Kodak Alaris calls out to App developers with new print API. NeXID's Fingerprint SDK Plus: first bi-directional API for nonprofit sector is nearing launch, WSO2 brings best practices integration workshop to Auckland, and 12 new APIs.
Kodak Snaps Back with New Print API, Calls to App Developers
Remember Kodak, the company that went into bankruptcy and sold off its patents as the digital age swept it aside? It's baaaaack! Or rather, one of its reincarnations is back under a group called Kodak Alaris. Its new API is designed to help developers send digital photos out for printing to partners near the customer for great print services--the only service of its kind available around the globe.
As Sarah Perez writes in Techcrunch, tex app developers have already integrated Kodak's API into their platforms, from CameraAce to Chappters to Chip Photobook. It works like this:
With the Kodak Photo Service, as the developer-facing toolkit is called, developers – obviously those of the mobile photo app variety – will have another option in terms of monetizing their apps. According to Larry Trevarthen, Vice President of Business Development at Kodak Alaris, Kodak will share revenue with developers, though he declined to detail the split. However, he explains there will be two models: one for prints, and other for the photo products with higher margins.
According to the Kodak developer program, prints, greeting cards, calendars, collages, posters, t-shirts, business cards, newsletters or even coffee mugs, across an unparalleled global network that is expanding rapidly as retailers look to fend off the print-and-mail options to get customers in their stores.
NexID Aims to Get Apple's Much Touted Fingerprint ID Right with New SDK
Most readers will recall that within a week of Apple launching its iPhone 5S with the finger print sensor, it had been hacked by Starbug, a member of the Berlin-based Chaos Computer Club. The group pointed out what should have been obvious: you can't use something that gets scattered around as a security code. Fingerprints can be picked up anywhere and rebuilt to spoof security sensors.
But NexID is working to fix that, and argues it is wrong to dismiss fingerprints as valuable tools for security authorization. As they explain in a press release, NexID is constantly testing and updating its software to prevent such hacks,
With an SDK that integrates with other fingerprint-scanning software, NexID Biometrics specializes in supplying solutions that elevate the effectiveness and mitigate the vulnerability of biometric-authentication security. {Chief Operating Officer Mark] Cornett will illustrate NexID Biometrics' capabilities at this week's global Biometrics Exhibition and Conference 2013 in London.
Licenses to the technology, which includes the ability to detect whether the fingerprint is being read from a living person, are available.
API News You Shouldn't Miss
- Sensible API Testing Presented by SmartBear Software at API Strategy & Practice Conference
- RingPlus: Launching the First Open Cellular API Developer Platform at MobileCON
- Expert System Launches Cogito Intelligence API on Mashape API Marketplace
- NexID Biometrics: The Solution to Spoofing Mobile Biometrics
- What CIOs, developers should know about the 'API economy'
- Kodak Alaris Calls To App Developers With New Print API That Sends Photos To Target & Elsewhere
- WSO2 Brings Workshop on Integration Best Practices to Auckland
- First bi-directional API for nonprofit sector about to launch
12 New APIs
Today we had 12 new APIs added to our API directory including an image processing and analysis service, a time tracking service, a product search service, a cloud managed printing service, a community organization service and a parcel tracking service. Below are more details on each of these new APIs.
6px API: 6px is an API that provides image processing and analysis services. It is hosted on a scalable infrastructure and comes with SDKs written for PHP, Python, Ruby, iOS, Android, Node.js, and Javascript. Users must sign up with 6px to access further information, and the 6px service is still in beta.
CreativeWorx TimeTracker API: CreativeWorx TimeTracker is an automated time/activity solution that captures how users spend their time. It captures time spent in applications (such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite) as well as more general tools (such as calendar, email, browser, etc.). After capturing the time/activity, it also assigns the correct job code to the task. That timesheet data can then be passed to any other platform for invoicing, analytics, and other tasks. The TimeTracker API allows users to integrate the time tracking service with external systems to monitor that activity. An account is required with service.
EAN-Search API: EAN-Search is a product search service where users can type in a European Article Number(EAN) and the site returns what product it references. The database contains over 24 million entries. Users can also search by product and receive a list of related products and the corresponding EAN numbers. The EAN-Search API is commercial available and facilitates integration of the database within third-party services. An account is required with service.
ezeep API: Ezeep is a Cloud-Managed Printing services that allows users to integrate their print infrastructure into a single, manageable, unit. The service allows users to rely on a single management system for the print infrastructure, utilize a flexible and scalable service, and use a manufacturer neutral system. An account is required with service, API documentation available upon request.
NationBuilder API: NationBuilder is an open platform for users to create online communities centered around issues relevant to them. Users can create community organization websites, access a people database, and use communication tools such as email, text messaging and social media.The NationBuilder API helps developers to create community organizing-driven applications by integrating various service endpoints within third-party applications. These endpoints can be information on people, campaign data, donation data, calendar information, event data, and other calls. The API uses REST calls and returns JSON.
ParcelCheck API: ParcelCheck is a package tracking and courier aggregator. The API is designed for e-commerce based solutions. It allows online merchants to keep customers updated where their parcel is from multiple local and international couriers. The API provides for live integrated tracking and includes features to allow users to add tracking results to any page as well as get email status notifications for many courier services such as Aramex, Berco, ChurcHillsInternational, CourierIT, DHL, DPE, EMS UniversalPostalUnion, Fastway, InterTownTransport, iParcel, MDSCollivery, Postnet, RAM, SAPO, SouthAfricanPostOffice, SpeedServices, Supaswift, TheCourierGuy, TNT and more. Additional API details are available by request.
Playbasis API: Playbasis helps businesses increase audience engagement through gamification. Businesses can use Playbasis to reward their customers for favorable actions using badges, points, etc. User engagement data can be collected, stored, and exported using Playbasis's social CRM.
The Playbasis API allows developers to interact with the Playbasis web service, which is responsible for processing users' actions and executing the appropriate events.
UserApp API: UserApp provides user management and authentication services. It can handle user login, permissions, storage, sign-ups, payments, and more. Some features that will be available in the near future include the ability to export user data and to host data on one's own servers. Developers can access UserApp's functions directly online or programmatically via API.
WebKnox Jokes API: Begun as a research project from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of Technology Dresden, WebKnox is an ontology-driven fact extraction engine built to provide direct, fast, and complete answers to questions on any topic a user can think of. To answer a question WebKnox uses external services that might have previously provided an answer or computes an answer using its knowledge base. If those options fail, WebKnox tries to find an answer on the fly.
WebKnox hosts a suite of REST APIs delivering a range of web services. The WebKnox Jokes API provides developer access to over 30,000 jokes. In addition to delivering up to 10 random jokes, the API allows applications to search jokes by category, rating, or keyword.
WebKnox Media API: Begun as a research project from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of Technology Dresden, WebKnox is an ontology-driven fact extraction engine built to provide direct, fast, and complete answers to questions on any topic a user can think of. To answer a question WebKnox uses external services that might have previously provided an answer or computes an answer using its knowledge base. If those options fail, WebKnox tries to find an answer on the fly.
WebKnox hosts a suite of REST APIs delivering a range of web services. The WebKnox Media API allows applications to search images, create video thumbnails, or create animated GIFs from a video or series of images.
WebKnox Recipe API: Begun as a research project from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of Technology Dresden, WebKnox is an ontology-driven fact extraction engine built to provide direct, fast, and complete answers to questions on any topic a user can think of. To answer a question WebKnox uses external services that might have previously provided an answer or computes an answer using its knowledge base. If those options fail, WebKnox tries to find an answer on the fly.
WebKnox hosts a suite of REST APIs delivering a range of web services. The WebKnox Recipe API provides developer access to more than 100,000 recipes. The API is capable of searching or answering recipe-related questions using natural language, classifying recipes, finding similar recipes, and much more. The API can also deliver widgets for visualizing ingredients or price breakdowns, and creating recipe cards.
WebKnox Words API: Begun as a research project from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of Technology Dresden, WebKnox is an ontology-driven fact extraction engine built to provide direct, fast, and complete answers to questions on any topic a user can think of. To answer a question WebKnox uses external services that might have previously provided an answer or computes an answer using its knowledge base. If those options fail, WebKnox tries to find an answer on the fly.
WebKnox hosts a suite of REST APIs delivering a range of web services. The WebKnox Words API allows applications to retrieve the singular, plural, present, past, or past participle form of a given word, as well as a list of synonyms.
