Episode 121: Mashing, Scraping, and APIs

Find out how your favorite mashup webapp works.

News and Follow/Ups – 00:39

• Penn State MacAdmins Conference

Geek Tools – 05:14

• Jump-N-Carry  JNC300XL 900 Peak Amp Ultraportable 12V Jump Starter with Light


• Coleman Cable 08660 20-Foot Heavy-Duty Auto Battery Booster Cables with Polar Glow Clamps, 4-Gauge

Webapps – 11:06

• Plastic Jungle - Buy and sell gift cards


• Famous Objects From Classic Movies -  Can you guess the object?

Mashing, Scraping, and APIs – 17:12

• Mashups
  
  
  
  • Hipmonk
  
  
  • Gist – just bought out by blackberry
  
  
  • http://opensignalmaps.com/
  
  
  • http://instalyrics.com/
  
  
  • http://www.checkinmania.com/deals
  
  
  
  


• Scraping
  
  
  
  • Computers reading data otherwise intended for end-users
  
  
  • The billion dollar scraping business
    
    
    
    • Google
    
    
    • Infochimps
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Pitfalls
    
    
    
    • Copyright, Terms of Service
    
    
    • Fragile
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Advantages
    
    
    
    • Access to data otherwise not available
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Tools to make scraping less painful
    
    
    
    • http://scraperwiki.com/
    
    
    • http://www.junar.com/portal/HomeManager/actionQuery
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• APIs
  
  
  
  • Data/operations made available to computer programs
  
  
  • XML/REST/SOAP/oauth
  
  
  • Top APIs
    
    
    
    • Payment Gateways
    
    
    • Google Maps
    
    
    • Twitter
    
    
    • Flickr
    
    
    • Shipping, UPS/FedEx
    
    
    • Facebook
    
    
    • Twilio
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • APIs as a strategy for business
    
    
    
    • Twitter
    
    
    • Google Maps
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Successful businesses based on APIs
    
    
    
    • Tweetdeck
    
    
    • Twilio