Episode 121: Mashing, Scraping, and APIs Faceoff Show

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