Google Cloud
The overwhelmed person’s guide to Google Cloud: week of October 24
October 29, 2024
Richard Seroter
Chief Evangelist, Google Cloud
A weekly curation of the most helpful blogs, exciting new features, and useful events coming out of Google Cloud.
The content in this blog post was originally published last week as a members-only email to the Google Cloud Innovators community. To get this content directly in your inbox (not to mention lots of other benefits), sign up to be an Innovator today.
New and shiny
Three new things to know this week
- Time for a second look at Gemini Code Assist. We just launched Gemini Code Assist Enterprise, but also added lots of new functionality to the Standard product. Get an AI coding assistant powered by our best Google models, while also tapping into features like a long context window, code customization based code in GitHub or GitLab repos, code transformation, and more. Read the launch blog, and see the differences between the product tiers.
- Become a better prompt engineer thanks to Vertex AI. Are you a good prompter? I am decidedly average. But this new tooling baked into Vertex AI upgrades me to “surprisingly competent.” Use the new “Help me write” and “Refine prompt” experiences in Vertex AI Studio to get smart upgrades to what you’re asking the LLM.
- Get a handle on your databases with the new Database Center. Got database sprawl? It happens to the best of us. I like this new Database Center experience that gives you a birds-eye view across your fleet. It works across Google Cloud databases like Cloud SQL, AlloyDB, and Spanner. Get health insights that keep your fleet up to date, optimized, and safe.
- Get hands-on with generative AI in four new learning paths. Learn how to build and modernize gen AI applications, bring gen AI into your data workflow, manage and deploy gen AI models, and generate smarter gen AI outputs in new learning paths on Google Cloud Skills Boost.
- Join this digital event and learn how to optimize your cloud infrastructure and applications for the AI era. Gain insights from Google Fellows – our luminary technical leaders – and industry experts on how to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and accelerate innovation. Discover practical strategies for AI adoption, infrastructure optimization, developing AI-powered applications, and cost management.
Watch this
Customize your AI-assisted coding experience. Spend five minutes with Mark to understand why and how to bring private code to Gemini Code Assist for more personalized suggestions.
Community cuts
Every week I round up some of my favorite links from builders around the Google Cloud-iverse. Want to see your blog or video in the next issue? Drop Richard a line!
- Train, tune, and serve models using Ray on Google Cloud. Shaun wrote up a terrific series of posts that explain Ray, and then show how to run KubeRay on GKE or the managed experience in Vertex AI.
- Who wants to go deep on firewalls? I see a few hands up. This post is for you. Learn about Layer 3 and Layer 7 firewalls in this informative post from Arnaud.
- Cloud Dev Environments are getting hot again. Check out this post from Jean-Phi that digs into Project IDX and Cloud Workstations as two good options for on-demand development environments.
Learn and grow
Three ways to build your cloud muscles this week
- Try this codelab to experiment with code customization in Gemini Code Assist. Want personalized suggestions based on your private repos? Follow along with this step-by-step codelab to see how it works.
- Analyze logs across clouds using BigQuery Omni. I really like this pattern. If you’ve got a multi-cloud setup and a complex log ingestion and analytics process, maybe you can simplify it. Read this post for an easier way.
- AI and ML workloads that meet your architectural quality attributes? Read on. We’ve added some great new content to our Architecture Framework. Learn how to deliver AI and ML workloads that satisfy security, reliability, cost, and performance needs.
- Query databases using pipe syntax instead of SQL. This won’t be for every use case or developer. But we’re positioning this new syntax as something that helps folks explore semi-structured logs in an easier fashion. Read the blog post, and dive into the actual syntax.ll.
One more thing
We’re excited for Demis, John, and all the Googlers whose research makes the world a better place.
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