Ask HN: What API do you wish existed?
It's 2022. There are many awesome APIs in the world. What API does not exist that you wish you could use?
9 comments
To my phone, specifically to standard apps so I could make a server that does what they cannot.
For example, I could send usage reports sms to my gas provider from a home dashboard. Auto-check incoming calls with few web services and block them. Parse notifications and delete irrelevant ones. Add reminders via simpler ui or parse from notes.
In the end I’d probably end up with my own phone-control webapp and would rarely visit standard apps.
For example, I could send usage reports sms to my gas provider from a home dashboard. Auto-check incoming calls with few web services and block them. Parse notifications and delete irrelevant ones. Add reminders via simpler ui or parse from notes.
In the end I’d probably end up with my own phone-control webapp and would rarely visit standard apps.
A charity API. When people outside my contacts list first email me, I would (auto) generate and send a charity donation link to them, and once the donation is verified, I'd let their mail through.
I've been thinking about a captcha-like "prove you're not a bot/spammer" system for emails and I think charity donations would be a good test of that.
I've been thinking about a captcha-like "prove you're not a bot/spammer" system for emails and I think charity donations would be a good test of that.
That sounds horrifying though. Instead of captcha, a user now has to navigate a random website and a payment processor to obtain access.
So much potential to be on the hook for shady transactions just to let an email through.
Admittedly, reality might be different (I won't know until I actually have this feature), but in my mind this is a good thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I would still receive emails from my contacts and I can add new people to contact list if I meet them through other channels first. This would only apply to strangers.
I didn't quite get your last sentence though. Who would be on the hook and why? A 1 dollar donation to a reputable charity wouldn't be a shady transaction.
I didn't quite get your last sentence though. Who would be on the hook and why? A 1 dollar donation to a reputable charity wouldn't be a shady transaction.
> There are many awesome APIs in the world
...and not enough people are taking advantage of them.
So this is my wish : Not more and more APIs, but a better use of what we got.
How ? Better no-code web data extraction, and its integration with the tools we already use (excel...)
Example ? https://coda.io/product/packs
...and not enough people are taking advantage of them.
So this is my wish : Not more and more APIs, but a better use of what we got.
How ? Better no-code web data extraction, and its integration with the tools we already use (excel...)
Example ? https://coda.io/product/packs
A good, reliable api to archive web pages in multiple formats and extract the article text. The best are very expensive - look up Diffbot, it’s the best I’ve found but at $299 a month, it’s expensive. I’d happily pay per web page extracted, but the upfront minimum is too much.
This is interesting. So the API would take a URL and return the article text? (sorting out what from the site is "noise" like navigation, and what is the article?) Is this the same sort of thing that a web clipper like Evernote has, to simplify an online web page, or is there more? What is a use case that would be valuable for you?
Yodlee, but free
Just looked it up. It seems like they have a variety of offerings. Which is/are most valuable to you?