WebProNews

Tag: API

  • Facebook Brings Real Time Updates To The App Dashboard

    Facebook isn’t holding the F8 conference this year. The company felt their resources could be better used in building more tools for developers to get the most out of the platform. Besides, Open Graph and the App Dashboard still have a lot of work ahead of them. Zuckerberg and Co. won’t rest until every developer is utilizing their software.

    To that end, Facebook has announced a new API for the App Dashboard today that should relieve a lot of developers. It’s called the real-time updates API and it modifies the real-time update capabilities that were already present in the Graph API. Developers will still have to subscribe to changes in the social graph, but the new API gets you callbacks when certain subscriptions are modified.

    The new API also brings with it new options for creating and managing subscriptions. Here’s the full list of new features:

  • Create and edit real-time subscriptions
  • Check your subscriptions
  • Test the validity of your subscriptions

    • Facebook says that the new API will make “your apps more reliable” and decrease “load times for your users.” Both of which are very important to the social network as they move into the future of the company. Investors need signs that Facebook is making money, and apps are the lifeblood, besides advertising, of the company. Keeping developers and users happy will be key to Facebook’s continued success.

    You can check out the documentation for the new API here.

  • Notifications API Lets Developers Speak Directly To Users

    The notification is one of the best things to ever come out of Facebook. I don’t know about you, but it feels pretty good to find a big list of notifications waiting for me after a prolonged absence. If your a Facebook gamer, your notification list will soon be even bigger after any prolonged absences.

    Facebook announced the launch of the Notifications API beta today. They describe the API as letting developers “send short, custom messages to your existing users through the Facebook notifications jewel.” The social network sees developers using it to inform users of “important events, invites from friends, or actions they need to take.”

    Giving developers access to the hallowed notification are obviously going to raise concern. Facebook already has that covered, however, as they have strict rules in place for developers who implement it. They require that developers use clean language and not spam users when using the API.

    That being said, developers are given a lot of free reign when it comes to notifications. They can send pretty much anything they want without having to request additional permissions. To counter this new found developer power, Facebook will be giving even more power to the user. At any time, the user may choose to opt-out of receiving notifications from your app.

    Notificans API Lets Developers Speak Directly To Users

    Facebook has already run extensive testing of the new Notifications API and found it to be successful. They said that users were actually five to 10 times more likely to click through on a Notification than the traditional request. That rate is a double edged sword, however, as lower quality notifications were more likely to be disabled.

    Facebook will also set up a new Insights page for the Notifications API. It will include all relevant information, including turn-off rates. Facebook will monitor these as well and disable any notifications that they perceive as spam due to high turn-off rates.

    Notifications are now in beta, but you can start brushing up on how to best implement the API with the documentation.

  • Facebook Continues To Improve The Graph API

    Facebook needs to continually improve its services so that users, developers and investors remain happy. The social network has given a lot of recent attention to its Open Graph and related services. The trend continues today with an update to the Graph API.

    Facebook announced three updates to the Graph API today. The company claims that the updates “make it easier and faster to access data from the social graph.” Ease and speed will be key in the coming months as Facebook and Facebook-connected apps continue the march to mobile.

    The first major update is Field Expansion. Facebook says that it “significantly improves performance for API calls and reduces your coding effort for retrieving data.” In short, developers can use fewer API calls to get the exact data they need. Developers will also be able to create nested queries. Check out the documentation for more details.

    Documentation can only go so far in explaining new concepts though. For those who need some practical experience, Facebook has added field expansion to the Graph API Explorer. You can now play around with the new feature at your leisure without the risk of screwing up your own app.

    The final update – pagination – makes data sets easier to read. The change will make definitive indications for when you reach the end or beginning of a data set. The “previous” and “next” buttons will also vanish when there is no new data set to peruse. Facebook claims that the change will lead to “faster request processing times.” You can read up on pagination here.

    Facebook was a little slow last week in releasing new updates, but today’s update may signal another wave of major updates to their products and services. I’m still holding out for news of a better and faster Android app any day now.

  • Twitter API Version 1.1 Brings More Regulation To Apps

    The Twitter API is everywhere these days. People are Tweeting from all corners of the Web from just about every app. It’s so popular due to its relative openness where people can use the Twitter API in different and interesting ways. Unfortunately, Twitter is putting a stop to that next year.

    Twitter announced that they are moving to version 1.1 of their API. It will be out within the next few weeks, but they want everybody to get ready for the changes now. Those changes include requiring authentication on every API endpoint, a new per-endpoint rate-limiting methodology, and most importantly, changes to the developer guidelines.

    First up is the new requirement for authentication. In the previous version of the API, applications could access information from Twitter without having to use OAuth. It presented a security risk as malicious applications could grab information from Twitter with them being none the wiser. That’s why version 1.1 of the API will require all applications to authenticate every request. For applications that already use OAuth, those tokens will transition over to the new version.

    Next up is rate limiting and it’s once again being implemented to protect the guys at Twitter. Currently, their rate limit is at 350 API calls per hour. They found that this only abused their resources while limiting access to the more popular endpoints. In API 1.1, they will be changing the limit to 60 API calls per hour per endpoint. They’re quick to point out that applications using only one endpoint may be negatively affected, but most applications using multiple endpoints will benefit from the change.

    The biggest change to version 1.1 are the new responsibilities that Twitter puts on developers. Application developers are most angry about a change that makes design recommendations a requirement. Here’s what every developer must now include in their Twitter app:

    We will require all applications that display Tweets to adhere to these. Among them: linking @usernames to the appropriate Twitter profile, displaying appropriate Tweet actions (e.g. Retweet, reply and favorite) and scaling display of Tweets appropriately based on the device. If your application displays Tweets to users, and it doesn’t adhere to our Display Requirements, we reserve the right to revoke your application key.

    The rule is obviously meant to make Twitter look consistent across all platforms and devices. It’s an admirable goal, but it does nothing to help developers. It puts undue stress on them to change their app to something that appeases only Twitter. There are multiple Twitter apps that display Tweets in ways that go against the recommended guidelines, but they’re also more unique for it. Twitter’s new requirement would punish those apps.

    The other two changes are a requirement that pre-installed Twitter applications be certified by Twitter and that developers must work with Twitter directly for large amount of user tokens. Both are meant to protect Twitter’s resources or brand in some way. In a way, it’s a good idea. It helps Twitter consolidate its brand. They just shouldn’t have to step all over developers to get there.

    For now, developers can still keep using version 1.0 of the API. Version 1.1 will be released at some point in the near future. At that time, Twitter will announce the deprecation of version 1.0. Developers will have six months to migrate to version 1.1. People might be able to convince Twitter to stop being such spoil sports during that time.

  • Facebook Introduces The Payer Promotion API

    Facebook has been playing around with Payer Promotion for a while now. It lets app developers on Facebook offer special discounts on in-game items to first-time players and other eligible users. Facebook claims that it helps to increase payer conversion and revenue. Now they’re making it easier for everybody to implement.

    Facebook is launching the Payer Promotion API today. It will automatically look at a player and decide if they’re eligible for discounted Facebook credits or free items. Payer Promotion is subsidized by Facebook so you don’t have to worry about any hits to your own revenue.

    The new API makes thing easier because the old Payer Promotion was implemented using a DeaSpot unit. Besides judging the eligibility of a player for the promotion, the API also allows the creation of custom units to showcase the offer. To show off the new API in action, Facebook provides an example from KIXEYE’s War Commander:

    Facebook Payer Promotion API

    Facebook claims that KIXEYE saw an 18 percent growth in payer conversion and an eight percent growth in revenue since implementing the new Payer Promotion API. It’s easy to see why as people love sales. A lot of people play Facebook games without paying a cent. If you offer them a deal, they might just spend a few bucks to get that next item. After the initial payment, you have them hooked until they can pull themselves away from your game.

    If you want to know more about the new Payer Promotion API, check out Facebook’s documentation.

  • Facebook Launches New Payments Reporting API

    Despite how you may feel as a developer towards Facebook, you have to admit they work fast. The company is always putting out new APIs and updates to existing APIs that make the platform a better place to develop on. The newest update should help developers get constant updates on how well their app is doing.

    The newest feature to join the Facebook family is called the Payments Reporting API. Developers will now be able to download “daily reports of transaction data.” Previously, developers would receive this data over email. Facebook found that method to not be very secure or reliable. Here’s what you can expect when using the Payments Reporting API:

  • Reliability. The payments reporting API is more reliable and has built-in checks to make sure you receive all the data.
  • Security. The payments reporting API can be downloaded securely via https using an OAuth-secured HTTP interface.
  • Flexibility. Our new report is formatted as a structured csv file, instead of the former flat tsv file. With this format, your integration of the data will continue to work regardless of what fields we may add in the future. Additionally, the API simplifies your work flow. Multiple people in your company can download the report, instead of only one person receiving the data via email.

    • If that sounds good to you, you can get to using the new API right away. It will replace the current email system for now, but Facebook expects everybody to switch to the API within the next 90s days. Afterwards, Facebook will no longer send payment reports via email.

    Check out the documentation for all the details on the new Payments Reporting API. Check back again in a few months when Facebook adds support for local currency to the API.

  • Google Shows Off Some Drive API Secrets

    There were a lot of conferences and workshops during Google I/O this year. One of the newcomers to I/O – Google Drive APi – actually got some of the best workshops this year. That doesn’t mean that everything was covered during the weeklong event of all things Google. The team has decided to show off some of the lesser known things you can do with the Google Drive API.

    As you are probably aware, Google Drive is the company’s answer to DropBox and all the other digital file lockers out there. While most just want to store their own content for personal use, you might also use the service to share files with others. Using the API, you can download a file without authentication if it has been shared publicly. All you have to do is send a GET request for the file metadata and look for the “webContentLink” to find the file.

    When setting permissions via the Drive API, Google notes that you can choose “owner,” “writer,” “reader” and “commenter” for the role paramater. Strangely enough, you actually can’t select commenter for the role paramater. To fix this, you have to grant the user the role of reader and then list “commenter” under “additionalRoles.”

    While you can restrict the list of files that are returned by the Drive API, you might want to sometimes return the entire folder via the root. To do this, you just have to submit a simple search query with “root” attached to the end.

    Another simple tip is to check out the “About Feed” of the Drive API. In here, you can find all sorts of information including the quota that’s left in a User’s account. The quota is listed in bytes so have fun counting all the bytes that are in the free 5GB of data that’s offered to every user.

    One of the better functions of Drive, and what sets it apart from the competition, is that it can be used to open files with Chrome apps. Not all Chrome apps can take advantage of Drive though and it might not be readily apparent on the app’s store page. To find out if an app can open a file via Drive, just retrieve the “Apps feed” and look for one of the following elements: “primaryMimeTypes, secondaryMimeTypes, primaryFileExtensions, and secondaryFileExtensions.”

    To learn more, check out Google’s developer resources for the Drive API. You’ll be building Drive apps with the best of them in no time.

  • Facebook Makes It Easier To Market Brand Pages

    Facebook is about to release their first quarterly earnings as a public company. Their responsibility is to their share holders now who expect the social networking giant to keep bringing in the money. One of those methods is by getting more brands on board. Of course, brands aren’t going to go for Facebook unless they have the tools necessary to reach a wider audience.

    A lack of tools shouldn’t be a problem as Facebook revealed three new marketing tools for pages last night via their developer blog. The company recognizes that the brand page is the face of the company so that’s why they’ve added “several powerful features that simplify managing and sponsoring Page posts.”

    The first is the addition of scheduled page posts. It was a highly requested feature and now it’s available via the Pages Graph API. Facebook is looking deep into the future with this feature as brands are able to create a post and schedule it for publishing between 10 minutes and 6 months from the post creation. If you find an error in the post, page admins can also delete said post as long as it’s more than three minutes away from publishing.

    The second feature is called Unpublished Page Posts and it should be really handy for those brands that have made the move to Timeline. The folks at Facebook realize that there might be a post that’s not for everybody who likes your page. There might be an offer that’s only available to a few hundred of the people who follow your brand. For those posts, the page admin can sponsor a post, but have it not show up on the brand’s Timeline. This feature is also accessed via the Pages Graph API.

    The final new feature is nice for those pages that have multiple admins. They point out a potential security flaw in admins being granted access to pages through a third-party app like ad management platforms that require admin permissions for managing ads, but doesn’t require such permissions for creating posts. To prevent abuse, permissions can now be extended to these people so they only have access to relevant parts of the page.

    For Facebook to continue their growth while keeping investors happy, they need to keep the ad revenue flowing. These simple steps will give more control over pages to the brands and likely increase their spending on the Facebook platform. It will definitely be interesting to see how advertising has shaped Facebook’s revenue this quarter.

    To start developing your brand pages with these new features in mind, check out the Pages Graph API documentation.

  • BitTorrent Torque Allows Users To Make Torrent-Based Web Apps

    Does the introduction of introduction of web-based app development further legitimize the concept of file sharing via BitTorrent technology? Does it remove the vail of “this kind of technology is only used to steal” from act of sharing torrents with other computer users? Whether or not that was the goal of the BitTorrent developers, it’s hard not to consider the ramifications of such a legitimate move.

    Over at the BitTorrent blog, the team discusses the launch of BitTorrent Torque, which is related to the lead image in name only. Although it’s still in the alpha stage, it’s hard for them to discuss the program’s potential without a modicum of excitement:

    BitTorrent Torque is a JavaScript interface to a custom torrent client that exposes all the power of BitTorrent to web developers. Simply put, it allows anyone to utilize our powerful technology to create completely fresh and new experiences for users with just a couple lines of code.

    This alpha allows BitTorrent to move beyond desktop clients. We believe web developers are pioneers when it comes to creating beautiful, intuitive user experiences. Torque will empower them to create powerful applications that will appeal to broad audiences.

    Considering the ideas some have when “torrents” are mentioned, it’s clear there are many more options available than just sharing ripped movies and music. That being said, the majority of the apps being created are to make the act of file sharing that much easier. As an example, the four featured apps over at the BitTorrent Torque Labs offer such capabilities:

    Turns all torrents links into regular downloads. No torrents to manage. Just content.

    And:

    Create a sharable link to a file on your computer. No cloud, no hosting. Just a link directly to your file.

    So while the capabilities increase, it doesn’t look like the associations that are made when the word “torrent” is used will be going away anytime soon.

  • Know When Your Favorite Store Is Open With The Google Places API

    Out of all the APIs that Google has released updates for this year, it seems that Google Places is the one they love the most. It has consistently received the biggest and best updates that really help developers take advantage of the powerful tools it offers. The latest update further solidifies the fact that Google is playing favorites.

    At Google I/O, the company announced four new features for the Google Places API that are sure to delight those who work with it. These new features have been heavily requested by users. If your requested feature didn’t make it in, keep on asking for it. They’re bound to add it in one day.

    The biggest addition to the API is obviously Google Reviews. The reviews are a part of Google+ Local, the company’s bid to get small businesses using Google+. Instead of having to go to Google+ to see reviews of a location, the Google Places API now returns the top five reviews of any location. Each review features the score, author details and the date in which the review was written.

    Google introduced search to the Google Places API back in May as a way to find locations by keyword. Keywords can only do so much though, so Google is now introducing text search to the Places API. Now users can search for places with what they’re looking for and where they’re looking for it. Google uses the example of “Sushi near Sydney.” It’s a great way to get more results without having to be exact with the keywords.

    Another big improvement is the addition of the opening hours for businesses in the Places API. If you have your business’ hours listed via Google Places, then those times will be retrieved by the API. There is also a new value that will allow apps to return whether or not a place is currently open alongside the business hours.

    Last but certainly not least, Google is increasing the amount of search results that are returned when using the Places API. It used to only return the top 20 results, but users can now have up to 60 results returned to them. It’s especially useful if the user is in a big city and there are more than 20 restaurants in the area.

    Head over to the Google Geo Developers blog to try out all the new features that have been added to the API. While you’re at it, check out the new dedicated Web site just for the Google Places API. With all the love being shown for the Places API, I can’t wait until we’re able to track those awesome traveling taco carts in real time via Google Places.

  • The New YouTube App Is Actually Pretty Awesome

    Google announced some big improvements to the YouTube API during I/O that will help Android devices get the most out of the service with smooth, high-quality playback. Those kind of improvements usually result in a new app being released sooner or later. It’s more sooner than later with Google releasing a new YouTube app today.

    The new YouTube app for Android released today is pretty much all about one thing – your subscriptions. Everybody on YouTube has subscriptions, it’s what drives us to our favorite content and keeps us on top of the new content being released by our favorite creators. The new Android app is following the Web site redesign from last year to bring those subscriptions to the core of the experience.

    The front page of the YouTube app can now be swiped to the left to reveal a bar that features all of your subscriptions. It’s just like how your subscriptions are listed on the left-hand side of the screen on the desktop version of YouTube. It’s extremely useful especially when YouTube recommendations lets one of your favorite creators’ new video slip by.

    The best addition to the YouTube app is the ability to prefetch the video while you’re on a Wi-Fi connection. While your phone is charging and connected to Wi-Fi, it will grab and prefetch videos from your subscribed channels for storage in a local cache. When you go to watch said videos while on mobile data, it will have the video already pre-loaded for your viewing pleasure.

    The desktop and mobile experience on YouTube are now connected on an intimate level. The videos that you like, favorite and share on an Android phone will be reflected on the desktop version under your account. The description also makes it appear that you’ll be able to queue up the next video from your phone without having to interrupt the current video that’s playing on the desktop.

    The new YouTube app is only available on Android 4.0 devices for now, but it will be rolled out to other versions of Android in the future. You can grab it from Google Play.

  • Google Apps Script Goes For A Drive

    Google Apps Script Goes For A Drive

    Google Apps Script is one of the more interesting projects over at Google. It has the potential to totally rethink how people build applications for the Web and over the Cloud. At Google I/O, the company announced some new features to push it further towards its potential.

    The big announcement is the launch of a new Web site just for Apps Script developers. It’s been a long time coming and now developers can get all the information they need on the latest and greatest developments in Apps Script from easy to acces location.

    Google is also utilizing Drive for Apps Script. Developers can now create Apps Script projects right from Google Drive and share them between friends and colleagues over the Cloud. It’s a great new way to get people collaborating on Apps Script projects between offices or even countries.

    So what if you’re new to Apps Script or just aren’t very good with the tools that Google provides yet? For those developers, Google has launched Html Services, a great way to help developers create apps using HTML, client-side JavaScript and CSS. Once you’ve finished making your app, you’re going to need a place to store it – that’s where ScriptDb comes in. The new services makes it so that developers no longer have to save Apps Script data in spreadsheets anymore, but can rather save large volumes of data behind easily accessed data stores.

    A final gesture of goodwill comes in the form of new publishing options. Those who create Web apps using Apps Script can publish them directly to the Chrome Web Store. There’s even a new option in the Publish menu that takes care of registration and packaging for your app.

    In a Google I/O that’s been filled with crazy spherical music players and skydiving antics, it’s easy to forget about the developers. It’s good to see that Google hasn’t lost sight of what I/O is all about and stuff like this just further cements their efforts to be best friends with developers.

  • Google+ Teaches Open Graph A Few New Tricks

    One of the best things that Facebook has going for it is Open Graph. It allows Facebook to pervade the Internet and connect all your apps and services through a single Facebook account. These apps and services can then create custom stories to add to your Timeline. It’s great for developers, users and Facebook; and Google is finally realizing this.

    Speaking to Venture Beat, a Googler let slip that Google+ has a new experimental API called Google+ History. It’s essentially Open Graph on a basic level, but it has a few things that separate it from Facebook’s behemoth.

    On the basic level, Google+ History collects everything that you have ever done with an application that’s connected via Google+ and add it to your personal page on the social networking service. In that way, it’s similar to Open Graph since it uses your Google+ connections to bring in updates from services like Foursquare and Twitter.

    That’s pretty much where all the similarities end though. Venture Beat reports that the History API actually lets you pick and choose what you wanted shared from various Google+ connected services. It’s a major change from Open Graph which will post everything on your behalf if you let it. Take for instance Pinterest, the Open Graph enabled app posts on Facebook every time I pin something. Google+ History would presumably allow to pick and choose which Pins show up on Google+.

    It’s a nice way to compete with Facebook while offering something unique and different. I’m sure people will appreciate the ability to actually control what they’re sharing via Google+. It’s also a great way for people to share on Google+ without actually visiting Google+. That’s my problem with the service at least. If given the option to automatically share my actions online via Google+, I would jump on it just to give the appearance that I actually care.

    It would appear that the API and documentation are now available for developers to start playing around with. It’s odd that Google didn’t spend anytime talking about this feature yesterday during the first Google I/O keynote. They very well might have discussed it if Sergey Brin didn’t interrupt with this skydiving extreme sports Project Glass demo.

    Google I/O is a place where random things are announced at random times with no real structure. We’ll keep an ear out for more things like Google+ History that the company may neglect in their actual keynotes or conferences.

  • Doubleclick For Publishers API Gets New Playground

    API playgrounds are some of the most useful tools that a developer can have. The playground moniker may not resonate with everyone, but having the ability to mess around with code in a place where I’m not going to break anything sounds fun. If that sounds fun to you as well or you just need some practice with the DFP API, Google has a treat for you.

    Google announced Monday that the DFP API has a new playground that’s built on App Engine. It also uses the new ads Java client library. The main advantage here is that you can now build DFP API test networks in the playground before pushing it out into the real world.

    The new playground also uses OAuth 2.0 authentication when using the Java client library. It comes with an automatic token refresh. It also uses a push queue that makes API calls in the background and returns results using the Channel API.

    The only possible downside to the playground is that only test networks are available. You will not be able to see old sandbox networks while you’re testing things out. To make up for it, this particular project is open sourced so you can integrate the DFP API with App Engine.

    So all of this is making you want to try your hand at some API development, right? Good thing is that it’s super easy to set up a test network in the new playground. The only prerequisite is that you have Google account, but everybody probably has one by now.

    First, you just have to hit up the DFP playground Web site. From there, you’ll sign in and authorize the app to make DFP API calls on your behalf. After all that is taken care of, you’ll see a page that asks you to create a test network. Just click on the button and voila, you have a new test network set up and ready to go.

    If you want to know more, check out two upcoming Hangouts with Google Developers on related subjects. The DFP Mobile Developer Office Hours will take place on June 12 at 12 p.m. PST and the AdWords API Office Hours will take place on June 13 at 2 p.m. EST.

  • YouTube API Discussed In Latest Office Hours

    It’s sometimes easy to forget that YouTube is part of the Google family of products. Good thing we have developer hangouts to remind us that the folks at Google are constantly improving the YouTube experience for developers who use the API.

    The latest YouTube API Hangout featured the YouTube Product Management team talking about the new CORS support in the YouTube API. CORS, or Cross-Origin Resource Sharing, is a way for JavaScript developers to make arbitrary HTTP requests via a standard XMHLHttpRequest Interface.

    The team also talks about what YouTube will be up to at the upcoming Google I/O conference. Here’s the topics on YouTube that you can expect to see during I/O:

    YouTube Channels: Get with the Program!
    Getting Direct Feedback from your YouTube Community
    Mobile YouTube API Apps for Content Creators, Curators and Consumers
    HTML5 at YouTube: Stories from the Front Line
    YouTube API + Cloud Rendering = Happy Mobile Gamers
    New YouTube Android Player Tools (Session + Codelab)
    Master the Latest YouTube Data API (Codelab)
    Webinar: YouTube for Your Business
    Webinar: Using YouTube APIs and Ruby on Rails for Educational Apps

    Check out the 46-minute Hangout below to get your first details on what will be discussed during these sessions. If you use the YouTube API or just like to develop software and apps using YouTube, you’ll want to check this one out:

  • Google Maps Still Bleeding Developers, Businesses

    If you’re Google Maps these days, you’re not really watching the dominoes fall away from you so much as those dominoes have sprouted legs and started fleeing from you to distant, more agreeable climes. First foursquare bailed for MapBox, Apple’s been developing its own in-house mapping software, and Wikipedia decided it preferred to hold hands with OpenStreetMap. Concerning that last Google Maps alternative, Microsoft has been doing its part to bolster the competition.

    Some of this exodus could be attributed to Google’s decision last year to begin charging fees to smaller websites that generate 25,000 page views a day over the course of one financial quarter. While Google still holds a commanding market share of map search and online search in general, the trend of developers abandoning Google Maps since the price hike has become undeniable. One company that has enjoyed a surge of new customers defecting from Google Maps recently is deCarta.

    deCarta has been working with businesses to build location-based services for more than 15 years, offering everything from mobile apps to turn-by-turn directions for numerous platforms. While deCarta has been welcoming developers into its fold over the past seven years, in the past few months the company says it has seen a significant increase in new developers eager to work with its wares. In fact, 488 new customers have come to deCarta in the last 90 days with 52% of new developers citing Google Maps API as their most recent mapping platform of choice.

    Curiously, some of these companies fall far short of the 25,000-page view limit that would incur charges from Google, suggesting that some developers are defecting from Google for reasons other than finances. Given Google’s less-than-scrupulous practices regarding privacy and its maddeningly obtuse terms of services, one could postulate that another force driving developers and businesses away from Google Maps is a philosophical discord.

    That was certainly the explanation offered up by Wikipedia, who clearly stated that the the open source approach of OpenStreetMap is more closely attuned to Wikipedia’s own mission to make information freely available and accessible. As for Microsoft and Apple, their motives might be considered philosophical but only from a financial standpoint. The most telling detail of the deCarta statistics, though, is that companies not yet getting the amount of traffic that would be subject to paying fees for the use of Google Maps are bypassing the market leader altogether.

    Paying to use Google Maps API isn’t inherently a bad thing – all that bandwidth has to be supported somehow. Still, the trend of small companies avoiding Google Maps may suggest that ambitious start-ups don’t want to get entwined with Google Maps early on only to later find it difficult to divorce itself from Google. Aside from the financial aspects involved with developing a brand with the support of Google Maps, Google itself has fostered an unsavory reputation for itself by seemingly inverting that whole “Don’t be evil” mantra by doing somewhat evil-ish things like stone-walling outsiders and leaving Google users with a vague understanding of how their personal content is used and stored by the company.

    None of this is to say that Google Maps is crumbling, but the service may soon find itself in a very lonely place in the near future.

    [Via Search Engine Land.]

  • Google Analytics Switching Over To Core Reporting API Next Week

    If you’re a user of Google Analytics, then no doubt you’re familiar with the Data Export API. You are also probably aware that Google replaced the Data Export API with the Core Reporting API in December of last year. Google gave developers six months to switch over to the new API and those six months are just about up.

    Google announced today that the Data Export API in Google Analytics will start the process of being shut down next week. If you have an app that uses the outdated API, it’s suggested that you switch over to the new Core Reporting API. If not, your app will “experience service outages.”

    The “service outages” will be caused by Google redirecting Data Export API requests over to the Core Reporting API. This is all part of the process of taking the Data Export API out back. It will be finally laid to rest on July 10. During the next month, you should start seeing Data Feed requests returning Core Reporting API responses.

    Back when Google first announced the Core Reporting API, they had prepared two versions for developers. One was version 3.0 which is an entirely brand new API that supports all kinds of nifty new client libraries like PHP, Ruby, Python, JavaScript and Java. You’re probably going to want to build a new app using this API because it’s the only version that’s going to get new features.

    Some people don’t like change and actively avoid it whenever possible. For those people, Google has also released version 2.4 of the Core Reporting API. It’s backwards compatible with Data Export 2.3 and won’t cause any conflicts once the change occurs.

    Since most sensible people will be starting with version 3.0 and going from there, Google has created a nice developer guidel. It contains sample code from the major client libraries that the Core Reporting API supports.

    If you’re new to the Analytics API in general, Google has also created a dedicated tutorial to show budding developers how to take advantage of Analytics. It’s pretty in-depth so it should set you up with all the knowledge you need to start building applications that use the Analytics API.

  • YouTube API Gets Better Playlist Support

    YouTube API Gets Better Playlist Support

    Back in March, YouTube launched a new feature for the YouTube API that would allow people to include lists of videos in the player. It was great since it let users watch a continuous stream of content without ever leaving the embedded video player. The only problem is that the playlist wasn’t readily available to the user at all times.

    Google is rectifying that today with the latest update to the YouTube API. With a little HTML magic, users can now insert a parameter, showinfo=1, into the iframe. After that, clicking on the playlists button will bring up the playlists and they will remain permanently visible.

    If you are unaware of the playlists feature, clicking on the button brings up a miniature sliding bar with all the videos currently in that playlist. Each slide has six videos on it with an arrow navigation tool to sift through the videos until you find one that you must watch next. It’s seamlessly integrated into the embedded video so that it only appears when you move the mouse over the video.

    Here’s the example video from a recent Google Maps API Hangout that takes advantage of the new playlists feature. Play around with the playlist feature for a bit to see the improvements. YouTube API developers should appreciate how embedded videos now replicate more of the experience of watching a YouTube video on the site proper.

    As always, check out the documentation to see more examples and ways to implement the new feature. It should have everything you need to know to get playlists up and running on your Web site or mobile application.

  • Google APIs Explorer Gets Updated Look

    Google APIs Explorer Gets Updated Look

    One of the best things Google has done for developers over the last year was the Google APIs explorer. It allowed developers to try out the various APIs that Google offers while giving them tips on how to best take advantage of it. It didn’t seem like it could get much better than that, but Google has a habit of proving me wrong.

    Google has introduced a brand new look for the APIs explorer. Their claim is that its “easier and more fun to navigate.” I can attest that it’s much easier to navigate, but fun is purely subjective. You’ll have to try it out for yourself. The facelift is not the only new thing hitting the APIs explorer as it is also getting some major new features. It includes an indexed history of your API calls, an improved editor for the request body, and a search box.

    Those are all nice, but what about new APIs? The old APIs Explorer just had support for a little over half dozen APIs. There’s been a lot of work done on APIs over the last year so surely there’s a few more, right? Try a lot more as the APIs Explorer now supports 26 APIs. Google hopes to keep adding more APIs regularly.

    Here’s the full list of APIs that you can play around and experiment with right now:

    Google APIs Explorer Gets Updated Look

    If you’re new to a specific API or just the Google APIs in general, I highly recommend you check out the APIs explorer. It’s a great tool for getting acquainted with the APIs that you’ll probably be using in various applications around the Web. As always, check out the documentation for all the info you need to get started.

  • Google Ads API Getting Java Client Library Rewrite

    Java is really popular or so says Google. The Java Client library for Ads API is still used by a lot of developers despite the fact that it’s really old. Google tried to fix what was already there, but old dogs can’t learn new tricks. That’s why Google got a new dog that can learn all kinds of new tricks.

    If the above canine analogy was lost on you, all it means is that Google has completely rewritten the Ads API Java Client library. It was in the experimental phase for a while, but now it’s ready for showtime. It contains a number of improvements that make this the definitive version of the Java Client.

    The new features contained in the new client includes product level support for AdWords, DFP and DFA while sharing a common layer code, and the library is now hosted on Maven. Other changes include support for both OAuth 1.0a and OAuth 2.0 alongside using the SLF4J logging facade. Finally, it adds more control over session building and experimental AppEngine Support.

    The two big changes, however, come in the form of configuring a session and obtaining service objects. The company has provided a migration guide that explains this new code in depth. It also contains tips and strategies on how to take advantage of the new Java Client library. It’s a must if you intend to start using it for future Ads API projects.

    If change frightens you, worry not, Google will still offer the old Java Client library. It’s being put into maintenance mode, so the new client will be the primary focus. The old client will still receive support for new releases of AdWords and DFP for the near future.

    They don’t say how long developers have until they fully stop support for the old Java Client, but I suggest you upgrade. It can only be a good thing especially with all the new features that came along with the client. If anything, you can pat yourself on the back for supporting progress.

  • Hangouts API Version 1.1 Discussed In Office Hours

    The metahangout that is the Google+ Office Hours went down this week and the discussion is one that developers will want to check out. J.D. Salazar and Richard Dunn from the Hangouts API team took time to answer developer questions and talk about the new features in Hangouts API Version 1.1.

    This week’s hangout is chock full of details clocking in at 53 minutes. While you may not want to watch the full thing, there are a few points that you should pay particular attention to. Since this hangout is all aout the new version of the Hangouts API, they obviously spend some time talking about that. That’s not all though as they also discuss other topics like static overlays and hangout resolution.

    From there, it goes into more general questions like uninstalling a Hangout app and accessing Picasa from within a hangout. Other topics include the future of face tracking and WebGL for the platform. As everything moves to HTML5, WebGL is going to become far more important for Hangouts and other online video conferencing systems like WebRTC.

    Finally, they discuss the possibility of an official Hangout App directory. There is an unofficial directory at the moment that is sufficient, but an official Google directory would be much appreciated.

    If you want to know more about the latest developments in the Hangout API, check out the Office Hours below: