api

After introducing an API that allowed developers to check on an iOS device to see if its operating system had been compromised (read: jailbroken) less than six months ago, Apple has now unexpectedly dropped the functionality from iOS 4.2.1.

The jailbreak detection API was part of the mobile device management (MDM) API which was introduced with iOS 4 in June this year, according to NetworkWorld. Now, device management vendors say Apple has dropped the API while also saying that there are alternatives to checking on whether an iOS device has been jailbroken.

So, it remains a mystery as … Read more

"We just released an API!" are usually words that make my brain glaze over like a Krispy Kreme doughnut. But in the case of Tubemote, which now has its own API, there's some very neat stuff going on behind the scenes that turns the Web-based remote control service into a full-fledged remote control platform for other sites.

Tubemote's primary function is letting people utilize a cell phone or spare computer as a way to control YouTube video playback on another machine. The service acts as an intermediary, letting the person who's in control do a … Read more

MySpace has finally made a concession of sorts: that rival Facebook has grown so dominant that not syncing up to its web of social connections would be a mistake. The News Corp.-owned social network, as was rumored late last year, has "synced" its service with Facebook (and Twitter) so that members can cross-post their status updates as well as shared content.

It's pretty self-explanatory, taking the recently revamped "stream" design of MySpace profiles and plugging in Twitter and Facebook's application program interfaces (APIs).

The "syncing" applies not only to individual MySpace … Read more

Apparently, Australian border guards can now search your laptops for porn when you enter the country. Um. Ok. As a protest, we suggest everyone flying there just declare that they have porn. Why not? Also, tons of news coming from Google I/O, including the very interesting Google TV and the latest on Android 2.2. Let the waiting begin.

Long considered the fastest and most unobtrusive of the various torrent clients around, uTorrent announced last week a surprising step toward plug-ins with the introduction of an "app store" in the Windows-only alpha release of uTorrent 2.2.

Called the Griffin project, the HTML and JavaScript-based API system will display apps from within the uTorrent interface in an embedded browser window. The developer SDK has yet to be released, and there was no indication which browser engine was being used at the time of writing. Currently, four demo apps are available.

There's a VirusGuard provided by security … Read more

National Public Radio, which produces popular programs such as "All Things Considered," "Talk of the Nation," and "JazzSet," was an early adopter of Web technology, making its content available through a standards-based API, or application programming interface.

APIs are at the heart of many cloud services that provide for two-way, or read-write, communication such as Twitter or Salesforce.com.

A firehose of content (meaning read-only) is all well and good, but having the ability to integrate and tweak content into new forms makes it much more interesting.

Earlier this year, NPR announced API Ingest, … Read more

Dropbox is getting more serious about its efforts to bring its cloud storage solution to mobile devices. On Tuesday the company is announcing a mobile API for developers to build ties to Dropbox's servers into their own apps, as well as formally launching first-party applications for the iPad and Android and BlackBerry devices.

The new mobile API is something Dropbox is calling "Dropbox Anywhere." The company has worked with a number of developers to integrate their apps into the new data pipeline. These include Fuze's FuzeMeeting app, Dictamus, Air Sharing, GoodReader, QuickOffice and Sprite Mobile's … Read more

The facial recognition technology that powers Face.com is now available to third-party developers. Those who are interested in using it inside of their applications will be able to take advantage of an open API that the company is making public Monday morning.

For consumers, Face.com's technology brings some very interesting things to the table. Face has already offered a tagging tool, as well as a recognition-based alert service for Facebook. But not everyone keeps their photos there. Using the new API, developers could build similar facial recognition tools into both desktop and Web based photo organizing apps … Read more

When we first looked at geo-centric Twitter trend-tracking service Trendsmap it had one notable shortcoming: It was unable to drill down to an accurate city level. The good news is that this is about to change.

With the inclusion of geo-location as part of tweets, sites like Trendsmap will be getting a whole lot more detailed. Though even now, getting enough geo-tagged tweets has proven to be a challenge.

CNET met with Trendsmap's lead developer is John Barratt on Tuesday, who explained that while the geo feature has been live on Twitter for some time now, people just aren'… Read more