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Countdown to I/O

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This is going to be the second year I've witnessed I/O live(streamed), from school, nonetheless. While I'm hoping Google announces some bombshell that is going to give them some massive monopoly, I, containing bouts of cynicism inside, expect a bit less.

Firebase, Firebase

When Google announced Firebase last year, I shook and shivered with excitement. I thought, "An integrated mobile and web development backend I could use to make anything? Sign me up." Of course, Firebase got better with new features like Cloud Functions, but I don't think Google is done with it - they're not even close. While I know just as much as anyone not at Google about the announcements to take place in less than five to six hours, I'm sure Google is going to announce more integration with their Cloud Platform. Cloud Functions was the beginning of Firebase adding functionality to a "consumerized" cloud, if you will. The rest of Google Cloud Platform will be for anyone, mainly with massive enterprises, but Firebase will be to Google Cloud Platform as Allo sort of is to Hangouts Chat. They use the same backend, but they will serve overlapping but noticeably different target markets.

Android O

We know they're definitely not going to announce that Android O is Android Oreo or any other name at I/O, but we do know another developer preview is going to be released. I'm curious to see what features the Android team managed to stuff in this time, but O looks like it's going to be the M of Android updates unless something major is announced. Notification channels are a great feature, but it's nothing that will make people demand OEMs release updates quicker. Speaking of updates, Project Treble does look like it will increase the speed of the Android update process.

Artificial Intelligence

Google loves their AI, and I expect it to be the obvious focus of I/O. TensorFlow is going to be showcased in some talks, but I think Google might have a major announcement which makes AI more accessible to developers. Sure, that's vague, but Google has been on a trend of sharing AI with more people to hopefully create another breakthrough. 

While I gave some pretty vague predictions, we all know the gist of what's happening this year. I'll be happily watching the livestream at 12:00 PM Central Time for the unfortunate 20 minutes I can and check in every passing period to see the updates from the talks I care about. Afterwards, there's sure to be a stream of I/O talks on YouTube for me to cast to my TV to binge watch. Good morning to all the media people attending I/O, and I hope you all enjoy your time there. (I prefer to get my news primary source, thank you.)

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