Think & Play
Thoughtplay is the creative team behind various popular websites and other projects. At this blog we give away bright ideas regularly, and comment on interesting trends both online and off. The thought channel is for more business-related trends, play looks at entertainment and leisure, and thoughtplay introduces our own creative ideas, as well as news about our projects.
Adapt, plan, info-gather | 191206
News via The Register is that Google has axed its Search API (though an AJAX API remains available, and existing accounts have not been removed).
For the uninitiated, an API ('application programming interface') is an interface offered by an information provider allowing users to write their own new tools using the provider's data. In this case, you could write your own programs using Google's search facilities. Other notable API providers include Amazon with its Web Services, used by many to create their own customised bookstores and indeed book recommendation sites.
Now, Google's Search API has been criticized, and in any case it imposed a daily limit of 1000 calls - making it pretty useless for anything that might attract a lot of traffic. But what this withdrawal really highlights is the danger of relying on a API unless you have other ways of gathering data. APIs and 'mashups' form a big part of the 'Web 2.0' explosion, but they're always vulnerable to the whim of the data providers. The moral is: trust no one, build your own data, and plan to be adaptable.
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