Cloud

• Perform complex backend logic on data stored in real-time with automatic synchronization across devices. Android plus Firebase plus Google App Engine makes it happen.
• Logs just got a lot better with with metrics, advanced filters, and charts. Brought to you by Google Cloud Logging and Google Cloud Monitoring available today in beta.

• Improved navigation, search, customization, and visibility are available today in a beta new design of the Cloud Console. Try it today and let us know what you think.

Android

• Universal App Campaigns and User Acquisition performance reporting is now available in the Google Play Developer Console to make ads and user growth as simple as writing an AsyncTask.
• A recent Google shopper survey revealed that over 40% of people are likely to use their phones to pay digitally for products this holiday season. Google’s head of commerce Shridhar Ramaswamy recently sat down with Fortune to discuss this and more commerce trends to come.

Maps

• As the crow flies is not the best measure of proximity. But, thanks to the Distance Matrix Service as part of the Google Maps API, you can calculate what point of interest is actually the closest to travel to for your users.

Games

• Get a Project Tango Developer Kit for 50% off with a special limited time offer on the Google Store available soon. Keep an eye out on the Google+ community for an update on the sale, and in the meantime, check out the recent App Contest Winners for some inspiration.
• Record your gameplay & share it on YouTube from your phone with an update to Google Play Games. It includes support for your front-facing camera and mic so we all know how you feel about that hidden bomb. Also, we’re working on an SDK for this so you can build it right into your own app or game.
• VR is cool and Google Cardboard now makes it possible around the world in 39 languages and in more than 100 countries on both Android and iOS. Oh, and the SDK got updated too.

• Turkish mobile games developer Peak Games has a growing user base in the US with their game, Spades Plus. The game generates over 70% of its mobile revenue from Android. We recently had a chat with them about how they improved user engagement, increased installs with Google Play Store Listing experiments and app promotion, as well as other Android and Google Play features that help them be successful.

What’s happened with Google developer platforms recently? In brief, this. Watch the video for more.

Android

• There’s a new Fingerprint API sample available to help you authenticate to remote servers.
• The Play Games Services toolset has a new feature that will help you balance your virtual economy so you can earn more with in game purchases.
• Get started with Android and Android studio …and Zombies with a new video from some of your favorite Android play actors, shot at YouTube Space in LA.
• The Big Android BBQ happened last week in Texas. Learn more about improving Android performance and more with videos from the BBQ on the Android Developers Channel now.

Internet of Things

• The Brillo and Weave invite program is now taking requests to access code, documentation, and the developer console.

Training

• An Android Developer immersive training course will be offered beginning in January 2016 as part of a partnership between General Assembly and Google Developers.
• There are now courses for Developing Apps for Android Wear, Google Cast, Android TV, and Android Auto.
• The Tech Entrepreneur Nanodegree has launched on Udacity — it helps you learn what it takes to design, validate, prototype, monetize, and market apps and grow them into a scalable business.

Web

• Dramatically improve the performance of your web pages with the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project. This and similar presentations were given at the SFHTML5 meetup last week and are now available to watch on their YouTube channel.
• Check out the Chrome dev summit schedule and speakers, now live on the event site.