This week we had 54 new APIs added to our API directory including a cloud storage service, image editing service, mobile payments service, social media marketing platform, contextual keyword extraction service, travel industry transaction processing service. In addition, we provided more in depth coverage of an online music service. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.
This past week 10 new mashups were added to our mashup directory and 42 different APIs were used to build them. Some of the newer or less frequently seen APIs include Aviary Effects, Barcelona Bicing, Google Shopping Content, Google Shopping Search, Google Translator Toolkit and Next Big Sound. The most often used APIs this week are eBay, Facebook and Google Maps. And the most commonly used types of APIs were Shopping (9 APIs, 10 mashups), Mapping (6 APIs, 9 mashups) and Music (3 APIs, 4 mashups). The list below shows which APIs were used by which mashups:
Online file storage and sharing is now a part of the workflow of most netizens. File storage vendors are engaged in a big battle with each other to capture user mindshare. One of the key differentiators is to provide unique applications that work in conjunction with the file storage services at the backend. 4shared announced a unique developer contest that could see the winners earn some serious money for working with the 4shared API.
The HackLolla API contest is done and we have the info about the awesome mashups that won prizes in it. The music loving developer contest, announced in May, urged applications coded against the Lollapalooza schedule and artist discovery.
Popular social check-in service Foursquare is going through some changes, and the most important of those is that the old v1 API is going dead, as we’ve known since March. Older apps, especially abandoned ones, will stop working then, as will any newer app that hasn’t yet upgraded to the new API.
There’s been some great new music mashups coming down the pipe lately. We’ll highlight some of the better ones below, including a music search engine, local music events, lyrics lookup, a Spotify video playlist app (yes, there’s a Spotify API) and a fun “name that tune” game. The most popular music API, the Last.fm API, is featured multiple times, as is the YouTube API, which has become a favorite of music mashups.
The Ez Texting is a simple solution to a problem many developers have in the mobile world. The Ez Texting API allows developers to send SMS text messages to phones in the US and Canada. It recently had a major update, as did its related TellMyCell API and Club Texting API, adding a full REST API to the previous HTTP methods. It also added the functionality to send a text to a number of phones with one API call.
As the Web API space heats up, it’s becoming more difficult to differentiate yourself and attract developers. And so it’s crucial that your API can perform well. Performance isn’t just about processing requests and delivering responses quickly. As Netflix experienced this year, understanding how users makes calls, why they make the calls they do, and what should be contained in your API payload is critical.
Rainmaker, which provides an identity API to get more information about a person’s email address, has declared the winners of its API contest. The month long challenge invited developers to make innovative applications based on the Rainmaker API and in the process earn fame and some cool prizes. Rainmaker also announced a new developer challenge that is expected to run in August.
Aviary & Zazzle want you to make some money, they really do. They’ve teamed up to form one awesome combo, like peanut butter and jelly. Scratch that. It’s more like peanut butter and chocolate. The companies are combining on a contest for apps using the Aviary API and Zazzle API.
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