Integrating Data
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An increasingly common problem on the web (not to mention Computer Science in general) is the integration of disparate data sources.
Whether those data sources are accessed via Web Services, APIs, databases, scraped-content, or even plain old flat files seems to be less and less relevant in comparison to the quick and efficient production, consumption and integration of the data itself.
For this reason, BCmoney will be launching a number of new products in 2009-2010, the early prototypes of which can be seen here:
- BC$ MobileTV – Video Repository (mashup of Freebase, IMDB, Wikipedia, YouTube, DailyMotion, Veoh, Blip.TV, MegaVideo & more…)
- BC$ MobileTV – Music Repository (mashup of Freebase, MusicBrainz, Wikipedia, MyPlaylistz, Last.FM, Blip.FM, LyricsWiki)
- BC$ MobileTV – News Portal (personalizable mashup of RSS news feeds from all over the web)
These represent a departure from the typical destination site by integrating data from various sources in dynamic, user-defined ways. Look for more continued developments in these and other aspects of the BCmoney MobileTV service in the near future!
Related articles
- The Most Popular API Pairings May Surprise You (programmableweb.com)
- 700 Social Mashups: Twitter and Facebook Reign (programmableweb.com)
- Listen Up, Shazam; Hundreds Of Rivals Are About To Bloom (paidcontent.org)
- Big data and open source unlock genetic secrets (radar.oreilly.com)
- OpenText to Unify Data with an Integration Center (arnoldit.com)
- Introducing Balloons: Free multimedia overlays for bloggers (zemanta.com)
- Jagimo! The Social Mashup Re-Launch (themactrack.com)
RSS Reader in jQuery .vs. JavaScript (AJAX)
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Parsing RSS is a task that many developers have been faced with. jQuery makes this significantly easier on the client-side, but the good ol’ AJAX is not that bad either if you set things up functionally to minimize on-page code. Two versions of the same RSS Reader with parsing handled with and without the “write less, do more” JavaScript library follow.
DISCLAIMER:
I know I haven’t really captured the spirit of jQuery by using identical functions to straight JavaScript, however, I mainly wanted to show the similarities and differences between using one parser .vs. another.
FOREWARNING:
Thus, I fully accept that a jQuery whiz, which I am not yet, could clearly use the library to write a few lines of a jQuery RSS parser that would easily blow this one away in terms of efficiency and robustness, thus highlighting the advantages over using old-fashioned JavaScript.
JUSTIFICATION:
That’s just not the point of this article, which is merely a quick look at making an AJAX request and parsing XML in jQuery .vs. JavaScript.
Here’s a very basic RSS Reader in jQuery:
Read the rest of this entry »
BC$ = Behavior, Content, Money
The goal of the BC$ project is to raise awareness and make changes with respect to the three pillars of information freedom - Behavior (pursuit of interests and passions), Content (sharing/exchanging ideas in various formats), Money (fairness and accessibility) - bringing to light the fact that:
1. We regularly hand over our browser histories, search histories and daily online activities to companies that want our money, or, to benefit from our use of their services with lucrative ad deals or sales of personal information.
2. We create and/or consume interesting content on their services, but we aren't adequately rewarded for our creative efforts or loyalty.
3. We pay money to be connected online (and possibly also over mobile), yet we lose both time and money by allowing companies to market to us with unsolicited advertisements, irrelevant product offers and unfairly structured service pricing plans.