DEV Community: niyut

Google I/O 2026 Is One Uncanny F.R.I.E.N.D.S Group Upgrade

niyut — Sun, 24 May 2026 19:22:04 +0000

This is a submission for the Google I/O Writing Challenge

Description :

Google I/O 2026 was dominated by agents, Gemini, and revolutionary developer tools. Rather than delivering a standard technical summary, I like to diving into these features through a unique lens: imagine them as characters in a chaotic friends group. Discover how to actually leverage these powerful tools to build something amazing.

Intro

Google delivered a massive wave of innovation. A new Gemini models, Antigravity 2.0, advanced AI Studio upgrades, smarter Search capabilities, and intelligent eyewear. Rather than providing a standard recap, this article reframes the event as something more relatable, a dynamic group of specialized experts.

Just as we turn to our friends for their particular expertise in real life, Google has embedded these unique skills into its features. I'll use humor and character mapping to explain what some of the new features updates are.

Friend 1 – Search Agent: The Over-Researcher

There’s always that friend who starts with, "I might buy a laptop," only to emerge days later with a spreadsheet containing twenty-seven options. Choosing new tech is an agonizing ritual of indecision and endless tabs.

But the Search Agent just eliminated weeks of stressful research, tedious comparisons, and sleepless nights spent wondering if you picked the wrong thing.

For example: Thinking about a laptop under $60k..." Search Agent: "Cool! Here’s a summary of the best options, current prices, and an alert system to notify you immediately if any drop below your budget.

What Google Actually Shipped (The Real Deal) At I/O 2026, Google transformed Search into a truly AI-native experience.

Intelligent Synthesis: A new search box and AI Overviews synthesize complex queries directly on the results page. Say goodbye to clicking ten different blue links! However, this efficiency comes with a trade-off,

we might lose that magical feeling of stumbling upon a unique blog or niche article. While traditional searching can feel like hours wasted in endless tabs, it's also where true discovery happens—and sometimes, you just need the winding journey.

Proactive Agents: Information agents continuously monitor topics—like flight prices, housing trends, or product availability—and surface updates over time, eliminating the need for you to constantly re-search everything. The Search Agent is your 24/7 personal AI agent that helps you navigate your digital life, takes action on your behalf and is under your direction.

Friend 2 – Gemini Omni: The Multimodal Creative Engine

This is the friend who can take your blurry travel photo, a quick celebration video, or just an idea for a surprise family gift—and instantly turn it into cinematic gold. They're the one with massive knowledge in editing and photography, usually replying to your ideas with perfect GIFs and memes. Now, imagine that creative genius powered by AI!

The Power of Fusion: Imagine providing a source image, a descriptive text prompt, and a voice recording setting the desired mood. Omni doesn't just accept them; it fuses them into a cohesive output. It generates a short film complete with cinematic zooms, corrected lighting, and realistic physics—demonstrating an understanding of fluid dynamics that elevates photorealism into meaningful storytelling.

Key Features at I/O 2026: Gemini Omni is Google's new any-input-to-any-output generative model

Seamless Multimodality: It fuses text, images, audio, and video references into a single, unified scene.
Physical Realism: The system models real-world physics (gravity, kinetic energy) for highly believable generated video.
Consistency & Safety: Character identity and voice are preserved across scenes in Google Flow, while all output is verifiable with SynthID watermarking.

In essence, you hand it a creative concept; it returns a polished film. The resources provided by Google's Omni website are incredibly inspiring, showing how this technology opens up new levels of interactive education and artistic creation.

Friend 3 – Gemini 3.5 Flash: The Speed-runner

Flash is that friend who replies "done" before you even finish typing the request. They’re pure efficiency in human form.

For example: “Can someone refactor this service, write tests, and draft an API doc?” Flash: “Done. Refactored, tests added, API doc drafted. Oh, and I fixed that TODO from 2021 for you.”

What Google Actually Shipped (The Real Deal) Gemini 3.5 Flash is the ultimate high-throughput workhorse

Speed & Cost: It’s significantly faster and cheaper than previous frontier models, while still delivering strong performance on complex coding and reasoning tasks.
Agentic Workflow Power: It's specifically tuned for agentic workflows—where AI agents call the model many times per single task—making it perfect for building sophisticated Antigravity or managed automation systems. Flash is the engine that Supports adjustable thinking levels (minimal → high) to trade off cost vs. reasoning depth

It is used in AI search, Generative UI, Antigravity Agents,..

Friend 4 – AI Studio: The Hackathon Teammate Everyone Wants

This is the friend who hears one small complaint and immediately responds with a working app demo. You know them—the kind of genius, where all others go to for ideas like "I have a million-dollar idea: I need an app for sparkling water!" 🤣

Example: “Wish there was one simple app to track my college schedule and remind me about my parents’ medicine?” AI Studio: “Say no more. Here is a native Android app built in Kotlin + Compose, running right here in the browser emulator. Want to install it on your phone and hook up a backend?”

What Google Actually Shipped (The Game Changer) Google AI Studio has evolved into a true "prompt-to-app" environment

Instant Native Prototyping: Build native Android apps directly from prompts, generating full Kotlin + Jetpack Compose projects that run in a cloud-hosted emulator right in your browser.
Zero Local Setup: You can install the app onto your device via USB straight from the browser—no need for local Android Studio!
Deep Integration: It seamlessly connects with Gemini API, Cloud Run, Firebase, and Workspace, allowing one-click export to Antigravity for deeper development work.

Friend 5 – Antigravity: The Over-Organized Project Manager

This is the friend who doesn't just plan a trip—they manage every single detail from start to finish. They are tech-savvy, maintaining detailed Excel sheets and having backup plans for everything. Honestly, we can all sigh a huge breath of relief when this person is in charge*

Antigravity is that same friend who hears, "I need help with this migration," and immediately spins up five different specialized agents to start working—all under one master plan.

Example: “I need to migrate this app, run tests, and do a Lighthouse audit.” Antigravity: “Done. I’ve created CodeAgent, TestAgent, DocsAgent, and WebAuditAgent. They'll coordinate via my central harness; you just get one neat summary at the end.”

What Google Actually Shipped (The Game Changer) Antigravity 2.0 is Google’s agent-first development platform

Orchestration Suite: A desktop app, CLI, and SDK that orchestrates multiple specialized agents using a shared harness, all optimized for Gemini 3.5 Flash.
Dynamic Control: It supports dynamic sub-agents, scheduled tasks, and seamless integration with AI Studio, Android, Firebase, and Google Cloud’s agent platform.
Managed Agents in the API: A single API call spins up a sandboxed Linux environment that can reason, call tools, and maintain state across multiple interactions.

Friend 6 – Android/XR: The Gadget Geek

We all have that one friend with a collection of unique gadgets—the person who seems to find every cutting-edge piece of tech. And I guarantee you’ll be thrilled to check out Google's new eyewear!

What Google Actually Shipped This is the evolution of Android XR and intelligent eyewear:

The Vision: Android XR, built in partnership with Samsung and Qualcomm, is expanding into "intelligent eyewear." The roadmap features two types: Audio glasses (for spoken help via over-ear speakers) and Display glasses (which will project information directly into your field of view).
First Look: The initial audio glasses—developed alongside Gentle Monster, Warby Parker, and Samsung—launch this fall and work with both Android and iOS phones.
Hands-Free Intelligence: With these glasses, you can simply say "Hey Google" or tap the frame to ask Gemini about what you see, get turn-by-turn navigation, manage calls/texts, capture media, translate speech in real time, and trigger complex multi-step agentic actions (like staging a food order)—all hands-free. The bottom line? The Android/XR friend is dragging us into a future where your phone remains the brain, but your glasses become the primary interface through which you experience AI.

Conclusion:

So there you have it. Let's assemble the gang! From the meticulous planning of Antigravity to the instant creativity of Gemini Omni, these new "friends" aren't just features—they are partners. Google I/O 2026 didn't just drop announcements; it dropped a whole ecosystem designed to eliminate friction and maximize your potential. Now, the real fun begins: experimenting with these features and build the next Gen apps. start building something wild!

Note: I used AI assistance to help brainstorm and structure this post, but all opinions, analogies are my own.

Building with Bolt-The Journey of making "Bubblin"-Where Every Voice Finds Its Light. [Built this in 48hrs]

niyut — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 09:04:49 +0000

This is a submission for the World's Largest Hackathon Writing Challenge: Building with Bolt.

My Hackathon Journey: Building an App in 48 Hours

Hello everyone! I'm excited to share my experience from the world's largest hackathon by Bolt, an event that truly united over a million participants. For me, it was a wonderful, truly eye-opening experience – my very first time diving into the world of no-code tools. I actually started working on the competition after June 12th, but I sadly realized I couldn't use the initial app idea I'd developed during that time. It was simply too ambitious; with limited tokens and potentially high LLM costs, I knew an app requiring extensive back-and-forth interactions would likely hit its usage limits during the judging period, or even before. So, reluctantly, I decided against that idea. However, the process of brainstorming and researching for that initial concept consumed so much time that I found myself with only four days left until the deadline.

I was incredibly disappointed that I wouldn't be able to submit a fully functional app. With time running out, I pivoted to coding a simpler, "one-shot" prompt app and immediately began testing it.

It was during this rapid development, however, that an entirely new idea truly sparked – a concept for an app like 'Bubblin', directly inspired by the pervasive issues of toxic work culture I'd been seeing in the news and believing offered a genuine solution. Then, to my immense surprise, Bolt announced a phenomenal opportunity:"free 20M tokens for the weekend" on 28th June 2025,just two days before the June 30th deadline.😅😆

I decided to seize the opportunity to truly test out my new idea. With those tokens set to vanish into thin air after just 48 hours if unused, there was absolutely no excuse not to dive in and make the most of them.

The problem:

Lately, I've been seeing a lot in the news that really highlights a big problem in the modern workplace: this toxic work culture that's just become, well, normal. Reports I'm reading often talk about things like performative dedication, where people just put on a show of being busy instead of actually being productive. Then there's the manufactured urgency – you know, those "emergencies" that pop up out of nowhere, completely trashing your personal time. And honestly, it seems like fear-based management is still a thing, creating environments built on guilt and overwork.

A particularly unsettling story I came across recently was about a company that apparently fired employees who were honest about feeling stressed in a company survey. Can you believe that? It sparked so much outrage online and really makes you wonder how some places are handling employee well-being. And another common thread I'm seeing is this expectation to "stay until the manager leaves" – it might seem small, but it's a perfect example of how personal time and basic respect just get tossed aside.

In today's job market, just having a job can feel like a huge deal, and that often means employees' voices and needs get pushed down even further. But here's the thing: for any company to truly succeed long-term, they absolutely need to build a healthy environment that attracts and keeps experienced and loyal employees. So, there's a real and urgent need to create better platforms and strategies to smooth out the relationship between companies and their people. It's about building something that benefits everyone and drives sustainable growth.

The solution-Bubblin(App built using bolt.new)

Bubblin transforms anonymous employee feedback into clear, actionable insights. Empower leaders to truly understand their team's pulse and build a thriving, transparent workplace where every voice matters.

In every organization, there are thoughts that echo, ideas that spark, and feelings that resonate deep within. But often, those voices remain unheard, lost in the vastness of the unspoken. We all know the challenge. Traditional feedback can feel intimidating. The fear of judgment, the worry of being identified, the doubt that anything will truly change. It leaves employees feeling isolated, their valuable insights trapped inside. And for leaders, it means missing the true pulse of their team, relying on assumptions instead of genuine understanding. What if you could share your truth, without hesitation, knowing your identity is always protected? That's the power of Bubblin.

See Bubblin in Action!

Don't miss the Live app here ( how to access the app is provided in the video)

Our intuitive platform creates a space where your thoughts, your ideas, and your feelings can truly bubble up. With just a few taps, you drop your 'bubble' – your anonymous feedback, categorized by topic and mood. And as it leaves your screen, you see it. Your thought, taking form, gently ascending into the collective stream. Once sent, your bubble joins the vibrant 'Bubble Flow' – a live stream of collective insights from your team. You can scroll through, see what others are thinking, and truly feel the pulse of your workplace. And here's where the magic deepens: You can choose to 'listen in' on any bubble, in the language you prefer. Simply select your language, press play, and hear the collective voice come to life.

When a bubble resonates with you, give it a 'Spark'! And if you have a unique perspective or want to add a little more detail, you can anonymously contribute a short line or two. This isn't just a 'like'; it's how individual thoughts grow into a rich, multi-faceted understanding – a truly 'growing bubble' of collective wisdom".

For leaders, Bubblin' transforms this anonymous flow into actionable intelligence. It has _'The Bubblin' Monitor.' _Here, you'll find clear, aggregated insights: overall sentiment trends, the most discussed topics, and the 'hottest' bubbles gaining traction – all strictly adhering to your company's privacy threshold. And to make these insights even more accessible, you can 'listen to' an audio summary of your team's vibe at any time.

How this is possible in just 48hrs?

Okay, let's get into the nitty-gritty of how I powered through this! The very first thing I did was use Gemini 2.5 Flash (the free version, no less!) to create a detailed PRD – that's a Prompt Requirements Document – for the entire app concept. Instead of just dumping the whole PRD into the first prompt, I gave 'Bolt' the overall idea and specifically asked it to build the initial step: the hero section of the app. I also made sure to let it know that I'd be guiding it through the subsequent steps in my next prompts. To really bring the vision to life, I even provided some custom CSS files as inspiration for that hero section.

After setting up the initial design, I immediately jumped into Discuss mode in Bolt – it's incredibly useful and a real token-saver. My routine is always to start there, prompting it and then meticulously reviewing the response to ensure it's truly grasped the app's flow and functionality.

One of the trickiest parts, and honestly, the biggest time sink, was getting stuck on the user sign-in page. I opted for Supabase as my backend, which is generally super easy to integrate with Bolt, and it handles security policies seamlessly. My mistake, though, was not reading the documentation thoroughly enough. I also designed the sign-in process as interleaved because I had two distinct user types – employers and employees – which led to a bit of a mix-up. Thankfully, it all came together in the end, and that initial struggle was absolutely worth it for enabling secure sign-ins.

I used Supabase to store all sorts of data: user details, employee feedback (what I call "bubbles"), and even to track the "spark" for each bubble. It was surprisingly effortless to manage. Bolt and Supabase were perfectly in sync; I barely had to intervene. Bolt automatically took care of everything, even making necessary changes to the database when I introduced new features or updated existing ones. It would prompt me with the detailed database schema, and after a quick review, I'd simply approve the changes.

Bolt working behind the screen 😄

Beyond just the database, I also leveraged Supabase Edge Functions to seamlessly communicate with elevenlabs . This integration was absolutely critical for giving voice to the "bubbles"—my term for employee feedback—and I honestly can't stress enough how much of a breeze it was. Once I had the Edge Functions set up and provided the necessary APIs, a single prompt was all it took. And voilà! After clicking on a bubble, you could instantly hear it speak. Even better, it supported multiple languages right out of the box. All of this incredible functionality is truly thanks to elevenlabs.

You know, the days just kind of... vanished into nights. One minute the sun was rising, the next it was setting, but honestly, for me, it just meant a different kind of light in my room. My monitor was basically my best friend, glowing constantly, a real sign of just how much I was pushing. I was awake for two nights straight; it was testing both my body and mind.

Every hour was on the edge, a race against a ticking clock that left only 48hrs to bring a complex idea to life. There were moments, like wrestling with that stubborn user sign-in page – a true time sink, where my initial missteps with interleaved employer and employee types threatened to derail everything. Debugging became a dance between frustration and fierce determination, each solved error a small, hard-won victory in the grand marathon. I need to decide fast when to let go of some features or design and when to fight through to make it your way. It was a grind, a testament to working on the absolute limit, but with each hurdle cleared, the vision for the app grew clearer, fueled by sheer will and the dwindling hours.

Fun fact: When I first set out to design this fresh idea within a tight 48-hour window, I knew it would be incredibly challenging, and honestly, it might not even work. But there was this particular design that just clicked with me; it resonated so perfectly with my app's vision that I felt an undeniable pull to bring it to life.

🎨 Here's where the design credit goes for the awesome home page background:

Inspired by konstantindenerz's design of Cosmic Dreams in CodePen
Created by konstantindenerz

Breakthrough Moments:

Speaking of Bolt, I basically live in Discuss mode. It's usually brilliant, but there was one time it totally missed what I was trying to do and actually asked for my approval on something that was off-base. So, here's the key takeaway for Discuss mode: always, always read the response thoroughly before you hit that approve button. It can seriously save you a ton of time and prevent errors down the line.

Now, when it does throw an error (because it happens!), don't just blindly hit "Attempt to fix error." Instead, take a moment to really read the "potential problem detected" message. Then, in the writing area, where it says "provide more info to help Bolt fix it," drop in anything you suspect might be the issue. Maybe it's trying to reference a table or column in the database that doesn't exist yet, or perhaps it's hallucinating about features it hasn't even created. Giving it that extra context can make all the difference.

Another learning curve involved in Bolt was its occasional altering of perfectly working functionality when I was trying to fix a minor detail or add a new feature. My solution for this was straightforward: always revert to the last successful state immediately. This is where having my code saved in GitHub was a lifesaver, as it integrates seamlessly with Bolt and makes rolling back changes incredibly easy. For instance, I recall making a tiny adjustment to a background position, which unexpectedly threw the whole app off. Reverting to a stable point saved a lot of headaches. Sometimes, the best approach is to adapt your initial design or even pivot entirely from where you are, rather than trying to force a fix that might lead to more complications.

😄This is how you feel when coding using no code tools.😄

The Final Stretch: Crossing the Finish Line

This wasn't just about building an app; it was about the endurance of rapid development, the strategic pacing required to meet an impossible deadline, and the sheer grit to push through when disappointment loomed. Reaching this point, seeing the "bubbles" speak and the secure logins function, feels like that final surge of energy as you cross the finish line – a testament to the journey and the lessons learned along the way.

At the end of those intense 48 hours, I actually had a working app, and believe me, I was thrilled! But the journey didn't end there. Next up was publishing the app, securing a domain name, and making it public, not to mention creating and uploading the crucial presentation video for the hackathon.

It never fails to surprise me how many last-minute glitches and hurdles pop up. That's where a lot of the truly "interesting" stuff happens!_ Thankfully, publishing with Netlify was a breeze, but I lost precious time trying to get my domain name sorted and linked up. There were definitely some rough edges there – fellow participants, I'm sure you know the pain. While some folks managed it successfully, I, sadly, wasn't among them that day. But the app is public and working fine.

Then came the video creation and upload, followed by preparing all the necessary project documentation. And talk about timing! My Wi-Fi decided to completely give out just as I was trying to upload the app to the hackathon platform. I ended up having to use my mobile data to make the submission. My family even joked that I must have messed up the Wi-Fi by working non-stop on this hackathon! It truly felt like I was physically pulling myself across the finish line after navigating all those unexpected obstacles.
But ultimately, the end result and the profound feeling of accomplishing something significant are simply great. The learning and the sheer experience of going through it all? That's a lifetime experience in itself.

To everyone out there, I seriously suggest you dust off that idea notebook you've got stashed away and actually bring those ideas to life. Just dip your toes in; get your foot in the water and experience it for yourself. It's not just fun and exciting, it might even be life-changing. You just never know.

Credits:

A massive thank you to the hosts of this hackathon "Bolt", and to all the partners involved! Your incredible support and the platform you provided made this entire journey possible. It's truly inspiring to see such dedication to fostering innovation and creativity.

Special thanks to Netlify, Supabase and elevenlabs

Explore More Projects & Insights

For an even deeper dive into Bubblin, including detailed demos, development insights, and my other hackathon experiences, be sure to visit and subscribe to my YouTube channel: seizetheai

I'll be sharing videos about this project, along with other competition experiences and all my project presentations there.

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