One of the coolest things I’ve seen recently came out of a small group of hackers in the Search group at Yahoo.

Has Google disrupted the businesses of Yahoo and Microsoft? Yes! It got me out of bed to write this post.

Oh, Dave, I couldn’t say “clone the Google API” in public! But you did. So I’ll riff on it. I agree with it. I’ll even repeat it.

The openness of Google Maps’ API has spawned a web phenomenon with slews of Google Map mash-ups. And they do make for a nifty bonus to any webmaster wishing to give visitors a better way to locate services. But, according to the New York Times, don’t expect Google to let you profit from their generosity without a cut of the action.

Yahoo has presented a rationale for people debating on purchasing a video iPod – a way to fill it with video content.

Sean Crotty from eBay discusses their Affiliate Program, discloses the one API call that affiliates demanded the most, and lets us in on a big secret: a product category just waiting for someone to turn it into some serious cash.

Google has released a new version of its desktop search product, now called Google Desktop 2, and now back in beta. The big difference in this new version is a sidebar which goes on the side of your desktop and gives you access to your Gmail, news, weather, photos (not from Picasa, but folders and RSS feeds), stock quotes, RSS headlines (or Web Clips), a Scratch Pad (for quick note-taking) and a Quick View list for web pages and files you use often.

If you’ve ever wanted to integrate comparative shopping information from Yahoo’s shopping network, you know have the ability to do so, thanks to Yahoo’s release of their Shopping API.

Users of the Oodle search engine will see results of their classified ad search alongside a Google Map of locations.

Version 1.0.5 will be replaced by 1.0.6 soon, as the latest release seems to break third-party extensions.

Has it’s been documented quite frequently, since the launch of Google’s map service, there have been quite a few hacks and extensions built that further Google’s map search functionality.

With popularity of Google Maps continuing to increase, due in large part to the inclusion of satellite mapping technology, many users out there have introduced a number of hacks and tricks that take advantage of the mapping technology.

Last week Matt Mullenweg asked me a few questions about the Yahoo! Web Search API and Yahoo! Site Search. It turned out that he was looking for a better way to provide search for WordPress.org and thought we had just what he needed.

Media RSS, which Yahoo! first introduced late last year, is now a full-release syndication standard for media content.

The first time I used Flickr, I knew it was something different and something important.

Okay, I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t have sold my TiVo last year. If nothing else , this …

You already know API’s are taking off but here’s some more proof from someone other than myself.

So Google played dumb and we all went along with the official statement, that there would be “no comment” on rumors of a Google AdWords API (definition). It now appears, sometimes, you can believe the rumors.

So Google played dumb and we all went along with the official statement, that there would be “no comment” on rumors of a …

Matt Hicks at eWeek delves into the rumors that Google is about to open up access to AdWords.

I sure hope that the rumors are true. I’d love to be able to confirm or deny them, but Google simply gives the “no comment at this time” response.