Yahoo! Developer Network Announces Four New Web Service APIs with Strong AJAX Flavor

JavaScriptSearch
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; 01:36 PM

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced that it is planning to make available four new and enhanced Web service Application Program Interfaces (API)s through the Yahoo! Developer Network, available at http://developer.yahoo.net. These APIs are intended to enable developers to use and build upon technology from Yahoo! Photos, Calendar, MyWeb and Shopping, creating a participatory environment that increases the relevance of Yahoo! products and services for individual users and the greater community.

"Developers play an important role in helping to enhance Yahoo!'s vast network of services," said Ash Patel, chief product officer, Yahoo! Inc. "These new APIs along with new tools available on the Developer Network will continue to foster an environment of creativity and innovation that ultimately benefits Yahoo!'s users."

Patel and Jeffrey McManus, director of the Yahoo! Developer Network, will speak this afternoon on "Building a Participation Platform: Yahoo! Web Services Past, Present, and Future" at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California.

As part of today's presentation, Yahoo! will announce that it is planning to make the following APIs available on the Developer Network:

Yahoo! Photos API: In the coming months, a new Yahoo! Photos API to allow developers to build custom applications on top of the world's largest photo sharing service(a). By opening up its API, Yahoo! Photos encourages the developer community and photo product providers to create value-added features and products for Yahoo! Photos' 34 million users worldwide(a).

Yahoo! Shopping APIs: Based on developer feedback, Yahoo! Shopping has enhanced its APIs with a new browse navigation feature that helps consumers quickly narrow their product search by providing the user with a menu of sub-categories and product attributes to further refine their search results. A browse shopping experience with category and attribute based refinement can also be built, allowing users to drill down and obtain product results meeting their preferred product criteria.

Yahoo! Calendar API: The Yahoo! Calendar API is intended to enable developers to write applications that make it easier for users to access their Yahoo! Calendar from other sites on the Web, enhancing the experience for millions of Yahoo! Calendar users. Yahoo! plans to make this new API available in the coming months.

MyWeb 2.0 API: This enhanced API provides the ability to read from as well as write to MyWeb 2.0 and is intended to enable information to move seamlessly between MyWeb and other applications or devices. Yahoo! plans to make this new MyWeb 2.0 API available in the coming months.

Additionally, the Yahoo! Developer Network is launching an Application Gallery (available at http://gallery.yahoo.com), a one-stop site for consumers to discover applications that developers have built using Yahoo! technology. The Application Gallery will provide a centralized location for established and new applications across Yahoo! properties such as Maps, Flickr, Yahoo! Music Engine and Search.

"We are committed to providing developers with an open, easy-to-use platform to build applications and use Yahoo! technology in innovative ways," said McManus. "By offering more Web services than any other Web company, we give developers the flexibility and choice to customize our technology and contribute to new on and offline experiences for our users."

The Yahoo! Developer Network helps developers build innovative applications using Yahoo! technology. In addition to providing open Web services, the Yahoo! Developer Network provides developers with access to documentation, reference guides, code examples, and groups for each Yahoo! property available on the Yahoo Developer Network. Yahoo! properties featured on the Yahoo! Developer Network include del.ico.us, Flickr, Yahoo! Maps, Yahoo! Music, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Yahoo! Shopping, Upcoming.org and Yahoo! Widgets.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.