That all may be changing soon, though. Pinterest is releasing an API, and venture capitalists are lining up around the block to throw money at some developer team that might be able to do for Pinterest what Zynga did with Facebook.

Once an API is released, developers will start working in earnest to take concepts already on drawing boards and see how much they can implement them into Pinterest’s design.

Pinterest has already shown itself capable of driving impressive traffic to retail sites. And, they are already using SkimLinks to take advantage of some of that traffic in the form of affiliate links. No word on how much they are converting and making off that effort yet, but the traffic is there.

Take This Lollipop, a new interactive experience, works on the same kind of privacy fears – in an amazingly creepy way.

Once you allow it to connect to your Facebook account, it populates the video with all of your personal information – photos, wall postings, friend lists, even your location. And the location data serves as the disturbing climax of the experience.

And the video is great fun. It involves a questionable individual Facebook stalking you from the privacy of what could easily be a kidnapping dungeon or a torture room from the set of Hostel – it’s that dark and dingy. Watching this guy browse through your entire Facebook presence is unsettling, to say the least.

Take This Lollipop is a interesting use of the Facebook API – one that plays on a lot of people’s fears about privacy when it comes to social media.

Here’s a promo video for the experience –

Check it out. They dare you.

[via Reddit]

The hackathon lasted for 48 hours straight, over 6 continents. Over 500 developers hacked with Foursquare’s API at 30 different global locations. Foursquare set up four official hackathon locations in New York City, San Francisco, Tokyo and Paris. And out of all of that, 90 different “hacks” were submitted to be voted on by both Foursquare and Foursquare users.

Today, Foursquare is announcing the winner – and it’s Plan Your Next Trip.

Plan Your Next Trip simply does what it says it does – plans your next trip. It uses the Foursquare Explore API to plan out a 2-day trip to whatever location you are planning on going. It was developed by Benjamin Netter in Paris.

The Explore API allows Plan Your Next Trip to make a suggested itinerary based on recommendations from your friends (tips) as well as their past check-ins. Plan Your Next Trip also looks at what is popular all across Foursquare as well and suggests places to eat, drink, shop, and just tour.

I’m heading to Chicago for a few days next week, so I decided to give the app a spin. The app suggested that I eat breakfast at a popular cafe, visit the Art Institute of Chicago, “get some fresh air” at Millennium Park as well as try Heaven on Seven for a good creole dinner.

I especially liked the suggestion for 10 pm – “Get Drunk at ROOF on TheWit.” All in all, the app planned my day from 9 am to 10 pm and beyond with around 9 different locations to visit.

For the complete list of grand prize finalists and the people’s choice winners, check out the official Foursquare blog post.

According to Australian hacker and writer Nik Cubrilovic, Facebook could know that you are reading this article, simply because we, like most sites nowadays, have a Facebook share button.

Cubrilovic ran a little test involving cookies and found that logging out of Facebook does not mean that Facebook can’t still know every page you visit on the same browser.

Is it possible to be both private and social? Is privacy a long lost cause because of social networking like Facebook? Let us know what you think.

On his blog post on Sunday, he shows what cookies are sent during a logged-in Facebook user’s visit to Facebook.com compared to a logged-out user’s visit to Facebook.com. Logging out is apparently supposed to prompt the deletion of certain identifiers, but that doesn’t happen, says Cubrilovic.

The primary cookies that identify me as a user are still there (act is my account number), even though I am looking at a logged out page. Logged out requests still send nine different cookies, including the most important cookies that identify you as a user

This is not what ‘logout’ is supposed to mean – Facebook are only altering the state of the cookies instead of removing all of them when a user logs out.

This means that whenever you visit a page online that has a Facebook share button, like button or any other related widget, all of this pertinent information is being sent to Facebook. That’s how they can know where you are going on the web.

This shouldn’t be news to anyone. It’s right there in the Facebook Privacy terms -

We receive data whenever you visit a game, application, or website that uses Facebook Platform or visit a site with a Facebook feature (such as a social plugin). This may include the date and time you visit the site; the web address, or URL, you’re on; technical information about the IP address, browser and the operating system you use; and, if you are logged in to Facebook, your User ID.

But the revelation here is that this information is available even when you are logged out, as the cookie experiment notes. And people might wonder what all of this data does for Facebook -

The advice is to log out of Facebook. But logging out of Facebook only de-authorizes your browser from the web application, a number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to facebook.com. Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions.

Apparently, Cubrilovic has been sitting on this information for a while, and has reached out to Facebook without any substantial response. He says that he was prompted to share this information due to the renewed privacy discussions happening across the internet regarding all of Facebook’s upcoming Open Graph changes and “frictionless sharing.”

That “frictionless sharing” phrase is one that Mark Zuckerberg used quite a bit in his f8 keynote. He explained that it meant users can share their activities across the web to Facebook without having to really think about it. The melding of Facebook and everything else, per say.

Some have privacy concerns, fearing that since applications will be allowed to post things to Facebook regarding your actions without explicit opt-in authorization, users might share stuff on Facebook that they really don’t want to share.

ZDNet has obtained a response from Facebook. They explicitly state that Facebook does not track users’ web activity. They also explain the purpose of logged out cookies -

Facebook does not track users across the web. Instead, we use cookies on social plugins to personalize content (e.g. Show you what your friends liked), to help maintain and improve what we do (e.g. Measure click-through rate), or for safety and security (e.g. Keeping underage kids from trying to signup with a different age). No information we receive when you see a social plugins is used to target ads, we delete or anonymize this information within 90 days, and we never sell your information.

Specific to logged out cookies, they are used for safety and protection, including identifying spammers and phishers, detecting when somebody unauthorized is trying to access your account, helping you get back into your account if you get hacked, disabling registration for a under-age users who try to re-register with a different birthdate, powering account security features such as 2nd factor login approvals and notification, and identifying shared computers to discourage the use of ‘keep me logged in’.

Facebook has responded in an additional way as well. As of today, the so called “a_user” cookie, the one which contains the user’s ID, is now destroyed upon logging out. Facebook said that “there is a bug where a_user was not cleared on logout, we will be fixing that today.”

Cubrilovic has updated his blog to discuss this change. He still warns about privacy, saying that the remaining post-logout cookies will still be there, and as a Facebook user, you just have to trust that they are using them for what they say they are using them for (see above).

Facebook has changed as much as they can change with the logout issue. They want to retain the ability to track browsers after logout for safety and spam purposes, and they want to be able to log page requests for performance reasons etc. I would still recommend that users clear cookies or use a separate browser, though. I believe Facebook when they describe what these cookies are used for, but that is not a reason to be complacent on privacy issues and to take initiative in remaining safe.

In a nutshell, Facebook still has access to information about you when you logout. They give their specific reasons for keeping specific cookies active – mainly security and protection. I guess it’s up to Facebook users to decide if this explanation is understandable, or if measures like Cubrilovic suggests need to be taken – specifically wiping all cookies or using different browsers.

Privacy concerns and Facebook are the peanut butter and jelly of the social networking world, but it sure doesn’t seem to be hurting business.

What do you think? Is Facebook’s explanation satisfactory? Do you worry about your privacy as a Facebook user? Let us know in the comments.

Around 4 a.m. this morning, the API response time shot up dramatically and Facebook has been experiencing problems ever since. It appears that the worst part is over, but things have yet to return to normal.

The Facebook platform live status page lists the current status as “Network Latency” saying that “we’re currently investigating an issue with API response times. We will update the status when we have further information.”

Here are some graphs of the problem, the first showing response time as compared to average. The second shows error count as compared with yesterday.

Of course this is affecting anything that runs on Facebook’s API including popular social games like FarmVille and the brand new Facebook edition of Words with Friends. Some applications aren’t working, some are simply working very slowly. For instance, it just took around a minute and a half to load my current games list on Words with Friends.

According to CNet.com, Vic Gundotra, the Senior Vice-President of Social for Google, informed the publication of Google’s intentions concerning the upcoming API.

for Google+ users, developer access is coming. It’s simply a matter of time. As Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social for Google, told me at a Web 2.0 Summit cocktail party tonight, “I’m a developer guy at the core. It is inconceivable I would build something without a platform.”

In fact, Google went as far to set up something of an email hotline for developers who are interested in working with the upcoming API. As for why there’s not an API already available, Gundotra and CNet both indicate the fact Google Plus is still in its “beta” stage. Apparently, once the noticeable kinks are worked out, the API will make its debut.

After that, get ready for FARMVILLE: THE GOOGLE + WARS or some such creation.

In other Google + news, the platform’s trend is growing and growing. A quick glance at Google Trends shows the topic is gaining interest on a daily basis, especially once you apply the “Last 30 Days” filter. Surprisingly, however, is not all of that interest is coming from the United States. While the U.S. is currently sixth in search volume, places like Israel, Chile and India are ahead of their American counterparts. In fact, Santiago, Chile is the highest-ranked city in regards to search volume, with San Francisco coming in second.

Deli, Washington D.C. and Bogota round out the top five, which clearly demonstrates the growing interest in Google + is worldwide. Interestingly enough, the number one language searching for the “Google +” string is, in fact, Hebrew. Apparently, Facebook just doesn’t do it for the folks in Jerusalem. Will Google + fill the void?

"Previously, the API returned all the configuration data at once, which in many cases was inefficient if you only needed a subset of data," says Jeetendra M. Soneja of the Google Analytics API team. "Now with separate feeds, developers can request only the data they need. For example, it’s now easy to get the Profile IDs for a single account or the Goal configuration data for only a single Profile."

The new API includes five separate data feeds for accounts, web properties, profiles, goals, and segments.

The API is currently in Google Labs, meaning its subject to bugs. It’s just a preview at this point.

"The API will change, grow, and get better over time," says Soneja. "We recommend developers who aren’t committed to making updates to their applications only experiment with the new API and continue to use the Account Feed as their primary source for configuration data. We will strive to give you at least one month advanced notice of changes to this API."

There is more info about the API here.

It is possible that that will soon change, as the LLmedia API has been released to developers. This API lets developers create plug-ins for the Second Life viewer to bring more media-rendering capabilities to the virtual world. Linden explains on the Second Life Blog:

Currently, Residents who own land have the ability to specify a select set of media types to be used on their parcel through the Land Management settings.  This allows Residents to do interesting things like watch videos, show Web pages to visitors, or just add ambiance to inworld spaces with streaming music.  However, the types of media that could be used inworld has been limited to only those that could be rendered by the set of media rendering engines embedded in the Second Life Viewer, such as Apple QuickTime movies.

The LLMedia API will change this by enabling developers to create media rendering plug-ins for the Second Life Viewer. In the future, by installing these plug-ins, you’ll be able to enjoy a wider range of media inworld, without having to download new Viewers to do so. For example, when a plug-in is developed for rendering an additional video format, you’ll be able to view media in that format inworld after downloading and installing that plug-in, without having to wait for a new version of the Second Life Viewer that includes this rendering engine.

Is this going to create the buzz for Second Life that once existed in the days when it was even getting mentions on NBC’s The Office? I’m not sure I would go that far, but APIs tend to open up lots of room for improvement, and this one appears to be a step in the right direction for usability of the virtual world.

Linden says it’s going to take some time for Second Life to get to where it needs to be, but considers this an "important step" in the right direction.

As we mentioned above, Webtrends Analytics 9 is now compatible with Apple’s iPhone. But how could this be – aren’t most analytics engine’s primarily flash? Not Analytics 9. It uses only HTML, CSS and Javascript – No Flash. Even if javascript is turned off, Analytics 9 automatically downgrades itself without losing any of its usability. Below is the official description from the site:

"Web standards design lets you access Insight reports and views on every major browser and most devices – including iPhone. The interface uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No Flash required."

Do you think the iPhone capability will lure some users back to Webtrends? Tell us.

Some of the other key features in Webtrends Analytics 9 are:

RSS overlay
Correlate external data from any public RSS source with your web analytics data.

Webtrends Social Measurement
Integrate social sentiment data into analytics reports using the RSS overlay feature.

Trend View
Powerful new trending data is exposed, providing you with a time-based visualization of key data. Hovering provides detailed information of the metric for the specific date.

Analytics API: Data collection
Send data from mobile applications and devices and other sources to Webtrends hosted collection service for processing and analysis.

Analytics API: Data Extraction
Simple yet powerful tool for integrating Webtrends data with Excel or your own analytics reporting applications.

For a full list of features, go here.

Will Google need to respond to some of these additions to Webtrends Analytics 9? Let us know what you think.

Yes, this is the official announcement from the Google Team about a maintenance process, this Saturday. The AdWords login console and the API will be offline between 10am and 2pm Pacific Time.

“We’ll be performing routine system maintenance on Saturday, January 10 from approximately 10:00am to 2:00pm PST. You won’t be able to access AdWords or the API during this time frame, but your ads will continue to run as normal.” -Jeffrey Posnick, AdWords API Team.

Forum discussion continues at Google Groups:

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