service package, $70 for 1Gbps broadband only, and the cost-free but limited-time service of 5Mbps download speeds and 1Mbps uploads.

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Google, Microsoft Make Improvements to Drive, SkyDrive

On Monday, Google said that it's unifying the virtual cloud storage used by Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos, offering one lump volume instead of dedicating 10 GB for Gmail alone and allowing Drive and Google+ Photos to share another 5 GB. This will eliminate the worry about what users are storing and where.

"For example, maybe you’re a heavy Gmail user but light on photos, or perhaps you were bumping up against your Drive storage limit but were only using 2 GB in Gmail," said Clay Bavor, Director of Product Management. "Now it doesn’t matter, because you can use your storage the way you want."

To make the combined data management easier, Google will be making some updates to the Drive storage page. Users can simply hover over the pie chart to see a breakdown of their storage use across Drive, Gmail, and Google+ Photos. If additional storage is needed, then this is the place to upgrade, with plans starting at $4.99/month for 100 GB.

"This change means you’re no longer limited to a 25 GB upgrade in Gmail—any additional storage you purchase now applies there, too," he said. "These changes to Google Drive storage will roll out over the next couple of weeks. Google Apps users will also be getting shared storage."

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced several improvements to SkyDrive that make it easier to upload and manage photos in the cloud. This includes an "all photos view," which allows the user to scroll through all their stored photos in one seamless timeline experience, up to 3x faster upload speeds, and improved thumbnails.

"Thumbnails make it easier to find the file you're looking for, and so we're also introducing some changes to our thumbnails view," said Omar Shahine, Group Program Manager of SkyDrive.com. "We worked hard to improve the readability of the files and folders you have in SkyDrive and are introducing new thumbnails for your PowerPoint and Word files."

SkyDrive also now supports full resolution uploads of photos and videos in all markets where Windows Phone 8 is available. Now everyone with a Windows Phone 8 can have a complete backup of all the photos they take in their SkyDrive camera roll.

"We’ve also been hard at work addressing the feedback we’ve received about how long it sometimes takes to upload via the SkyDrive desktop app," he said. "To improve upload times, we worked on changes to both the app and the server code. The end result is that in our internal tests, we’ve seen a 2-3x improvement in upload times for photos."

Changes to SkyDrive will begin today and roll out over the next 24 hours.

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Gmail iOS App Now Opens Links in Chrome, YouTube, Google Maps

Google on Monday released an update to its Gmail iOS app that allows for links to be opened in other Google apps, provided they are installed on a user's iOS device.


If you have the Gmail and Chrome for iOS apps installed on your iPhone, for example, a link sent to you in an email will open in the Chrome browser rather than Apple's pre-loaded Safari browser.


The same goes for YouTube and Google Maps. A video link emailed to your Gmail account will open in YouTube, while directions or an address will bypass Apple Maps and open in Google Maps, provided both apps are installed on your iOS gadget.


Those who would prefer to stick with Safari or Apple Maps can change their settings within the Gmail app to specify which program should open various links.


This does not apply to Gmail accounts added to Apple's Mail app.


The update, meanwhile, also adds support for signing out of a single account instead of having to sign out of all accounts at once.


Over the last year, Google has been rolling out standalone apps on iOS for several of its most popular products. The search giant started at last year's Google I/O with Chrome for iOS. Like the desktop version of Chrome, the iOS app syncs across devices. Pull up pages that you looked at on your PC or iPhone via the iPad, or vice versa.


Later that year, prior to the launch of iOS 6, Google released its iOS app for YouTube. Apple's iOS 6 removed YouTube as a pre-installed app on iOS, so Google had to create one for the App Store before the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 were released in late September.


With iOS 6, Apple also replaced Google Maps with the much-maligned Apple Maps. After three months of incorrect directions and bizarre renderings on Apple Maps, Google Maps for iOS finally arrived for the iPhone, though we're still waiting on a version for iPad.


For more, see PCMag's reviews of YouTube for iPad and Google Maps (for iPhone), as well as Chrome for iPhone and iPad and Gmail for iPhone.

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