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Web API Sites

April 10th, 2008

Bad API Docs and The Quest for the UPS API

Can dealing with a difficult API provider be like trying to solve the puzzles in a classic text adventure game? In an amusing blog post entitled The Quest for the UPS API over at Ruby Discoveries and Idioms, the trials and tribulations of dealing with the United Parcel Service API has been parodied as an old-school adventure game. And as any developer who has had to navigate some of the more onerous API sign-up processes or unclear and overly complex documentation can attest, this may seem familiar. As the introduction notes:

I’m inspired by the hoop-jumping UPS (yes, that UPS) requires for developers to begin using their web service APIs. There are NDAs involved, so this is not about the APIs themselves; it is about getting to the point where one can start working with the APIs. It is presented in the format of a text adventure. Pedantic corrections to format are welcome, since it’s been a long time since I’ve played one.

And the game itself? Here’s a snippet that gives you a sense of how it goes:

Welcome to Colossal API Quest! Find the documentation, get authorized to use the development integration environment, and meet the needs of your client to achieve fame and fortune!

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. There is a door to the North.
N
Welcome to UPS. A GATEKEEPER blocks the door to the North. There are also doors to the East, West, and South.
talk to the gatekeeper
“Username and password or register?”
say register
“Tell me everything about yourself. Also, what is your UPS account number?”
N
“Username and password or register?”
E
Welcome to UPS. There are several signs here advertising the wonderful web services UPS provides and pointing to the door to the North. There is also a door to the West.
N
The door is locked.
W
Welcome to UPS. A GATEKEEPER blocks the door to the North. There are also doors to the East, West, and South.
W
Your CLIENT is here. There is a door to the East and to the West.
talk to the client
“Is my website ready yet?”
need UPS help
What?
say “need UPS help”
“You should talk to our UPS contact. She’s in the next room.”
W
There is a notepad in an otherwise empty room. There is a door to the East.
get notepad
You can’t take that.
look notepad
It says, “Sorry, I’m on vacation for the next 6 turns. Please leave a message.”

And this is only the first part of the adventure. API providers might take notes here on what not to do.

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Posted by John Musser as Issues, fun at 2:46 AM | 2 Comments »

April 7th, 2008

Is Mashup a Dirty Word? Serena Video Gets 1 Million YouTube Views

It’s not often, or ever, that a video about web mashups hits number one and gets over a million views on YouTube. But that’s exactly what happened with the fun video “Just @#$% It!! What are they saying?”, produced by the team at Serena to promote their enterprise mashup tool suite. The video follows a gossip-like chain of conversations among a group of office workers as they tell each other about building mashups. But, any form of the word mashup gets bleeped-out as a dirty word. And as you can see in the 500+ YouTube viewer comments, there has been a lively discussion about what they’re really saying, with guesses including “budget”, “patch”, “bash” and words that might really get bleeped on television.

For another rare humorous video about web mashups, there’s last year’s Man on the Street Video: What’s a Mashup? video taken on the streets of Dublin.

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Posted by John Musser as Enterprise, Tools, Video, fun at 1:29 AM | 1 Comment »

January 11th, 2008

Google Chart Mashups: Love and Stats

Do you like charts, statistics and graphs? Apparently lots of developers do given how quickly folks have taken to creating charting apps following last month’s release of the Google Chart API. Here in our PW directory we’re starting to see some interesting mashups built with it being submitted. They range from useful interactive charts that let you visualize US federal spending to not-so-serious charts that let you graph your love life. Here are three new entries from our directory:

US Federal Contracts by State: Federal contract data from FedSpending.org visually presented using the Google Chart API. See where the money goes. (From prolific and talented mashup developer Jim Hamilton, see his PW profile for more.)

Chart Generator: An Ajax web form that lets you interactively try-out Google Charts by directly entering data and seeing the results.
Love-o-Graph: Fun app that takes information about you and your crush, and generates lots of data about your potential as a couple. Type your name and the name of your crush in the appropriate boxes, and hit Graph It.

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Posted by John Musser as BestMashups, Google, Metrics, Popular, Visualization, fun at 2:50 AM | 2 Comments »

December 21st, 2007

Christmas Mashups

Just in time for the holiday break here are two seasonal mashups, both with a good sense of fun. One is even a bit utilitarian if you ever happen to need to know how far it is from a given point on the earth to the North Pole. (You can also find 7 other holiday-themed mashups here).

How Far Does Santa Have to Travel: You can find out how far it is between the North Pole and your house by using this tool which displays a map and the measured distance.

Tacky Christmas Lights: Locate the biggest Christmas light displays. Decorators register their display and this service provides an interactive map and custom driving directions.

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Posted by John Musser as BestMashups, Mapping, fun at 1:44 AM | 2 Comments »

December 14th, 2007

Our Dumb World Map from The Onion

Just a little Friday note to highlight one of the most fun map mashups to date, the The Onion’s Our Dumb World map (our profile here). As they describe “Click on the Onion pins scattered around the globe to reveal mind-expanding factoids about the lesser, conquerable nations of the Earth. Come back each week to learn more about how little you know.” You can also download this as a Google Earth KML layer. [via O’Reilly Radar]

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Posted by John Musser as BestMashups, Mapping, Popular, fun at 2:02 AM | No Comments »

October 25th, 2006

Earth Sandwiches

Years ago most schoolchildren in the US “knew” that if you dig a hole straight down through the earth you end-up in China. But of course that’s not true, no matter where you are in the US. From nearly anywhere in the contiguous 48 states you end-up in the Indian Ocean. How can you see this? Using mashups built on the Google Maps API of course.

And not only is there one mashup that lets you interactively find the opposite point of any place on the earth , there are now three. Each has a slightly different take.

The first and most original implementation was Dig to the Other Side, created last year by Brazilian grad student Luis Felipe Cipriani. Click on the map, it gives you marker, click “Dig Here”, and you get a new marker on the opposite side of the world.

Then, there’s If I dig straight down, a more recent derivative variation. This model uses two maps, one above the other. Drag one and the other moves with it.
And last but not least, there’s the Ze Frank version created as part of his fun If the Earth were a Sandwich project earlier this year. He challenged his audience to place a piece of bread on the ground, have someone else place one on the opposite side of the Earth, and document it. For more background see this NPR story from Robert Krulwich, or, to here for the Ze Frank video. This one uses a side-by-side layout.