If you use Google Maps, you're giving away tons of data about who you are — that is, where you live, where you work, and where you spend your time. For all that information, though, it has still done its vital job: directing people to the places they needed to go. However, the company has slowly grown its profit motives for the app through the development of potential ad products and major pricing changes for its APIs. These decisions could add to Google's already-titanic influence over its users' everyday lives.
Read MoreThird-party Twitter apps got a lot worse today, thanks to Twitter
Twitter has a long and complicated relationship with the app developers who connect to its platform. As far back as 2011, Twitter said devs should avoid making apps that feature the same functionality as its own clients, and the now-infamous token limit came along in 2012. After temporarily pausing the rollout of new APIs earlier this year, Twitter is now moving ahead.
Read MoreGoogle announces Android Jetpack: a set of tools to make app development even easier
We often forget it, but I/O is first and foremost a developer conference. So while most of us might be waiting with bated breath for new consumer products and services, the bulk of I/O's benefit is directed at the developer community. And that includes announcements like the new Android Jetpack, which promises to make app development even easier for the platform.
Read MoreLineageOS opens up to developers with new SDK, including APIs for styles and profiles
From the ashes of the popular CyanogenMod custom ROM, LineageOS has emerged as a worthy successor, providing users the same near stock experience with a few useful customization options. Now, Lineage is introducing an SDK in a bid to get developers building interesting things based on its own APIs.
Read MoreGoogle opens up Maps data so developers can build better location-aware games
Google has the best public mapping data, but game developers haven't been able to get in there and play with it. Even Niantic, a former Google division, couldn't use Maps data for its smash hit Pokémon Go. This will change soon with the introduction of new Google Maps APIs for games. Developers will be able to build virtual worlds on top of real, live data from Google Maps, and there are already three Maps-enabled games on the way.
Read MoreThe New Awareness API Will Let Apps Better Understand Your Environment
Android has always made use of location services in various ways, including recent innovations like location-based smart lock. What if your phone could truly understand what's going on in the world around it with a simple API? That's Google's new Awareness API, which was just announced at I/O.
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Google Is Adopting A New Standard To Make Chrome Scrolling Less Craptastic
You don't have to be picky to notice that scrolling performance on Chrome is less than stellar. Google has been using the Touch Events input API for touch and mouse navigation, but now it has made the decision to go to the Pointer Events standard. What does that mean? Scrolling in Chrome is about to get a lot less janky.
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Blast from the Past
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1 Year Ago Today
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