Stremor, a language heuristics technology startup, has announced the availability of Liquid Helium APIs to third-party developers. Liquid Helium is a proprietary language heuristics engine that analyzes and interprets written content so that it can be manipulated and used in future online media, connected devices and systems.

Liquid Helium Powers the TLDR Reader. — Image Credit: iTunes TLDR Reader

There are currently four Stremor Liquid Helium APIs available via Mashape, a leading cloud API platform and marketplace:

• Search Results – Returns summaries of pages, author’s social media links, information about the outlinks of a page, and keywords from the URL.
• Automated Summary and Abstract Generator – Generates instant 350 character (+/- 10%) summaries of long content from text or URLs. Summaries are returned as highly readable paragraphs with complete sentences for the best end-user experience.
• RSS Summary – Allows for batch processing of an entire RSS feed (up to 30 items). Each item will be fetched from the URL in the feed, summarized and returned as an RSS 2.0 feed.
• Content Extractor – Extracts the HTML for the main content of any page on the internet. The API strips away headers, footers, navigation, comments, and other unwanted debris, providing only the core content.

Third-party developers can use the Stremor Liquid Helium APIs in many types of applications. The Summary API can automatically generate appropriate summaries of long or complex content, including content from documents such as emails, web pages, documents, and knowledge management archives. In addition, the Summary API can extract specific data from content such as phone numbers, people and places

Stremor CEO Bill Irvine, explains the goal for the APIs in a quote included in the press release:

“Stremor’s goal is to create a platform that comprehends language and enables developers with a suite of language analysis APIs. This first API gives well-written summaries of long or complex content, with applications well beyond Yahoo’s limited use of their Summly acquisition. Now, anyone can leverage quality summaries in their applications.”

According to the press release, the four APIs just released are “the first of many” Liquid Helium APIs that Stremor will be releasing. Developers interested in using the Stremor Liquid Helium APIs can find documentation and apply for API keys at Mashape. Additional information about the Liquid Helium language heuristics engine can be found on the official Stremor website.

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This week we had 38 new APIs added to our API directory including a weather data service, national digital library, personalized restaurant recommendations and photos, U.S. political contributions database and remote home heating control service. In addition we covered an API that helps simplify event marketing. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.

AniDB API: AniDB (Anime DataBase) is an extensive database of information on Japanese animation that includes shows, movies, episodes, characters, and more. This database is freely available to the public, and all AniDB users are able to add or edit information. Users can also create and maintain a "MyList" to keep track of which anime they have and haven't seen before.

The AniDB API allows users to retrieve information from the database programmatically using REST, TCP, and UDP protocols.

Appery.io API: Appery.io is a mobile application building and management platform. Users can use Appery.io to build, manage, and cloud host their mobile applications.

The Appery.io API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Appery.io to build and create applications. Some example API methods include building applications, pushing data, and managing account information.

BIPS API: BIPS is an online payment service that allows users to buy, sell, trade, withdraw and accept Bitcoins as payment. The BIPS API allows the users to send bitcoins, get the balance of the user's account, and export transactions. The service uses REST calls. An account and an API Key are required to use the API.

Bitcoin Sentiment API: Bitcoin Sentiment is a polling site where users vote on the future price of Bitcoins. The site also offers charts of the sentiment data, and makes the data freely downloadable. The Bitcoin Sentiment API allows users to send votes to indicate bullish or bearish prospects for the Bitcoin economy, and get data from Bitcoin Sentiment. The services uses REST calls and is free to use.

Block Chain Roulette API: Block Chain Roulette is a Bitcoin game that rewards users who correctly guess a random number that is generated by solving a new Bitcoin block. The Block Chain Roulette API gives users access to URLS to enable them to create their own roulette playing bots. The API has queries that can get a list of all possible bets, get a list of all bests made on the table, get a list of the last 50 bets, and get a list of blocks processed and spin results.

CampBX API: CampBX is a United States based Bitcoin trading platform that offers low-latency automated trading, as well as manual trading. The site offers basic and advanced trading including margin account and short sales. The CampBX API allows users to call for historical data, access ticker and depth table information, fund transfers, execute quick buy or sell orders, as well as place other advanced orders including margin and short selling. An account is required with service, the API returns JSON and JSONP, and requires SSL for trade activity.

Digital Public Library of America API: The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is designed to bring together content from America’s libraries, archives, and museums and make them freely available online. Its goal is to make the written words, art, historical records, and science of the U.S. available as widely as possible. DPLA users can search the millions of items in the catalog, save items in lists, and share those lists with others.

The DPLA API provides a programmatic method for accessing the metadata for items stored by the DPLA. Among other information, each metadata record contain a link to the object's location on the content provider’s website.

Elophant API: Elophant is a service for League of Legends (LoL), a free online game in which players take on the role of a summoner who can summon champions to fight for them. Elophant provides information on summoners (player stats), champions, and items within the game. Developers can retrieve information from the Elophant database programmatically using REST calls.

Eventfinda API: Eventfinda is an online calendar of cultural events for New Zealand. Users can join for free and customize a weekly newsletter featuring information on the types of events and locations that they're interested in. Users can also create and manage a list of their favorite events, post their own events, submit reviews, and notify others of which events they're attending and whether they're looking for people to go with them.

The Eventfinda API allows users to access the events database programmatically using REST calls issued in XML, JSON, or JSONP.

Forecast API: Forecast is a weather application that provides weather forecast information for locations. Forecast aggregates numerous weather data sets and combines them for users to search and return weather forecast information by place.

The Forecast API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Forecast with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include returning current weather conditions and retrieving forecasts for periods of time.

Groovy enVironment Manager API: The Groovy enVironment Manager (GVM) helps users manage parallel versions of software development kits (SDKs) on Unix-based systems. It provides a command-line interface for installing, switching, removing, and listing candidates. Although the GVM API’s primary purpose is to work with the GVM clientside bash scripts, it can also be used by other clients.

Harvard Faculty Finder API: The Harvard Faculty Finder (HFF) provides a method by which students, faculty, administrators, and the general public can search for Harvard faculty members based on their research and teaching expertise. HFF is not a database of faculty profiles. Rather, it indexes and links existing information sources, making it possible to search and browse for faculty information across schools. Currently, only members of the Harvard community can make use of HFF, but that is expected to change later in the year.

HashRack API: HashRack is a Bitcoin mining service that provides users with charts, real-time updates, giveaways, and decentralized mining technology. The HashRack API allows users to query for the status of the API, the mining pool stats, the user status, the user rewards, the user transactions, and the worker status. The API uses REST calls and returns JSON. An account and API key is required with service.

Hoppit API: Dubbed as "Yelp meets Pandora," the Hoppit API answers the ongoing question "Where should we eat tonight?" by giving you access to the restaurant data used by our award-winning applications, as seen on FOX, CBS, and Mashable. This includes the nation's largest repository of high-resolution restaurant photography and "Vibe" data, available for 20 U.S. cities. Filter restaurants, bars, and coffee shops by type of Vibe (e.g. Cozy, Hipster, Romantic) and scenario (e.g. with a Date, with a Colleague, with Children), as well as by price, cuisine (e.g. Italian), and meal (e.g. Brunch). Perfect for developers of travel, lifestyle, food, social, local applications who wish to surface the amazing content that Hoppit users interact with every second. Available for New York, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Denver.

Istabai API: Istabai is an application that allows users to manage their home heating systems from anywhere with an internet connection. Users can set the service up simply by changing their radiator head and plugging in Istabai's internet cable. The Istabai mobile application and web solution will relay the current temperature to the user and allow them to regulate it as they like. The system can also be accessed and controlled programmatically via REST API. The Istabai website is provided in English, Russian, and Latvian.

itty bitty URL API: Itty bitty URL is a free service for creating short, trackable URLs that can be used anywhere on the internet. Users can create URLs that expire after a certain number of uses or require a password for access. Detailed statistics on the number of unique visitors, visitors' countries, and browsers used are readily available for any URL created by itty bitty URL. The itty bitty URL API allows users to provide URL-shortening functionality on existing websites.

MineBans API: MineBans is a global banning system for Minecraft servers. Server admins can publish their player bans to the MineBans database to help the owners of other servers decide whether to allow a player who recently joined their server to stay. In the MineBans banning system, ban reasons are fixed, all bans are rated by severity, and the ban command itself is short.

The MineBans API allows developers to retrieve a list of users with moderator access to a given server, a list of all bans that a specific server has made, and a list of all bans and their supporting evidence.

National Library of Medicine Digital Collections API: The National Library of Medicine’s Digital Collections is a free online archive of biomedical videos and books from the public domain. The National Library of Medicine Digital Collections API provides developer access to both the full text and Dublin Core metadata of every resource in the repository. Responses are XML formatted.

navitia.io API: Navitia.io is an API that helps people access and use public transportation data. It provides services for performing journey computations, getting line schedules, finding next departures, and discovering isochrones. Isochrones are locations that can be reached in the same amount of time from a person's starting point. This part of the API could, for example, be used to discover which stations could be reached within the next 60 minutes.

The street network used by navitia.io is extracted from OpenStreetMap, and all of the public transport data comes from networks that provide their timetables as open data.

Noisebridge API: Noisebridge is a non-profit, educational corporation that provides a public space containing an electronics lab, a machine shop, a library, a darkroom, a kitchen, and more. Anyone can come in and use the facilities to work on a project, either alone or in groups.

Noisebridge provides a simple, RESTful API for accessing web-based services that people using the facilities have coded. So far, there is a simple text-to-speech service available. For the moment, the API is only accessible from the Noisebridge public space, but this will change once authorization methods are up and running.

Planspot API: Planspot is an event management and organizing applications. Planspot offers multiple features for event planning, management, and promotion, such as ticket sales, marketing tools, and campaign reporting.

The Planspot API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Planspot with other applications. Some example API methods include managing account information, retrieving ticket information, and retrieving contact information.

Popyoular API: Popyoular is a review-based recommendation and discovery platform that has been optimized for movies, music, books, and related media. Website owners can use Popyoular to help make their websites' best content readily available to visitors by using review data to create toplists and playlists. Popyoular can also filter product selections and highlight certain products based on review data. Developers can integrate Popyoular into a website using its RESTful API.

PromptCloud API: PromptCloud is a Data as a Service (DaaS) platform that uses cloud-based services and machine learning to provides web crawling and data extraction functions. Their goal is to make the benefits of big data – such as monitoring customer sentiment – easily available to their wide range of clients. Specific services range from getting information from a given list of sites to building an internal search index. PromptCloud delivers clean, structured data produced by these services using their RESTful API.

Rebtel API: Rebtel is a mobile telephony service. Rebtel offers international calling services at varied rates.

The Rebtel API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Rebtel with other applications. Some example API methods include creating calls, managing calls, and managing account information.

SayRoom API: SayRoom is an application that allows users to voice and share their reactions to online images. SayRoom powers several kinds of feeds featuring images along with users' emotional reactions to them. SayRoom analyzes each post for speaker sentiments in order to determine how people feel about a given subject, place, or object. SayRoom provides an API that allows developers to access the audio messages left by users via REST calls.

SMS Fastly API: SMS Fastly is a bulk SMS service that provides coverage for 160 countries. Text messages sent through the service can be up to 160 characters long, though a "concatenated SMS" method is available for longer messages. SMS Fastly offers an API that lets resellers give their users a means of sending SMS without using the web interface on the reseller's site. This API functions using HTTP GET (REST) calls.

Statistics Sweden API: Statistics Sweden is an administrative agency that supplies statistics for decision-making, debate, and research purposes. It primarily serves government agencies but will sometimes provide statistical data to private researchers. Statistics Sweden provides an API for accessing any table or part of a table from their Statistical Database. The API can be used without registration and is currently in beta.

Sunlight Foundation Capitol Words API: The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit group that uses technology to make the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.

Capitol Words is a tool for determining the frequency with which a given word is used in Congressional sessions over time. It provides relative frequency charts as well as the specific contexts in which the word was used. This provides a quick glimpse into what issues Congress is addressing on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. The transcripts referenced by Capitol Words come from the website of the Government Printing Office and cover Congressional sessions from 1996 to the present.

Sunlight Foundation Influence Explorer API: The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit group that uses technology to make the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.

Influence Explorer provides site visitors with extensive and detailed information on campaign contributions, lobbying reports, grants, and more. This data is available raw or in the form of charts, graphs, and Top 10 lists. The Influence Explorer API allows users to retrieve this information programmatically using REST calls.

Sunlight Foundation Open States API: The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit group that uses technology to make the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.

Open States provides public access to information on state-level politics for every state in the U.S. It helps users find their legislators, review their votes, search upcoming legislation, and track bill progress. This data can be accessed directly through the website or programmatically via REST API.

TheBigDB API: TheBigDB is a loosely-structured database that is free and open to the public. It contains miscellaneous facts stored as statements, which are simply arrays of nodes that anyone can create, upvote, or downvote. TheBigDB has no datatypes, namespaces, lists, or domains. Users can search through the nodes programmatically using REST calls issued in JSON format.

They Said So API: They Said So is a website that provides daily quotes and random quotes from a large quotation database. Developers can use the RESTful They Said So API to include quotes in their applications. The API can retrieve a quote of the day, random quotes, quotes meeting certain length restrictions, categories of quotes, and quotes by a certain author. It can also retrieve a Bible verse of the day or a random verse.

Twipple API: Twipple is a Japanese application for posting and collecting cute images on Twitter. Users can log on to the Twipple website using their Twitter accounts. Twipple provides a RESTful API that can be used to get a thumbnail of a posted image or to upload images for posting.

Although the Twipple API documentation is given in both Japanese and English, the website is given entirely in Japanese. Most of the website's text is incorporated into images, making it difficult to translate using software like Google Translate, so Japanese-language proficiency is recommended for potential users.

USC Event Calendar API: The University of Southern California Events Calendar provides a comprehensive searchable listing of campus events, including music and theater, exhibits, lectures, film, sports, and more. The USC Event Calendar API provides RESTful access to the calendar’s event data.
The API supports automated calls to limit events by a variety of fields and data types, as well as searching within fields. The API supports JSON and JSONP formatted responses.

USC Map Data API: The University of Southern California’s Map Data API provides a RESTful interface for retrieving content from the University’s online map. The API supports JSON and JSONP formats. Users can search for locations, building codes and names, and a variety of map metadata.

USC Webcam API: The University of Southern California’s Webcam API is produced by the University’s Web Services. The API provides RESTful access to archived still photos and movies from TommyCam, the webcam centered on the Tommy Trojan statue in the middle of USC’s University Park campus. The API retrieves JSON and JSONP listings.

Weather Source API: Weather Source is a service that provides weather data. Weather Source provides weather data for clients in multiple industries for multiple purposes. Weather Source provides historical weather data and reports, weather forecast data, and astronomical reports.

The Weather Source API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Weather Source with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include managing account information, retrieving weather history data, and retrieving astronomical data.

WhateverWeb API: WhateverWeb is a mobile application development service that provides users with a toolkit for developing mobile centered applications. The service provides image processing, CSS processing, device detection, Git publishing, and other services. The WhateverWeb API is a component of the device detection service and allows users to fix server side issues or access device information. An account is required with service, and the basic sandboxed version is free.

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Of the many APIs we published this week, ten were highlighted on the blog by our team of writers. In this post, we’ll shine a spotlight on those ten, which included the Cloudera Developer Kit. This kit will help developers build applications in Hadoop environments by providing them with API tools and reducing the barriers to entry. Meaning the rather expensive environment will be more open due to efficiency tips and tools provided by the CDK. To learn more about what exactly the Cloudera developer kit does, visit the Cloudera site as well as the Cloudera API blog post.

The Toma.hk API is a music lovers dream. The open source, cross-platform music player allows users to play music from multiple sources. This functionality is all possible due to their search APIs, which search for streaming services that best cater to a specific users audio search. Furthermore, if this streaming service isn’t compatible, Toma.hk provides content resolvers that fix those pesky issues. To learn more about the Toma.hk API visit the Toma.hk site as well as the Toma.hk API blog post.

Planspot gives developers access to its marketing tools via the Planspot API. The Planspot platform acts as an all in one event promotion and marketing tool. Functionality includes web pages, mailing campaigns, social media marketing, and help and support the entire way. Planspot even allows for ticketing companies to forward clients over to the intended event website for marketing purposes. To learn more about the Planspot API visit the Planspot site as well as the Planspot API blog post.

The Weather Source API provides data on weather conditions, but with a twist. The data caters towards businesses, providing them with weather data that could affect foot traffic, event attendance, product viewership, sales, and etc. This data can be integrated with other applications through the use of the Weather Source API. It even allows for interactive reports, spreadsheets, and PDFs to be highly customized for differing businesses. To learn more about the Weather Source API visit the Weather Source site as well as the Weather Source API blog post.

If you are looking for a simple way to quote  those who say it better, look no further, the They Said So API does just that. The They Said So website holds an extensive database with over a million quotes from a hundred thousand different authors. Developers can access all these quotes through the API, which also categorizes the quotes to find them easier. To learn more about the They Said So API visit the They Said So site as well as the They Said So API blog post.

Boxfish is an up and coming television discovery company specializing in the ability for users to search and discover the exact area of television they want to. Meaning users can use basic language searches to identify topics currently discussed on TV. The Boxfish API simply makes this functionality accessible for developers who wish to integrate it into their third party apps. To learn more about the Boxfish API visit the Boxfish site as well as the Boxfish API blog post.

Glympse is a service that allows users of GPS-enabled mobile phones to share their location temporarily, in real time. The Glympse API allows developers to integrate real time sharing of GPS locations to their third party applications and websites. Users can specify how long they want to share their location as well. To learn more about the Glympse API visit the Glympse site as well as the Glympse API blog post.

The USDA Farmers Market Directory API provides developers access to the directory database. This database consists of over 7,800 farmers market listings, as well as information about locations, operating times, accepted forms of payment, and product offerings. Data can be accessed by calling to the API and developers are encouraged to create apps that spread the knowledge. To learn more about the USDA Farmers Market Directory API visit the USDA site as well as the Farmers Market API blog post.

BIPS is a payment system surrounding the growing digital currency called, Bitcoins. The BIPS API gives developers access to transaction based, e-wallet functionality that is offered on the BIPS site. Common methods of the API use are to buy, sell, trade, withdraw, and accept Bitcoins as payment. To learn more about the BIPS API visit the BIPS site as well as the BIPS API blog post.

Popyoular review-based recommendation platform. It takes a websites content and matches it with reviews and opinions, basically furthering the word of mouth marketing tool into the digital world. The Popyoular API allows developer to integrate this functionality into their apps or websites. The best thing about Popyoular, negative reviews are overlooked. To learn more abotut he Popyoular API visit the Popyoular site as well as the Popyoular API blog post.

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This past week 6 new mashups were added to our mashup directory and 20 different APIs were used to build them. Some of the newer or less frequently seen APIs include Baidu, dlvr.it, Google Closure Compiler and Sina Weibo. The most often used APIs this week are Google Maps, Twitter and YouTube. And the most commonly used types of APIs were Mapping (4 APIs, 6 mashups), Social (4 APIs, 6 mashups) and Music (3 APIs, 3 mashups). The list below shows which APIs were used by which mashups:

 Baidu used in H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates

 Billboard used in uKoel Social Jukebox

 Bing used in PropertyWala.com

 Bit.ly used in PropertyWala.com

 dlvr.it used in PropertyWala.com

 Echo Nest used in WoMEn index

 ESRI ArcGIS JavaScript used in H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates

 FeedBurner used in H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates, PropertyWala.com

 Google Analytics used in PropertyWala.com

 Google Base used in PropertyWala.com

 Google Closure Compiler used in PropertyWala.com

 Google Earth used in PropertyWala.com

 Google Geocoding used in PropertyWala.com

 Google Maps used in H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates, JobKaster, PropertyWala.com

 Google Plus used in PropertyWala.com

 Last.fm used in WoMEn index

 PayPal used in PropertyWala.com

 Sina Weibo used in H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates

 Twitter used in H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates, PropertyWala.com, uKoel Social Jukebox

 YouTube used in PropertyWala.com, SOUNDRENALIN, uKoel Social Jukebox

Mashups of the day:
And each day there is one mashup selected to be Mashup of the Day. Here are last week’s winners:

 H7N9 avian flu distribution and updates

 JobKaster

 PropertyWala.com

 SOUNDRENALIN

 uKoel Social Jukebox

 WoMEn index

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Fed {API} to provide curated Government data sets. Stremor Corp releases Content Summarization API. Plus: Apigee launches a research and strategy organization for the app economy and 2 new APIs.

Fed {API} aims to Collect, Corelate and Catalog Government Data

The Data sets that are being released by Government agencies presents a challenge to developers due to their sheer numbers. It would be great if the data was aggregated from multiple resources and cataloged for consumption via APIs, so that developers could focus on their applications and surface up important visualizations and reports. Fed {API} is a project to do just that for the developer community. As per their site “Fed {API} is an experiment, a proof of concept to begin to intersect the many public government data sources to give developers the ability to use this data to use in their applications, reports and analytics to showcase Government operations.” Access to Fed {API} is available only via a private invite and interested developers can send an email at jobrieniii@540.co and also join Fed {API} Google Group.

Stremor releases API to shorten Content

Given our busy lifestyles, the trend towards summarizing content in small snippets that are easy to digest is picking up. Recently, Summly, the app that provides pocket sized news was acquired for more than $30 million by Yahoo. Stremor Corp, has made available its Liquid Helium Search and Summarization APIs that help create short versions of long content. The Liquid Helium Platform is the engine that converts written content into mathematical values and algorithms for predictable analysis, extraction, and manipulation. One of those applications is towards summarization of content. The API is available on the Mashape Cloud Platform and the Summary API converts text or HTML of any length to a single paragraph of approximately 75 words.

API News You Shouldn’t Miss

• Apigee Institute Launches, Research Points to Apps, APIs and Data as Key to Competitive Success
• Google announces new payments API for Chrome browsers
• Crosswa.lk Aims to Let You Download iOS Apps Directly from Websites

2 New APIs

Today we had 2 new APIs added to our API directory including a cambridge university press collections service and a u.s. farmers market information service. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.

Cambridge Journals Online API: Cambridge University Press publishes over 300 peer-reviewed academic journals covering research across a range of subject areas. In addition to journals, Cambridge Journals Online also keeps their metadata and supplementary materials like video, images and datasets. The RESTful API gives developers access to all of the data for use in third party applications.

USDA National Farmers Market Directory API: The USDA National Farmers Market Directory provides the public with self-reported information on U.S. farmers markets. This includes the locations, travel directions, operating times, product offerings, and accepted payment methods for the listed farmers markets. The accuracy of this information cannot be guaranteed and, for listings that have not been recently updated, prospective market-goers are advised to contact the listed market representative or check the market's website (if available) before visiting.

The USDA National Farmers Market Directory is maintained by AMS Marketing Services. The directory's contents can be accessed programmatically using SOAP calls issued in XML format.

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The news of data visualization provider Tableau’s IPO on Friday is yet another sign that the movement behind data and analytics continues to gain steam. With that in mind, today we’ll take a look at recent mashups that allow users to perform data analytics of some kind and often show the results through interesting visualizations. Read below for more information on each.

World Statistics – Powered by the Google Fusion Tables API, this service visually displays world statistics on a map. Statistics include: Population, GDP, and currency unit. APIs used include: GoogleFusionTables. More at our World Statistics profile.

Noodler Car Comparison – Noodler makes vehicle comparison easier for car buyers. See similarities and differences at a glance. Data from Edmunds.com, the highly reputable research site. APIs used include: Edmunds.com Vehicle. More at our Noodler Car Comparison profile.

Energy Usage Analytics – View and compare Monthly, Daily and Hourly Electricity usage using interactive charts. APIs used include: GoogleChart. More at our Energy Usage Analytics profile.

WoMEn index – Measuring world’s musical energy average emission intersecting user data from last.fm and song energy data from echonest. APIs used include: LastFM, EchoNest. More at our WoMEn index profile.

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Hackers across the country are getting ready to participate in the first annual National Day of Civic Hacking which will take place in over 80 cities on June 1st and 2nd, 2013. The two day event will bring together citizens, developers, government agencies and entrepreneurs to create applications using publicly available APIs and datasets, to help solve a civic or social problem impacting the local community.

At the time of this writing, the National Day of Civic Hacking features over 85 locally organized events, 19 government partners, 37 data sets/resources and 5,000 participants are expected. There are three main types of events that cities participating in the National Day of Civic Hacking can choose to organize and host; block party, hackathon and brigade meetup. The type of event will vary from city to city and will depend on the needs of the local community.

There are currently over 20 challenges submitted by federal government departments and agencies. The White House has even submitted a challenge to the event (registration now closed), that involves the recently released We the People API. Here are just a few of the challenges that will take place at the National Day of Civic Hacking:

• Hacking the Digital Public Library of America – Use the DPLA’s dataset of over 2.4 million records of digitized cultural heritage from our nation’s libraries, archives, and museums to create visualizations, mapping applications and data enhancement tools.
• The Location Affordability Data Challenge – Create an API that helps consumers, planners, policymakers, and researchers to leverage a new database (currently in development) of neighborhood-scale housing and transportation costs.
• Farmers Market Directory – Creation of mobile applications to enhance the Farmers Market experience and make trips easier by using USDA’s Farmers Market Directory.
• We Love Data – How can we encourage people to interact with space data in new and meaningful ways, in effect promoting space enthusiasm, education, and a stronger human community?
• The Census American Community Challenge – Leverage statistics about every neighborhood in the nation to create useful tools that look at everything from commute times to median income to poverty rates.

The organizing partners for the National Day of Civic Hacking are Code for America, Random Hacks of Kindness and Innovation Endeavors. Government agencies participating include White House Office of Digital Strategy, Census Bureau, NASA, Department of Labor, USDA and many others.

Are you a civic hacker? According to the National Day of Civic Hacking website FAQ, “Civic Hackers” are defined as:

“Civic hackers” as we think about it for the National Day of Civic Hacking are engineers, technologists, civil servants, scientists, designers, artists, educators, students, entrepreneurs, community members – anybody – who is willing to collaborate with others to create, build, and invent open source solutions using publicly-released data, code and technology to solve challenges relevant to our neighborhoods, our cities, our states and our country.

To find National Day of Civic Hacking events near you or to view the complete lists of challenges and events, visit hackforchange.org.

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This guest post comes from Andy Thurai. Andy is the Chief Architect & Group CTO for the Intel unit that is responsible for Cloud/ Application security, API, Big Data, SOA and Mobile middleware solutions. You can follow him @AndyThurai (Twitter) or at thurai.net.

Now-a-days every single CIO, CTO, or business executive that I speak to is captivated by these three new technologies: Big Data, API management and IoTs (Internet of Things). Every single organizational executive that I speak with confirms that they either have current projects that are actively using these technologies, or they are in the planning stages and are about to embark on the mission soon.

Though the underlying need and purpose served are unique to each of these technologies, they all have one thing common. They all necessitate newer security models and security tools to serve any organization well. I will explain that in a bit, but let us see what is the value added by these technologies to any organization:

IoT – is specific data collection points that employ sensors placed anywhere and everywhere. Most often times the information collected by these devices are sensitive data and contain specific identifiable targeted data. IoT allows organizations to analyze behaviors and patterns as needed but also poses an interesting problem. Gone is TB (Terabytes) of data; now we are talking about PB (petabytes) of data which continue to grow exponentially. IoTs use M2M communication, which are a newer channel and create a newer set of threat vectors.

Big Data – store massive amounts of data (some of these data are from the aforementioned IoTs) and having the necessary software and infrastructure that allow you to access them faster which promises to cost you a fraction of what it is costs today, further enabling you to capture as many data points as possible.

API – interface, enabler and interconnector between systems by providing a uniform and portable interface (whether it is to the big data or the platform that enables big data).

While each of technologies at first glance appears to be serving different constituencies within an Enterprise, there is an undeniable interconnectedness that exists. The IoT collects data from everywhere. Hence, it is pouring tons of data that need to be not only stored somewhere, but also analyzed properly so that the dots can be connected, to ultimately form meaningful patterns that people can make use of.

[In the graphic above assume all communications to the central neural system is via APIs.]

With the evolution of these technologies, there is a very raw, basic, and yet incontrovertible need being expressed. Every business yearns to be better than its competitors in catering to the needs of its consumers. I mean the “consumer” in a loose sense here – be that an individual or for that matter, an organization that is consuming your offerings. Ipso facto, this means you need to capture as much information as you possibly can about the target consumer behavior, so that it can be analyzed, protected, stored, shared selectively, and most importantly, so that it can serve your consumer better (or perhaps to be used when strategically monetizing an area of your business).

None of these technologies is in a trial phase any more. If anything, the social media explosion provided ample evidence that these technologies are being used quite effectively already (real life POCs). Of late, all of these technologies have been gaining adoption in the sacred technology worlds, such as the healthcare and financial sectors. However, when you employ these technologies with your production applications, you need an enterprise grade security that is built from the ground up to provide a necessary level of protection.

In the social world, the model had always been, “build [it] first and secure later based on the need” (or never in some cases). With healthcare, federal and financial sectors, that model is no longer tenable. You need to secure data at any cost, question anybody who wants access, and be hyper-vigilant without compromise.

What is particularly troublesome is that these organizations seem to be of the thought that they can extend existing security measures to protect all of these newer technologies. While your SSL, Identity systems and other existing controls can serve as the baseline for these technologies, you need a newer set of security controls and tools in place. Your security model needs to make the necessary accommodations, instead of trying to force fit everything to make the older set of tools to fit. That would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I have seen customers trying to bend RACF to fit the newer SOA, API, Big data paradigm. While it can be done, it would end up costing you more, will be very inflexible, and defeats the fundamental purpose of security. Don’t get me wrong — everything has a place in this universe.

Remember I wrote recently about the disappearing perimeter defenses and moving lines of thin defense. This is due to shared data centers, cloud adoption, multiple shared tenants, deeper integration and wider exposure to multiple partners, etc. Regardless of the scenario, you need to protect your own data and be accountable for it. Cyber attackers are very sophisticated and are funded by organizations (or even countries), which means they need to get to the proverbial data goldmine. Without adequate protection, this can prove to be that goldmine. The thing that scares me the most is the underlying threat to all of the above technologies when you try to fit them into the older security model. Most of the above technologies, from what I have observed, are either under protected or unprotected. While it is great for organizations to maximize monetization and satisfaction of a consumer and have a competitive edge over others, that shouldn’t come at the cost of security or by increasing their risk. Especially when it comes to security, Murphy’s Law is always right; it is not a question of if a security loophole will be exploited; it is a question of when.

You not only need to identify the users, authenticate them, and authorize them but also make sure they are allowed access during that time window that they are requesting the info (throw in a location based and device based identification on top).

In addition, you also need to worry about protecting the big data store itself, including strong encryption of storage, transmission, and in process data.

But then, most important of all, you need to mitigate the threat vectors that are created by these new technologies. I will write in the next few articles about how you can protect all of these areas with minimal effort while keeping your TCO very low. I will also talk about specific usecases and usage models that will make sense.

Blake recently wrote a great blog on “touchless” Big Data security. I urge you to check it out here. Demo version is here.

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Google Wallet Android API. Openmind creates a mobile communications platform API. Plus: Intuit revamps partner platform, Google Maps API in visual refresh, and 6 new APIs.

Google Launches Instant Buy API, and Sending Money via Gmail

The search engine giant announced at the  Google I/O this week that it is now offering its Instant Buy API with faster check out, secure payments and easy integration without any fees from Google. As Emil Protalinski at The Next Web notes, an instant app registration can be created through Google+ sign in. The API is

“…for merchants and developers who already have a payment processor but want to “simplify the checkout experience for their customers.” While Google already has Google Wallet API that works for mobile sites as well as Google Play In-app Billing for in-app purchases, now Google is inviting US developers to sign up for its Instant Buy Android API, which brings its payment service to native Android apps as well.”

Devices using the Apps must have the latest version of Android, rolling out now. Over the next few months, Google will roll out the capability to send money directly via gmail–for those over 18.

Openmind Creates Mobile Communications Platform API

Openmind, which provides communication solutions to the telecom industry, has opened up its mobile platform for third-party apps. Complementing the developer Apps are native apps including the Tablet and Web Messaging App; Dinamotxt, a family-locator App; FamFinder and an enterprise focused communication App; Bugle.

As CEO Alex Duncan commented,

“At its core, Openmind’s platform enables adaptability to a variety of users. The addition of the API offers software developers the ability to tap into telecoms functionality in a way that was impossible before, for example, creating a central cloud storage of messages for corporate users, or harnessing Text Messaging interactions between a sales force and its customers for a more complete view of outreach to customers. We offer VoIP capabilities, RCS, WebRTC, location sharing, billing etc allowing App developers to think and create new apps that before were only dreamt about. These Apps can be built on a solid, proven, telco-grade platform, allowing them to launch and scale Apps fast.”

Powering over 1 billion messages a day, Openmind’s platform is already used by mobile operators, inter-Carrier operators and IP telecom businesses. Openmind’s API gives developers access to a Telco-grade, scalable, robust platform for the development of corporate and enterprise Apps.

API News You Shouldn’t Miss

• Pebble releases updated Pebblekit SDK & Sports API with full support for iOS & Android apps
• Intuit Unveils Revamped Developer Portal as One-Stop Shop for Docs, Tools and SDKs
• Open API Now Available for Openmind’s Mobile Communications Platform
• Google Wallet now lets you send money via Gmail, gets an Android API for goods and services
• Google Maps API Gets A Visual Refresh, Available For Opt-In Today, Coming To Most Sites In August
• Google App Engine Adds PHP, Cloud Compute in Open Beta

6 New APIs

Today we had 6 new APIs added to our API directory including an anime information database, a congressional word-use frequency and context reference service, a u.s. political contributions database, a state politics information service and a japanese image tweeting service. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.

AniDB API: AniDB (Anime DataBase) is an extensive database of information on Japanese animation that includes shows, movies, episodes, characters, and more. This database is freely available to the public, and all AniDB users are able to add or edit information. Users can also create and maintain a “MyList” to keep track of which anime they have and haven’t seen before.

The AniDB API allows users to retrieve information from the database programmatically using REST, TCP, and UDP protocols.

Sunlight Foundation Capitol Words API: The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit group that uses technology to make the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.

Capitol Words is a tool for determining the frequency with which a given word is used in Congressional sessions over time. It provides relative frequency charts as well as the specific contexts in which the word was used. This provides a quick glimpse into what issues Congress is addressing on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. The transcripts referenced by Capitol Words come from the website of the Government Printing Office and cover Congressional sessions from 1996 to the present.

Sunlight Foundation Influence Explorer API: The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit group that uses technology to make the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.

Influence Explorer provides site visitors with extensive and detailed information on campaign contributions, lobbying reports, grants, and more. This data is available raw or in the form of charts, graphs, and Top 10 lists. The Influence Explorer API allows users to retrieve this information programmatically using REST calls.

Sunlight Foundation Open States API: The Sunlight Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit group that uses technology to make the U.S. government more transparent and accountable.

Open States provides public access to information on state-level politics for every state in the U.S. It helps users find their legislators, review their votes, search upcoming legislation, and track bill progress. This data can be accessed directly through the website or programmatically via REST API.

Twipple API: Twipple is a Japanese application for posting and collecting cute images on Twitter. Users can log on to the Twipple website using their Twitter accounts. Twipple provides a RESTful API that can be used to get a thumbnail of a posted image or to upload images for posting.

Although the Twipple API documentation is given in both Japanese and English, the website is given entirely in Japanese. Most of the website’s text is incorporated into images, making it difficult to translate using software like Google Translate, so Japanese-language proficiency is recommended for potential users.

WhateverWeb API: WhateverWeb is a mobile application development service that provides users with a toolkit for developing mobile centered applications. The service provides image processing, CSS processing, device detection, Git publishing, and other services. The WhateverWeb API is a component of the device detection service and allows users to fix server side issues or access device information. An account is required with service, and the basic sandboxed version is free.

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Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool, and businesses (not to mention the consumers), can benefit greatly from helpful reviews. Popyoular is an editorial review-based recommendation and discovery platform. It’s aimed specifically at film, music, books and games. The idea is to connect a website’s good content with trusted reviews and opinions about that content, helping to keep users engaged and directing them to things they may otherwise have overlooked. Popyoular’s API makes it possible for developers to integrate this functionality into any other website.

Popyoular’s selling point is that it brings the right reviews to the most relevant place, at the most relevant time, thereby improving content discovery on a website, improving a user’s experience, retaining their attention and ultimately boosting conversion rates. With its structured review data, Popyoular makes it possible to do things like create top lists and playlists to specifications, build dynamic categories for user exploration, highlight certain products, filter product selections and more.

The Popyoular RESTful API is designed to be easy to use with as much flexibility as possible, and returns data in XML, JSON or JSONP formats. For API documentation and access to an API key, developers can head to Popyoular’s website.

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BIPS, Bitcoin payment system, allows users to buy or sell online using Bitcoin digital currency. In addition to Bitcoin transaction-based apps and an e-wallet, BIPS provides an API that users can integrate with existing workflows and tools. Merchants can utilize Bitcoin currency alongside traditional currency transactions. BIPS co-founder, Kris Henriksen, commented:

“We hope to provide the best checkout experience for customers using bitcoin to pay,…and the best experience for merchant as a merchant bitcoin gateway.”

BIPS represents the next generation of Bitcoin services, as its founders originally started the popular Bitcoin payment processing platform: WalletBit. The BIPS API opens up Bitcoin related services to new users and platforms as Bitcoin continues to grow as an accepted currency. Although BIPS officially launched in 2013, BIPS already serves more than 10,000 customers.

The Bitcoin Internet Payment System (BIPS) API uses REST protocol and returns calls in a JSON data format. Common methods include buy, sell, trade, withdraw, and accept Bitcoins as payment. Additionally, the API allows users to generate invoices, check balances, and execute other common merchant transactions. Those interested should refer to the API documentation.

Bitcoin remains a controversial form of currency, and its future viability has sparked pointed debate. However, with a USD value of over $1 billion now in supply, the immediate opportunity for Bitcoin related services prevails. While traditional ecommerce platforms compete in common currency exchanges, BIPS has emerged as a leader in its lesser understood space.

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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just launched the brand new USDA Farmers Market Directory API providing developers programmatic access to the USDA National Farmers Market Directory database. According to the USDA website, the National Farmers Market Directory has over 7,800 farmers market listings for all 50 states and provides consumers farmers market information such as market locations, directions, operating times, product offerings, and accepted forms of payment.

The USDA Farmers Market Directory API makes it possible for developers to access market directory data using search and data retrieval functionality. The data can then be used in websites and third-party applications. The API is REST based and can be accessed by using C#, Visual Basic, or AJAX JavaScript. API responses are provided in JSON data format.

AMS Administrator Anne Alonzo, states for the USDA press release that:

“AMS continues to refine and improve the directory data, adding fields and honing our collection methods to yield clearer and more useful results. The API is the next step in our efforts to improve this resource, and we will continue to listen to the consumers and developers who use it daily to keep improving it.”

To help encourage developers to use and support the new USDA Farmers Market Directory API, the USDA is also participating in the National Day of Civic Hacking taking place June 1-2, 2013.

The Farmers Market Directory Challenge asks developers to create mobile applications (Android, iPhone, Windows) that will help promote farmers markets and provide users innovative and unique farmers market experiences through mobile technology. Applications should also include visualizations and mapping features.

To find out more about the Farmers Market Directory Challenge visit the National Day of Civic Hacking website.

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Our API directory now includes 116 retail APIs. The newest is the Leaf API. The most popular, in terms of mashups, is the Shopping.com API. We list 60 Shopping.com mashups. Below you’ll find some more stats from the directory, including the entire list of retail APIs.

In terms of the technical details, REST and JSON lead the way. There are 66 retail REST APIs and 18 retail SOAP APIs. Our directory lists 54 retail JSON APIs and 48 retail XML APIs.

The most common tags within retail are 59 shopping retail APIs, 37 ecommerce retail APIs and 13 payment retail APIs.

On the mashup side, we list 14 retail mashups. We named iabol as mashup of the day in April.

For reference, here is a list of all 116 retail APIs.

  123 Shop Pro API: Online shopping cart software

  7-Eleven Election API: Unscientific election polling service

  AccurateTax API: Sales tax integration for shopping carts

  Airbrite API: Mobile commerce service

  AisleBuyer API: Mobile commerce services

  API2Cart API: Unified shopping cart interface

  Asos API: Beauty and fashion retailer

  Assay Depot API: Pharmaceutical research service catalog

  ATC BusinessLink API: Czech IT product retail services

  Baker & Taylor EDI API: Supplier for libraries and book retailers

  Bertram Books API: UK book retailing service

  Bootic API: online ecommerce solutions

  Boutine API: Online women's clothing store

  Bview Content API: Local business info service

  Bview Local Search API: Local retail search service

  Card.io API: Mobile payment service

  Cent2Cent API: Digital content ecommerce platform

  CheckMEND API: Pawn and second-hand trader item verification service

  Clobucks API: Russian affilate marketing platform

  CoreCommerce API: eCommerce platform

  CornerDrugstore API: Pharmacy web information service

  Coupz API: Deal distribution service

  DaWanda API: German Ecommerce Service

  EAN Data API: Product information service

  EasyEthical API: Ethical consumer guide

  eBay Large Merchant Services API: Transcation processing services

  eBay Product Services API: eBay product compatibility service

  Ecato Shopping API: Site price comparison service

  Edtuit GeoPerks API: Discount and reward display service

  ElasticPath API: eCommerce platform

  Erply Inventory API: Retail and ecommerce inventory and sales service

  FetchApp API: Digital goods online marketplace service

  Fyndiq API: Swedish Merchant Hub and Shopping Service

  Gilt Groupe API: Online discount retail store

  Gimmie API: Customer loyalty and reward service

  GoCardless API: Online payments gateway

  Goodzer Local products API: Local product search

  Google Apps Reseller API: Google Apps reseller account management service

  GOSO API: Online vehicle and dealer inventory service

  Group Commerce API: eCommerce platform

  Gyft API: Mobile gift card platform

  Highwire API: Multi-channel online store management service

  I Need a Bargain API: Shopping deal aggregator service

  imobeCommerce API: Mobile commerce integration service

  Inishtech API: Software monetization service

  iOpenAt.com API: Business opening hours

  iZettle API: Mobile and tablet payment application

  Jirafe API: eCommerce analytics tool

  JM Data MovieApp API: Movie information and rental service

  Kangaroo Commerce Server API: eCommerce server integration service

  Keen Print API: Print shop management and ecommerce service

  Koliseo API: Ticket-selling platform

  Leaf API: Merchant and customer relationship service

  LetsGiftIt API: Group gifting service

  LIFT API: Customer loyalty and marketing service

  LightSpeed API: Retail management platform

  Mal's e-commerce API: Hosted shopping cart application

  Menumix API: German Restaurant Information Service

  Mercatus API: Cross channel marketing services

  MmjMenu API: Marijuana Dispensary Management Service

  Mob eCommerce API: Mobile eCommerce application

  Movylo Shop API: Mobile store creation service

  MunchAway API: Restaurant and service industry eCommerce software

  NADA API: Used car values lookup service

  Network Solutions Public Ecommerce API: Online business and retail creation and management service

  Nomi API: In-store retail optimization service

  Olopoly API: Social commerce platform

  Oregon Liquor Prices API: Oregon liquor price data

  Parcel Pro API: Shipping service

  PayAnywhere API: Mobile payment service

  PayJunction API: Credit card processing service

  Places.sg API: Business and places of interest directory for Singapore

  PowerPay API: Payment processing service

  Predictive Edge API: Big data analytics for retail

  Radioshack API: Radioshack Developer Service

  Rejoiner API: Online cart abandonment and marketing service

  Retail Intelligence Data API: Retail data information service

  RetailMeNot.com Community Ideas API: Online coupons and discounts

  revAdd API: Price comparison services

  Revel Systems API: iPad point-of-sale service

  Ribbon API: Online retail platform for goods and services

  Scarab Research API: Online shopping recommendation service

  SearchUPC.com API: UPC Search with Barcode generator

  Seika Code Publish API: Japanese produce product code service

  SEOshop WebshopApp API: Search engine optimized webshop service

  SheerID API: Student verification service

  ShopperTrak API: People counting analytics service

  Shopping Cart Diagnostics API: eCommerce diagnosis and analytics service

  Shopping.com API: Online retail shopping

  ShopSavvy API: Mobile shopping application

  Skypop API: Mobile device membership marketing service

  SocialStock API: Customer reward service

  Storenvy API: Online marketplace and store creation service

  SubtleData API: Point-of-sale (POS) service

  SumUp API: Mobile payment application

  Syndicate Plus API: Consumer product data service

  Tap2print API: Photo apps monetization service

  TaxCloud API: Sales tax calculation service

  TheconneXtion API: Artist estore fulfillment service

  Tippr API: Daily deals aggregation service

  Transaction Wireless API: Digital gifting platform

  Troop ID API: Discount and reward program for military personnel & veterans

  Tyre24 API: Wholesale service for tires and related parts

  UniteU Retail API: eCommerce software

  Valutec API: Gift and loyalty card service

  Vend API: POS and inventory management service

  Ventata Dynamic Pricing API: Dynamic pricing service

  VK Merchant API: Social online payment system

  W3 Solutions API: Extended warranty management service

  Warranty Hotel API: Merchandise warranty platform

  Warranty Life API: Product purchase tracking service

  Wild West Domains Reseller API: Domain reseller service

  Wishpond API: Local retail search service

  Yiftee GiftUp API: Gift giving service for applications

  Zinc API: Shipping service for online retailers

  Zuppler API: Online Menu and Ordering Service

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The USDA has announced the release of a new farmers market API. Google gets serious about gaming with a cross-platform gaming API. Plus: the Mirror API for Glass is ‘awfully prohibited and closed’ and 9 new APIs.

The USDA Farmers Market Directory API

The USDA directory of farmers markets includes over 7,800 listings and receives nearly 2 million page views a year. With numbers like that it is about time that the department has provided access to the resource. The newly announced USDA Farmers Market Directory API is RESTful and returns data formatted in JSON.

Image Credit: usda.gov

Google Launches iOS and Android Play Games Services API

At Google’s I/O developer conference, the company just announced a new Play Games Services API. The API allows true cross-platform gaming without the worry of losing achievements. Users will now be able to seamlessly move from their cell phone to their tablet while enjoying the same great gaming experience.

API News You Shouldn’t Miss

• X Financial Solutions Limited Updates xStore, an Open API Apps Store, with a New Website & More Applications for Brokers & Traders Using X3 Open Hub’s Forex Trading Technology
• Our Next Webinar: Five Practical Steps to Building an Enterprise Class API Program
• Designer: Mirror API for Glass ‘awfully prohibited and closed’

9 New APIs

Today we had 9 new APIs added to our API directory including a league of legends game information service, a new zealand events service, a harvard faculty information service, a url shortening service, a global minecraft banning system and a gesture and motion control technology service. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.

Elophant API: Elophant is a service for League of Legends (LoL), a free online game in which players take on the role of a summoner who can summon champions to fight for them. Elophant provides information on summoners (player stats), champions, and items within the game. Developers can retrieve information from the Elophant database programmatically using REST calls.

Eventfinda API: Eventfinda is an online calendar of cultural events for New Zealand. Users can join for free and customize a weekly newsletter featuring information on the types of events and locations that they’re interested in. Users can also create and manage a list of their favorite events, post their own events, submit reviews, and notify others of which events they’re attending and whether they’re looking for people to go with them.

The Eventfinda API allows users to access the events database programmatically using REST calls issued in XML, JSON, or JSONP.

Harvard Faculty Finder API: The Harvard Faculty Finder (HFF) provides a method by which students, faculty, administrators, and the general public can search for Harvard faculty members based on their research and teaching expertise. HFF is not a database of faculty profiles. Rather, it indexes and links existing information sources, making it possible to search and browse for faculty information across schools. Currently, only members of the Harvard community can make use of HFF, but that is expected to change later in the year.

itty bitty URL API: Itty bitty URL is a free service for creating short, trackable URLs that can be used anywhere on the internet. Users can create URLs that expire after a certain number of uses or require a password for access. Detailed statistics on the number of unique visitors, visitors’ countries, and browsers used are readily available for any URL created by itty bitty URL. The itty bitty URL API allows users to provide URL-shortening functionality on existing websites.

MineBans API: MineBans is a global banning system for Minecraft servers. Server admins can publish their player bans to the MineBans database to help the owners of other servers decide whether to allow a player who recently joined their server to stay. In the MineBans banning system, ban reasons are fixed, all bans are rated by severity, and the ban command itself is short.

The MineBans API allows developers to retrieve a list of users with moderator access to a given server, a list of all bans that a specific server has made, and a list of all bans and their supporting evidence.

MYO by Thalmic API: MYO by Thalmic is a gesture control device. MYO is a band that users can wear on their arm or hand that allows them to interact with technology around them, using gestures and motion.

The MYO by Thalmic API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of MYO with other applications and technologies. Public documentation is not available; interested developers should email thalmic@thalmic.com for API access.

Popyoular API: Popyoular is a review-based recommendation and discovery platform that has been optimized for movies, music, books, and related media. Website owners can use Popyoular to help make their websites’ best content readily available to visitors by using review data to create toplists and playlists. Popyoular can also filter product selections and highlight certain products based on review data. Developers can integrate Popyoular into a website using its RESTful API.

Rebtel API: Rebtel is a mobile telephony service. Rebtel offers international calling services at varied rates.

The Rebtel API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Rebtel with other applications. Some example API methods include creating calls, managing calls, and managing account information.

SayRoom API: SayRoom is an application that allows users to voice and share their reactions to online images. SayRoom powers several kinds of feeds featuring images along with users’ emotional reactions to them. SayRoom analyzes each post for speaker sentiments in order to determine how people feel about a given subject, place, or object. SayRoom provides an API that allows developers to access the audio messages left by users via REST calls.

Sponsored by

Glympse, a service that allows GPS-enabled mobile phone users to temporarily share their location in real-time, has announced the availability of the Glympse platform allowing developers the ability to integrate real-time, temporary location sharing into third-party web and mobile applications. Glympse has also made available SDKs for iOS and Android as well as REST based APIs for use in websites and web based applications.

Image Credit: Glympse

Glympse is a new, patent pending technology that lets users temporarily share their current location in real-time. Users can share their real-time location for an amount of time that they specify which is then displayed on a dynamic map that can be shared with others. The dynamic Glympse map features several view settings including street, satellite, map and traveling.

In addition to SDKs and REST based APIs, an HTML5-based Glympse viewer has been made available and allows the latest Glympse group views and the latest Glympse shared on Twitter to be displayed on HTML coded websites and mobile applications (via a copy and paste iframe code snippet).

Bryan Trussel, Co-Founder and CEO of Glympse states for the press release that:

“There are innumerable industries and businesses that stand to benefit from our technology — with this platform, we’ve made adding location sharing to an app or service incredibly easy. Based on the response of our current partners and strong interest from the broader developer community, we were encouraged to develop a publicly available platform that would enable anyone to add location technology with just a few lines of code. Android and iOS developers can add Glympse functionality and be up in running in a matter of minutes. We are excited to see how developers use Glympse technology within their applications.”

The Glympse platform can be useful in applications for a variety of industries and is currently being used in applications created by well known companies such as BMW, Citizen, Ford, Garmin and Mercedes-Benz.

There are currently free and commercial Glympse SDKs available and the lite SDK is free for companies with no more than 300,000 monthly active users. For more information about the Glympse platform, visit glympse.com.

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Boxfish, television discovery startup, released an improved TV discovery app this past week. With the new release, Boxfish decided to make its technology available to third parties via an API. Boxfish allows the use of natural language to search for particular topics currently discussed on TV, or users can find out what is currently most popular on tv. The thought behind the API aims to empower other providers. Boxfish CEO, Eoin Dowling, explained:

“I just want to see people use this to build a better TV.”

Boxfish monitors over 1,000 conversations at a time to analyze key topics. The constant monitoring makes TV searchable. Boxfish believes its search method is more applicable than traditional grid systems or electronic program guides which have become more cumbersome than useful among today’s overwhelming amount of channels.

Currently, public documentation of the API is unavailable. However, interested developers can request more information or an API key by emailing the Boxfish team. Boxfish allows users to tune into a channel once the platform has discovered a channel that contains content the user has searched for. Boxfish believes granting the functionality to cable and satellite providers will help build better suggestion, search, and DVR experiences.

Disruptive companies like Netflix and Hulu have pressured traditional cable and satellite providers. Boxfish may offer legacy service providers a fresh piece of technology that can combat the declining viewers of traditional TV. Try out one of the Boxfish apps or request an API key to see the technology in action.

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People love to quote those who have found a way to say it better. Be it a humorous one-liner or inspirational food for thought, it’s a quick and easy way to appreciate and share an opinion more eloquently. For web developers who may want to add a little extra for their website or application users, including cool daily quotes could be a simple option. They Said So is a quotes database that provides the They Said So API, making it possible for developers to access this functionality.

The They Said So website includes an extensive database comprising more than 1 million quotes from 100 000 different authors, as well as a variety of Bible verses. The database uses a tagging system to effectively categorise these quotes into several relevant categories, enabling users to personalise their quotes of the day accordingly.

They Said So’s RESTful API makes it possible to retrieve a quote of the day, random quotes, quotes meeting certain length restrictions, categories of quotes, and quotes by a certain author. There is currently a Public API, a Private API and a Bible Verses API, all available via They Said So’s Website.

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Netflix’s Public API update drops access to expiration dates for titles. What you can expect from Google I/O 2013. Plus: Yookos unveils an API for African developers and techpreneurs and 10 New APIs.

Netflix removes Title Expiration Dates from Public API

Netflix announced that their public API will no longer provide information on expiration dates for titles. Daniel Jacobson, Director of Engineering – API, said in a blog post that it was required because the expiration dates were inaccurate due to constant changes in the content flow. The move is likely to affect third party applications that relied on the field, a prime example was InstantWatcher’s Expiring Soon. If you are a Netflix member, you can still get access to this information but via a rather tedious mechanism of going to each title’s page.

Its Google I/O Time

The next 3 Days will see Google I/O, the developer conference where developers will be hoping to get vowed with new hardware and software announcements in and around the Google ecosystem. While we cannot guess what shall be announced, several reports do point this time to an I/O that will see newer releases and focusing on developer sessions, rather than the high octane introduction to Google Glass at I/O 2012. Dan Rowinski summarizes the expected announcements quite well in his article at ReadWriteWeb. Key among them being a new version of Android, major updates to Google Maps and impressing upon developers, the need to integrate several Google Services. If you are looking for a combination of Glass and learning about the Glass Mirror API that they previewed a while back at SXSW, there is a session on that too.

API News You Shouldn’t Miss

• Yookos Unveil New API For Africa developers And Techpreneurs
• Firefox 21 Launches With Social API Support For msnNOW, Mixi And Cliqz
• Safe Shepherd Launches Public API and the Death of Online Privacy in Landmark Study
• Glympse Launches Its First API To Put Location Sharing Into Any App Or Platform
• Zapier Launches API-Monitoring Service To Catch Issues And Outages

10 New APIs

Today we had 10 new APIs added to our API directory including a mobile application building and management service, a weather forecast data service, a personalized restaurant recommendations and photos service, a remote home heating control service and a library of medical books and videos. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.

Appery.io API: Appery.io is a mobile application building and management platform. Users can use Appery.io to build, manage, and cloud host their mobile applications.

The Appery.io API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Appery.io to build and create applications. Some example API methods include building applications, pushing data, and managing account information.

Forecast API: Forecast is a weather application that provides weather forecast information for locations. Forecast aggregates numerous weather data sets and combines them for users to search and return weather forecast information by place.

The Forecast API allows developers to access and integrate the functionality of Forecast with other applications and to create new applications. Some example API methods include returning current weather conditions and retrieving forecasts for periods of time.

Hoppit API: Dubbed as “Yelp meets Pandora,” the Hoppit API answers the ongoing question “Where should we eat tonight?” by giving you access to the restaurant data used by our award-winning applications, as seen on FOX, CBS, and Mashable. This includes the nation’s largest repository of high-resolution restaurant photography and “Vibe” data, available for 20 U.S. cities. Filter restaurants, bars, and coffee shops by type of Vibe (e.g. Cozy, Hipster, Romantic) and scenario (e.g. with a Date, with a Colleague, with Children), as well as by price, cuisine (e.g. Italian), and meal (e.g. Brunch). Perfect for developers of travel, lifestyle, food, social, local applications who wish to surface the amazing content that Hoppit users interact with every second. Available for New York, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Denver.

Istabai API: Istabai is an application that allows users to manage their home heating systems from anywhere with an internet connection. Users can set the service up simply by changing their radiator head and plugging in Istabai’s internet cable. The Istabai mobile application and web solution will relay the current temperature to the user and allow them to regulate it as they like. The system can also be accessed and controlled programmatically via REST API. The Istabai website is provided in English, Russian, and Latvian.

National Library of Medicine Digital Collections API: The National Library of Medicine’s Digital Collections is a free online archive of biomedical videos and books from the public domain. The National Library of Medicine Digital Collections API provides developer access to both the full text and Dublin Core metadata of every resource in the repository. Responses are XML formatted.

Noisebridge API: Noisebridge is a non-profit, educational corporation that provides a public space containing an electronics lab, a machine shop, a library, a darkroom, a kitchen, and more. Anyone can come in and use the facilities to work on a project, either alone or in groups.

Noisebridge provides a simple, RESTful API for accessing web-based services that people using the facilities have coded. So far, there is a simple text-to-speech service available. For the moment, the API is only accessible from the Noisebridge public space, but this will change once authorization methods are up and running.

They Said So API: They Said So is a website that provides daily quotes and random quotes from a large quotation database. Developers can use the RESTful They Said So API to include quotes in their applications. The API can retrieve a quote of the day, random quotes, quotes meeting certain length restrictions, categories of quotes, and quotes by a certain author. It can also retrieve a Bible verse of the day or a random verse.

USC Event Calendar API: The University of Southern California Events Calendar provides a comprehensive searchable listing of campus events, including music and theater, exhibits, lectures, film, sports, and more. The USC Event Calendar API provides RESTful access to the calendar’s event data.
The API supports automated calls to limit events by a variety of fields and data types, as well as searching within fields. The API supports JSON and JSONP formatted responses.

USC Map Data API: The University of Southern California’s Map Data API provides a RESTful interface for retrieving content from the University’s online map. The API supports JSON and JSONP formats. Users can search for locations, building codes and names, and a variety of map metadata.

USC Webcam API: The University of Southern California’s Webcam API is produced by the University’s Web Services. The API provides RESTful access to archived still photos and movies from TommyCam, the webcam centered on the Tommy Trojan statue in the middle of USC’s University Park campus. The API retrieves JSON and JSONP listings.

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