What can we say about May? Well, GDPR came and went. Much like the Millennium Bug, the build-up has so far definitely outweighed the aftermath. (We talk about that a little further down.) Our friends at Monzo announced Apple Pay integration much to our delight. React celebrated 5 years of open source. And Amazon's CEO said that we must all leave the planet and live on the Moon. Okay, Jeff. Here's our pick of the best news from May on planet Earth.
CEO Sundar Pichai positioned Google as the world's biggest AI company
At Google's annual conference, Google I/O, Sundar and other leaders from the company put a mighty strong focus on artificial intelligence. Most if not all of the product and software announcements throughout the conference showed how machine learning and AI will be a fundamental part of Android P, Gmail, Google Assistant and Google Maps. And it all makes perfect sense — Google hold a staggering amount of data, allowing them to personalise user experiences to the most granular level.
Uploads to GitHub Marketplace are now free
To celebrate one year of Marketplace, GitHub have opened it up to a wider audience of developers. Anyone with a free product can list it on Marketplace without any fees. They've also introduced free trials, with users being able to try a product for 14 days before they need to pay.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Something that's really important to us at Kyan. It's taken a long time for mental health to become front of mind, but there's been a real shift in the last few years with workplaces taking serious steps to make mental health part of everyday conversations around employee wellbeing. This year's focus was stress, something that those working in the creative industry (and many other industries too) can relate to.
Our UX Producer Rob Edwards put forward some great resources, and Karen Fielding, Developer, shared her thoughts too.
Headspace meditation app: iOS & Android | Mental Health and the Digital World | What can your company do?
It's #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek!
— Karen Fielding (@fielding_karen) May 14, 2018
One of the best things I've done as an adult for setting myself up for the future wasn't my degree or investing in bitcoin (yeah it DEFINITELY wasn't that), but investing in myself and admitting I needed help with managing my mental health.
This year the focus is stress, recognising the source and finding help in managing it can mean different things to different people, but there's some good online resources:https://t.co/GTVrN4nF1jhttps://t.co/qGhLgRySFj
— Karen Fielding (@fielding_karen) May 14, 2018
Mindfulness, meditation, counselling, find what works!
Not long after, YouTube, Instagram and many others made steps to help users manage their time spent using these apps. YouTube added a 'take a break' feature and Instagram are to add usage stats to their app. The Economist cited a 2017 report that claims heavy use of social media has ties to mental health.
VR could be used to aid people with dementia
Wired writer Lucy Johnston explores how virtual reality headsets allow dementia sufferers to visit experiences or surroundings specific to a bygone period. This immersive experience hopes to trigger memories and reference points familiar to the patient. The UK is looking to open its first Dementia Village in Kent in 2020.
GDPR: the good, the bad and the ugly
GDPR is serious stuff. Some of us laughed. Some of us cried. Some of us just carried on with our day. Either way, Creative Bloq have put together a neat little roundup of the best and worst repermission campaigns.
Click here to opt-in read more.
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And in case you missed it...
Tom shared this incredibly useful Git hook, which aims to improve the quality of commit messages (see below), Karen shone a light on Bath Ruby in the first of our Conference Spotlight series and Giles told us five things he learnt at RailsConf 2018.
See you next time! 👋
