Week in review: Tech's shopping spree

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"I thought she asked some interesting questions," Zuckerberg said. "We may have not talked about the things that were most relevant to the audience that was here, but I've worked with Sarah on a number of pieces, and I generally think she's really smart and didn't necessarily deserve the reaction that people gave her."

There was also a great deal of widespread disappointment as the first real evening of SXSW's after-parties kicked into gear. Why? Well, it was the crowds. The long lines of people waiting to get into the parties gave festival-goers time to ponder whether SXSWi had gotten so big and so mainstream that it just wasn't fun anymore.

However, some people had fun, and the best party, according to News.com's Caroline McCarthy, was an impromptu shindig whose genesis sprang from the frustration with the crowds. After standing around for half an hour to get into one party, WineLibrary.tv's Gary Vaynerchuk invited everyone within earshot to come back to his hotel for a wine party--no Facebook or MySpace announcements; just word of mouth and Twitters from people close enough to hear.

Developer developments
Video-sharing site YouTube is expanding its application programming interfaces to allow more direct access to the service. The updates to the APIs give developers deeper access into YouTube for video uploading and allow for "chromeless" players, or players without the traditional YouTube interface and branding.

This move means YouTube will become not just a destination for videos, but a system that serves videos into other apps. Clearly, it's an effort to turn YouTube into an infrastructure play which, once adopted by a developer on a site, would be difficult to remove. It will also give YouTube an even more impressive library of videos, which can be used to serve up advertising.

But before you start building new applications around YouTube's video player, it might be wise to check out the Terms of Service agreement. It has a lot to say about what you can or can't do--particularly when it comes to any thoughts of making money.

First up, the No.1 video-sharing site says plainly that "the intent of the API is for noncommercial use." More specifically, the TOS prohibits using the application programming interface for the "primary purpose of deriving revenues...such as advertising or subscription" services.

In a similar move, Yahoo is opening up its search platform to third-party developers. The company also says it will be supporting the semantic Web. In the coming weeks, Yahoo will hold a party to launch a beta test program for a tool that developers can use to write applications that integrate Yahoo Search.

For the consumer, Yahoo's move means more direct connections to Yahoo Search results, and a better overall search experience, on various Web applications.

Meanwhile, despite some early problems managing the flood of developers seeking access to the iPhone software development kit, Apple reported that 100,000 developers have downloaded the kit as of Sunday.

Also of note
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates urged Congress to let more foreign-born engineers work in the United States and to direct larger numbers of tax dollars to research and education...In-flight broadband is coming soon for travelers on some American Airlines and Virgin America flights...An influential congressional committee is once again showing support for using U.S. antitrust laws to force broadband providers to treat network traffic in a nondiscriminatory manner.

[Fil0403]

Week in review: Apple problems (again)

"Meanwhile, despite some early problems managing the flood of developers seeking access to the iPhone software development kit, Apple reported that 100,000 developers have downloaded the kit as of Sunday."

It must be a coincidence that (as usual) "problems" on something related to Apple is the exact last news, right? Something tells me that if this had happened with the always-loved Microsoft, the media (Cnet included) would be able to write 2 pages about it and make it be the main story.
Regarding the news itself, nothing new to anyone who doesn't consider Apple the perfect company.