ApolloCamp – Help choose the Yahoo! API for my session
I am proudly slated to present a mini-session called “Building an Apollo Based Mashup with Yahoo APIs“ at the upcoming, SOLD OUT ApolloCamp. At 8:45 PM on March 16, I will take the platform and demonstrate an Apollo mashup with a Yahoo! API. I’d like your help in choosing the Yahoo! API(s) for this session.
There are so many engagng Yahoo! APIs to choose from, and while we’ve explored many possibilities, I thought it would be fun to hear your ideas and get your input. I ask you to check out the different Yahoo! APIs profiled at developer.yahoo.com and comment below as to which one(s) you’d like to see mashed-up into an Apollo app. Also, if you wish, tell me what you would like to see the app do.
The list at YDN includes APIs to Yahoo! properties like:
Answers – del.icio.us – Flickr - Local – Maps – MyBlogLog – Photos – Pipes – Search – Shopping – Travel – Upcoming – Webjay
As there have already been some awesome Y!APIs demonstrated in presentations and part of the pre-release, I hope to introduce a new API into Apollo. Take a close look at Pipes especially, as there are ways there to combine multiple APIs including non-Yahoo! feeds. If you’ve built a Pipe and think it would feed a good Apollo app, post the URL.
In a few days I will close out the comments and we will decide which API to mashup with Apollo. Whether you are attending or not, I think you will benefit from the source code we will make available from the demonstrated app. I hear the ApolloCamp sessions will be captured on video as well, so there should be many ways to see and learn from this app.
I can’t wait to lead this session at ApolloCamp and look forward to seeing your ideas below and meeting many of you at the session.
* Note: If you’re interested in mashing up Yahoo! APIs with Flash or Flex, check out YDN’s gallery of community-submitted mashups.
Mashup of the Day is GameTripping.com – Flex 2, Yahoo! Maps and Flickr
My site “GameTripping.com” has been selected as ProgrammableWeb.com Mashup of the Day. GameTripping uses an inline Flex 2 app to let users review, track and collect the MLB ballparks they’ve visited. The mashup features Yahoo! Maps JS-Flash API which shows a hi-res aerial image of each ballpark coupled with Y! Local listings of area bars, parking, food, etc. Paired with that is a Flickr Flash app that displays the latest photos tagged with that ballpark.
There are so many reasons why I am excited about this Mashup of the Day honor. First, it happens to be the very first mashup EVER listed on the site that is tagged with FLEX. (While I know it’s not the first Flex app listed, it certainly is a distinction that it is tagged as such.) Next, the site is usually dominated by ‘easy-to-replicate’ Gmaps Ajax mashups, so having a Yahoo! Maps Flash API-based mashup in there is always great to see. Next, I am a huge fan of programmableweb and find it to be the web’s most comprehensive listing of mashups. Last but absolutely not least, John Musser, the site’s talented and passionate owner, chose this day to blog about my new book “Yahoo Maps Mashups“.
But wait, there’s more. It turns out Lightening Strikes Twice for this Boston turned Bay Area Flash Platform Engineer. Back on my home field, Yahoo! Developer Network has posted an announcement of my book at developer.yahoo.com. Once again, just like on Ted Patrick’s blog a week ago, my book cover (and face) grace today’s YDN blog post.
YDN is one of the leading API sites out there as they are chartered with distributing and indexing most of Yahoo!’s APIs. You’ve probably worked or heard of many of them including Flickr, Del.icio.us, Travel, Music, Upcoming.org, Weather, Answers, Search… and Yahoo! Maps, just to name a few.
All in all, quite a day and a great opportunity to further evangelize the benefits of coding mashups with Yahoo! APIs and Flash Platform technology. As I write this, I am looking to the not-to-distant future, when a new platform codenamed ‘Apollo‘ will only further explode our mashup world.
Yahoo! Maps Mashups SHIPPING and IN STORES
My first book “Yahoo! Maps Mashups” is in stores and starts shipping today. What a thrill it was yesterday to spot my book (actually, my wife saw it first) at the local B&N with 4 fresh copies on the shelf. The book is categorized as “Web Development”, “Flash”, “ActionScript”, “JavaScript” and “Ajax” so it finds itself stocked alphabetically among the web development books section.
I launched the companion site for the book last week at mashupexperts.com. If you have bought, are buying or want to check out the code in the book, this site is the place to go. Once you complete some of the comprehensive mashup exercises (there’s over 40 code samples), I invite you to submit them to the mashup list on the site.
The book covers each Yahoo! Maps API, including mashups between the AS-Flash API and Hotjobs, the JS-Flash API and Y! Travel and the Ajax API and Flickr (using JSON). Finally, I spend 5 chapters working with the AS-Flash API and Flex 2 via LocalConnection. That mashup shows you how to make your own video and Model data-based mashup with Flex 2.
Now shipping from Amazon, the book is proudly paired (“Better Together“) with the ActionScript 3.0 Cookbook. Recent purchases show customers buying it with this book, plus the reputable Advanced ActionScript 3 Design Patterns and Adobe Flex 2: Training From the Source. It’s certainly in fine company!
Developers wanting a Flex 2 Maps API World, Unite!
Those interested in a Flex 2 Y! Maps API, you have a collective voice.
Someone created a suggestion queue here: http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?prop=ydn&fid=3208
I can’t say for sure, but I do hope someone is listening. So go vote and let your desire to have a true Flex 2 Yahoo! Maps API be heard.
Together, we can change the world… or least how we add it to our Flex 2 applications.
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