Confessions of an Undercover Geek

For work, I have been doing some research into the feasibility of using the Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface) to make soem cool stuff.

For those of your not techy people, an API is something that a web site can give you that let’s web programmers, like myself, use to do cool stuff with the technology that the web site has.

Google just being really cool, decided to open up an api for most of the web services that they offer. They knew they don’t hold the patent on all human knowledge and that their could be people that could use their technology to do cool stuff with it. So they let people innovate with the technology that they already started. It’s a pretty awesome business model.

A lot of cool innovations has been done with the Google Maps API. There is actually a blog that reviews some of the different things that people have been doing with Google Maps. There are new innovations with Google Maps coming up all the time. Not too long ago, I was on a chat program that used Google Maps.

So, If you want to make your own Google Map for your site, you have to get a special key and then its like 5 lines of JavaScript.

Using the Google Maps API has become so popular, Google has started a Google Maps API blog to communicate with it’s developers.

Oh oh, there is also this really awesome wiki, Google Mapki, that has TONS of developer info in it.

Paul Downey has been doing some cool stuff with geo-tagging flickr photos on his site Flyr.

Using Technorati Find Related Blog Posts on: Google, Google Maps, API, developer, web 2.0, geotagging, javascript, ajax

One of piece of news that was all over the Internet yesterday was that Google has just released the beta of their Blog Search. Lots of bloggers are saying that Technorati should watch out because their is a new cool kid in town. I don’t really understand.

I guess for me, the feature that I use the most in Technorati is too see the top 10 things that people are talking about and searching for. I don’t actually go in and search for random topics. The top 10 gives me an idea of what people are talking about and what I should be writing about in my blog. Google’s blog search doesn’t have that at all.

The only thing that Google Blog Search includes is what is in the RSS feed, which is kind of disappointing. I don’t publish the entire entry into my RSS feed so only the beginning of the entry is getting spidered by Google.

Google blog search I am sure will be nice when it gets officially launched because its Google. Google dominates with just about everything they do but for the time being I’m very unexcited about Google Blog Search.

Other people’s thoughts:

• Dan Gillmor - Google Blog Search Arrives
• John C. Dvorak - Google Launches Industrial Strength Blog Search

I just saw a link in Robert Scoble’s blog to Google Maps and how it is showing imagery of the devistation of Hurricane Katrina.

Everyone is talking about Google and Google Talk.

• Wigblog - Google Talk: the desktop invasion continues - I wonder what Google’s next desktop applicationn will be.
• Inside Google - Exclusive: New Gmail Feature - It’s pretty cool. You can send e-mail as a different e-mail address.
• CNet.com - Relax, Bill Gates; it’s Google’s turn as villain - I like Google. At least they are innovating. What new thing has Microsoft come out with that has really excited anyone?

In other news…

• A List Apart 4.0 - My favorite web development magazine has launched a new version of its web site.
• MacCast 08.24.2005 - Special Interview with Leo Laporte
• Hugo Chávez, From Wikipedia - After yesterday’s events with Pat Roberston, I wanted to do a lil more reading on who our friendly neighborhood dictator Hugo Chávez was.

Tonite, with instructions from smash’s world’s blog, I was able to connect to the yet announced Google Talk. Of course, I don’t know anyone else using Google Talk so I couldn’t really chat with anyone.

Google Talk is going to be Google’s instant messenging and Voice Over Internet Protocol client. The fun thing is it isn’t supposed to be officially announced till tomorrow.

Download Squad claims to have the pictures of what the Google Talk client is supposed to look like.

Based on Google’s track record and all the exciting things they have been doing, I am quite interested to see what they would do with their own chat program.

Google has really been busy lately. They are stepping it up a notch. Google has announced that they are going to be selling off $4 billion dollars in more stock.

It looks like they are trying to position themselves at the center of a person’s quest for information. That all of their information comes from Google. This is to directly compete with Microsoft and Yahoo.

Google’s preference has been instead to try to create new markets from scratch or to redefine existing ones when it enters them. (NY Times Article)

They recently launched a new Google Desktop Sidebar. It is has RSS alerts, news, weather, and e-mail alerts. It is supposed to work a lot like the Dashboard that is on Apple Mac OS 10.4 Tiger. Of course I can’t try Google Desktop 2.0 because I have a mac and the Desktop only supports Windows.

John C. Dvorak wants to know what everyone thinks of the Google Desktop 2.0.

Google excites me. They are really breaking out all types of new technologies. Plus they are giving the code out to the public so that everyone can improve upon what they have already started.

As I posted earlier, there is a cool article about Google in last month’s Wired Magazine.

Google News has just added RSS functionality. Every time there is a new story or event that their computer algorithms put together, it will be announced to your RSS reader program.

Google News is easily my favorite place on the web to get the latest news. It is a collection of 4500 different news sources. They have their articles sorterd into common news stories or events of the day using Googles frickin awesome algorithms. This is all done by computer. It is constantly being updated and changed.

I like this because there is less chance of bias played into what stories are displayed where. If I don’t like the first article they offer on a certain event there is usually 150 more about the same event. You can get a really nice variety.

Plus Google News is all customizable. If I want to add a section about a certain topic, you can put a keyword in and it will generate a new category surrounded around that keyword.