Author Archives: alankent
My First Google Assistant App (Part 2)
Branded experiences create interesting marketing opportunities with Google Assistant applications. Part 1 discussed some of the design considerations. This post dives into the code to create a simple (but working) experience without database access, developed completely from the built-in console (no local laptop development environment required). The source code can be found in my GitHub […]
My First Google Assistant App (Part 1)
In this article I talk about my personal experience putting together my first Google Assistant app. There was something strangely satisfying in the process, I suspect because in a few hours (with no previous experience) I got a simple working application going, which I then iteratively improved upon. The project I selected was for a […]
My Google I/O 2018: VR/AR and Web
Google I/O is a three day developer event held near the main Mountain View offices of Google. Part 1 focused on Google Assistant. Here is part 2 of my notes, on VR and AR (because they are fun) then web. More to come in later posts. VR/AR Tour Creator I previously posted a blog on […]
Managing Large Catalogs (with Machine Learning)
Interested in the challenges of managing large catalogs? Then this Elasticon talk “Surfacing the Products You love on Spring” by Julie Qiu from Spring (@jqiu25) might interest you. Spring is a marketplace (lots of diverse data sources) focussing on fashion. The following is my quick summary of the presentation – for details, please watch the […]
My Google I/O 2018: Google Assistant
Google I/O is a three day developer event held near the main Mountain View offices of Google. Most of the talks are available online for viewing – and there are a lot of them! Some provide an overview with others going into greater depth. One video that I particularly recommend is the keynote 10 minute […]
What is the Future of Technology in Commerce?
What is changing in the world of commerce and what is staying the same? I thought I would capture some personal thoughts here for a quick weekend read. There are many concepts not changing in commerce. There are the basics of quotes, orders, invoices, receipts, products and services (things you can purchase), payments, tax, shipping, […]
Google My Business (free business listings)
One of the joys at working at Google is the internal tech talks. I expect lots of big new announcements to come at next week’s Google I/O conference, but there are lots of good existing projects around too. Do you know of a small business without a website? I just discovered (or to be more […]
360 Photos for E-Commerce
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are hot topics with lots of interesting potential in the commerce space. For example a 3D model of a product is useful in AR (e.g. to experience what furniture will look like in your own house), VR (e.g. in a virtual showroom), and directly on normal web pages […]
Computer Animation as a Hobby
Recently I wanted to have another go at computer animation as a personal hobby. I had dabbled with computer graphics many years ago so was curious to see where the world was up to today. I sometimes watch a bit of Japanese Anime, so I set myself a goal of creating a 10 minute Japanese […]
A Path To Voice Commerce: Google Merchant Center and Structured Data (Quick Note)
Disclaimer: If you had not heard already, I recently joined Google. This post not an official communication from Google. All the opinions (and errors!) here are my own. All information about Google is from public sources. The ecommerce field to me is challenging and and dynamic. So much is going on on so many fronts. […]
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