Daily Tidbits: Stickam launches API
Monday's Daily Tidbits brings you news from Stickam and its intention to bring an API to the Web site owners. Hot or Not now has a Twitter clone.
Stickam, a company that allows users to stream their lives online, announced Monday that it has launched an application programming interface that will let users incorporate the company's service into any Web site or app. According to the company, users can use its video-streaming function on their sites without worry of bandwidth, server infrastructure, or Flash development, since it will all be hosted through Stickam. The API is available now as a public beta for the first 100 registered developers at no cost. Once the beta period ends, Stickam will charge developers an undisclosed fee based on a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
Human-powered search engine Mahalo announced on Monday the launch of Mahalo Answers, which allows users to submit questions to the community, which will then be answered by other Mahalo users. Mahalo Answers is quite similar to Yahoo Answers, but it does feature one twist: users can offer "tips" (in Mahalo dollars) to those who post the best answers. For its part, Mahalo will take 25 percent of the cash exchanged between users.
Hot or Not is an extremely popular site that allows users to rate a person's appearance based on a posted picture. Responding to its popularity, a new site called Twit or Fit has launched, which will provide Twitter profile pictures that will be graded based on the person's physical appearance. Visitors can decide to look at only men or women or view the top 10 highest-rated people. Twit or Fit also provides the option of announcing grades through the user's Twitter profile.
On Monday, Intel announced the results of its Internet study, which found that most U.S. adults would rather have Internet access than watch TV or engage in sexual activity. About 65 percent of respondents said they cannot live without Internet access, and 71 percent claim it is important or very important to have Internet-enabled devices. The vast majority of the respondents believe the Web has become an integral component in the U.S. economy and a central part of their lives.