Skip to main content

Want to prove your worth in mobile developing? Google is offering certifications

Your latest degree may not come from a university — instead, it could be Google giving you the certification you need for your job. On Monday, the tech giant began offering to mobile site developers a brand new certification program, which tests a number of skills including how to improve site speeds, best practices in mobile UX design, and progressive web apps.

The point of the exam (or rather, the point of acing the exam), is to prove to potential employers that you have “a demonstrated ability to build and optimize high-quality sites, and [it] allows you to promote yourself as a Google accredited mobile site developer.”

Recommended Videos

It’s all part of Google’s larger Google Partners program, which already promises a number of free product exams and certifications. For example, you can already get certifications for Google AdWords and Analytics through the program.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The mobile site certification focuses most on site speed — or at least, most of the study guide‘s content does. The search engine has done quite a bit in the last year or so to improve the mobile web experience (it expanded its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal last April). And, as the tech company points out, since most site visitors will leave a mobile page if it takes more than three seconds to load, it’s well worth it to ensure that things are as efficient as possible on small screens. That said, there’s still quite a bit of work to be done — the average load time for a mobile landing page is 22 seconds, Google points out.

We ought to point out, however, that Google’s mobile development exam isn’t focused in particular on any operating system (like Android or iOS). It does, however, have some content around Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages project (which you may know better as AMP). In any case, this is one certification that may be worth checking out.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Your Google TV can now control smart home devices
The Home Panel on Google TV Streamer.

In late September, Google announced a new feature for Google TV called the Home Panel that would make it easier to control all of your (compatible) smart home devices from a single location. The feature first appeared on the Google TV Streamer and then later on Chromecast, but it has now rolled out to Google TVs from other companies including Hisense, TCL, and others.

The Home Panel offers a lot of utility. It shows your lights' current brightness level, the volume level of speakers, and even live streams from security cameras. The demo video Google has on its blog shows that the user can even adjust the thermostat. All of this is done through the remote, so you don't even have to get up off the couch.

Read more
This new Google Docs feature is exactly what I’ve always wanted
Text box in Google Docs on a laptop.

As a writer of a certain age, I've lived a lot of life in Google Docs. It's where my first drafts go, but it's also where my crazy ideas, unhinged brainstorming, and research dumps go. 
There’s so many conveniences about Google Docs that make it my go-to for word processing, but let’s be honest: It’s still fairly barebones, especially when it comes to organizing and managing different files within Google Drive. But this new feature makes all of that much easier, keeping it all contained all within Docs itself.
It’s called Document Tabs, which you may have already noticed floating just to the left of your document.

The idea is simple: It lets you create multiple documents within a single Docs file. Create as many “tabs” or separate documents as a single project might need, and switch between them extremely fast. That accessibility to them is really where the gold is. No more switching between different browser tabs.
It’s even more handy on mobile, of course, where switching applications or tabs is even more cumbersome. Here, you’ll find Document Tabs hovering just at the bottom of the screen with some simple arrows to flip between your different tabs. All we need now is a simple gesture to be added to flip between them even more seamlessly.
Document Tabs takes the place of the old outlining system, which would grab headers and automatically create a table of contents around them. I used this frequently, but it was pretty finicky. More than that, it resulted in overly long documents that I still found myself scrolling through. 
Document Tabs is a really elegant solution to that problem. Whether it’s segmenting chapters in a book, multiple aspects of a project, or even just different parts of an article, it’s already become an extremely useful outlining and productivity tool for me.
It even had a pretty clean way of converting the tabs when you need to export. All the tabs do is combine down into one document, but they’re sectioned off with titles and some basic formatting. That’s not going to be ideal in every situation, of course, so it’s something to keep in mind if you need to export and share it with someone outside of Docs.
At the very least, though, it’s worth trying out. And if you’re a Google Docs fiend like I am, I have a feeling you’ll get quite a lot out of it.

Read more
Google (probably) made your internet faster
Google Fiber logo on wall

A recent report from Ookla, using Speedtest data, highlights how Google Fiber’s entry into various markets has driven a significant increase in internet speeds across the board. Google Fiber has set a new standard by offering gigabit internet services -- speeds far exceeding what was available from most providers previously.

According to the report, the presence of Google Fiber in a market often prompts competitors to offer faster, more reliable internet to keep up. In areas where Google Fiber operates, both download and upload speeds have surged, benefitting not just Google customers but also those using other ISPs.

Read more