And you thought that faxing was a thing of the past. At Phaxio, it’s so new that it doesn’t even use XML. The JSON-only Phaxio API lets you send faxes for 7 cents per page and you can get a confirmation of each fax’s total cost through the API itself. Account level information is available as well. Detailed information about all faxes sent over a specific time period can also be retrieved from the API.
An API can be an extremely powerful tool, allowing you to expand the functionality of your product without having to do the development yourself. To achieve this, however, you need to get developers using your API. If you’re Google, that’s not an issue, but if you’re a young startup, it can present a real challenge.
This week we had 45 new APIs added to our API directory including a URL shortening tool, website speed scorer, personal task list service, electric vehicle charging point database, realtime mapping service, bug tracking software, code review tool and website owner verification service. We covered the PubSubHubbub service in more detail on the blog. Below is more details on each of these 45 new APIs.
This past week 18 new mashups were added to our mashup directory and 23 different APIs were used to build them. Some of the newer or less frequently seen APIs include Cohuman, Dropbox, Gatekrash and Yahoo Travel. The most often used APIs this week are Facebook Graph, Google Maps and Twitter. And the most commonly used types of APIs were Social (4 APIs, 9 mashups), Office (3 APIs, 3 mashups) and Shopping (2 APIs, 2 mashups). The list below shows which APIs were used by which mashups:
It seems that the gadgets and equipment that we use today are getting smarter by the day. They are not only taking doing routine tasks but even helping out make decisions based on trends and recommended practices. The Google Prediction API allows you to tap into Google’s machine learning algorithms that crunch data and give your possible outcomes, thereby helping you make your applications smarter. And car-maker Ford may even be using it.
AISpeech is the API behind a Chinese language and pronunciation learning website, AIChinese. You may know that Chinese is a tonal language. Where tones and inflection are used in English to convey emotion or differentiate between a declarative statement and a question, in tonal languages like Chinese, different tones on the same syllable can be altogether different words. The AISpeech API gives you access to a language processing engine which is capable of detecting spoken words and evaluating if the appropriate tone is used.
Panelists and presenters at last week’s Open Government West 2011 conference in Portland, Oregon tackled the topic of government sponsored app contests. Attendees asserted that not all app contests are designed the same way and there are different benefits and drawbacks with each kind. An overarching issue seemed to be the value returned to the public on government investment in app contests. Governments are looking for the best way to offer services to the public in the face of budget cuts and are eyeing citizen generated apps.
In a perfect world, API documentation would contain clear, complete instructions on
everything that developers need to know to use your platform. In reality, organizations
have limited time and budget to create API documentation, and so organizations need
to prioritize to create documentation that is most useful to the people who will use it. This post looks at the results of a survey of those who rely upon API documentation.
AudioBoo brings the familiar tape-recorder type interface to the web with all the fixings. Take your audio recording, add a picture, a location, put it in a social context, throw in popularity ratings and you have AudioBoo. The simplicity and social aspects of this service make a great platform for podcasters while providing another avenue of media discovery for users. But it’s new and still changing. If you’re feeling like an adventurous explorer, ready for twists, turns and surprises, jump on in to the AudioBoo API.
Gas costs sure have risen lately, at least in the US. With many drivers are seeing prices well over $4 per gallon of gasoline, the time has come to do something about it. The FuelFrog website, as well as its iOS app or Twitter, can help with this. It helps you keep track of how far you’ve gone, and how much gas you’ve used, as well as trends for gas prices in your area. Of course, there’s also the FuelFrog API which, despite some security concerns, lets you integrate that data into just about anything.
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