How did you end up at Google I/O?
Dasha: We participated in a competition in Spring, Google Code Jam to I/O for Women, and as prizes we won tickets to this conference. Part of our flights and accommodation were also paid for. Two graduates from the Chair of Computer Technologies, Ekaterina Titkova and Nadya Citdykova also came with us. Without that opportunity, the invitation would’ve costed about $900.
What did you do at the conference? What new things did you learn?
Dasha: There was around 1,000 people altogether at the conference, from developers and startupers to investors from all around the world. Google specialists shared presentations, lectures and workshops of their latest work, and participants could ask questions. There were so many people at the conference since it was its tenth anniversary, that there were queues for the sessions, some people didn’t even make it inside sometimes as there was not enough space. It was a great opportunity to meet others, make new contacts and find partners. Networking was one of the purposes of the conference.
Did you manage to make some useful contacts?
Dasha: We talked with a representative from the Google Development Group in Russia. He said that the St. Petersburg Google office is still not well developed. So we decided that we will try sort out this situation with the help of the participants of Google I/O from ITMO University, and try to have more events. We also talked with some girls who organize a program called Google’s Women Techmakers – a project for supporting female programmers. We discovered that there is no representative for this programme in St. Petersburg, so we will start moving this forward. In general, at the conference you can find many specialists in any field, from game developers to educators. We discussed issues with education in the US and Russia with a woman from New York.
What were the most interesting products presented at Google, in your opinion?
Nastya: At the opening of the conference the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai said that we should try to stay ahead of our users. For example, creating an application that doesn’t require updates. Now you have to constantly download them and this takes time. And there are situations when you need an application immediately, for finding your way around a new city or finding a hospital. With new technology, you can download everything you need for the file to work by opening a link in the application. This is easier for people to interact with, improving IT usability.
There was a device that gives you wireless internet in any location in the world, it uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere, which receives satellite signals. Another really interesting design was a videochat from Google. Right now when you call someone through an app it’s hard to tell if its urgent or if they just want to chat. Sometimes you answer a call just to be polite even when it’s not a suitable time, and you discover that the person doesn’t have anything important to share. While other times you miss an important call because you are afraid that they just want to chat. With this videochat you can see the image of the person while it is still ringing and it can help you to decide whether or not you want to answer the call.
The developers at the conference could create their own applications using Google tools, and could test features that are not yet launched on the market.
There were some technical updates. I liked the product that allows you to test applications with user responses. Now when a person uses an application, and he has some issue, the developer receives this information. Google introduced a platform that allows this information to be sent to the developer. This helps to improve functionality and monetize the application.
Dasha: I think that the Google Allo messaging app will be a serious competition for current messaging apps. There’s one really interesting function. When you want to express certain feelings or emotions while texting, you usually have to send some kind of emoticon. With Google Allo you can show the degree of your feeling, by increasing or decreasing the size of the emoticon. There was another very advanced product – Google Home, which allows you to control your home devices and receive necessary information from the internet through a voice control. For example, you can ask the system to turn on your favourite film, and it launches. You can also ask what the weather is. This is something like OK Google, except for home. Many of the R & D presented were related to Google Watch.
Did you become inspired with new ideas from any of the work you saw?
Dasha: At the conference, some work was presented on machine learning in art. The inventor showed how he imports some kind of image from a painting into the program. Then you can ask the program to retrieve the painting with that image, for example, a horse, but even if the horse isn’t the central figure in the painting, it can still find it. Another function of the program is to find similar images that the person just can’t find. This is artificial intelligence and I want to learn more about this.
In fact, I received an invitation to the AndroidCamp, which will be running in Summer in the UK. There, together with a team of developers, you can create a real program.
Nastya: After getting to know some Google products and participating in some lectures, I remembered programming on Android, and I wanted to start learning how to do this, and write some kind of application. It was really useful to learn about new tools for developers.
Tell us a bit about the atmosphere at Google Village, what’s it like there?
Dasha: They didn’t allow the conference participants to go inside the building where the programmers are working. But from the outside everything is really nice, and people friendly. Googlers live there and don’t go anywhere; it’s like a mini-city for programmers where the most well-known global IT-company is focused.
Nastya: It’s very roomy, lots of greenery, gardens and parks, where programmers can have picnics with their families and play Frisbee. We went bike-riding on bikes that you can rent for free on Google grounds. Next year, I’d like to re-visit this place, after having gone to the conference.
