Between Google and Yahoo you can find all the apps you need for the most part. When it comes to making a mashup I didn't think Yahoo would have anything to offer. Last week I discovered Yahoo Pipes (beta released to the public in 2007). It is defined by Yahoo as "a hosted service that lets you remix feeds and create new data mashups in a visual programming environment. The name of the service pays tribute to Unix pipes, which let programmers do astonishingly clever things by making it easy to chain simple utilities together on the command line." An example of the site in action is craiglook.com which is a mashup where Pipes uses aggregate RSS feeds from Craigslist.org.
The tool is boasted to be very robust. Here's a 4 minute tutorial on "Learn How to Build a Pipe in Just a Few Minutes":
This appears to look easy and all that is required is a Yahoo login. I haven't attempted to create anything with this tool yet but it is designed to minimize coding by using a GUI designer. Essentially, it's a way for noncoders to build mashups. There are many sample mashups that can be configured for your use. User's do not have to login when trying them out but a login is required to create them. It looks so easy that it is quite possible my father could build a mashup! Okay, that's stretching it but it sure does look easy.
Diane, I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. I really don't do much with Yahoo other than use thier finance tools. I tend to overlook some of the other things they are doing because I've gotten so used to using Google. I guess Yahoo deserves a second look.
ReplyDeleteTerry, Yahoo does have some really good tools. I was able to successfully pull book information from their shopping search and weather from their weather api. Yahoo gets two thumbs up in my book just as google does.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting, thanks for posting Diane. When and if you decide to follow through with this tool, you should post a new entry on how you like it and if it's really as nice as it sounds. While I actually prefer typing the code myself because I can control excatly what's happening with my projects, I can see where someone with less experience in/desire to code could find this tool quite useful. I might have to take a look at it myself and see what it can do!
ReplyDeleteDiane, I really enjoyed your post, I've never even heard of something like this before. After reading your blog and watching the video, I actually spent some time on this site and found it very intriguing. I plan to look at this site again in the near future and see just how easy it is to use.
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