If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Today, Google introduced OpenSocial, a set of common APIs that make it easy to create and host social applications on the web.  This will allow you to write an application once that will run anywhere that OpenSocial API’s are supported.

This will make it easier for you to focus on making your web apps better and it makes it better for users because they get more apps in more places.  Members of the OpenSocial community include: MySpace, Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.

OpenSocial is built upon Google Gadget technology, so you can build a great, viral social app with little to no serving costs. With the Google Gadget Editor and a simple key/value API, you can build a complete social app with no server at all. Of course, you can also host your application on your own servers if you prefer. In all cases, Google’s gadget caching technology can ease your bandwidth demands should your app suddenly become a worldwide success.

OpenSocial - Google Code

Tags: googleapi, opensocial, myspace api, social programming

Copyright is often misunderstood, but Copyright on the Web is generally considered as a dark hallway. Smashing Magazine has a great article, Copyright Explained: I May Copy It, Right?, that does a thorough job of explaining copyright both online and offline.

Aaron Wall made a post today stating that he doesn’t like .biz domain names. I can’t say that I’m a fan of them either, but I’m not sure about his reasoning.

The question posed was along the lines of switching from a .biz to a .com for better ranking. Aaron believes that a .biz extension could hurt your exposure because the .biz is geared toward business in general and therefore could cost you some links.

Now I’m in the same boat as Scott who points out the fact that .com is commercial. That was the whole basis for .org domains. So the “commercial = spam” can be applied in theory but not logic.

In all honesty though, who’s going to register a .biz domain if the .com is available? Not sure you’d have many takers there.

I think the question is more, “Should I try for a variation of a .com domain instead of choosing my desired domain in a .biz format?”

In that case the answer is a big YES!

I think a .biz vs. .com domain is most always going to come out with .com on top. Although I’m not so sure it has to do with the extension itself but the perspective built into web surfers. A domain with a .com is seen instinctively as more authoritative than a .biz.

If you are going to register a domain and you have to choose from your desired domain in a .biz format or a variation in a .com format; make the smart choice and go .com.