Category: Web 2.0

Yahoo launches Fire Eagle

Posted by – August 13, 2008

Yahoo launched Fire Eagle yesterday, a web service that lets users input their location for use by other web applications. Web developers can use its API to create applications that then use this information to provide location-based services to the user.

The user can input their location through a variety of methods, with the most antiquated being the entry of their location on the Fire Eagle website or even, in the hyper Web 2.0 world, SMS. However it also allows phone-based applications to broadcast the user’s location to the web service which allows for real-time uses of local data that open a lot more application possibilites.

The user has control over what location details are broadcast, but privacy advocates are sure to cringe at the encroaching of the smart cloud that knows more about you, as the initial uses for this are largely related to commercial opportunities in your proximity.

Are you imagining an ad network that serves ads relevant to where your laptop or phone currently is? I am and it’s a frickin’ “Starbucks on the right” banner that I think could wring a few more bucks a day out of those caffeine junkies.

Yahoo launches the Yahoo Music API

Posted by – August 4, 2008

Yahoo announced their Yahoo Music API today, releasing another tool in their open strategy of providing services to web developers. Their music API allows other websites to tap into some of the Yahoo Music content. Their API can be used for catalog data, such as searching Yahoo Music by artist, or getting charts like the new releases or popular music or for user data, like recommendations for the user. The user data requires Yahoo’s browser-based authentication while the catalog data does not.

Right now, the rate limit is 5,000 queries a day, which is too low for me to consider it worth building on yet but hopefully they’ll announce a paid service for commercial sites that want to build something serious on it.

Check out the API and apply for an API key here or have a look at their example application (Facebook app, requiring Facebook login).