Mash makes Smash

There are two kinds of mashup getting online attention at the moment. The first is the use of open API's like Flickr to create new online tools and the other is the latest Japanese video on YouTube showing that a potato can be peeled in just one second. Now even though I hate peeling potatoes (any other tips gratefully accepted!) I'm more interested in the Web 2.0 kind of mashups. Dion Hinchcliffe wrote today that MashUpFeed is posting 2.63 new projects every day, with Googlemaps being the most popular API used.



The range of web mashup topics is as imaginative as the 2005 mashup trend of mixing contradictory tracks together. In 2005 we were treated to DJ BC mixing the Beatles with the Beastie Boys, we've now got Virtual Places mixing Amazon, Flickr, Microsoft and FeedMap API's to create a brand new mapping/webservice, and with sites such as MyFirstKiss and Run London emerging from the crowd, it's obvious that there's a lot of creative work is going into the production of these new web services.

What I hope happens now is that the bar to entry is lowered, as it has been in many other technologies. Perhaps Garageband for web Mashups could emerge allowing people with modest skills to join in the fun.

Tags: Mashup, Web 2.0, API, Flickr, Googlemaps, MyFirstKiss, MashupFeed