just wrapped up a massive keynote presentation at its annual I/O developers conference, which culminated in a surprise appearance by CEO
.
Page gave an insightful speech about where he sees technology moving, noting that we as a race have only achieved 1% of what we're capable of. In a surprising move from a CEO of a major company, Page then took questions from the audience where he touched on everything from getting more women involved in technology to Google's future in the real world with projects like self-driving cars.
Before Page's appearance, Google's executives showed off a slew of new products and updates to existing products. Google+ has a brand new look, there's a new streaming music service, and Google Maps is getting a massive, gorgeous update.
A lot happened, so check out our stream of events below to catch up on all the news that happened today.
11:39 AM | We just sat down. Show will start in about 20 minutes.
11:40 AM | The place is packed. Over 6,000 developers and hundreds of members of the press.
11:52 AM | Google is playing some Beastie Boys now! Seven minutes to go...
11:57 AM | The crowd is getting pumped. Lots of cheering and chanting. And developers wearing Android hats.
11:58 AM | Here's a look at Google's setup outside the conference hall.
11:59 AM | Less than a minute to go!
11:59 AM | People are screaming and cheering.
11:59 AM | We're starting!
12:01 PM | We're watching a quick intro video showing off some of Google's flagship products like Android, its Nexus phones and tablets, Chrome, etc.
12:02 PM | Vic Gundotra, the Google+ boss, is on stage now.
12:03 PM | "I hope you're going to be delighted by some of the surprises we have in store for you this morning."
This is a big thank you to the 6,000 developers in attendance today.
12:03 PM | Now Sundar Pichai, the new Android boss, is on stage.
12:05 PM | "Most of you in the audience have lived through the PC revolution."
Most people in the world used one operating system, Windows. With the advent of smartphones and other mobile devices...people are adopting web-connected devices.
12:05 PM | He's showing off that famous photo taken during the election of the new Pope where people are taking photos with tablets and smartphones.
12:07 PM | Android is now the most popular mobile operating system in the world.
12:07 PM | Chrome is now the most popular browser used in the world.
12:08 PM | Now we're gonna talk more Android.
12:09 PM | We're going to see how much Android has grown in the past year.
12:10 PM | There have been 900 million Android activations to date.
12:11 PM | 900 million is an impressive number. Android was at 400 million activations a year ago.
12:11 PM | Now Hugo Barra is on stage.
12:12 PM | Barra says there have been 48 billion Android app installs.
12:12 PM | More money being paid out to developers. Revenue per Android user 2.5 times more than it was a year ago.
12:13 PM | Barra is going to go over a few new Android tools for developers.
This is a pretty wonky explanation. Barra is talking about Google Services, which are tools Android developers can use to make apps.
One new tool is a location API that will greatly reduce the battery life your phone's GPS uses. That's a big deal because many location apps suck away battery power.
Another tool is called Activity Recognition. It can automatically figure out if the user is walking, driving, or biking. This will be useful for mapping apps.
Developers can also use Google+ so users can sign into a service on the website and log into the Android app at the same time.
12:16 PM | Here's Hugo Barra.
12:21 PM | Most of this talk is very developer-focused so far. The tools they're going over will make it so developers can make some really cool and useful Android apps.
12:22 PM | Gaming: Google Play Game Services
This means players can save their games virtually. You can start a game on your phone and pick up playing where you left off on your tablet.
Google+ Circles will let you compare stats and scores in games with your friends. It'll also work on iPhone/iPad and the Web.
12:25 PM | Now we're getting a demo of how Game Services works. Three players are playing a racing game together over the Web on different Android devices.
12:25 PM | Uh-Oh! The demo failed! The crowd clapped anyway.
12:26 PM | They tried again, but the demo didn't work at all. Moving on...
12:26 PM | Here's the setup screen when you play an Android game with your friends over the Internet.
12:28 PM | Android Studio: This is another demo of some wonky developer tools that will make your Android apps better. This is really only interesting to developers.
12:30 PM | Here's a look at the gaming companies that will take advantage of those new virtual gaming services we mentioned earlier.
12:32 PM | Whoops. The teleprompter broke. They now have to ad-lib the presentation.
12:33 PM | Looks like the teleprompter is working again.
12:34 PM | Google is now going over some more tools that will help developers see if people are downloading their apps, how much they're paying, etc.
It also encourages developers to make tablet version of their apps, which is a good move. Android tablets usually just run bigger versions of the smartphone apps, which doesn't look good on a large screen.
12:36 PM | Here's a look at some of the developer tools.
12:40 PM | Chris Yerga, the Google Play engineer, is on stage now.
He's going to talk about some new features in the Android app store that will make it easier for you to find apps.
12:43 PM | There's going to be a new section to help you find tablet-optimized apps. Again, this is Google basically begging developers to make apps for big-screen tablets.
12:43 PM | Here's Yerga showing off the new Google Play features.
12:44 PM | Time to talk about music...
12:45 PM | "We set out to build a music service that didn't just give you access to music, but also gave you a guide to it."
12:46 PM | Google Play Music All Access: This is a subscription music service similar to Spotify.
We're getting a demo now.
12:47 PM | The service recommends music to listen to.
It has editors that curate songs.
12:47 PM | You can also create a Pandora-like radio station based on what you're listening to.
12:47 PM | Here's a look at the music discovery tool.
12:49 PM | You can search for songs using the search bar at the top.
You can add songs to your playlists and listen to songs you have stored in your virtual file locker.
12:50 PM | The "Listen Now" feature shows you stuff from your library so you can just start listening to music immediately without searching.
The menu changes based on what you've listened to recently and what's stored in your online locker.
12:51 PM | All Access will cost $9.99 per month, with a 30-day free trial. (Same price as Spotify) Launches today in the US. Additional countries soon.
If you sign up before June 30, you only have to pay $7.99 per month.
12:51 PM | Here's what it looks like when playing a song.
12:52 PM | Hugo Barra is back on stage to discus more about Android devices.
12:52 PM | Barra is praising hardware partners like Samsung and HTC.
12:53 PM | He's holding up a Galaxy S4 that's running a pure version of Android without Samsung's modifications.
12:54 PM | Google will sell an unlocked model of the Galaxy S4 running the clean version of Android. On Sale June 26 for $649 through Google.
The crowd was not happy about the price. Lots of grumbles.
12:56 PM | Sundar Pichai is back on stage to talk about Chrome.
12:58 PM | He's going over the current Chromebook computers, including the gorgeous Chromebook Pixel.
1:00 PM | Here's a chart showing how Chrome has grown.
1:00 PM | Now we're looking at a demo of how touch controls work in the Chrome Web browser.
It's pretty impressive. The demo shows a game from "The Hobbit" movie with 3D graphics and touch controls. Not bad for a game running entirely in the browser.
1:02 PM | Linus Upson, the lead Chrome engineer, is on stage now.
He's talking about some developer tools for Chrome that will improve speed and image loading.
He also showed off some tools that will make shopping online easier on Chrome for mobile devices and others that will make designing for the Web look the same on any device.
1:13 PM | Here's a look at the touchscreen gaming in Chrome that we discussed earlier.
1:15 PM | Ok, this is pretty cool. We're watching a demo of five different devices playing the same game all in a Chrome Web browser. Neat!
1:18 PM | Everyone in the room gets a free Chromebook Pixel.
The Pixel is a great computer with a high-resolution touchscreen. The crowd went nuts.
1:21 PM | Now we're talking about education.
Google has some new tools that make it easy for teachers to send apps to their students' tablets.
Schools can make purchase orders for apps in a special version of the Android store.
1:29 PM | Next up: Google+, Search, and Maps
1:30 PM | Vic Gundotra back on stage to talk about Google+
1:30 PM | 41 new Google+ features coming today.
New stream design and new photos.
1:33 PM | We're getting a look at the new Google+ stream
It's really pretty. It has a multi-column design with content shared by your friends. Posts like photos and videos can span multiple columns. There are some really neat animations for menus too.
1:33 PM | Related hashtags: This will analyze the content of your posts and show you other similar posts.
1:35 PM | It can also do image analysis and show you similar photos of the same thing. You can click to scroll through the photos.
1:35 PM | The Google+ changes roll out this afternoon.
1:35 PM | Moving on to Hangouts, Google+'s video chat.
Big lead up here. Gundotra criticized Apple's chatting tools for only working with other Apple devices.
1:38 PM | New application: Hangouts
It's a standalone app. The app keeps all your shared photos and texts in one stream. You can also video chat with your groups of friends. It syncs across all devices: web, Android, iOS. The app launches today. It's kind of like GroupMe and Facebook Messages merged together.
1:42 PM | Moving on to photos...
1:43 PM | You can now upload full resolution photos to Google+
You can't do that on popular services like Instagram or Facebook.
1:45 PM | Highlights: Google will automatically pick out the best photos in a large photo album.
How does it know?
It takes out blurry images and duplicates.
It can also recognize landmarks and feature those photos.
The machine algorithms can tell if people are smiling and can pick out pretty shots.
Finally, it recognizes people close to you and features photos with them in it.
1:47 PM | Google can also automatically enhance your photos to make them look better.
1:54 PM | Auto Awesome: Takes several action shots and makes a GIF. It's pretty clever. Google+ does it automatically. You'll see it show up in your Google+ albums later today.
It can also tell if you've taken multiple photos of the same group of people and composite a photo where they're all smiling.
1:55 PM | Moving on to search...
1:56 PM | "The end of search as we know it"
1:58 PM | This is about the dream of bringing you the stuff you want to find without telling a computer so.
1:59 PM | Talking about the Knowledge Graph
This is Google's search tool that brings you the answer to the questions you ask.?
Eventually, Knowledge Graph will be able to anticipate what question you'll ask next based on older searches.
2:01 PM | Converse: "Ask Google a question like you would ask a friend."
This is already available on mobile phones, but now it's part of Chrome for desktop.
You don't even have to touch a button. Just say "Okay, Google" and ask your question.
2:04 PM | Google Now (This is the voice-powered assistant that's better than Apple's Siri.)
Google Now getting an update that lets you set your own reminders.
2:05 PM | Now we're getting a demo.
Hands free: "Okay, Google. Show me things to do in Santa Cruz."
Very cool!
It's really smart. You can ask it any kind of question you want. You speak to Google naturally. No typing necessary.
"How long will it take me to drive to Santa Cruz beach?" ?? Google shows you directions with Google Maps and tells you how long it'll take to get there.
2:11 PM | Google Now can also control actions on your Android phone
You can set reminders, send emails, etc. "Remind me to call Katie next Wednesday."
Reminders can work on times, dates, locations. For example, you can say, "Remind me to take out the garbage when I get home," and Google Now will remind you.
2:14 PM | In short, that was an incredible demo of Google Now. This is the future.
2:15 PM | Moving on to Google Maps...
2:18 PM | 50 countries now have Google Street view in Google Maps.
2:20 PM | More than 1 million websites integrate Google Maps.
2:20 PM | (Google is expected to announce a new look for Google Maps, but we're just getting a bunch of stats right now.)
2:22 PM | Daniel Graf, director of Google Maps on stage now.
Talking about the launch of Google Maps on iPhone. "...and most importantly, it's accurate." Nice jab at Google.
2:23 PM | New Google Maps app coming for Android and iOS.
The app includes Zagat integration for restaurant and venue reviews.
You can search for basic stuff like "coffee." Google Maps also integrates offers from big brands like Starbucks. You can redeem the offer within the app.
2:27 PM | New navigation features
Traffic view will alert you when there's an accident on your route.
Dynamic rerouting: Google can warn you of poor conditions ahead and change your rout.
2:28 PM | Google Maps is coming to tablet-sized devices with more features
Includes the iPad.
2:30 PM | The new Google Maps app is coming this summer.
2:32 PM | Google Maps is getting a new look on desktop. The design is much simpler than before.
There's a gorgeous full screen mode. The side bar is now gone.
It also connects to Google+ so you can get recommendations on venues that your friends like. You can even peek inside of venues like restaurants.
It uses Google Now data to learn your habits and get better the more you use it.
If you click on a certain area in Google Maps, road names and landmarks will automatically pop up. It also recommends other similar places to explore.
There's a new schedule viewer for public transit, walking, or biking. It tells you exactly how long it'll take for you to get somewhere.
2:40 PM | Google added 3D buildings just like Apple Maps.
It looks incredibly realistic. Gorgeous. And it's all done within the browser. You can also take a 3D tour inside of buildings. This is an amazing demo.
Users can upload their own photos inside buildings and add to Google Maps.
2:43 PM | Google Earth shows real time weather conditions, plus the positioning of the stars in space. Wow.
2:43 PM | New Google Maps launches today.
2:44 PM | Larry Page is on stage.
2:45 PM | Larry looks and sounds good. Remember, he just came forth yesterday about his illness that paralyzed his vocal cords.
2:46 PM | Page is talking about the importance of science and technology for young people.
He's going over the importance of building great experiences across all the various devices we use today.?
"Technology should do the hard work so people can do the things that make them the happiest in life."
2:50 PM | "We haven't seen this rate of change in computing in a long time...I think we're here because we share a deep sense of optimism."
2:51 PM | "We're really only at 1% of what's possible, and maybe even less than that...we're still moving slow."
2:51 PM | "We should be building great things that don't exist."
2:51 PM | "Being negative is not how we make progress."
2:53 PM | "I'm sure people in the future will think were just as crazy as we think people in the past were."
2:53 PM | "Imagine how self-driving cars will change our lives."
2:54 PM | "Now to get there we need more people...more kids falling in love with math and science...more people working on important technological problems."
2:55 PM | "I think today we're still just scratching the surface of what's possible. That's why I'm so excited Google is working on the platforms supporting all your innovations."
2:55 PM | Page is going to take questions from the audience.
2:57 PM | Robert Scoble is the first to ask a question. Larry Page jokes that he didn't like the picture of Scoble in the shower wearing Google Glass.
2:58 PM | Scoble asks about Glass -- what will it be like when finished?
Devices will eventually understand context in your life and make your life better. But we're at the early stages.
3:00 PM | Mozilla employee asks what the future of the Web will look like
Says companies need to add interoperation with other companies. "I've been sad the industries hasn't been able to advance those things...focus on negativity and zero-sum games."
3:03 PM | Another audience member asks how Google will let us protect freedom of speech
"We have a strong desire for freedom of speech and free flow of information."
Make sure we talk to government leaders around the world to advance that.?
Making sure we protect private information, ensure computer security...and being as transparent as we can about requests we get from governments.
3:04 PM | Next question about Google Fiber and super fast Internet
"I think it's kind of sad we have all these computers out there and they're all connected to each other through a tiny little pipe that's super slow."
We know if we build that capacity, we'll be able to build those computers to do great things.
3:09 PM | Next: Can you elaborate on real-world initiatives like self-driving cars?
Google X is focused on these projects. Sergei Brin is heading up these projects.
"Possibilities for some of those things are incredible great."
Technology in transportation hasn't really started yet...it's also a way the company can scale. All our products are interrelated.
When we launched Gmail people said we were nuts because we were a search company...but we new a lot about data centers etc...it was great we did it.
No matter how much money we try to spend on automated cars, etc...they end up being small chunks so they don't end up being a business issue.
3:11 PM | Another Google Glass question...when is it coming?
Glass is different than existing computing devices...our main goal is to get happy users using Glass.
Want to make sure we're building experiences that really make people happy.?
Team built minimal set of things that make happy users.
We'll get going and work on it for the next 10 years.
Part of the answer is we don't know...I think the basic use cases we have around photography are amazing.
Communications are amazing, navigation is amazing. Walking around Manhattan is really nice.
Ultimately a lot of your experiences can move to Glass...a lot of you can figure that out.
3:15 PM | A young developer asks what Larry Page would say to upcoming generation of technologists
"I use Google a lot...understand the crazy people in an area."
You want to think about the biggest thing...raw materials of smartphones only cost $1...so when I see people making things in the industry I ask how far off you from the raw materials cost...they never know the answer.
You have to ask what is the real issue...I don't think people answer those questions. Most of the work that's done is very incremental and we don't make the progress we need to.
I encourage non-incremental thinking and a real deep understanding of what you're doing.
3:15 PM | Question about Oracle.
"Yeah we've had a difficult relationship with Oracle."
Money is more important to them than any sort of collaboration. I think we'll get through that.
3:22 PM | Question about focusing on positivity in technology instead of negativity.
"I think people are concerned about change...and change is good...we haven't adapted mechanisms to deal with that."
3:26 PM | Question about how Google can improve healthcare.
"I think it's been difficult...we had Google Health...did not make much progress on it. All issues were regulatory."
I think we'll see amazing things in healthcare...like DNA sequencing...something amazing will happen.
I just disclosed my voice issues yesterday and I got so many thoughtful emails and great advice...I felt I should've done it sooner. I asked why people are so focused on keeping medical history private...the answer is probably insurance...that makes no sense...we should change the rules so insurers have to insure people.
3:27 PM | Question about encouraging more women to join development community
We've been super focused on that forever...Sergei and I spend a lot of time interviewing women.
The only answer is we have to start early and make sure we get more young women and girls excited about technology.
3:30 PM | That's it! The event is over. Larry Page says thank you.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-io-live-blog-2013-5
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They sat silently, listening to each speaker. The woman in the front of the room would occasionally nod her head before scribbling on her notepad. As the PowerPoint slides were read and statistics were explained, it became clear that the speakers knew what they were talking about. A business gathering was underway; it seemed that a high-powered boardroom meeting was taking place on the USD campus.