To celebrate 10 years of Creator Weekly, I’m sharing tech highlights from 2015 that still resonate 10 years later. This update was for the week ending May 30, 2015.
This year's Google I/O was, of course,
all about AI. But go back to 2015 and the big exciting news (at least for me) was the
launch of Google Photos.
It reached 100 million users after five months, 200 million after one year, 500 million after two years, and passed the 1 billion user mark in 2019, four years after its initial launch. Photos now has 1.5 billion monthly users.
Google Cardboard Homepage in May 2015
Google Expeditions Home Page in May 2015
Google Jump Camera Rig Page in May 2015
At Google I/O 2015, Google Photos was launched to instant acclaim. And Google
dove into VR video with the Jump camera rig, Cardboard VR viewer, 360 YouTube
videos and student Expeditions.
Google Photos Born from Google+
Photos was touted as “Gmail for pictures” and included free unlimited storage for “high quality" photos. It organized
photos by "people, places and things", even when the photos weren't tags. It
let you create collages, movies, and animations (and created some
automatically). And it was easy to share photos and albums with anyone -- even
folks without a Google Account.
And it was no longer part of Google+. Google noted that people don't want
their entire camera roll linked to a public social profile (which was
definitely confusing and concerning at the time). And they didn't say it, but
I'm pretty sure that relatively few people (in Google scale) were using
Google+, which limited the reach of Google+ Photos.
When asked about what this meant, Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product, and head of
Photos and Plus,
said
“I think it is evidence that Google+ is evolving ... And that’s a sign of life, not a sign of death. Evolving is a good thing. One of the things we’re doing is graduating out aspects of Google+. Like Hangouts, like Photos. And I think what you’ll find what we’re left with is a very clear notion of what Google+ is, and what Google+ is good for."
And yes, this is foreshadowing about what would happen with Google+.
Google Photos AI-Powered "Ask Photos"
Photos is one of Google’s most successful products.
“I think it is evidence that Google+ is evolving ... And that’s a sign of life, not a sign of death. Evolving is a good thing. One of the things we’re doing is graduating out aspects of Google+. Like Hangouts, like Photos. And I think what you’ll find what we’re left with is a very clear notion of what Google+ is, and what Google+ is good for."
And yes, this is foreshadowing about what would happen with Google+.
Google Photos: The view from 2025
Google Photos AI-Powered "Ask Photos" It reached 100 million users after five months, 200 million after one year, 500 million after two years, and passed the 1 billion user mark in 2019, four years after its initial launch. Photos now has 1.5 billion monthly users.
But nothing is free forever. In 2021
Google started counting all Photos uploads
towards your total account storage space. It will only hold your entire
"lifetime of photos" if you pay for extra storage.
The latest updates to Photos are, not surprisingly, AI-powered editing tools, and Ask Photos, an AI chatbot that helps you find your photos.
Those tools aren't entirely free either. You can only save Magic Editor edits 10 times a month without a Google One Premium subscription (or a recent Pixel device).
The latest updates to Photos are, not surprisingly, AI-powered editing tools, and Ask Photos, an AI chatbot that helps you find your photos.
Those tools aren't entirely free either. You can only save Magic Editor edits 10 times a month without a Google One Premium subscription (or a recent Pixel device).
What will the future bring? It's hard for me to envision, because at it's
heart, Photos is still primarily for organizing my thousands of photos.
Exploring the World in 360 Degrees
Two tech themes of 2015 were the
big shift to mobile-first
and virtual reality (VR).
Google Cardboard Homepage in May 2015
While Facebook launched
fancy VR hardware, Google focused on Cardboard.
Cardboard
launched in 2014 as an inexpensive (made of cardboard!) device to bring VR to
your Android smartphone. At Google I/O 2015, support was expanded to
iOS.
But that VR device in your pocket needs content. Google announced two projects
to boost exploration.
Expeditions: Explore the world
Google Expeditions Home Page in May 2015
Google launched
Expeditions, with "trips" to locations all around the world (and eventually even under
the sea and up to the moon!), with 360-degree images, audio, video and
information.
Classrooms could use Cardboard devices for a fully immersive experience.
Cardboard + YouTube
Earlier in 2015, YouTube had launched 360-video for viewers using Android and Chrome on desktop.
You could now watch those videos using a Cardboard device and your Android or iOS smartphone, providing a much more immersive experience.
Jump Camera Rig: Record 360-Degree Video
Google Jump Camera Rig Page in May 2015
Of course, to virtually travel and watch 360-degree videos you need someone to
create that content.
To that end, Google launched the
Jump capture rig. This was 16 GoPro cameras rigged in a circular array, with special
software to assemble the videos into a high resolution 360-degree 3D
experience.
This was likely not within the means of the average creator, but YouTube made
the rigs available for creator use at its physical YouTube Spaces.
Watch the
Avicii's "Waiting for Love", the first music video filmed with the Jump camera rig.
Cardboard, Expeditions & 360-Degree Video: The view from 2025
Android XR Promo from Google I/O 2025
Google continued its focus on VR for several years, without much
success.
In 2016
they launched the Daydream headset, meant to be paired with Daydream-ready Pixel phones. But that never
caught on, and it was
discontinued in 2019.
Google also shut down Jump in 2019,
noting
“As these new cameras, formats, and editing tools [for VR video] became
available, we saw usage of Jump assembler decline”.
Google
stopped selling Cardboard viewers in 2021
and
Expeditions shut down the same year.
There are still virtual field trips through the
Google Arts and Culture website, but they are no longer immersive.
Surprisingly, you can still
watch 360-degree videos on YouTube with a Cardboard viewer if you have a compatible phone.
Why did Cardboard and Daydream fail? Was the problem the totally
uncomfortable headsets? The lack of really killer content? I'm not
sure.
In 2025 extended reality, XR, is the thing.
Google has been developing the
Android XR operating system
for headsets and glasses, in collaboration with Samsung. And, of course,
it now has Gemini AI.
Gemini will act as an assistant, making it easier to explore virtual reality
hands free.
In
addition to immersive headsets, they are working on stylish glasses that can understand what you are
looking at, translate in real time and more.
And that sounds like the future to me.
References
Google Blog, 28 May 20215:
You say you want a mobile revolution ... (Google I/O recap)
Google Blog, 28 May 2015: Picture This: A Fresh Approach to Photos
Google for Education Blog, 28 May 2015: Announcing Expeditions: taking students places a school bus can’t go (Internet Archive link)
YouTube Creator Blog, 28 May 2015:
360-degree videos now on Google Cardboard and iOS (Internet Archive link)
Google Cardboard site, 31 May 2015 (Internet Archive)
Google Jump Camera site, 31 May 2015 (Internet Archive)
Google Expeditions site, 29 May 2015 (Internet Archive) and
17 November 2015 (Internet Archive)
Google Blog, 22 May 2025:
A new look at how Android XR will bring Gemini to glasses and headsets
Google Blog, 28 May 2025:
10 Tips for 10 Years of Google Photos
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