This talk is worth a look. Forgive the title (which is a misnomer) and the way it frames REST; equating it to feeds designed to be consumed by polling clients - Newtonian physics to PubSub's quanta (poorly formed analogy). REST and RPC simply are suited to other types of services (I fail to see how RPC over XMPP is useful unless the time to process a request is long and callbacks are required). The talk goes on to use concrete examples that illustrate how hijacking Jabber servers and XMPP for generic push messaging using a pubsub architecture is far more efficient for lots of web services outside of IM that are currently pull-based. They even manage to fudge oAuth in for protected resources. It's the kind of pragmatism that smacks of real life problems solved (I salute).

I'd be very surprised if Last.fm's 'now playing' notifications didn't switch over to pubsub very soon.

Glad to have been a part of this in some way (I handle all the API's). Now all we need is for Apple to approve the app for their store.

Update: It's been approved now so you can download it for free from the store. Toby has the full scoop.

It's been a strange week for me & the GOOG. First, Rob pointed this out in the new Adwords API T&C:

3. Inspection for Compliance.

1. User-Interface Inspection. You agree that Google may inspect your AdWords API Client user interfaces up to 3 times per calendar year. Any such inspection must be during normal business hours. You must allow Google to visit your place of business, or inspect your AdWords API Client in some other manner agreed between you and Google, within 7 days after notice from Google that Google desires to inspect your AdWords API Client interfaces...

2. Systems Inspection. In addition to Google's rights under Section IV(3)(a), at Google's expense (except as set forth below) Google may appoint (subject to the below) a Third Party inspector (the "Inspector") for a systems inspection, only as set forth in this section, of your AdWords API Use...

Que? For the pleasure of talking to you we get a day trip from an 'inspector'? Whilst i like catching up with GOOG folk to talk falling stock and vint cerf's breakfast habits, i think this is over-stepping the mark a little. Both parties using an API can pretty clearly discern who's playing nice and who isn't without visiting each other's premises and inspecting products.

This came with the news that the Adwords API has a new 'feature'. Usage is not free anymore! The old quota caps system has been replaced with a pay-as-you-go type deal. Coupled with the fact that google doesn't provide test accounts, this could mean that if you're developing an Adwords client for your app you'll be spending every step of the way. Still got to wait on this, but it sounds both more flexible and more costly.

Finally, Google Calendar came along, with great desktop UI touches like cell dragging to define event duration:

And google map integration and all sorts of other treats.

And suddenly everything is ok again with me & the GOOG and i forgive them and they can send inspectors to my house to question my family about my API usage and i'll even make them continental breakfast. With fresh croissants. On a Sunday morning.

Gigr.net is a community driven gigs portal built on Ruby on Rails. It already talks to audioscrobbler & itunes (to pick up your listening habits) and exports iCal calendars / RSS feeds with shows involving the bands you're currently listening to. It's heading in the right direction by learning to talk early on. What i mean is that this kind of service gains value by playing well with others and that's precisely what Gigr has set out to do. Solid import/export options already.

Anyone can upload information about shows/artists/venues. Username/email is all that's required to sign up for free. Do it. It's just getting off the ground but there's already a ton of shows in there.

Note: If you're a Rails developer then get talking to Ernest about access to the SVN repository. This is just the kind of service that could wind up embedded in something like the last.fm service.

Twelve weeks with geeks is on google video - trailer here, feature-length for purchase here.

I particularly like the google vid query syntax,

geeks is:forsale

Will give you the feaure-length version. It's more intuitive (natural language) than some of the queries you have to come up with on google search proper,

"parent directory " MP3 -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums [artist] [title]

On the other hand, google video frames its credit card form, forcing you to think twice about the SSL nature of the transaction.

Boo google.

In case you'd missed it - Google Earth is now on OS X. I managed to locate my grandparent's place in New Delhi. That's something.

Note: Google video purchases are still US only. Complete bummer.

A group blogging project in the form of a web services mashup built on Movable Type. Includes shared events calendar, flickr photo galleries and delicious links. Dealt with digital culture in London, UK. Ran from 2001-2005.