Google now supports the open OAuth standard for sharing data through its Google Data interface, a move that could make it easier to tap into information stored at Google property.
Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)The Google Data API (application programming interface)--GData for short--provides a conduit whereby other Web sites can slurp out data stored at Google. For personal information, such as photos at Picasa or contacts at Gmail, access to that information requires authentication. OAuth provides a standard way to perform that authentication, which means programmers at least theoretically should have an easier time writing code.
Google announced the OAuth support Thursday on its Data API blog.
Also Thursday, Google announced that Google Finance is now supported in the Google Data API. That means data could be retrieved to build, for example, a gadget with a live chart showing changing portfolio value.
And since the API permits two-way communications, it also means an outside service could update a user's information at Google Finance, for example with recent stock trades.
If you've had bold ambitions of becoming a day trader, Google Finance is now one step closer to getting you there.
Tuesday morning the New York Stock Exchange partnered with Google and CNBC to provide real-time stock quotes that will show up on Google's finance site.
This means that whatever symbols you're looking at on Google Finance will be updated without delay, and the changes can be seen both on the page and at the top of the tab it's open in on your browser. You can also get it in widget form, either in iGoogle or on your phone with Google's mobile-alerts service.
Earlier this month, Google, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC partnered with Nasdaq to get real-time quotes from that composite index. Like NYSE, quotes from that index were delayed up to 15 minutes, rendering the service less of an asset to time-sensitive trades.
It should be noted that most serious day traders use proprietary subscription-based brokerage and charting tools that integrate with buying and selling services. Many would likely consider Google's current offerings not quite up to snuff in comparison, although the addition of real-time quotes may make it easier for consumers to view rapid fluctuations on potentially volatile stocks that the slower systems would not have illustrated.
Now you can view NYSE stocks in real time through Google Finance and other partnered sites.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Update 1:15 p.m. PT: I added information about the addition of real-time quotes on Yahoo Finance.
Real-time stock trading data aren't easy to come by on the Internet, but Google, CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal now can show real-time Nasdaq stock prices on their Web sites, the companies announced Monday.
Previously, the Nasdaq data had been available only with a 15-minute lag on the sites.
"With universal access to the Internet and the real-time nature of the Web, investors need real-time data, and now they don't have to pay for it," said Adena Friedman, executive vice president of the Nasdaq OMX group.
Google was equally exuberant. "It's important to have up-to-date market data," said group product manager Katie Jacobs Stanton on a Google Finance blog posting on Monday. "Prices will update automatically, once per second, to reflect current market conditions."
Yahoo, whose Yahoo Finance site long predates Google's rival, announced a partnership last week with BATS Trading to offer free real-time quotes on its quote summary page. The quotes, which Yahoo said cover the full market, will be expanded to portfolio and other finance pages in coming weeks, Yahoo said.
Google doesn't show New York Stock Exchange quotes in real time, however. "Currently, we are only able to provide real-time data that represents trades executed on the Nasdaq exchange," spokeswoman Anne Espiritu said in a statement.
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