Nice guide to using YQL...

The Trouble With APIs

The problem with APIs is that access to them varies in simplicity, from just having to load data from a URL all the way up to having to authenticate with the server and give all kinds of information about the application you want to build before getting your first chunk of information.

Each API is based on a different idea of what information you need to provide, what format it should be in, what data it will give back and in what format. All this makes using third-party APIs in your products very time-consuming, and the pain multiplies with each one you use. If you want to get photos from Flickr and updates from Twitter and then show the geographical information in Twitter on a map, then you have quite a trek ahead.

Simplifying API Access

Yahoo uses APIs for nearly all of its products. Instead of accessing a database and displaying the information live on the screen, the front end calls an API, which in turn gets the information from the back end, which talks to databases. This gives Yahoo the benefit of being able to scale to millions of users and being able to change either the front or back end without disrupting the other.

Because the APIs have been built over 10 years, they all vary in format and the way in which you access them. This cost Yahoo too much time, which is why it built Yahoo Pipes2 — to ease the process.

Pipes is amazing. It is a visual way to mix and match information from the Web. However, as people used Pipes more, they ran into limitations. Versioning pipes was hard; to change the functionality of the pipe just slightly, you had to go back to the system, and it tended to slow down with very complex and large conversions. This is why Yahoo offers a new system for people’s needs that change a lot or get very complex.

YQL is both a service and a language (Yahoo Query Language). It makes consuming Web services and APIs dead simple, both in terms of access and format.

http://www.smashingm...-for-non-programmers

I have a challenge to everyone on the DonationCoder.com forum, and everyone who reads this, for the new year.

The challenge is simple: Donate something to someone who is creating content you like on the web.

This can be someone making music, art, software, whatever.  Just find someone who is asking for optional donations for their work, and send them some money.  If you can't afford to send any money, then at least send them an email, tell them how you appreciate their work.

I think it's way past overdue time for us to begin to shift our thinking from paying only when we are forced to, and expecting everything to be free (and financed through ads or scams, or whatever).

So find someone who creating content and making it available for free, and surprise and thrill them with a contribution and an email telling them to keep up the good work.

This looks like quite a useful reference.

If you're frustrated with the time it takes your Windows PC to boot and then it seems to be running slowly you may have too many programs running at start-up - and have come to the right place to identify them. This is the original startup programs (as opposed to processes/tasks) list - one of the most comprehensive and most accurate!

"Name or Startup Item" in the table below refers to how an entry is displayed in MSConfig, Windows Defender or the registry "Run" keys. "Command or Data" refers to the program the entry runs. For further information on this and how to identify and disable startup programs please visit the Startup Content page.

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

I stumbled across this blog while searching for the name of one of my favorite candies, and had a great time exploring it.  Just reading her descriptions makes me feel like I am sitting there eating these as I read.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m head-over-heels in love with confectionaries. It all started with my unusually large sweet-tooth, paired with an adventurous palate, and a need to document it all. If you ever have any suggestions, ideas (or both!) I’m always open to them... My goal as The Candy Enthusiast is to try everything once so you don’t have to. I think that’s pretty sweet, don’t you?

http://www.thecandyenthusiast.com

Today Bruce Sterling wrote a really long interesting article/scifiexperience on Julian Assange, which is very cool reading:


http://www.webstock....010/the-blast-shack/

I want talk a little bit about about StartSSL.com, a company that provides SSL Certificates.  They actually do a lot of things under the umbrella of StartCom, but I'm only going to talk about SSL services here, and in particular, SSL Certificates for web sites.

Preface: An Introduction to SSL Certificates

SSL Certificates are a source of much frustration for small companies and indie website operators.

The idea of SSL Certificates is a good one.  They offer a way for users who connect to your website to have some assurance that you are who you say you are -- that the person running the website they are connecting to is really the person in charge of the organization they say they are, and that they aren't being tricked by someone who has intercepted their connection to the web (man-in-the-middle style attacks).

But web browsers (firefox, internet explorer, chrome, opera, safari, etc.) have decided to combine this idea of verifying the identity of the company running a website with the mechanism for establishing a secure connection protocol from your browser to the website (https).  Secure connections can be very important in preventing neighbors and snoops from discovering your login passwords, etc. as you browse the web.

Unfortunately, the way that web browser makers have combined these features has results in a real dilemma for small developers and indie website administrators.