TRYNT Heavy Technologies

LiteSpeed Web Server

2008-07-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

For those not familiar with the LiteSpeed Web Server, I highly recommend you learn more. TRYNT is currently test deploying a LiteSpeed based API server.

Amazon EC2

2008-07-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

TRYNT is now proudly powered by Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud.

We're Back

2008-07-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT team has been away on extended hiatus, but we're back. Stay tuned for much API goodness to come.

New API Servers

2006-12-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

We've been working hard at deploying our new cluster of API servers and the good news is we are almost complete.

Stay tuned for updates shortly!

Checking In

2006-12-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

It's been quiet here for a bit too long imho and thats about to change :). The entire team has returned from a very a "team building session" in Las Vegas. With our batteries (sorta) recharged expect some new and interesting stuff between now and the new year.

Amazon Web Services

2006-11-15T16:00:00.000-08:00

I have to thank the guys at Open Stock Photography for "reintroducing" the TRYNT team to the Amazon Web Services. After seeing OSP integrate Amazon S3 in a matter of days our interest has been peaked. Amazon EC2 seem especially intriguing. Stay tuned for more as start making progress with the EC2.

(Interest in EC2 not yet peaked? Maybe you should read about Hadoop which is offering Google-esq Map/Reduce via EC2 or PXN8 on EC2)

Open Stock Photography

2006-11-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

Recently I've found myself mentioning Open Stock Photography a more then once. Well folks here I go again! The OSP team has taken advantage of yet another free TRYNT web service to offer "search translations."

You can see an example here. By clicking "Translate" you'll be making an AJAX call to our web service for "translations." This is a very interesting utilization.

These guys are really using as many APIs as they can get their hands on. According to their "changelog" they are now using everything from Amazon S3 to IceRocket to MSN to Yahoo! Very very cool!

About the TRYNT Wiktionary Related Web Service

2006-11-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

The TRYNT Wiktionary Related Web Service extracts related words from Wiktionary.

Here are a few examples of the web service in action:

About the TRYNT Wiktionary Translate Web Service

2006-11-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

The TRYNT Wiktionary Translate Web Service extracts word translations from Wiktionary. Pretty self explanatory.

Here are a few examples of the web service in action:

Popular TRYNT Web Services

2006-11-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

A while back we posted a list of most popular web services. Back then our CAPTCHA web service was leading the back because it had been integrated into a few blogging applications. Curious which TRYNT web services are leading the back now? Here is our up to date list:

The list is suprisingly similar to our last one. Mostly a bit of shifting around. Apparently Google Pagerank just isn't as interesting as it used to be.

Attention mash-up developers! If you are consuming TRYNT web services in your application then let us know! We'll help you promote it.

Congrats Open Stock Photography

2006-11-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Open Stock Photography, a mash-up partially powered by TRYNT, has made it's way into del.icio.us/popular and subsequently popurls.com. Great work!

Media Template Grid-Server

2006-11-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

Whoa! According to the Odin Assemble Dev blog, Odin Assemble has been tested on the new Media Temple Grid-Server platform. We may have just found a home for our planned dedicated web service host (a la yahooapis.com).

Torrents! A FreshMash Group Mash-up

2006-11-08T15:48:00.000-08:00

The FreshMash group is at it again folks with an perfectly timed mash-up release. Their latest mash-up, Torrents!, is (as you may have guessed) a BitTorrent search engine. Why is this so perfectly timed you ask?

In the past few days a lot of attention has been given to GoogleTorrents. GoogleTorrents is a Google Coop based custom search engine that tries to help you find torrent files. Trying the website myself I had mixed results. As you can see here searching GoogleTorrents for "documentary" and here searching for "ebook" few if any actual torrent files are returned. While it is an interesting concept, it's hard to imagine Google letting the domain "GoogleTorrents.com" slip through the cracks, but who knows.

And that isn't where the Google/Torrent discussion ends. According to a recent post at Torrentfreak, when the popular BitTorrent website Torrentspy was taken to court by the MPAA they used Google as their motion to dismiss argument. Torrentspy argued “everything alleged about defendants’ website (torrentspy) is true about Google, and even more so, because Google outperforms the allegations in the complaint. Plaintiffs’ (MPAA) factually empty and broadbrush categorical accusations are like mud that covers all distinctions.” (Source)

So where's the connection to Torrents!? According to Torrents! About, "If Google can do it, why not Yahoo?" That being said we hope you enjoy Torrents!"

Because Torrents! and GoogleTorrents are similar in "concept" I was curious how they stacked up against each other. After running the same two searches, "documentary" and "ebook," at Torrents! I found Torrents! much more effective.

About the TRYNT Torrent Details Web Service

2006-11-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

The TRYNT Torrent Details Web Service parses BitTorrent files for the included metadata.

Here is an example of this web service in action:

Torrent Details > BBC Artscene Documentary

Everyone loves torrents!

2006-11-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I'm amazed at how ubiquitous torrents have become. Even the Amazon S3 platform offers torrent support. Since TRYNT doesn't want to be left out of all the fun we've got a torrent web service that should come out of beta today or tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Over 250K CAPTCHAs Served

2006-11-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to develop using TRYNT APIs and Web Services. Watching our traffic (and web service usage) grow over time has really been motivational for the entire team. Thanks again.

Ask TRYNT: Why can't I get your web services to "validate?"

2006-11-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Q: I can't use your movie comment feed with Magpie. It doesn't display anything. I also tried using other online rss readers but they won't show your feed. Then I tried validating your feed, but it says not valid? Is this a bug or is it me?

Feed Validator

A: The reason our movie comment "web service" doesn't "validate" is because it's not a "feed" but rather a "web service." The feed validation tool you are using validates Atom, RDF and RSS feeds. Our web service returns an XML data structure (which may appear visually similar at first glance) but it is not in valid Atom, RDF or RSS format. You may have better luck visualizing our XML using a more generic XML parser like the one found at FeedMeme.

Stay tuned for our 2.0 version of this web service which will support Serialized-PHP output. If you take advantage of this output format you can skip the XML parsing all together.

Hope this helps!

Sixteen TRYNT Mash-ups listed at ProgrammableWeb!

2006-11-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

We've got sixteen mash-ups listed at ProgrammableWeb that are "powered by TRYNT!" Lots of cool innovation. Keep up the good work folks - We love it!

Meta-APIs

2006-11-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

So what is a "Meta-API?" Recently at TRYNT HQ we found ourselves discussing this very concept.

I found myself thinking of web services like the TRYNT Flickr Suggest Web Service which uses the Flickr API to return tag suggestions (something not accomplished by the original API). At the same time other team members felt the title implied something along the lines of a "meta-search engine" (ie search engine aggregator). Mapstraction was used as an example because it offers a unified API for multiple mapping APIs.

Let us know what you think! What does "Meta-API" mean to you?

Image Color Extraction Web Service - Bug Squash!

2006-11-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the folks over at Open Stock Photography a bug in our TRYNT Image Color Extract Web Service. We used this as an opportunity to upgrade the web service to our new 2.0 model so you can expect to see a few web/blog updates posted shortly. In the mean time those brave souls who want to take advantage of our Serialized PHP and JSON outputs need only to point their applications to:

http://www.trynt.com/image-color-extract-api/v2/

FreshMash Horoscopes

2006-11-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

The FreshMash group has just released another mash-up titled Horoscope (very creative guys ).

It's interesting to see a mash-up that consumes TRYNT APIs in such unique ways. This mashup is designed to help you integrate your daily horoscope into virtually any HTML page. (Think RSS2JS)

Here is my personal horoscope (automatically updating) thanks to FreshMash.

About the TRYNT Chinese Zodiac Web Service (v2)

2006-11-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

The TRYNT Chinese Zodiac Web Service calculates the zodiac animal, number and description for birthdates between January 1st, 1901 to January 1st, 2021.

Like all other v2 web services offered by TRYNT you can take advantage of XML, Serialized PHP and JSON responses.

About the TRYNT Astrology Horoscope Web Service (v2)

2006-11-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

The TRYNT Astrology Horoscope Web Service provides daily horoscope information for any sign of the Zodiac as well as complimentary data about the sign in question. While the Month, Day and Sign are all "optional" arguments you must pass at least a Month/Day set or Sign for this web service to functional properly.

Here are a few examples of this web service in action:

Like all other v2 web services offered by TRYNT you can take advantage of XML, Serialized PHP and JSON responses.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween from the TRYNT team!

Thirteen TRYNT Mash-ups at ProgrammableWeb

2006-10-31T16:31:00.000-08:00

The thing we love most is seeing real people using our APIs and thanks to the folks at ProgrammableWeb you can track TRYNT API usage. At the time of this entry we've got thirteen mash-ups being powered by TRYNT. Let's see if we can get that number up even higher!

Open Stock Photography

2006-10-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here's another mash-up, Open Stock Photography, that consumes TRYNT web services (via Odin Assemble Betas).

API Innovation and Mashup Networks

2006-10-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

There is a bit of very interesting reading at the Programmable Web blog titled API Innovation and Mashup Networks. In this entry you'll find links to some cool visualizations of the API/Mashup Ecosystem done by Bala Iyer and Venkat Venkatraman.

I really need to figure out why ProgrammableWeb is only listing one TRYNT API when we have fifty eight!

About the TRYNT Wiktionary Web Service

2006-10-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Wiktionary Web Service extracts word definitions, synonyms, related words and more from Wiktionary.

Here are a few examples of this web service in action:

About the TRYNT Wikiquote Web Service

2006-10-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Wikiquote Web Service extracts attributed, sourced and unsourced quotations from Wikiquote.

Here are a few examples of this web service in action:

Wiki Web Service Madness Returns

2006-10-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia is an amazingly robust resource with numerous side projects covering individual niches. After reviewing a few more we've decided to implement APIs for Wiktionary and Wikiquote.

(Interested in historical Wikipedia Web Service Madness?)

More FreshMash

2006-10-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Since my last post the FreshMash group has released two new mash-ups:

If you like what you see, you can watch for new FreshMash releases on their Mashup Portfolio page.

FreshMash LinkLove

2006-10-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

LinkLove, from FreshMash, is another new mash-up that takes advantage of free TRYNT APIs. According to the credits LinkLove was "inspired by SearchMapr" which is another mash-up recently mentioned here.

About the TRYNT TV IMDB Web Service

2006-10-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT TV IMDB Web Service provides limited access to the television data at IMDB. Since IMDB does not offer an API, this API is made available to bridge the gap.

About the TRYNT Movie Movieweb Web Service

2006-10-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Movie MovieWeb Web Service provides programatic access to a sub-set of MovieWeb data. Similar to IMDB, MovieWeb does not provide an API, this API is made available to bridge the gap. If you plan to use this API please note that the data structure for theatrical release movies is different then videos already on DVD.

Here are some examples of this web service in action:

About the TRYNT Movie Box Office Mojo Similar Web Service

2006-10-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Movie Box Office Mojo Similar Web Service provides programatic similar movie titles using a sub-set of Box Office Mojo data. Similar to IMDB, Box Office Mojo Similar does not provide an API, this API is made available to bridge the gap.

Here are a few examples of this web service in action:

Movie Data Madness

2006-10-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT team has been working hard to add lots of fresh movie data oriented web services. Be sure to check them out!

You can expect fresh blog entries shortly for the two latest additions (Box Office Mojo and MovieWeb).

About the TRYNT Meta Question Suggest Web Service

2006-10-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Meta Question Suggest Web Service generates question suggestions using a variety of methodologies.

Here are some examples of this web service in action:

About the TRYNT Meta Ranked Suggest Web Service

2006-10-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Meta Ranked Suggest Web Service generates useful ranked search suggestions using two methods for generating ranked suggestions.

This web service is very similar to the TRYNT Meta Suggest Web Service but offers ranking data to the mix which makes it well matched for tag cloud or treemap displays.

Here are some examples of the web service in action:

Similar to the un-ranked Method 3, ranked Method 2 focuses in on books. Unlike its un-ranked sibling the ranked Method 2 included author name data as well.

More digg coverage

2006-10-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Another TRYNT digg thread has appeared. Help us improve the visibility of our free web services by digging this story.

About the TRYNT Meta Suggest Web Service

2006-10-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Meta Suggest Web Service generates useful search suggestions using a variety of methodologies. This web service currently offers eleven methods for generating suggestions.

Here are some examples of the web service in action:

With so many method it's going to be very time consuming to cover the nitty-gritty details for this particular web service. We plan to revisit this task in the near future.

In the mean time Method 3 deserves a bit of extra coverage. This method attempts to suggest famous literary works based on your supplied search term.

About the TRYNT Wiki Suggest Web Service

2006-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Wiki Suggest Web Service converts Wikipedi a data into useful search suggestions. All data provided by this API is supplied by Wikipedia.

Here are some examples of the web service in action:

It's important to note that the disambiguous method returns ranked data so you'll need to take that into account when developing with this web service.

IMHO the Pirate (category method) is returing some very interesting results. It is returning a list of "notable pirates." (You've got to love Wikipedia!)

About the TRYNT Flickr Suggest Web Service

2006-10-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Flickr Suggest Web Service converts Flickr tag data into useful tag suggestions. All data provided by this API is supplied by Flickr. Remember you'll need to pass two values (comma delimited) to get a response from this web service.

Here are some examples of the web service in action:

If you plan to use this web service for anything non-tag based you will probably want to cross check the results using a spell checker of some sort to correct tags like "sanfrancisco" into the corresponding word value of "San Francisco."

The "Suggestion" Web Service List

2006-10-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

We recently mentioned our intention of filling the void we percieved existed in "suggestion" web services. At the time of that post we had only one suggestion web service to offer. As the title of this post implies our suggestion web service offering has grown.

The "Suggestion" Web Service List

TRYNT Flickr Suggest: Generate Flickr based tag suggestions from any set of at least two search words or tags. You can query using up to five tags.
TRYNT Google Suggest: Generate Google based search suggestions from any single search word or term.
TRYNT Meta Question Suggest: Generate question suggestions from any single search word or term. This web service offers two unique methods for generating suggestions.
TRYNT Meta Ranked Suggest: Generate ranked search suggestions from any single search word or term. This web service offers two unique methods for generating suggestions.
TRYNT Meta Suggest: Generate search suggestions from any single search word or term. This web service offers eleven unique methods for generating suggestions.
TRYNT Wiki Suggest: Generate Wikipedia based search suggestions from any single search word or term. This web service offers three methods for generating suggestions.

If you include the various web service methods as different "ways" of generating suggestions then TRYNT is now offering twenty different ways to generate search, tag and even question suggestions.

More TRYNT powered "mash-ups"

2006-10-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Two new TRYNT powered "mash-up" websites have been identified:

9-Interactive: Web to PDF Conversion Tool
Google PageRank: An AJAX Google PageRank Tool

Do you have an app powered by TRYNT? Let us know!

SearchMapr (beta)

2006-10-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

SearchMapr is a nifty new mash-up that is consuming TRYNT Web Services (via Odin Assemble, Betas).

If you like treemaps then you'll probably like SearchMapr.

A major goal of TRYNT is to fill voids in available services ...

2006-10-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

We recently needed a related search suggestion function for a "mash-up" we were working on.

After doing a bit of research the only real candidate we found was the Yahoo! Related Suggestion Web Service (which is very useful btw). Having only one option motivated us to create create our Google powered TRYNT Google Suggest Web Service.

So if two are good? Then wouldn't three (or more) be better? We think so. We've got our very best TRYNT geeks hard at work in our labs.

The Unauthorized Google API List

2006-10-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Are you working on a mash-up that involves Google data? Feeling limited by the current library of official web services? Why not give these a shot:

TRYNT Google Pagerank Web Service
Extract the current Google Pagerank value for a given web page.
TRYNT Google Dance Web Service
Extract the current Google Dance state through statistical analysis.
TRYNT Google Suggest Web Service
Extract Google Suggestions from a user supplied term.

Do you have an idea for a Google web service that hasn't been launched yet? Let us know .. we're here to help!

About the TRYNT Google Suggest Web Service

2006-10-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Google Suggest Web Service converts Google Suggest data into useful data structures. All data provided by this API is supplied by Google.

You can expect a new TRYNT mash-up based on this API shortly.

About the TRYNT Stock Symbol Lookup Web Service (v2)

2006-10-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Stock Symbol Lookup Web Service provides a convenient way to convert stock symbols into corresponding company names.

We've modified our method of identifying company names and as such the resulting data has changed slightly since v1. The new method requires less queries to external data sources and as such should be slightly faster.

Nifty Service: Badgerfish

2006-10-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

After stumbling upon Badgerfish we felt motivated to share. Badgerfish is a lovely XML to JSON converter. If you prefer to consume your web services from JavaScript then Badgerfish may be very useful indeed.

Are you looking for mash-up developers?

2006-10-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT team has decided to offer mash-up development services. If you are interested please drop us a line. Because of our limited availability projects will be reviewed on a "first come, first served" basis.

Wikipedia and "Unauthorized" APIs

2006-10-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Do you think our "unauthorized" APIs should be listed under "External Links" in Wikipedia?

We were recently notified by a member of the Odin team that our TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service was listed and subsequently removed from the Wikipedia > IMDB page. If that was edited out then I doubt we'd qualify for the Wikipedia > All Movie Guide page.

I'm personally a bit surprised because:

The APIs in question fill existing voids in the service
All TRYNT APIs are made free for public consumption
TRYNT didn't try to add the APIs but rather a third party did

About the TRYNT Movie AllMovie Web Service

2006-10-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Movie AllMovie Web Service provides programatic access to a sub-set of AllMovie data. Similar to IMDB, AllMovie does not provide an API this API is made available to bridge the gap.

This web service offers two methods. A search by title method and a search by id or url method. Using the two methods provided you can easily extract the relevant movie data.

This web service is similar in concept/function to our TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service.

You can visualize the differences by comparing the results of the following two queries:

About the TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service (v2)

2006-10-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Version 2.0 of the TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service features multiple export formats (XML, JSON and Serialized-PHP), caching and lots of new data fields including: Actors, Writers, AKA Titles, Certification, User Comments, Goofs, Trivia, Runtime and much more. We've also corrected a language parsing bug. (Thx Peter)

Here is an example of the web service querying "Dazed and Confused."

Please note: The TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service v1 will remain active.

About the TRYNT Wiki Web Service

2006-10-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Wiki Web Service extracts data from MediaWiki based Wikis. This web service is not a "wikiparse" but rather a data extraction tool. Queries for this web service are two part; a topic search and a subject. If no subject is passed the search value will be used as the subject. If no Wiki URL values are passed this web service defaults to Wikipedia.

Demo links for this web service are available here.

Popular TRYNT Web Services

2006-10-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Are you curious which TRYNT web services are most popular? Here is a current list based on usage (most popular listed first):

Hardware upgrades?

2006-10-12T18:15:00.002-07:00

Like any business experiencing growth TRYNT is starting to feel growing pains. A hardware upgrade may be just what the doctor ordered.

About the TRYNT Moon Phase Web Service

2006-10-12T18:15:00.001-07:00

The TRYNT Moon Phase Web Service calculates moon phases for a user supplied date. If no date is passed the current date is used.

About the TRYNT Typo Web Service

2006-10-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Typo Web Service generates typos from a user supplied string. This web service is based upon a modified version of Web Professor's Typo Generator Class. We've expanded the keyboard mappings and optimized the code for speed over readability.

You can use this web service to generate four types of typos:

Wrong keystrokes
Missing or skipped keystrokes
Transposition of characters
Double keystrokes

As we mentioned earlier we are moving towards offering all web services in three flavors, as such, this web service is available in XML, JSON and Serialized-PHP.

Attributing TRYNT

2006-10-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

Just a brief reminder folks - If you are currently enjoying one of our many free web services then please remember to provide proper attribution. We have three pre-defined attribution styles you can use or get creative with it. (The key item we ask you to include is at least one link back to TRYNT.) Since we're always interested in the unique ways our web services are consumed why not drop us a line.

Ask TRYNT: How do you perform the reverse phone number search?

2006-10-10T17:45:00.000-07:00

Q: If you don't mind me asking, how do you perform the reverse phone number
search? This is very neat, I am experimenting with technology that uses
phone numbers for retrieving additional data.

A: Essentially we simulate the function of a reverse phone number search using "web search indexes" as our "telephone number database. To do this we came up with a method of identifying a website from a user supplied telephone number. We subsequently attempt to identify the physical address of the website from the website itself. Finally the resulting physical address is then geo-coded.

In the mash-up, PhoneBackr, the results of your telephone number based query are mapped using Yahoo! Flash Maps. Since we cannot guarantee success 100% of the time using our simulated reverse phone number if a failure does occur we identify the "general" location of your telephone number based query using a database of telephone area codes and prefixes.

Introducing QuickyWiki (beta)

2006-10-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

QuickyWiki is a fresh beta mash-up from TRYNT Heavy Technologies. QuickyWiki started life as a "technology demo" for the new TRYNT Wiki Web Services.

So what s QuickyWiki? The goal of QuickyWiki is to blend the depth of Wikipedia (and Wikis in general) with the ease and speed of Cliffs Notes.

Please keep in mind this is all very much still in beta.

Here are a few quick example links:

More about Serialized-PHP and JSON

2006-10-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

In the last post we briefly mentioned Serialized-PHP and JSON without offering any background links.

If you are interested in learning more about Serialized-PHP we recommend the Yahoo! Using Serialized-PHP article.

If you are interested in learning more about JSON then we recommend both JSON.org and the Yahoo! Using JSON article.

Learning from Yahoo Web Services

2006-10-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's hard not to love Yahoo APIs and Web Services. With a constantly growing library of web services, code snippets and now even user interface components Yahoo really leads the pack. As we start the process of updated our existing library of TRYNT Web Services (from 1.0 to 2.0) we are taking more then a few cues from Yahoo.

One new feature you can expect to see in near future is support for various output formats. Similar to Yahoo we plan on supporting:

XML
JSON
Serialized-PHP

The format we're most excited about is Serialized-PHP because of the potential benefit it offers for PHP based mash-up developers. Using Serialized-PHP instead of XML can reduce your overhead by removing the need for a XML module. Javascript/AJAX developers reap a similar reward by using JSON instead of XML.

Have we peaked your interest yet? Here are a few real world examples:

Please note since this is a very beta v2 some changes may occur prior to finalization.

More Wiki Web Service Madness

2006-10-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of documentation but the "brave" can use these URLs to jump right into developing:

Wikipedia Topics Web Service: Identify if a wiki page includes a single or set of topics. Example: Does the California page talk about Beach, Beaches, Urban, Gambling, Government?
Wikipedia Disambiguation Web Service (still tentative name): Identify wiki page links.
Example: Where does Odin disambiguate to? What wiki links are on the California page? Where does California disambiguate to?

My Timelines

2006-10-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

I mentioned yesterday a bug that occured in My Timelines after TRYNT migrated its Blogger based blog to Blogger Beta.

I'm happy to report the bug has already been squashed and (as I'm guessing you probably noticed) our My Timelines based timeline is back in action.

A few comments on Wiki Web Service images

2006-10-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

First - The images that are being returned are "general" to the wiki page you are querying against and do not take into account the user supplied subject value. This may change in v2 .. we are still unsure on this one.

Second - Wikipedia doesn't like you people abusing their bandwidth so please make sure you localize a copy of any images you may want to use that are identified by this web service.

Third - Enjoy!

Wiki Web Services (continued)

2006-10-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

We've got the rough draft I mentioned earlier to a live web service now. While the API documentation page hasn't been added to the TRYNT web site (yet) I wanted to share a sneak peek.

TRYNT Wiki Web Service Demos

With the popularity of MediaWiki this just may end up being a very robust data set for TRYNT web services.

Blogger Beta

2006-10-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

So we elected to try the new Blogger beta and it seems to be causing a problem with the My Timelines widget we use. I've dropped them an email so hopefully they can resolve it on there side.

Wiki Web Services

2006-10-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

I recently mentioned our intention of reworking some of our earlier "beta" web services into live versions. As the team revamped some of our earlier code the idea of replacing "search indexes" with "wiki data" occured. The early rough work looks very promising and we hope to have some new Wikipedia based data web services tommorow or friday - so stay tuned.

About the TRYNT IP Data Web Service

2006-10-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT IP Data Web Service provides detailed information including hostname, country, iso, fips, capital, currency and ARIN details for a user supplied IP address. To improve performance and reduce queries on third party services the results of this web service are cached.

Click here to see this web service in action pointed at "209.126.254.167."

About the TRYNT WHOIS Web Service

2006-10-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT WHOIS Web Service provides WHOIS services through a REST interface. WHOIS data is parsed into an easy to use XML data structure. The raw WHOIS response is also included in the returned results. To minimize queries data is cached for a week.

Click here to test this web service using the hostname of "trynt.com."

If you are unfamiliar with WHOIS then you may find this wikipedia article on the subject useful.

About the TRYNT Chinese Zodiac Web Service

2006-10-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Chinese Zodiac Web Service calculates the zodiac animal, number and description for birthdates between January 1st, 1901 to January 1st, 2021.

Click here to test this web service using the birthday of a TRYNT team member.

Google AdSense

2006-10-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Because TRYNT offers it's collection of web services free of charge we've been toying with the concept of adding some (hopefully) innocuous Google AdSense/Alternate URL Ads based advertising.

We hope this is not too much of a turn-off. If it is feel free to let us know.

Thirty Eight Web Services

2006-10-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

Lots of fresh additions to our collection of web services. Be sure to swing by and check them out. TRYNT Web Services are perfect for you next mash-up.

New API Highlights: Address Standardization (USPS), Astrology Horoscope, Credit Card Validation, Feed Details, Image Color Extract, Image Details, Image Nudity, Image Snapshot, Love Calculator, Movie Comments, Movie IMDB, PDF and Related Feeds.

About the TRYNT Image Snapshot Web Service

2006-10-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Image Snapshot Web Service takes a "snapshot" of a user defined area of an image (jpeg or png). This web service emulates a key feature of Backpack's image management.

About the TRYNT Credit Card Validation Web Service

2006-10-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Credit Card Validation Web Service programmatically identifies and "validates" a variety of credit cards. This web service is based on the Credit Card Validation Solution.

Types of cards handled:

American Express
Australian BankCard
Carte Blanche
Diners Club
Discover/Novus
JCB
MasterCard
Visa

Please note: This web service does not communicate with any financial instituitions. Validation is done using Mod 10 / Luhn checksum algorithm.

Click here to test this web service the test card of "4111111111111111."

About the TRYNT Address Standardization Web Service

2006-10-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Address Standardization Web Service is designed to reformat street addresses to conform with USPS standards. This web service is based on the Address Standardization Solution. (Thanks to the development team at TAASC.)

Click here to see an example of this web service correcting "One Main Street Suite 89 south."

Why should you consider using a TRYNT web service in your next project or mash-up?

2006-10-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Why should you consider using one of our (many) free web services in your next web application?

Save time. Why re-invent the wheel when you can leverage our existing and testing API based services?
Save money. Why pay to develop features when our web services are available free of charge?

Yahoo Hack Day

2006-10-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

I must have been under a rock because this happened right under my nose and so very close to home. Next time TRYNT will definitely be making an appearance.

About the TRYNT Business Executives Web Service

2006-09-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Company Position Web Service is a variant of the TRYNT Auto-Define Web Service. In this variant our goal is identify a person in a specific position at a specific company. The bigger the company the higher the chance of success on this one folks.

This service is unique both in design and data source. Three data sources are used (on an as needed basis) to identify the requested business executives.

If you need to identify the current Chairman of Microsoft or CEO of Google then this web service if for you.

Still Beta?

2006-09-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

It recently occurred that we have a number of "stragglers" still listed in our beta area. Since we've received a more then a few recent emails regarding specific beta services (auto define, business execs and reverse phone lookup), we are going to revisit a few and them consider them "live."

About the TRYNT Love Calculator Web Service

2006-09-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Love Calculate Web Service calculates a "love" factor from two user supplied names. If you've ever encountered a "love calculator" online then you should be familiar with the idea.

Does Google love Microsoft? Does TRYNT love PHP?

About the TRYNT Related Feeds Web Service

2006-09-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Related Feeds Web Service suggests related feeds for thousands of Atom, RDF and RSS feeds. Data for this web service is provided through a partner ship Blog Digests and Feed Findings.

This web service is related to our recently released TRYNT Feed Details Web Service.

You can see a demo of this web service in action providing related feeds for TechCrunch.

About the TRYNT Feed Details Web Service

2006-09-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Feed Details Web Service provides detailed feed information for thousands of Atom, RDF and RSS feeds. Data for this web service is provided through a partner ship Blog Digests and Feed Findings.

Here is an example of the web service providing details on TechCrunch.

TRYNT at del.icio.us

2006-09-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

Looks like a lot of love from del.icio.us users. Help keep the love flowing and give us a bookmark! :)

Ning Based Mash-ups

2006-09-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Since it looks like ProgrammableWeb isn't listing Ning based mash-ups (I'm guessing because of the "clone" feature) the TRYNT team is very interested in any unique Ning/TRYNT based mash-ups. So if you've got one feel free to share it via the comments area.

To date the TRYNT team has completed two Ning based mash-ups: Ping Me Ning and Movie Data. If you haven't seen them yet be sure to check them out!

TRYNT Mash-ups

2006-09-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Are you using one of our free TRYNT APIs in your mash-up? If the answer is "yes" then please register your mash-up at ProgrammableWeb. At the time of this entry we are currently showing six unique mash-ups using TRYNT APIs.

Odin Assemble vs. the "popurls.com effect"

2006-09-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

OK so maybe popurls.com doesn't generate nearly the same volume of traffic one can expect from the "digg effect" or from being "slashdotted" but with an Alexa score in the 7K range a link from popurls.com can really drive your traffic skywards.

I'm very pleased to report that our Odin Assemble based website is handling the additional load with no problems. IMHO not too shabby for a 100% free product.

About the TRYNT del.icio.us Data Web Service

2006-09-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT del.icio.us Data Web Service parses URL specific del.icio.us data (a la the delicious linkbacks bookmark). Data from del.icio.us is artificially limited to the most recent 50 entries.

While del.icio.us does provide a free public API we felt a URL based query feature was lacking and thus a new web service was born.

Please keep in mind that del.icio.us is fairly finicky when it comes to URLs ie "http://www.trynt.com/apis/" is different then "http://www.trynt.com/apis." Keep that in mind or your mileage may vary greatly.

To view the current feed results for our API index page click here.

TRYNT listed at popurls.com

2006-09-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

If you haven't made your way to popurls.com yet I do recommend it. It's a quick and simple way to browse the most popular news stories and websites across a bevy of different social bookmarking and news websites. (I personally read it daily.)

Reading popurls.com today I was rewarded with a pleasant suprise - TRYNT was included in the del.icio.us column. (Since this site is constantly in flux I've created a screen shot.) In plain and simple terms a lot of del.icio.us users like our free TRYNT web services. Thanks for the love!

Hello Again

2006-09-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit since my last post but the entire TRYNT team has been involved in some pretty cool (still top secret) developments. We expect some interesting things to occur in the near future :).

About the TRYNT Image Color Extract Web Service

2006-09-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Image Color Extract Web Service identifies the most frequently occuring colors for any given image. This web service currently works with GIF, JPG and PNG images.

You can view the web service response for the image on the right here.

How to add an API feature from Particletree

2006-08-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Here is another interesting piece of reading from Particletree, How to Add an API to your Web Service by Ryan Campbell.

"You can always add, but you can never remove" is, as Ryan says, the Holy Grail of API/Web Service creation.

Learning PHP

2006-08-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

While lots of people are talking about Ruby on Rails, Perl and Python these days we still have to stick by our old standby PHP. It's amazing how fast you can design and deploy a website using PHP with an application framework like Odin Assemble or CakePHP and thanks to free educational resources like Wikibooks > Programming PHP it's easy to start learning.

MovieReviewr mentioned at MOMB

2006-08-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

The folks at the Museum of Modern Beta (MoMB) have been kind enough to list our MovieReviewr property. Thanks MoMB!

About the TRYNT Astrology Horoscope Web Service

2006-08-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT Astrology Horoscope Web Service provides daily horoscope information for any sign of the Zodiac.

"Even though your time is completely your own right now, there is no time to waste. Just because you don't feel pressure from outside forces does not mean that the speed at which you travel effects only you. Other folks are depending on you to put your best foot forward and fight for your perspective. They want you to value how you feel about yourself, if for no other reason than it makes you happier -- and more pleasant to be with. You are supported."

Update: TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service

2006-08-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

We've updated our TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service > Search function. The result is more search results returned per query. A good example is the search "Terminator," historically we returned three results, now we are returning thirty seven. While it may seem like a lot of results, we promise we'll still pre-sort them for based on our perception of the best match.

Update: MovieReviewr

2006-08-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Remember MovieReviewr? Well we've made a few updates, MovieReviewr is now taking advantage of our new TRYNT Movie IMDB Web Service to integrate even more useful information. We hope you enjoy!

About the TRYNT PDF Web Service

2006-08-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

The TRYNT PDF Web Service is a url based PDF creation service. Easily author PDF documents using common HTML as your source. Please note that PDF documents should be downloaded immediately after creation because they will be regularly purged.

The following example PDF was generated using the TRYNT PDF Web Service.