# Weekly API.Report For April 6th, 2015

**Canonical:** https://apievangelist.com/2015/04/06/weekly-apireport-for-april-6th-2015/

<div style="background-color:#ff4c4c; width:100%; height: 40px; padding:5px; margin-bottom: 5px;"><p align="center"><strong>Swagger is now Open API Definition Format (OADF) -- <a href="http://apievangelist.com/2015/11/05/the-swagger-spec-is-reborn-as-open-api-definition-format-oadf-after-being-put-into-open-api-initiative-oai/" style="text-decoration:none;"><strong>READ MORE</strong></a></strong></p></div>
<p><a href="http://api.report/" target="_blank"><img style="padding: 20px;" src="https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/apievangelist/api-report/api-report-logo.png" alt="" width="325" align="right" /></a></p>
<p><span>My Weekly API.Report represents the best of what I've read throughout the week, and is only what I personally felt should be showcased. Each news item comes with a link, and some thoughts I had after curating the piece of API related news. I'm trying to break down stories into as coherent buckets as I can, but it remains something that is ever changing for me, but ultimately I will settle on a clear definition for each of the research areas.</span></p>
<p>Always a good report, when I start with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>101</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://sproutsocial.com/insights/what-is-an-api/">What Is an API, and Why Does It Matter?</a> - I love coming across other introductory to API material. The space if getting so wide, that there are many good opinions emerging.</li>
</ul>
<p>More on the legal side of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>3D Printing</strong></span>, than API:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Past-Dangers-Can-Protect-You-from-Future-Threats">Protecting IP from 3D Printing: What Companies Need to Know</a> - An interesting thought on IP from 3D printing world. Something that will keep heating up in coming years.</li>
</ul>
<p>An interesting <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Account Management</strong></span> feature:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://backendless.com/feature-81-changing-users-password-via-api-if-user-can-login/">Feature 81: Changing user&rsquo;s password via API (if user can login)</a> - I am doing a lot of tracking on how APIs are being used to help manage user and developer accounts.</li>
</ul>
<p>A handful of interesting <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Acquisitions</strong></span> to note:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/01/salesforce-buys-mobile-authentication-startup-toopher/">Salesforce buys mobile authentication startup Toopher</a> - Buying up the bits and pieces you need for your mobile strategy.</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/02/twitter-acquires-and-shutters-developer-tracking-service-tenxer/">Twitter acquires and shutters developer-tracking service tenXer</a> - I can't really tell the motivations behind the acquisition, but worthy of tracking on.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/01/salesforce-buys-mobile-authentication-startup-toopher/">Salesforce buys mobile authentication startup Toopher</a> - Buying up the bits and pieces you need for your mobile strategy.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm see more <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Analytics</strong></span> related items like this focused on gaming lately:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/google-player-analytics-provides-android-developers-gaming-insight/2015/04/02">Google Player Analytics Provides Android Developers Gaming Insight&nbsp;</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I'm calling these <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Aggregation</strong></span>, but they are kind of a new take on the topic:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.alchemyapi.com/api/combined/urls.html">AlchemyAPI Web Combined Call</a> - I thought this was an interesting approach to monetizing APIs, by saving developers time. In a world where you have a bunch of microservices that do one thing, and do it well, I think aggregate or combined API calls ike this as premium service will be more common.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/api/alchemyapi-text-combined-call">AlchemyAPI Text Combined Call</a> - Seems to be something they are doing across the board. Will keep an eye out for others doing this too.</li>
</ul>
<p>This reflects some of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Broker</strong></span> style broker I"d like to see more of:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/how-to-create-mobile-blogging-app-dreamfactory-wordpress-and-mailgun/how-to/2015/04/03">How to Create a Mobile Blogging App with DreamFactory, WordPress, and Mailgun</a> - I like the idea of these types of walkthroughs that help people do interesting things with APIs, but not so sure about the need to make it so many pages. ;-(</li>
</ul>
<p>More movement on <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Definitions</strong></span>, and not just Swagger, some pretty nice moves from API Blueprint last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/04/swagger-founder-whats-next">Swagger Founder Makes Commitment to Keep Project Open</a> - A great follow-up interview with Tony this week, after the shift of Swagger to SmartBear.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://apievangelist.com/2015/03/30/quantifying-the-community-around-the-swagger-api-specification/">Quantifying The Community Around The Swagger API Specification</a> - A current snapshot of my research into the Swagger community.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.apiary.io/2015/04/01/Polls-API-Blueprint-Tutorial-Examples">New API Blueprint Tutorial</a> - Good tutorial out of API Blueprint.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>Handful of&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Deployment</strong></span> resouces this last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/appcelerator-announces-arrow-to-extend-their-mbaas-platform/2015/04/02">Appcelerator Adds MBaaS Platform to Portfolio</a> - The mobile context has always been part of appcelerator, but the API deployment infrastructure is interesting enough to take a closer look at.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/humiaozuzu/awesome-flask">A curated list of awesome Flask resources and plugins</a> - A very comprehensive list of Flask related API tooling. I'd love to have the time to do this for top API frameworks, but I have so much catchup to do just on the frameworks themselves.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.dreamfactory.com/band-aids-dont-solve-rest-api-complexity-part-2-of-4">Band Aids Don&rsquo;t Solve REST API Complexity (Part 2 of 4)</a> - An interesting series I'm following over at DreamFactory. Curious to see where it goes, and what the solutions are they recommend.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Deprecation</strong></span> rumors and misconceptions out of Fecebook:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/despite-reports-facebook-says-hashtag-api-still-active/brief/2015/04/03">Despite Reports, Facebook Says Hashtag API Still Active</a> - A take on the recent conversation around the Facebook Hashtag API.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2015/04/03/facebook-might-be-shutting-down-access-to-hashtags-in-its-api/">Facebook may be shutting down access to hashtags in its API</a> - The conversation on the Facebook Hashtag API from another angle.</li>
</ul>
<p>The <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Design</strong></span> advice for the week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/how-to-decide-how-many-http-status-codes-your-api-needs/elsewhere-web/2015/04/02">How to Decide How Many HTTP Status Codes Your API Needs</a> - Always interesting to read advice like this.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/emag-web-api">InfoQ eMag: Web APIs: From Start to Finish</a> - A great guide that I missed in January. Definitely something you should read!!&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bizcoder.com/api-design-notes-smart-paging">Bizcoder - API Design Notes: Smart Paging</a> - Daryll is really pumping out consistently rich API design wisdom lately.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://cloud-elements.com/ecommerce-api-design-the-good-the-bad-and-the-etsy-api/">eCommerce API Design &ndash; The Good, The Bad and The Etsy API</a> - An API design critique of the Etsy API.</li>
</ul>
<p>The always evergreen topic of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Economy</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.smartbear.com/iot-2/how-does-amazon-dash-prove-the-api-economy/">How does Amazon Dash prove the API economy?</a> - Some thoughts on the new Amazon Dash, and world of IoT over at SmartBear.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single, slick approach to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Evangelism</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.troyhunt.com/2015/03/deconstruct-websites-get-hired-hiding.html">Troy Hunt: Deconstruct websites, get hired: hiding recruitment messages in source code</a> - This tactic is always interesting to see. I think it can be useful when done right.</li>
</ul>
<p>Couple of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Event </strong></span>related items this week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.meetup.com/Swagger-API/events/221572540/">Guest Speaker Kin Lane: Quantifying the Swagger Community</a> - An API gathering I will be doing at Gluecon.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://blog.twitter.com/2015/twitter-developer-events-april-2015">Twitter developer events: April 2015</a> - What can find going on around the Twitter API ecosystem.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://apidaysberlin2015.apistrat.com/customize-your-cocktail-at-apidaysapistrat-powered-by-foodpairing/">Customize your Cocktail at APIDays/APIStrat powered by Foodpairing</a> - You will have to come to Berlin to see this in action.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://dp.la/info/2015/04/01/dplafest-2015-come-hack-with-us/">DPLAfest 2015: Come hack with us!</a> - Please go support DPLA if you can and build cool stuff!</li>
</ul>
<p>Some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Integration</strong></span> insight from SalesForce:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/developer-relations/2015/03/using-paw-work-salesforce-rest-apis.html">Using Paw To Work With Salesforce REST APIs for Mobile Backends</a> - Tracking on the prefered API integration tooling of API providers.</li>
</ul>
<p>The growing area of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Lifecycle</strong></span> discussion:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://nordicapis.com/api-lifecycle-analysis-stage-preparing-your-api-strategy-pre-launch/">API Lifecycle Analysis Stage: Preparing Your API Strategy Pre-Launch</a> - More great API lifecycle content out of Nordic APIs.</li>
</ul>
<p>Lots <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Management</strong></span> moves to evaluate from the last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.dreamfactory.com/band-aids-dont-solve-rest-api-complexity-part-2-of-4">Band Aids Don&rsquo;t Solve REST API Complexity (Part 2 of 4)</a> - An interesting series I'm following over at DreamFactory. Curious to see where it goes, and what the solutions are they recommend.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://cloud-elements.com/how-to-write-good-api-documentation/">How to Write &ldquo;Good&rdquo; API Documentation</a> - Some good advice from over at Cloud Elements.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://apievangelist.com/2015/03/31/temp-api-keys-leave-them-laying-around-the-web-where-devs-will-find-them">Temp API Keys: Leave Them Laying Around The Web Where Devs Will Find Them &middot;</a> - I was playing around with some alternative API management approaches to publish API keys this week.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://sdtimes.com/api-management-comes-of-age/">API management comes of age</a> - Some more mainstream press on the latest evolutions in the world of API management.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://architects.dzone.com/articles/tooling-landscape-developer">The Tooling Landscape for Developer Programs</a> - A good piece on some of the common building blocks of API management.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://developer.ibm.com/watson/blog/2015/03/31/watson-developer-cloud-whats-up-docs-2/">Watson Developer Cloud: What&rsquo;s up, docs?</a> - A peak at API management approaches over at IBM Watson.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.datasift.com/2015/03/30/datasift-developer-community-site-launched/">DataSift Developer Community Site Launched</a> - Taking a look at the new API developer community over at DataSift.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://nordicapis.com/reactions-to-using-the-twilio-api/">Reactions to Using The Twilio API</a> - A review of putting the Twilio API to work over at Nordic APIs.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some very different looks at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Monetization</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://sensr.net/blog/2015/04/04/sensr-net-revenue-experiment/">Sensr.net Revenue Experiment</a> - The sensr.net folks thinking out of the box when it comes to selling their devices and services.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/03/pollen-lets-game-developers-access-their-cash-from-app-store-sales/">Pollen lets game developers access their cash from app store sales</a> - Something I didn't think of as a service, in the app economy layer.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.alchemyapi.com/api/combined/urls.html">AlchemyAPI Web Combined Call</a> - I thought this was an interesting approach to monetizing APIs, by saving developers time. In a world where you have a bunch of microservices that do one thing, and do it well, I think aggregate or combined API calls ike this as premium service will be more common.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/03/at_t_gigapower_the_company_wants_you_to_pay_it_not_to_sell_your_data.html">Privacy Is Becoming a Premium Service</a> - A scary look at potential monetization opportunities in the future.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/api/alchemyapi-text-combined-call">AlchemyAPI Text Combined Call</a> - Seems to be something they are doing across the board. Will keep an eye out for others doing this too.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.information-age.com/industry/uk-industry/123458813/how-auntie-opening-its-vaults-download-generation">How Auntie is opening its vaults for the download generation</a> - A good story for the archives. Would like to flush it out as a case study add to the archives.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/03/30/azure-app-service-premium-tier/">Premium Tier for Azure App Service</a> - A look at the pricing strategy over at Azure App Service.</li>
</ul>
<p>An <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Monitoring</strong></span> discussion:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://apimetrics.io/2015/04/02/tech-talks-apis-need-meet-slas/">Tech Talks &ndash; When APIs Need to Meet SLAs</a> - APImetrics CEO David O&rsquo;Neill sits down with Tech Talks Central at MWC and discusses APIs, Monitoring, and SLAs.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>The other <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API News</strong></span> from the space:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://restlet.com/blog/2015/04/03/this-week-in-api-land-easter-edition/">This week in API Land, Easter edition</a> - The weekly news from over at Restlet.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API On-Boarding</strong></span> story, to showcase how NOT to on-board:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.4-traders.com/CHARTER-COMMUNICATIONS-I-6491069/news/Charter-Communications--Spectrum-Business-Adds-Fiber-Optic-Maps-and-Data-to-FiberLocator-20131735/">Charter Communications : Spectrum Business Adds Fiber Optic Maps and Data...</a> - A fiber optic API I stumbled across. Mostly keeping because I'm doing a story on the onboarding process.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Performance</strong></span> thoughts from Restlet:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://restlet.com/blog/2015/03/30/improving-api-performance-with-apispark-server-side-cache/">Improving API performance with APISpark server-side cache</a> - The approach to API performance at Restlet.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>Some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Reciprocity</strong></span> stories from the private and public sector:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.getharvest.com/blog/2015/04/harvest-for-ifttt-new-integration/">Harvest for IFTTT: New Integration!</a> - API reciprocity is important for any API platform.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/03/30/on-the-spot-must-have-ifttt-recipes-for-government/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=on-the-spot-must-have-ifttt-recipes-for-government">On the Spot: Must-Have IFTTT Recipes for Government</a> - More talk of API reciprocity in government.</li>
</ul>
<p>The growing area of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Testing</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://philsturgeon.uk/api/2015/01/28/dredd-api-testing-documentation/">Dredd: Do Your HTTP API Justice</a> - API testing from the Apiary ecosystem&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.smartbear.com/news/smartbear-partners-with-gallop-solutions/">SmartBear Partners with Gallop Solutions</a> - Partnerships and consolidation of services in the API testing world.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.smartbear.com/user-experience/webrtc-and-its-impact-on-testing/">WebRTC and Its Impact on Testing</a> - A little adjacent to APis, but WebRTC is definitely something I keep track of when it comes to the world of messaging.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://apimetrics.io/2015/03/31/automated-api-testing-necessary/">Why Automated API Testing is Necessary</a> - More thoughts on API testing over at API Metrics.</li>
</ul>
<p>The only lightly touched on area of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>API Virtualization</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.smartbear.com/service-virtualization/patterns-of-api-virtualization/">Patterns of API Virtualization</a> - I think API virtualization is interesting, but it is hard to help people understand the potential. I'm thinking there needs to be a lot more examples, and storytelling before they become common practice.</li>
</ul>
<p>An interesting API blip in the world of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Architecture</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.archdaily.com/613896/5-reasons-architects-should-learn-to-code/">5 Reasons Architects Should Learn to Code</a> - I dig these glimpses of APIs in industries that they are not regularly discussed. You don't see much architectural API discussions.</li>
</ul>
<p>The PopUp Archive team rock'n the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Audio</strong></span> discussion in my roundup:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://popuparchive.tumblr.com/post/115332092929">Interactive, shareable audio transcripts</a> - Embeddable, audio goodness from the Popup Archive team!!&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://popuparchive.tumblr.com/post/115150481899">How people listen to, save, and discover new podcasts</a> - I need to get my podcast world together.</li>
</ul>
<p>Pulling out just the area acuqisitions area, and look at in terms of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Authentication</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/01/salesforce-buys-mobile-authentication-startup-toopher/">Salesforce buys mobile authentication startup Toopher</a> - Buying up the bits and pieces you need for your mobile strategy.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;I just couldn't resist putting this one in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Automobile</strong></span> area:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/engineers-unveil-new-driverless-car-capable-of-com,38358/">Engineers Unveil New Driverless Car Capable Of Committing Hit-And-Run</a> - I smell opportunity here! ;-) Also love that Onion stories can make my roundup.</li>
</ul>
<p>The <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Banking</strong></span> conversation keeps on heating up:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.callfire.com/blog/2015/04/02/mobile-banking-and-payments-are-on-the-up-and-up">Mobile Banking and Payments are on the Up and Up</a> - Things are heating up each month in this space. Lots of changes ahead.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://letstalkpayments.com/the-most-impactful-api-in-the-world-ever-banks-mnos-its-your-turn/#.VRrbGbQLvks.twitter">The Most Impactful API in The World Ever; Banks &amp; MNOs &ndash; It&rsquo;s Your Turn</a> - More talking on importance of APIs in banking.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?article=66133566&amp;pid=nmona&amp;symbol=BMO">Bank of Montreal</a> - I like how the core of this banking product is based upon the data they get from financial market APis. API driven economy anyone?&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>The ever enjoyable general bucket of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Business of APIs</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/525865/open_apis_an_indispensable_link_customers/">Open APIs: An indispensable link to customers</a> - A good sell for APIs. Like it.</li>
</ul>
<p>Two things to look at on the Internet connected <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Cameras</strong></span> front:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theplatform.net/2015/04/02/an-api-for-harvesting-global-camera-networks/">On The API for Harvesting Global Camera Networks</a> - What an amazingly beautiful world we are creating for ourselves.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.evercam.io/blog/evercam-public-cameras-redesign/">Evercam Public Cameras &ndash; A Redesign</a> - And on the more positive and interesting side of Internet enabled cameras.</li>
</ul>
<p>Where I place <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Career</strong></span> related items:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/84771/software-development-engineer-aws-games-amazon">Software Development Engineer | AWS Games at Amazon | C++</a> - Only one job worthy of showcasing this last week.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm putting this under <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Censorship</strong></span>, even though it might also be legitimate use cases:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/detect-nudity-api-automates-image-censorship/brief/2015/03/31">Detect Nudity API Automates Image Censorship&nbsp;</a>- One of those APIs that I can see being used in some good ways, and some not so good ways.</li>
</ul>
<p>An interesting API related <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Certification</strong></span> item:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://openbadges.tumblr.com/post/115135719509">An Open Can of Tin Badges - Tin Can API</a> - Not quite certification for APIs, but an experience API driven badging and certification. So you could craft specific API experiences, using the Tin Can API, and have the result be a badge delivery.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>A <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Chat</strong></span> story out of the business social network world:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/caliber-launches-linkedin-chat-app/2015/03/31">Caliber Launches Linkedin Chat App</a> - An app showcase from the LinkedIn ecosystem.</li>
</ul>
<p>Just a single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>City Government</strong></span> story this weeK:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.socrata.com/blog/innovation-saves-chattanooga/">Innovation Saves Chattanooga</a> - Yah Chattanooga. Should be default for every city!</li>
</ul>
<p>Some expansion, and contraction from the world of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Cloud Computing</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/02/amazon-cloud-adds-on-premises-support-to-its-codedeploy-continuous-delivery-tool/">Amazon cloud adds on-premises support to its CodeDeploy continuous-delivery tool</a> - The amazon tentacles reaching on-premise some more.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/01/openstack-hardware-startup-nebula-shuts-down/">OpenStack hardware startup Nebula shuts down</a> - Keeping track of some of the losers in the cloud computing game.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zdnet/BTL/~3/uLbVfa93vi4/story01.htm">Google Cloud Platform launches mobile console for Android</a> - Gotta have a mobile console for your cloud environment.</li>
</ul>
<p>Two <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Cloud Storage</strong></span> stores that barely caught my attention:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/bityota-seeks-out-gov-api-opportunities-its-data-warehouse-service/2015/04/03">BitYota Seeks Out Gov API Opportunities for its Data Warehouse as a Service</a> - Hmmm. data as a warehouse service?&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.infostor.com/disk-arrays/crossroads-claims-cloud-tape-first-with-strongbox-3.0.html">Crossroads Claims Cloud Tape First with StrongBox 3.0</a> - Not sure what benefits this has over other solutions, but I'm learning along the way.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single, important <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Commerce</strong></span> story:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/InternationalTradeAdministration/developerportal/wiki/Version-2-of-ITA%E2%80%99s-Data-Services-Platform-Released">Version 2 of ITA&rsquo;s Data Services Platform Released</a> - Yes. I love seeing movement on APIs that I've showcased, especially those in the federal government.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Containers bucket is pretty small this week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.docker.com/2015/04/announcing-webhook-respository-subscriptions/">Announcing Webhook Respository Subscriptions</a> - Keep in tune with your favorite repos!&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.heavybit.com/blog/2015/3/23/dockermeetup">The Realities of Docker in Production</a> - Some interesting points on realities of docker!</li>
</ul>
<p>Diverse number of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Content</strong></span> related items this last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://abject.ca/open-ends/">Open ends?</a> - Some important discussion about open content perceptions in education.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/webhose.io-api-now-features-named-entity-extraction-capabilities/brief/2015/04/02">Webhose.io API Now Features Named Entity Extraction Capabilities</a> - Useful API resources to keep track of.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/diffbots-discussions-api-provides-comment-section-searchability/2015/03/31">Diffbot's Discussions API Provides Comment Section Searchability</a> - Some tools for staying in tune with content around the web.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/03/31/diffbots-new-api-allows-companies-to-monitor-forum-and-site-comments-around-the-web/">Diffbot&rsquo;s new API allows companies to monitor forum and site comments around the Web</a> - Another view of what is coming out of Diffbot's tools.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>County Government</strong></span> too:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.socrata.com/blog/register-alameda-countys-apps-challenge/">Register for Alameda County&rsquo;s Apps Challenge</a> - Open data at the county level.</li>
</ul>
<p>A number of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Data</strong></span> nuggets this last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://open.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/purifying-the-sea-of-pdf-data-automatically/?smid=tw-share&amp;_r=2">SEARCH Purifying the Sea of PDF Data, Automatically</a> - Educating people about the damage caused by open data being locked up in PDFs is important. Especially at the NYT level!&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.site24x7.com/2015/04/03/learning-manage-data-wearables-internet-things-devices/">Learning to Manage the Data from Wearables and Internet of Things Devices</a> - Lots of talk about the data exhaust around IoT.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.datasift.com/2015/04/03/united-nations-keeps-its-finger-on-the-global-pulse-with-datasift/">United Nations Keeps its Finger on the Global Pulse with DataSift</a> - A pretty big use case study from DataSift.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cloud-pioneer-liaison-technologies-launches-industrys-first-dpaas-498430801.html">Cloud Pioneer Liaison Technologies Launches Industry's First dPaaS</a> - A data platform I'm checking out.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://tzuyi.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/data-mining-the-city/">Data Mining The City</a> - An interesting data resource, along with slick visualizations.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://flowingdata.com/2015/04/02/growth-of-urban-wal-mart/">Growth of urban Wal-Mart</a> - This was an interesting story series out of NPR this last week, that had some interesting data and visualization as well.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.silk.co/post/115284095437/women-and-children-first-a-data-story-on">Women and Children First: A Data-Story on Survival Rates among the 2,207 Titanic Passengers and Crew Members</a> - I like stories like this.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/888548/Consume-oData-services-using-Breeze-js">Consume oData services using Breeze js</a> - An oData approach to archive.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/03/31/gather-your-agencys-public-data-with-let-me-get-that-data-for-you/">Gather Your Agency&rsquo;s Public Data with Let Me Get That Data for You</a> - Good to see some wider indexing of the valuable open data coming out of the federal government.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.hardballtimes.com/the-2015-season-preview-in-data-visualization/">The 2015 Season Preview in Data Visualization</a> - Another one for the visualization design book.</li>
</ul>
<p>And directly <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Database</strong></span> related:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://docslide.net/documents/a-middleware-design-for-multiple-embedded.html">A Middleware Design for Multiple Embedded</a> - I'm interested in learning about the many views of embedded databases, basically where can you stick a data store.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon-rds-update-oracle-database-12c-now-available/">Amazon RDS Update &ndash; Oracle Database 12c Now Available</a> - Just tracking on what is availability of common platforms on AWS.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.splunk.com/2015/04/02/splunk-db-connect-new/">Announcing the availability of the latest version of Splunk DB Connect!</a> - Lots of database API connectivity options emerging out there.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://orchestrate.io/blog/2015/04/02/time-series-search/">Search Time Series Data for Advanced Connected Device Applications</a> - More important discussion around the iOT data exhaust, and approaches to making sense of it all.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/03/30/azure-data-factory-update-new-data-stores/">Azure Data Factory Update &ndash; New Data Stores</a> - The data store approach over at Azure, with their data factory.</li>
</ul>
<p>I am seeing a consistent uptick in number of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Device</strong></span> related API approaches lately:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326154">Why Mediatek Pushes Cross-device Sharing Scheme</a> - An approach to device management and multi-device user experience (UX).</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>DNS</strong></span> is so important to all of this working:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.dnsmadeeasy.com/how-dns-evolved-into-a-necessity-for-our-society/">How DNS evolved into a necessity for our society</a> - A little DNS history for you.</li>
</ul>
<p>Two takes on the Documents when it comes to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Dropbox</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blogs.dropbox.com/dropbox/2015/03/improved-doc-previews/">Document previews on the web are now better than ever</a> - Not directly API related, but some insight that could be applied to world of embeddable document tools.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/03/31/dropbox-revamps-its-web-preview-mode-for-docs-spreadsheets-and-pdfs/">Dropbox revamps its Web preview mode for docs, spreadsheets and PDFs</a> - Another take at the document support at Dropbox, but from NextWeb.</li>
</ul>
<p>Only a handful of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Drone</strong></span> related stories I felt were worthy enough to discuss:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/3dr-releases-dronekit-sdk-and-api-building-drone-apps/2015/04/02">3DR Releases DroneKit SDK and API for Building Drone Apps</a> - Another look at the recent 3DR DroneKit release.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.podio.com/2015/03/31/hangwind-drone-photography-to-science-and-research/">Hangwind: how drone photography brings us new perspectives on the world</a> - Another area of value that drones are bringing to the table.</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/03/31/how-drones-are-being-used-to-make-the-world-a-better-place/">How drones are being used to make the world a better place</a> - I believe. I believe. Keep telling these stories and so will everyone else.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29469017">Crime-fighting surveillance planes provoke privacy controversy</a> - And the more darker side of reality bubbling up.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/30/canada-proves-fertile-ground-for-amazon-drone-delivery-tests/?ncid=rss">Canada Proves Fertile Ground For Amazon Drone Delivery Tests</a> - Yeah, so they can get really good at them, and attack us!! :-) kidding.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>Kind of sort of some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Education</strong></span> stuff:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://abject.ca/open-ends/">Open ends?</a> - Some important discussion about open content perceptions in education.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://www.box.com/blog/war-boring-%E2%80%94-box-educations-new-class/">The War on Boring &mdash; Box Education's New Class&nbsp;</a>- And Box taking a stab at education.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Email</strong></span> item:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/03/31/toutapp-offers-an-email-control-api/">ToutApp Offers An Email Control API</a> - Just categorizing as par tof my email API research.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Embeddable</strong></span> thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://popuparchive.tumblr.com/post/115332092929">Interactive, shareable audio transcripts</a> - Embeddable, audio goodness from the Popup Archive team!!&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/03/31/curator-twitters-answer-to-storify-is-now-publicly-open-to-media-organizations/">Curator, Twitter&rsquo;s answer to Storify, is now publicly open to media organizations</a> - Storify makes me sad, and not sure I'll get to ever play with Curator. We need an open source, curation tool dedicated to Twitter.</li>
</ul>
<p>An <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Encryption</strong></span> talk in the messaging world:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/03/bittorrents-encrypted-chat-app-bleep-gets-photos/">BitTorrent&rsquo;s encrypted chat app Bleep gets photos</a> - Encrypted messaging is definitely going to be an ongoing discussion.</li>
</ul>
<p>APIs in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Federal Governmen</strong></span>t:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/InternationalTradeAdministration/developerportal/wiki/Version-2-of-ITA%E2%80%99s-Data-Services-Platform-Released">Version 2 of ITA&rsquo;s Data Services Platform Released</a> - Yes. I love seeing movement on APIs that I've showcased, especially those in the federal government.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nextgov.com/technology-news/tech-insider/2015/04/how-not-be-next-usaspendinggov/109168/">How to Not be the Next USAspending.gov</a> - Good advice for any government agency.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2015/04/02/redesign-is-awful-but-usaspending-still-proves-power-of-the-public/">Redesign is awful, but USASpending still proves power of the public</a> - Another look at USASpending.gov from the Sunlight Foundation.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/usaspendinggov-updated-functionality-drastically-diminished-say-businesses/2015-04-01#.VRx0qKe_p3A.twitter">USASpending.gov updated, functionality drastically diminished say businesses</a> - Not good. Not good.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/03/31/gather-your-agencys-public-data-with-let-me-get-that-data-for-you/">Gather Your Agency&rsquo;s Public Data with Let Me Get That Data for You</a> - Good to see some wider indexing of the valuable open data coming out of the federal government.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://api.business.govt.nz/blogs/api-standards-%E2%80%93-how-should-we-build-government-apis">API Standards &ndash; How should we build government APIs?&nbsp;</a>- New Zealand government discussion around APIs.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/eia-discusses-managing-open-innovation/analysis/2015/03/30">EIA Discusses Managing Open Innovation</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/03/30/on-the-spot-must-have-ifttt-recipes-for-government/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=on-the-spot-must-have-ifttt-recipes-for-government">On the Spot: Must-Have IFTTT Recipes for Government</a> - More talk of API reciprocity in government.</li>
</ul>
<p>Couple of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Hackathons</strong></span> to showcase:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/04/03/how-to-welcome-new-coders-to-a-civic-hackathon/">How To Welcome New Coders To A Civic Hackathon</a> - Some hackathon wisdom from 18F.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/04/02/govtechhack-hacking-for-civic-improvement/">GovTechHack: Hacking for Civic Improvement</a> - Some details from recent civic hacking from 18F events.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://blog.pokitdok.com/health-2-0-boston-codeathon-recap/">Health 2.0 Boston Codeathon Recap</a> - I'm thinking that hackathons are just going to grow in number, across all business sectors, but it is good to see so many healthcare ones.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://openeindhoven.nl/living-data-hackathon/">Living Data Hackathon</a> - I dig seeing these grow in number - This hackathon is based on the notion that Open Data technology can help find new solutions for problems and opportunities in cities.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2015/03/30/ford-steam-lab-challenges-students-rewards-high-tech-thinking.html">Ford STEAM Lab Challenges Students, Rewards High-Tech Thinking and Creativity During Hackathon</a> - More investment in hacking events for the automobile space from Ford.</li>
</ul>
<p>I love having <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Hacker Storytelling</strong></span> items to showcase:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.silk.co/post/115284095437/women-and-children-first-a-data-story-on">Women and Children First: A Data-Story on Survival Rates among the 2,207 Titanic Passengers and Crew Members</a> - I like stories like this.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://www.twilio.com/blog/2015/03/choose-your-own-adventures-presentations-wizard-mode-part-1-of-3.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=choose-your-own-adventures-presentations-wizard-mode-part-1-of-3">Choose Your Own Adventure Presentations: Wizard Mode Part 1 of 3</a> - A cool approach to presentations from Twilio. I used to love the books.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2015/03/telling-your-datas-story.html">Telling your data&rsquo;s story</a> - The hacker storytelling coming out of O'reilly is so great lately.</li>
</ul>
<p>Two <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Healthcare</strong></span> stories:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ehr-vendors-extending-platforms-apps-apis">EHR vendors extending platforms with apps and APIs</a> - More EHR API discussion this last week.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://blog.pokitdok.com/health-2-0-boston-codeathon-recap/">Health 2.0 Boston Codeathon Recap</a> - I'm thinking that hackathons are just going to grow in number, across all business sectors, but it is good to see so many healthcare ones.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single, weird <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Home</strong></span> story:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://nest.com/blog/2015/03/31/the-secret-lives-of-pets/">The secret lives of pets. | Nest</a> - Not sure what I think of this, but an interesting view from the homefront of IoT.</li>
</ul>
<p>One item to note in my <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>IDE</strong></span> related research:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/893547/How-to-Create-Your-Own-Eclipse-IDE-Plug-in">How to Create Your Own Eclipse IDE Plug-in</a> - Keeping track of as part of my API discovery via the IDE.</li>
</ul>
<p>Two <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>International</strong></span> items:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.akamai.com/html/about/press/releases/2015/press-032715.html">Akamai Expands Business Operations in Canada</a> - Pushing north.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pubnub.com/blog/localizing-internationalizing-javascript-browser-standards-intl-browser/">Internationalizing &amp; Localizing Your Modern JavaScript App</a> - Some good guidance from PubNub.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Internet of Things</strong></span> is kind of tame this week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://java.dzone.com/articles/amazon-dash-shows-continued">Amazon Dash Shows the Continued Value of APIs to Amazon</a> - Good story from Mark O'Neill on the API connection to Dash.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.linkplugapp.com/a/1888533#http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a14919/boxing-gloves-sensors-data/">Boxing Glove Sensors Track the Force of Every Blow</a> - APis for your boxing gloves.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.smartbear.com/iot-2/how-does-amazon-dash-prove-the-api-economy/">How does Amazon Dash prove the API economy?</a> - Some thoughts on the new Amazon Dash, and world of IoT over at SmartBear.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.site24x7.com/2015/04/03/learning-manage-data-wearables-internet-things-devices/">Learning to Manage the Data from Wearables and Internet of Things Devices</a> - Lots of talk about the data exhaust around IoT.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/amazons-dash-button-brings-iot-to-replenishment-services/2015/04/02">Amazon's Dash Button Brings IoT to Replenishment Services</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.connectingindustry.com/Electronics/audio-precision-supports-new-loudspeaker-test-standard.aspx">Audio Precision supports new loudspeaker test standard</a> - I'm slowly letting in more hardware related stories, because of IoT.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150401005217/en/IEEE-Drive-Industry-Discussion-Safeguarding-Information-Digital#.VRxHYSCCPCQ">IEEE to Drive Industry Discussion on Safeguarding of Information in a Digital World</a> - An event I'm participating in this month in San Francisco.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.lightreading.com/iot/m2m-platforms/apigee-aims-to-provide-iots-missing-link/d/d-id/714759">Apigee Aims to Provide IoT's Missing Link</a> - Apigee getting into the IoT game.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.dailydot.com/technology/roomba-diy-hacks/">How the Roomba sparked a hacking revolution</a> - When this machines take over, we can blame the Roomba!&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/640387/s/44f9cb5f/sc/28/l/0Lbits0Bblogs0Bnytimes0N0C20A150C0A30C310Cibm0Escores0Ea0Eweather0Edata0Edeal0Eand0Estarts0Ean0Einternet0Eof0Ethings0Eunit0C0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm">Bits Blog: IBM Scores Weather Data Deal and Starts Internet of Things Unit</a> - Cause everyone is doing IoT.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ftc-top-recommendations-for-protecting-home-iot-2015-3">The 'Internet of Things' will create a lot of security vulnerabilities &mdash; here are ways companies can start tackling these issues</a> - yes it will. yes it will.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>JavaScript</strong></span> wisdom from the week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://developer.amazon.com/post/Tx3IALXDFFY443K/Part-3-Introduction-to-JavaScript-Conditionals">Part 3 - Introduction to JavaScript: Conditionals</a> - I'm interested in how Amazon is apply JavaScript to inject scripting into apps, especially gaming.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://redmonk.com/dberkholz/2015/04/03/react-and-polymer-arising-among-javascript-mv-frameworks/">React and Polymer arising among JavaScript MV* frameworks</a> - Just keeping an eye on who is in the lead.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://vimeo.com/122151095">PubNub Demo Showcase: Second Screen Gaming with a Smartphone Controller on Vimeo</a> - Just pretty cool.</li>
</ul>
<p>Yes! <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Libraries</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.infodocket.com/2015/03/31/research-article-linked-data-in-libraries-a-case-study-of-harvesting-and-sharing-bibliographic-metadata-with-bibframe/">Linked Data in Libraries: A Case Study of Harvesting and Sharing Bibliographic Metadata with BIBFRAME</a> - Tracking on for the linked data and library connections.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.cbs8.com/story/28704569/boopsie-launches-accessils-platform-to-streamline-integration-of-digital-and-physical-resources-for-libraries">Boopsie Launches AccessILS Platform to Streamline Integration of Digital and Physical Resources for Libraries</a> - I came across these guys doing Swagger research, and then I stumbled across this in my monitoring.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://kinlane.withknown.com/2015/the-internet-archive-the-digital-public-library-of-america-dpla">The Internet Archive &amp; the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) announced a joint collaborative program to enhance sharing of collections - http://dp.la/info/2015/03/30/sharing-data-for-better-discovery-and-access/</a> - Couldn't think of a better partnership.</li>
</ul>
<p>IBM continuing to dominate <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Machine Learning</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.tricedesigns.com/2015/04/01/ibm-watson-qa-speech-recognition-speech-synthesis-a-conversation-with-your-computer/">IBM Watson QA + Speech Recognition + Speech Synthesis = A Conversation With Your Computer</a> - Pretty cool speech recognition walk through from IBM.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mapping</strong></span> item out of Google:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2015/03/open-google-maps-from-your-ios-app.html">Open Google Maps from your iOS app</a> - Just a little mapping tidbit.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Media</strong></span> related items in the news:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AmazonWebServicesBlog/~3/jQG89leDHSk/">Amazon Elastic Transcoder Update &ndash; PlayReady DRM Support for Smooth Streaming and HLS</a> - More media movement from AWS.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.information-age.com/industry/uk-industry/123458813/how-auntie-opening-its-vaults-download-generation">How Auntie is opening its vaults for the download generation</a> - A good story for the archives. Would like to flush it out as a case study add to the archives.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Messaging</strong></span> talk:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/03/bittorrents-encrypted-chat-app-bleep-gets-photos/">BitTorrent&rsquo;s encrypted chat app Bleep gets photos</a> - Encrypted messaging is definitely going to be an ongoing discussion.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://www.twilio.com/blog/2015/03/introducing-twilio-lookup.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=introducing-twilio-lookup">Introducing Lookup: Fight Fraud, Improve Deliverability, and Use Local-Friendly Number Formats</a> - More security related resources for helping apps defend themselves.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Microservices</strong></span> tale:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.apiacademy.co/blog/microservices-annotated-socratic-diablog">Microservices: An Annotated Socratic Diablog</a> - A great story for the enterprise!</li>
</ul>
<p>A handful of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mobile</strong></span> to aggregate:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/appcelerator-announces-arrow-to-extend-their-mbaas-platform/2015/04/02">Appcelerator Adds MBaaS Platform to Portfolio</a> - The mobile context has always been part of appcelerator, but the API deployment infrastructure is interesting enough to take a closer look at.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2015/04/02/google-releases-a-tool-for-developers-to-launch-android-apps-on-windows-mac-linux-and-chrome-os/">Google releases a tool for developers to launch Android apps on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS</a> - Google getting deeper into the mobile backend as a service game.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/01/salesforce-buys-mobile-authentication-startup-toopher/">Salesforce buys mobile authentication startup Toopher</a> - Buying up the bits and pieces you need for your mobile strategy.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zdnet/BTL/~3/uLbVfa93vi4/story01.htm">Google Cloud Platform launches mobile console for Android</a> - Gotta have a mobile console for your cloud environment.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/2015/03/open-google-maps-from-your-ios-app.html">Open Google Maps from your iOS app</a> - Just a little mapping tidbit.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Museums</strong></span> story:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://api.report/2015/03/30/indianapolis-museum-of-art-launches-new-online-collection/">Indianapolis Museum of Art Launches New Online Collection</a> - Regular stream of museum, art related API stories lately. I like it.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some thoughts from the world of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Music</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.decibel.net/blog/streaming-services-use-of-metadata/">Streaming Services use of Metadata</a> - How Decibel approaches their streaming services.</li>
</ul>
<p>Love the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Outdoors</strong></span> news:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://medium.com/@TrailheadLabs/opentrails-achieves-escape-velocity-3effbbf1adf0">OpenTrails Achieves Escape Velocity!</a> - Evolving the OpenTrails format. Keep an eye on OpenTrails, and the larger national parks related APi stuff happening in government.</li>
</ul>
<p>A single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Partner</strong></span> story to note:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.smartbear.com/news/smartbear-partners-with-gallop-solutions/">SmartBear Partners with Gallop Solutions</a> - Partnerships and consolidation of services in the API testing world.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Payments</strong></span> not as hot this last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2015/04/02/google-must-fight-a-lawsuit-claiming-google-wallet-breached-user-privacy/">Google must fight a lawsuit claiming Google Wallet breached user privacy</a> - Just tracking on as part of larger privacy conversations.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://www.callfire.com/blog/2015/04/02/mobile-banking-and-payments-are-on-the-up-and-up">Mobile Banking and Payments are on the Up and Up</a> - Things are heating up each month in this space. Lots of changes ahead.</li>
</ul>
<p>A robust <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Politics of APIs</strong></span> tag this last week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/03/why-your-favorite-snapchat-apps-no-longer-work/">Why Your Favorite Snapchat Apps No Longer Work</a> - Snapchat is really not thinking about the big picture.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/despite-reports-facebook-says-hashtag-api-still-active/brief/2015/04/03">Despite Reports, Facebook Says Hashtag API Still Active</a> - A take on the recent conversation around the Facebook Hashtag API.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2015/04/03/facebook-might-be-shutting-down-access-to-hashtags-in-its-api/">Facebook may be shutting down access to hashtags in its API</a> - The conversation on the Facebook Hashtag API from another angle.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8335917/snapchat-transparency-report-third-party-app-access">Snapchat cuts off third-party apps, releases its first transparency report</a> - Another look at the SnapChat stance.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/02/snapchats-drastic-security-measures-shut-down-entire-internet-neighborhoods-on-the-service/">Snapchat&rsquo;s drastic security measures shut down entire &lsquo;Internet neighborhoods&rsquo; on the service</a> - Just cataloging, and sharing all the perspectives.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/whatsapp-will-not-release-public-api/2015/03/30">WhatsApp Will Not Release Public API</a> - Some more talk about last weeks statement from WhatsApp.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some helpful, and some frustrating <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Privacy</strong></span> discussions:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://pandodaily.com.feedsportal.com/c/35141/f/650422/s/45170208/sc/15/l/0Lpando0N0C20A150C0A40C0A30Cdo0Enot0Etrack0Ewont0Estop0Etech0Ecompanies0Efrom0Etracking0Eyou0Eso0Ewho0Ecares0Ethat0Emicrosoft0Edisabled0Eit0C/story01.htm">&ldquo;Do Not Track&rdquo; won&rsquo;t stop tech companies from tracking you, so who cares that Microsoft disabled it?</a> - No. Let's encourage more to pay attention please.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-suggests-more-privacy-tips-for-keeping-user-accounts-secure/#ftag=RSSbaffb68">Facebook suggests more privacy tips for keeping user accounts secure</a> - Ok, I can't bitch a Facebook for educating users.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.datasift.com/2015/04/02/future-trends-in-privacy-activism-that-could-affect-big-data-2/">Future Trends in Privacy Activism That Could Affect Big Data</a> - More privacy insight from DataSift.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2015/04/02/google-must-fight-a-lawsuit-claiming-google-wallet-breached-user-privacy/">Google must fight a lawsuit claiming Google Wallet breached user privacy</a> - Just tracking on as part of larger privacy conversations.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://pandodaily.com.feedsportal.com/c/35141/f/650422/s/450fe443/sc/15/l/0Lpando0N0C20A150C0A40C0A20Csnapchat0Efinally0Eatones0Efor0Eits0Espotty0Eprivacy0Erecord0Etaking0Esteps0Eto0Ebe0Emore0Esecure0Eand0Etransparent0C/story01.htm">Snapchat finally atones for its spotty privacy record, taking steps to be more secure and transparent</a> - A strange take on SnapChat from Pando Daily.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/03/at_t_gigapower_the_company_wants_you_to_pay_it_not_to_sell_your_data.html">Privacy Is Becoming a Premium Service</a> - A scary look at potential monetization opportunities in the future.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.popsci.com/family-history-website-reconstructs-genomes-19th-century-couples-using-its-customers-dna">Ancestry.com Reconstructs Genomes Of 19th-Century Couples Using Customers' DNA</a> - Ummmm, WTF?&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.datasift.com/2015/03/30/people-first-privacy-first-at-f8-and-beyond-facebook-and-datasifts-shared-privacy-focus/">People First, Privacy First at F8 and Beyond: Facebook and DataSift&rsquo;s Shared Privacy Focus</a> - I trust DataSift way more than I trust Facebook really. But interesting insight nonetheless.</li>
</ul>
<p>Good to see more API discussion in the world of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Real Estate and Mortages</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.inman.com/2015/03/31/open-developer-apis-essentially-do-not-exist-in-the-mortgage-industry-thats-a-problem/?hvid=wl64G">Open developer APIs essentially do not exist in the mortgage industry &mdash; that is a problem</a> - A call for APIs from the mortgage and real estate industry.</li>
</ul>
<p>The <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Real-Time</strong></span> discussion always dominated by PubNub with their kick ass content:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/blog/the-comprehensive-pubnub-publish-subscribe-javascript-api-tutorial/">The Comprehensive PubNub Publish/Subscribe JavaScript API Tutorial</a> - A great tutorial on Publish/Subscribe from PubNub.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://apievangelist.com/2015/04/02/api-streaming-cache-and-push-data-from-apis-using-streamdataio">API Streaming: Cache And Push Data From APIs Using StreamData.io &middot;</a> - A new real-time platform I found this last week.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2015/04/a-real-time-processing-revival.html">A real-time processing revival</a> - An interesting real-time roundup over at O'Reilly.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://vimeo.com/122151095">PubNub Demo Showcase: Second Screen Gaming with a Smartphone Controller on Vimeo</a> - Just pretty cool.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://blog.fanout.io/2015/04/02/realtime-api-design-guide/">Realtime API design guide</a> - A guide from one of the leaders in real-time.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pubnub.com/blog/stream-location-coordinates-data-broadcast-with-javascript/">Stream Location Coordinates Data Broadcast with JavaScript</a> - Another interesting tutorial from PubNub.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Security</strong></span> discussions I am watching:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/03/why-your-favorite-snapchat-apps-no-longer-work/">Why Your Favorite Snapchat Apps No Longer Work</a> - Snapchat is really not thinking about the big picture.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/04/truecrypt_secur.html">TrueCrypt Security Audit Completed</a> - interesting audit.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://whitepapers.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/content44568#sthash.lQBgBKtY.dpuf">Verisign Openhybrid Cloud Signaling API Specification</a> - An interesting security API to track on.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/02/snapchats-drastic-security-measures-shut-down-entire-internet-neighborhoods-on-the-service/">Snapchat&rsquo;s drastic security measures shut down entire &lsquo;Internet neighborhoods&rsquo; on the service</a> - Just cataloging, and sharing all the perspectives.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://threatpost.com/critical-vulnerabilities-affect-json-web-token-libraries/111943">Critical Vulnerabilities Affecting JSON Web Token Libraries</a> - Keeping track of.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150401005217/en/IEEE-Drive-Industry-Discussion-Safeguarding-Information-Digital#.VRxHYSCCPCQ">IEEE to Drive Industry Discussion on Safeguarding of Information in a Digital World</a> - An event I'm participating in this month in San Francisco.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://auth0.com/blog/2015/03/31/critical-vulnerabilities-in-json-web-token-libraries/">Critical vulnerabilities in JSON Web Token libraries</a> - More on the JSOn web token vulnerability, from the source.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://www.twilio.com/blog/2015/03/introducing-twilio-lookup.html?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=introducing-twilio-lookup">Introducing Lookup: Fight Fraud, Improve Deliverability, and Use Local-Friendly Number Formats</a> - More security related resources for helping apps defend themselves.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ftc-top-recommendations-for-protecting-home-iot-2015-3">The 'Internet of Things' will create a lot of security vulnerabilities &mdash; here are ways companies can start tackling these issues</a> - yes it will. yes it will.</li>
</ul>
<p>A cool <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Showcase</strong></span> out of the Noun Project ecosystem:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.thenounproject.com/post/115169044087">The Noun Project + Lumi</a> - A cool integration over at the Noun Project.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Shuttering</strong></span> of companies in the cloud space to note by itself:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/01/openstack-hardware-startup-nebula-shuts-down/">OpenStack hardware startup Nebula shuts down</a> - Keeping track of some of the losers in the cloud computing game.</li>
</ul>
<p>The every fascinating <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Single Page Application</strong></span>s how-tos:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.jeffdouglas.com/2015/04/03/building-spas-with-react-reflux-for-salesforce/">Building Single Page Apps with React &amp; Reflux for Salesforce</a> - Nice SPA guide over at SalesForce&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://paulcwarren.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/role-based-spas-with-angularjs-and-spring-hateoas/">Role-based SPAs with AngularJS and Spring HATEOAS | Paul Warren</a> - Another interesting SPA story, but with a unique role-based focus. Is this SPA personalization?</li>
</ul>
<p>Adding a single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Software Defined Networking</strong></span> item, cause it has good content:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.hedviginc.com/blog/37-software-defined-storage-terms-you-need-to-know-part-1">37 software-defined storage terms you need to know, Part 1</a> - Going to add to my new API definitions glossary microservices (mouthful)</li>
</ul>
<p>I love anything out of NASA that is <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Space</strong></span> related:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://open.nasa.gov/blog/2015/03/31/skywatch-an-api-for-the-universe/">SkyWatch: An API for the Universe - open.NASA</a> - Ok, space APIs are cool.</li>
</ul>
<p>Isolating this again as a <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Speech</strong></span> related items, because it goes beyond just machine learning:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.tricedesigns.com/2015/04/01/ibm-watson-qa-speech-recognition-speech-synthesis-a-conversation-with-your-computer/">IBM Watson QA + Speech Recognition + Speech Synthesis = A Conversation With Your Computer</a> - Pretty cool speech recognition walk through from IBM.</li>
</ul>
<p>Big, big week for <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Spreadsheets</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://apievangelist.com/2015/04/02/blockspring-shifts-the-api-client-conversation-with-their-google-spreadsheet-api-addon">Blockspring Shifts The API Client Conversation With Their Google Spreadsheet API Add-On &middot;</a> - These guys win the roundup in my opinion, as one of the most important things that happened this last week.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://api.blockspring.com/blog/blockspring-for-google-sheets">Blockspring for Google Sheets &ndash; Blockspring</a> - Their take on the release.</li>
</ul>
<p>And a single <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>State Government</strong></span> item to cover each level of government this week:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.programmableweb.com/news/new-york-states-new-open-data-api-increases-government-transparency/press-release/2015/03/31">New York State's New Open Data API Increases Government Transparency&nbsp;</a>- State level transparency in any agency is good!</li>
</ul>
<p>Busted out <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Telecommunications</strong></span>, to show how stunted the industry can be:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.4-traders.com/CHARTER-COMMUNICATIONS-I-6491069/news/Charter-Communications--Spectrum-Business-Adds-Fiber-Optic-Maps-and-Data-to-FiberLocator-20131735/">Charter Communications : Spectrum Business Adds Fiber Optic Maps and Data...</a> - A fiber optic API I stumbled across. Mostly keeping because I'm doing a story on the onboarding process.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/31/8318491/att-competition-fiber-internet-google">AT&amp;T charges more for fiber internet if Google's not in your town</a> - Would expect nothing less.</li>
</ul>
<p>Not as much <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Transparency</strong></span> talk this last week, but a handful to showcase by themselves:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8335917/snapchat-transparency-report-third-party-app-access">Snapchat cuts off third-party apps, releases its first transparency report</a> - Another look at the SnapChat stance.&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/04/02/snapchats-first-transparency-report-shows-403-data-requests-since-november-2014/">Snapchat&rsquo;s first transparency report shows 403 data requests since November 2014</a> - A peek into t<p><strong>Updated November 27, 2015:</strong> Links were updated as part of switch from Swagger to OADF (<a href="http://apievangelist.com/2015/11/05/the-swagger-spec-is-reborn-as-open-api-definition-format-oadf-after-being-put-into-open-api-initiative-oai/" style="text-decoration:none;"><strong>READ MORE</strong></a>)
