I always liked Erector Sets (but probably not as much as these people). My favorite inventions rarely came from following the instruction kit, though. Instead, we combined different ideas to form our own monstrosities.
Maybe this is why I like mashups (which is the new buzzword for composite applications created by combining existing applications into a single service). However, in addition to reminding me of my youth, mashups can actually be practical. For example, if you’re looking for an apartment on Craigslist and want to map available listings, you might like HousingMaps (via TipTechsheet). Want to explore a new city by looking at photos people have taken? Check out Mappr. You can even search personal ads by geography. See more examples here.
Want to build your own? You can find dozens of open APIs and web services–many, though not all, available for free–here and here (via ProgrammableWeb and WSFinder).
As an aside, mashups introduce interesting questions about data ownership, intellectual property, business models, and partnership. For example, if I create a mashup based on data from Google Maps and use it to generate revenue, does Google have a right to a share of the proceeds?
Left by Googlizer on September 29th, 2005