We’ve just released Android Studio 0.8.12, with a brand new virtual device manager, a lint check ensuring Gradle wrappers use HTTPS, improved XML namespace editing, ability to default to XML editors for layouts, and most importantly a lot of significant bug fixes!

There are no patches this time; for details and download links see the release announcement at http://tools.android.com/recent/androidstudio0812released

Learn about what's new in Google Play services 6.1 in this #DevByte from +Magnus Hyttsten. Google Play services 6.1 adds Enhanced Ecommerce analytics support from Google Tag Manager and offers new improvements to the Google Drive Android API. With this release, we're also including a refresh of the Google Fit developer preview, so that you can test your fitness apps on any Android device.

Check out the blogpost below for more information:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2014/09/google-play-services-61.html

Google Play services 6.1

#AndroidDev

If you're an AngularDart user, then I am delighted to tell you that version 1.0, industrious-pangolin, is now available on github and pub. 

Game developers, check out the latest updates to the Google Play games services SDKs. They give you a consistent set of services across platforms, a refreshed UI, and better visibility into what users are doing in your games.

First, the Google Play Games C++ SDK now supports Real-Time Multiplayer (RTMP), bringing it to feature parity with the Play services SDK on Android and the Play Games iOS SDK.

We’ve also incorporated material design into the user-interface of the latest Play Games services SDKs.

New quest features and completion stats make this popular service easier to implement and manage. 

Multiplayer stats in the Developer Console let you see trends in overall usage.

New game services alerts in the Developer Console notify you if there are problems with your multiplayer implementation and more.

You can get started with all of these right away. Visit the Google Play game services developer site to download the updated SDKs. 

Documentation and downloads here:
https://developers.google.com/games/services/

#googleplaygameservices

All Google+ widgets have been updated to use the script[async + defer] pattern! E.g. +1 button docs: http://bit.ly/YHoj96

What's the benefit? Loading widgets via script[async+defer] does not block the document parser (see [1]), and allows the preload scanner to discover the script resource and initiate an earlier fetch (see [2]). Net outcome, both your page and the widget load faster! Have a G+ widget on your page? Check out the docs for guidance on how to update your snippets.

Kudos to the G+ team for taking the lead on this! Hope to see more widget providers adopt the same pattern.

[1] https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/critical-rendering-path/adding-interactivity-with-javascript#parser-blocking-vs-asynchronous-javascript
[2] https://www.igvita.com/2014/05/20/script-injected-async-scripts-considered-harmful/