The Latest News On The API Economy
Searching: No Search Term , Filtered By Article Type: "Analysis"
Facebook Patent Uncertainty Means It's Time to Stop All GraphQL Development
On the heels of major industry fallout over Facebook's license to use React, the company is now embroiled in another legal controversy that puts any implementation of GraphQL (also a Facebook technology) at risk of patent infringement. Accordingly, it may be wise to halt any GraphQL work.
4 days ago
Equifax Secret PIN Controversy Exemplifies The Need For Rate Limits API University
After it was revealed that over 143 million Americans may have been impacted when their personally identifiable information may have been breached through the credit reporting agency Equifax, there were further revelations that the so-called secret PINs issued by Equifax were actually timestamps.
09-13-2017
How Hospital Administrators Are Obstructing Medical Record Exchange APIs
Medical record exchange is an area where many technical challenges have been addressed. A big factor in the inability of medical record exchange is the hospitals themselves. They block information and APIs. Bruce Fryer recently had two experiences getting medical records and shares what he found.
09-12-2017
How Not to be the Next Equifax API University
Although most of the technical details regarding the breach of Equifax are not known, the scope of the damage and the questions it raises should be enough to stimulate some organizational introspection regarding all that you have done to safeguard your Web services, sites, and APIs.
09-08-2017
Why Not to Overreact to Facebook's React Patents License
Recently, Apache re-classified code under Facebook’s “BSD+ Patents” license to “Category X,” effectively banning it from future contributions to Apache Foundation projects. The move has re-ignited controversy over the patent grant, but the controversy is more partisan than practical.
08-28-2017
How APIs Are Shaping Shutterstock’s Long-Term Strategy API University
The API economy appears to be a healthy one. However, if you take a look under the hood of any company, you’ll discover different states of affairs and approaches to building their platforms. In this article we take a look at how Shutterstock approaches their platform strategy.
08-24-2017
New Version of Tool for Busting-Open Apple's KeyChain Serves as a Security Reminder
Elcomsoft has upgraded Phone Breaker; commercially sold software that has been implicated in API attacks that resulted in the exfiltration of personal info from iPhone users' iCloud accounts. With this recent upgrade, now it can extract secrets like IDs and passwords kept Apple's iCloud Keychain.
08-23-2017
Why ProgrammableWeb Refers to a Javascript API as an SDK
When designing data models and schemas with an eye towards enabling consistent user experiences, sometimes you have to go a little bit against the grain. If Javascript-specific tooling for consuming APIs had to be listed with other language specific tooling, then we would have to call it an SDK.
08-18-2017
Should Freedom of Speech Be Entrusted to Artificial Intelligence?
We've heard all the doomsday-like warnings about how the human race might one day be in a fight for its life against the Artificial Intelligence that it built. But forgetting the science fiction-esque possibility of an AI with its finger on the button, what about the threat that AI poses right now?
08-16-2017
Why Forcing LinkedIn to Allow Scrapers Sets a Dangerous Precedent for the API Economy
A federal judge has ruled that Microsoft's LinkedIn service must make the data found in most of its users' profiles freely available to third parties who want to programmatically "scrape" the site for that data instead of going through the service's official API and abiding by its Terms of Service.
08-15-2017
How Cybercriminals Take Advantage of Chat APIs and What To Do About It API University
Cybersecurity solution provider Trend Micro has issued a pair of reports that highlight how chat platform APIs can and are being used by cybercriminals to achieve their nefarious objectives. Because of the degree to which Webhook APIs are involved (an API attack vector not previously discussed
08-11-2017
How Stalled Obamacare Debate Could Hinder Healthcare API Progress
With Congress in August recess and President Trump on vacation, the debate over Obamacare and whether to leave it, fix it, or repeal it has reached a full stop. The uncertainty about where things will head once the debate resumes is impacting an important corner of the API economy; Healthcare APIs.
08-08-2017
Why We Built Our New Developer UI on React Instead of Angular API University
When considering moving to or building on React, understanding your data and how you want it to live is something that must be figured out before moving forward. This article looks at how the Cloud Elements team made the decision to move on from the AngularJS frameowrk to React.
07-06-2017
Why Google's RAISR Image "Compression" Tech Changes the Game for Web Developers
RAISR, Google's proof-of-concept, neural-network-backed image sampler, represents a fundamental shift to the visual paradigm of the web. Though it's true impact is still a ways away, it marks the point where people in the front-end world should start to get very interested in machine learning.
06-27-2017
When Designing APIs, Good Path Matters API University
When you are crafting the structure of your APIs, especially those to be exposed externally to the public, paths and responses should be free of anything extraneous. The time spent upfront engineering your paths and responses will end up paying dividends as your business and API evolve.
06-21-2017
Why Intellexer Runs Two Identical Versions of Its API (Including One on Mashape)
Just when we thought the data model behind ProgrammableWeb's API directory was designed to capture all the different edge cases that API providers throw our way, along comes EffectiveSoft with two completely separate but identical endpoints for the same thing. So, why would an API provider do that?
06-02-2017
Can Blockchain Be Used to Secure APIs? API University
Blockchain is the digital ledger system in which transactions made in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are recorded. This identity is changing and evolving quickly, and Blockchain may have found a calling as a security solution for API integrations. Can Blockchain help secure API integrations?
06-02-2017
Why Twilio's Function Strategy Is Revolutionary and Other API Providers Should Pay Attention
Twilio announced Twilio Functions and while there are other API providers who offer serverless function capabilities, Twilio appears to be the first major API provider that, in addition to providing APIs, is also offering a serverless execution environment that’s specific to consuming them.
05-25-2017
Why Running an API Directory is Harder than it Looks (And Why API Providers Should Care)
Here at ProgrammableWeb, we spend lots of time studying the many ways API providers engage developers through their websites. It's one reason our API directory data model is constantly evolving. But some API providers make the explorability of their assets too difficult. For us, and for developers.
05-17-2017
Why SaaS and On-Prem Software Providers Should Think API-First
In this article Dave Gray looks at a few key API strategies for on-prem and SaaS software providers that, thoughtfully executed, will enable your API users to be creative, empower them to customize their own experience, and maybe even encourage them to engage and share their experiences with you.
05-16-2017