OpenSocial: Many sites... One API to rule them all !!!

OpenSocial is a joint project to create a universal API for all social sites by no other than Google of course. This is clearly a response to the growing interest on Facebook API that allowed full integration of third-party contents and widgets on FB.

Cramming not to be left out on this new revolutionary technology (basically all other social-sites lacks it), Google has partnered with all of them in an attempt to tip the balance to the dark side...err. ya, whatever O_o



Anyway, I already predicted this 3-4 years ago when we built the Friendster API using web services (what? ya, JSON wasn't standard on those days yet).

Hah, I told them so! Now whose your daddy?!!

Explosion in Glorietta 3 Mall in Makati , PH

Initial reports says the explosion at 1:30 PM PH time was strong enough to shake the entire building and made the roof collapse. 3 people was instantly killed on what seemed to be caused by an LPG blast, authorities refuse to confirm if this is related to terrorism.

Update:

Glorietta Mall Blast most likely caused by a bomb as victims were killed by snarpnails: http://tinyurl.com/2fqpsh


For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Twitter and Jaiku: What RSS has become

RSS is the earliest embodiment of Web 2.0, however since RSS is a read-only medium; it was quickly out grown by social sites and blogs. Now RSS is making a come back thanks to Twitter and Jaiku.

Blogging tends to dictate that there should be a structure; topics, style of presentation, grammar, order and coherence; these perceived requirements for blogs made it difficult for anyone just to sit down and start sharing their thoughts.

On the other hand Twitter and Jaiku has made blogging and syndication easier and its social feature made it fun. Now posts doesn't need to have coherence nor topic, it can just be as short as an "excerpt of thought". Using followers and friends concept borrowed from social sites; Twitter and Jaiku has also made it easier to manage feeds subscriptions.

Finally the availability of APIs made it possible for developers to create applications such as TwitterFox for Twitter and Jaikuroo for Jaiku which is freely available. It also allowed sites to post their updates like RSS but allows them to freely modify the teasers and just link the actual content. This gives it a more personal feel;a less "robotic" sense that normal RSS provides.

In a future, I predict this services will entirely replace RSS while providing more support for privacy options, subscription management such as keyword tracking or relevance, and accessibility to mobile users.