I am trying to learn about the Android OS and while I was reading the Google I/O 2014 app, I came across the WindowInsets. If anyone can explain what they are then it would be a great help. Thank you.
You can learn all about WindowInsets here. WindowInsets provides you with the area on the window that is usable by the application. By itself it's of not much use. It's true purpose comes when you either override View.onApplyWindowInsets or implement View.OnApplyWindowInsetsListener. You can read about them here: View.onApplyWindowInsets and View.OnApplyWindowInsetsListener.
Listener for applying window insets on a view in a custom way.
Apps may choose to implement this interface if they want to apply custom policy to the way that window insets are treated for a view. If an OnApplyWindowInsetsListener is set, its onApplyWindowInsets method will be called instead of the View's own onApplyWindowInsets method. The listener may optionally call the parameter View's onApplyWindowInsets method to apply the View's normal behavior as part of its own.
In short, overriding this will let you control area of the window available for your View.