Highlights: Chrome 53, Chrome for Android, Google Maps Android API, Android Add-Ons for Docs and Sheets, Hello English, AdWords, Multi-cloud & Open Source, Google Cloud Shell, Compute Engine

The Developer Show is where you can stay up to date on all the latest Google Developer news, straight from the experts

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Muted autoplay on mobile

Say goodbye to canvas hacks and animated GIFs. Muted autoplay for video is supported by Chrome for Android as of version 53. Playback starts for a video element once it comes into view if both autoplay and muted are set and can be initiated programmatically. Details and code on the post.

Google Maps Android API Updates

The latest version of the Google Maps Android API is now out with more developer requested features including the ability to track camera movements more accurately, set the minimum & maximum zoom levels on your map, and restrict the user’s panning to particular lat/lng bounds of the camera target. More details on the post.

Android add-ons for Docs and Sheets

Android Add-ons for Docs and Sheets are a new way to get more work done from anywhere such as it’s readying a contract for e-signature with your phone or pulling in CRM data on your tablet for some quick analysis. For examples and links to the Developer Preview documentation, check out the post.

Improve game-as-a-service monetization

To help you design and improve monetization as a mobile game developer, here are 5 tips to improve game-as-a-service monetization with best practice examples from mobile games publisher, Kongregate.

Android Developer Story: Culture Alley

More than 13 million people now use the Hello English app developed by Culture Alley to help Indians learn English through gamification. Check out the video to learn how they used Google Play tools to address varying levels of connectivity and device capabilities, and improve user retention.

AdWords: New cross-device attribution reports and benchmarks

Six out of ten internet users in the US start shopping on one device but continue or finish on a different one. Cross-device conversions already help you measure these customer paths. Using that same technology, we’ve introduced three new reports in the Attribution section of AdWords. These provide deeper insight into device usage along the full search conversion path. Diagrams and details are on the post.

AdWords Editor 11.5 updates

AdWords Editor 11.5 is now available to all advertisers globally. The update includes support for expanded text ads and mobile app engagement ads, import/export and simultaneous posting for multiple accounts, and much more.

Multi-cloud

Want to know how to avoid lock-in with your cloud provider by selecting open-source software that can run on a variety of clouds? Check out the two parts of this post for a discussion and some practical getting-started specifics.

Google Cloud Shell

Google Cloud Shell is a command line interface that allows you to manage your Google Cloud Platform infrastructure from any computer with an internet connection. We’re happy to announce that Cloud Shell is now generally available and still free to use.

Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys for Compute Engine

Also now generally available are Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys for Compute Engine allowing you to take advantage of the cloud while protecting your Google Compute Engine disks with keys that you control. More details on both of these updates are on their posts.

Highlights: Firebase, App Engine, Mobile Ads, Google Container Engine, Kubernetes, Infinite Scrollers, Billions of users, AdMob Mediation.

Have a question? Use #AskDevShow to let us know!

Build a mobile backend service with Firebase and App Engine

Want to know how to build a native chat application with Firebase and App Engine? Here’s a step-by-step guide and sample code for both an Android app and an App Engine-based backend service.

Mobile Ads Garage — AdMob with Firebase

In the latest episode of the Mobile Ads Garage, David East joins host Andrew Brogdon to cover Firebase for AdMob publishers, including how to import both SDKs into a project and how to link an AdMob app to a Firebase project so you can take advantage of Firebase’s free and unlimited analytics.

Google Container Engine

Game developer Rayark just hit 2 million downloads with their game, VOEZ, which is running in production on Google Container Engine. Take a look at the post for the principles to their success.

Kubernetes 1.3 on Google Container Engine

Kubernetes 1.3 is ready to roll out on Google Container Engine and will be available to all customers over the coming week. The latest release addresses many top requests including services that span availability zones, built-in support for stateful applications and doubling the number of nodes in a cluster to 2,000. For more details, including the latest updates to Container Engine, check out the post.

Complexities of an infinite scroller

This is a really cool article over on our web updates page about what to consider when building an infinite scroller. Spoiler alert: Re-use your DOM elements and remove the ones that are far away from the viewport; also, use placeholders to account for delayed data. Here’s the post with details, a demo, and the code!

Building for Billions

To build products that work for billions of users, you need to address key challenges: limited or intermittent connectivity, device compatibility, varying screen sizes, high data costs, and short-lived batteries. Take a look at the post for best practices on both web and Android to help you reach billions by delivering exceptional performance in spite of these issues.

AdMob Mediation

Game developer Balloon Island increased revenue by about 150% with AdMob Mediation. To learn how, check out the case study.