Friday, February 29, 2008

Mash-up is Disruptive Technology

Mash-ups allow the integration of multiple data feeds or services to interact together. The most popular mash-ups are utilizing mapping technology and databases such as Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth. Many technologist believe mash-ups are hobby or hacker technologies. Didn't they believe Napster was as well? Napster was the reason iTunes today is the number 1 site for downloading music.

The vast popularity of mash-up technology will come with applications that allow users to create their own through drag and drop technology. For example, if Google Maps API will ever entail a graphical user interface (GUI), or create a service over the web with simple user interface (UI), the multitude of map mash-ups will require search to provide the right information to the right user.

I have been searching for these applications for quite awhile; I refuse to deal with programming.
The other day, I found my "almost" perfect map mash-up. I say almost because it still requires extra steps and programming understanding, but is very simple to use. It is through the utilization of Yahoo Pipes (http://pipes.yahoo.com) to create a continuous really simple syndication (RSS) feed of data to a map. Simply put, RSS is a continuous stream of information from any data or user generated source, such as news. I was able to use my Zoho Creator table, run it through Yahoo Pipes, and create a link that is copied and pasted into Google. I just can't believe how simple this is. I love it! Now my HOA can actually view which building has a work request, and its free!

Mash-ups only work with data that has an open application programming interface (API). An API allows other applications access to data or services by connections. The future for mash-ups is a simple search for the data you want, then drag and drop on top of the services required. Vendors that create their software systems without an API are writing themselves out of business. In fact, if they are not moving their code into SaaS systems, they are really falling behind. Users no longer want to have systems that are disparate or just stored information silos.

So who is going to be the iTunes of mash-up?

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