March 28, 2007 5:00 PM PDT
Yahoo opens Yahoo Mail APIs, invites mash-ups
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Yahoo on Wednesday plans to open up the APIs to Yahoo Mail, inviting outside Web developers to build mash-up applications with its mail service.
One application that Yahoo will make available creates a link between Flickr and Yahoo Mail. The service looks at the subject line of an e-mail and searches Flickr for photos related to that word, such as "party."
The company envisions a whole list of applications that can be built using mail.
For example, people can find ways to access e-mail from different mobile clients or to combine social networking features and multimedia with mail, said John Kremer, vice president of Yahoo Mail.
The company is also offering financial incentives to developers who bring in paying mail customers.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
