Bitcoin, the anonymous, peer to peer virtual currency, has been getting a lot of press lately. From the severe inflation to the hacks and the big heist, not all of it has been good. However, it’s certainly an interesting system, and there are a few good trading services such as Mt.Gox and Tradehill aimed at making Bitcoin more available and more usable for the average person. Today we’ll take a look at the Mt.Gox API and Tradehill API.
Pusher seeks to make the task of developing real time applications simpler. By focusing on the core functionality of real time coordination, Pusher lets developers forego dealing with timers and polling for server side changes. The Pusher API allows developers to skip ahead to the good stuff: Implementing their unique idea.
Telephony platform Twilio is now giving developers more insight into their application activities. Now users of the Twilio Voice API and Twilio SMS API have the option to view usage patterns, thanks to a partnership with GoodData. The dashboard shows the last 90 days of call and text volumes, with the option to explore the data further.
For at least thirty years, people have talked about the “paperless office.” With cloud-based services, it may finally be possible. Yet, for many organizations, a major hang-up is contracts, which require ink signatures. In our first public API report, sponsored by DocuSign, we looked at electronic signature platforms. Specifically, we examined the features and developer friendliness of e-signature APIs, which allow non-ink signatures to be automated and integrated into business processes. Without a doubt, e-signatures are a growing field, as evidenced by the recent acquisition of EchoSign by Adobe.
Location is all the rage these days, especially in the mobile world. Geoloqi and its location-sharing Geoloqi API allow developers to easily integrate location awareness into their applications. Its Geofencing API is especially neat, as it allows developers to add triggers based on locations, time, and travel speed, or any combination of the three. It just launched a new site in an effort to reach out to more developers.
Shiny. That’s what your API is. Brand new. Developers can: search your catalog, get your reviews, post orders or comments, and everything! Now, you just need someone to hit your API. Where do you look for those developers? Try looking at your own team. The early adopters and drivers of your API will be the developers who work with it every day. By encouraging them to spend time with your public API, you will be able to drive internal innovation.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York State (MTA) recently announced a new apps contest called MTA App Quest. The contest is designed to promote apps that cover a much broader system than just New York City and spark interest around the MTA API and newly released datasets. The MTA App Quest is the latest chapter in the MTA’s transformation from a relatively closed agency to one that is embracing open transit data.
“Time waits for no man.” If we bring that to the API world, it seems that developers do not wait for the official API. Google Plus has garnered a lot of mindshare in the last couple of weeks. When we asked is Google Plus API intentionally late many developers answered with their own homegrown APIs and widgets. This follows a rich tradition started with unofficial Google Maps mashups and continued with full-featured, unpublished Instagram API. Both have followed with official APIs and expect the same of Google Plus. But until then, you have the ones below.
Spotify, the music subscription service that has been so popular in Europe, is now available in the United States. Spotify offers users the ability to stream limited hours of music for free or stream unlimited songs for a small fee, from a library of over 15 million songs. And while it has a Spotify API out of the gate, it comes with a catch.
Zacks, a well known and experienced financial research firm, is opening its data up to developers with the new Zacks Financial API. What’s interesting is that the Xignite APIs, which we called maitre d’ of financial data, lists Zacks as a data source. So, it seems that Zacks has decided to see just how well it can play the API game on its own. And why not? The financial sector is fairly late in adopting APIs, so there is room for both data providers.
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