jatiN mahindrA doT coM

Facebook Expands Preferred Developer Program

Four months ago, Facebook launched something called the Preferred Developer Consultant Program in an effort to point companies and celebrities towards the best developers.  Now, the program’s taking an important leap forward as Facebook’s more than tripled the number of recommended developers. Facebook started things off with just 14 developers, which seemed like an interesting choice. ...

Twitter to Get More Useful in Time for Monetization?

Twitter engineer Alex Payne tweeted over the weekend, "If you had some of the nifty site features that we Twitter employees have, you might not want to use a desktop client. (You will soon.)" Some took that to mean that Twitter was working on some new features for its own site, that would essentially render some popular third-party clients all but obsolete. The question is whether this is...

Is Apple Displaying a “Puritan” Double Standard?

Update: According to reports, Apple has "quietly reinstated a shopping app from a beachwear retailer that sells bikinis." Original Article: Apple has dominated tech headlines this week, as the company has created quite an uproar by unexpectedly removing over 5,000 apps from its App Store. The apps removed have been deemed "too sexy", but much of said uproar has been...

Old Version of AdWords API Nears Expiration Date

Update: Google is reminding users of the AdWords API that on April 22, most of the services related to v13 will be turned off. Google is telling users to switch to v200909 as soon as possible to avoid any complications. Original Article: Google has launched the newest version of the AdWords API v2009 beta. That would be version 200909. Google cites the following as the highlights of the...

Google Makes Apps Script More Widely Available

Google has launched the Google Apps Script in Google Apps Standard Edition, meaning that it is much more broadly available now. Previously, it was only available in Google Apps Premier and Education editions. It was released back in the summer. Google Apps Script starts in the spreadsheets of Google Docs. It lets you create sheets to read and change formulas, formats and cell contents, and lets you...

Price, Dates Of First Twitter Conference Announced

A couple of important questions regarding Chirp – AKA the first Official Twitter Developer Conference – have finally been answered.  Would-be attendees now know which dates to be in San Francisco (April 14th and 15th) and how much money they’ll have to spend ($469). These facts were posted on the official Chirp homepage today, and the first 100 tickets (out of a total of 800)...

Google Announces Another Android Device Giveaway

Game developers – or at least the game developers who attend the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco – are likely to hold Google and Android in much higher regard after March 9th and 10th.  Google’s announced that it will give away quite a lot of Android devices on those dates. Google’s employed this strategy to build hype before.  You may remember, for example,...

Yahoo Shopping Partnership With PriceGrabber Arranged

Starting in mid-March, Yahoo Shopping will no longer be a solo act.  Yahoo announced today that it’s arranged to have PriceGrabber take care of some of the technical details, and it’ll be able to make one more cutback thanks to the adjustment. A post on the Yahoo Developer Blog explained, "[W]e have decided to enter into a strategic partnership with PriceGrabber to power the Product...

Opera Releases New SDKs and New Browser

Opera is unveiling three new releases at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This includes two new software development kits (SDKs), the Opera Devices 10.15 SDK for Linux and Windows CE (WinCE) platforms, and the company’s new standalone browser, Opera Devices 10 for WinCE (beta). "Opera Devices SDKs are built with freedom and flexibility at their core, giving customers the...

Facebook Directs Companies, Celebs To Preferred Developers

As you read this, the inboxes of 14 Facebook developers may be reaching the breaking point.  You see, Facebook’s decided to launch something it calls the Preferred Developer Consultant Program, and these lucky developers are the first to receive the social network’s official endorsements. Kristin Thayer explained on the Facebook Developers blog, "We often hear from brands, celebrities,...

Google Analytics API Gets New Features

Google has launched some new features for the Google Analytics API. These include support for advanced segments and 48 new metrics around goal performance, as well as goal configuration data. "With advanced segmentation, you can look beyond your aggregated data and peer into the nuances of traffic and visitor activity on your site," says Nick Mihailovski of the Google Analytics API Team....

Twitter to Spray Developers With the Coveted Firehose

Twitter announced that it will be opening up its data stream (otherwise known as the Firehose) in early 2010. This means the number of Twitter apps will skyrocket, and the potential for functionality in existing Twitter apps will be greatly increased. That means good things for developers, and most likely great things for Twitter. Twitter reportedly made this and several other announcements at the...

New APIs Should Help MySpace Stay Relevant

MySpace has announced a new set of APIs. These include APIs for real-time streaming, status and mood commenting, open search, photo uploading, and an updated version of the post to/share API. "MySpace sees huge value in real-time data and believes sharing it will mature the socialization of content on the Web," said MySpace COO Mike Jones. "MySpace is building the next-generation content...

Digg’s New API Allows Digging of Stories and Comments

Digg released a new version of the Digg API today, which lets developers write and contribute data via OAuth. This API supports the digging and burying of both stories and comments. "In addition to the revamped API, we focused extensively on usability and have included an updated API documentation section on Digg with more detail on each API method including code and response examples,"...

Interesting Chrome Extensions On the Way

Google has opened up the Chrome Extension Gallery (beta) to developers. This means that anyone can now upload their extensions. Google says it is making the upload flow available early so developers have time to publish their extensions ahead of Google’s full launch. "Once an extension is uploaded, our gallery takes care of packaging and signing," says Google software engineer Lei...