We bring you a holiday edition of the API news that we weren’t able to cover. Today’s news includes a new version of the AWS Java SDK, Facebook offering an explanation to developers regarding a recent change to the Graph API, and extension to the…
A lot of news came down the pipe ahead of the holiday weekend so we offer a review of the stories we couldn’ t cover with a look at what going on in the world of APIs. We start today off with news that AWS announced the developer preview for version 2.0 of their Java SDK Track this Framework/Library. The SDK is built on top of Java 8 and represents a rewrite of the 1.11.x codebase. The update includes new features such as support for non-blocking I/O and the ability to use a different HTTP implementation at runtime. The SDK is now available on GitHub and developers can publicly send their feedback by opening GitHub issues. In the meantime, Amazon was clear to note that support for the 1.x versions of the SDK will continue for the time being. Version 2.0 will be able to run alongside 1.x allowing developers time to migrate.
Earlier this year at F8, Facebook announced that their Graph API Track this API version 2.9 would include a 90 day deprecation of the ability to edit previews attached to link posts. The reason for this was that customized link metadata (i.e. headline, description, image) had become a channel that was being exploited to spread false news. Many publishers have offered feedback that overwriting this metadata was important to customizing how their content appears to audiences. Facebook is working to find alternate solutions but in the meantime is reminding users that they can control how their links appear on the platform by using Open Graph’s meta tags.
Microsoft’s Azure Text Analytics API Track this API is a tool used to detect sentiment, key phrases, topics, and language from text, especially shorter texts such as reviews and user feedback. The RESTful API has added support for 12 new languages bringing the total number of languages supported to 16. Microsoft’s documentation claims that no training data is needed to get started with the API, but a minimum of 100 text records is required to use it.
Lastly, Apple has added upgrades to their CareKit, an open source framework that lets developers build apps that help users manage their health and medical conditions. The latest upgrade includes the introduction of the CloudBridge API. The API is designed to allow developers to integrate their CareKit apps with backend cloud platforms and perhaps even cloud based electronic health records.
