Make Your Own Web Mashup

A WEB MASHUP collects services and videos for the top ten songs at iTunes.
functions such as maps, search engines, It accomplishes this by snagging a "Top
RSS feeds, music, and images from two Ten Songs" RSS feed from the iTunes
or more Web sites and combines them store and then running a search at You-
to produce a new and (ideally) uniquely Tube for all video titles that match the
useful application. song titles listed there.
A classic example is www,housingmaps. But you may not want to watch videos
com, which blends Craigslist's housing- of the top ten songs; you may be more
for-rent listings and Google Maps to interested in, say, the videos for the top
display the physical locations of hous- ten songs on the iTunes Alternative
ing that's available for rent. Charts, To customize this mashup ac-
Services from Amazon to Yahoo have cordingly, simply replace the existing
made their features available for incor- iTunes RSS feed in the 'Fetch Feed' box
poration into new mashups via APIs {in Pipes' Fdit view) with the "Alterna- YOU CAN ELIMINATE the hassLe of
(Application Programming Interfaces) tive Top 10" RSS feed from the iTunes hunting for photos on your PC by doing
at their Web sites. You can find and use Store. You can get that feed (and many some up-front work with tags, which Let
everything from others) from the you assign muLtiple search keyv\/ords to
directory listings iTunes Store RSS photos. For instance, you coutd tag a
to video searches to Feed Generator photo from your Alaska vacation show-
GPS data to shop- (find.pcworLcJ.ccm/ ing both of your kids with each chiLd's
ping carts. Unfortu- 58236). You then name and "ALaska," and it wiLL then turn
nately, combining save your newly up in a search for any one of those tags,
this raw data into customized "pipe" I'LL expLain hov\/ to organize your pho-
something new is and click the/^tfH tos in Windows XP [which is actuaLly
extremely difficult Pipe link at the top pretty Lame at the task) and in Vista,
for nonprogram- of the page. You'll To tag a single photo in XP, right-cLick
mers. Luckily, soft- see a nice, clean list it in Windows ExpLorer, seLect Proper-
ware tools designed of YouTube videos ties'Summary, and type the tag name
to simplify the pro- corresponding to into the Keywords fieLd, When entering
cess are just now beginning to crop up. YAHOO'S PIPES the iTunes Alterna- more than one tag, separate tbem with
tool lets you worit tive Top 10. sennicoLons, You can tag muLtipLe photos
Start With Yahoo's Pipes with a flowchart- When you start to at once, but doing so deLetes any tags
One tool that's available now {several like design for feel more comfort- you've previousLy assigned to them.
others are still in beta) to help nonpro- building mashups. able with the con- In Vista, ignore Windows ExpLorer and
grammers build mashups is Yahoo's cept. Pipes can walk cLick Start'All Programs'Windows Photo
Pipes, Even in Pipes, you're a lot better you through the process of building a Gallery. This program Lists alL avaiLabLe
off if you have the mindset of a pro- mashup from scratch. For more on tags in the Left pane. To make a tag, click
grammer, since building mashups from using Pipes, see "Eight Great, Simple Create a New Tag. and then just drag the
scratch there is somewhat challenging. Ways to Hack the Web" on page 132. photos to the appropriate tags.
But it still offers a fairly quick way to How do you find photos by their tags?
get your feet wet with mashups. Mashup Editors Coming Soon In Windows XP. press <F3> to bring up
Tliat's because at Pipes you'll find a Other tools to help nonprogrammers the search paneL (if necessary, cLick the
con of mashups that other people have make cool mashups are in the works, Sack button untiL the paneL says 'What
already built and posted. Pipes allows Microsoft says that its alpha-stage Pop- do you want to search for?' at the top).
you to open one of these mashups, clone Fly WYSIWYG mashup editor will work Check Pictures and Photos, cLick Use
it, and save it with no trouble ai all. Be- with any API written in JavaScript, advanced search aptions. enter the tag
ginning with an existing design, you can Meanwhile, the Google Mashup Editor names in the 'A word or phrase' fieLd,
start tweaking it to make it your own. is being beta-tested by a small number and cLick Search. In Vista's Photo Gai-
We grabbed and cloned a popular and of developers, and should be ready for Lery, simpLy seLect one or more tags to
simple mashup called YouTunes {find. action in the next few months. see onLy the qualifying photos,
pcworlcl.com/58235), which finds YouTube —Jon L. Jacobi and Mark Sulliaan » —Lincoln Spector

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