The "internet" is a series of tubes. So I decided to play plumber and hook up a few pipes the wrong way. What has been generally stopping me from writing too many web mashups has been the simple hurdle of making cross-domain data requests. While poking around pipes, I discovered that I could do cross-domain sourcing of data after massaging it into shape in pipes.yahoo.com.
After that blinding flash of the obvious, I picked on the latest web nitpick I've been having. Since I'm already hooked onto "The Daily Show", I've been watching (or trying to) it online from the Comedy Central website. But it is a very slow application, which shows a very small video surrounded by a lot of blank space - not to mention navigation in flash. A bit of poking around in HTTP headers showed a very simple backend API as well as an rss feed with the daily episodes. Having done a simple implementation as a shell script, I started on a Y! pipes version of it. The task was fairly intutive, though the UI takes some getting used to. Eventually, I got a javascript feed that I could just pull from any webpage, without requiring XMLHttpRequest or running into cross-domain restrictions.
You can poke around my pipe which has been used to create J002ube (say YooToobe ... so that j00z r l33t) to play the Daily Show videos. The player has zero lines of server side code and uses the Y! hosted pipes or client side code to accomplish everything.
More stuff coming up these pipes ...
--Whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
The hustle and bustle of real life is a killer. But there's no reason for it to be a silent killer, so here's one of those mental kicking & screaming thoughts which was dragged through my head as I was wasting time in Hongkong Airport. My flight called for me before I finished this, but the time has come to acheive some closure.
To: y-blr <...> Subject: Cubicle for Rent (rates negotiable) One premium corner cubicle in M G Road available for rent. The cube is surrounded by conference rooms, fully furnished with a laptop dock, a comfortable chair. Extensive table space, entire sixteen foot carpet area with easy access to sofas, coffee and the pool table. 24x7 internet access enabled, fully packed bookshelf and with neighbours used to loud music after 7 PM. Available for occupancy for a month and at negotiable rates.
Since it is too late to actually send that mail, I guess this is its home now. But sing with me - My cubicle ... it doesn't have a view.
--If money can't buy happiness, I guess I'll just have to rent it.