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Intel Releases Mashups for the Masses

Posted by Zonk on Sun Sep 23, 2007 01:19 PM
from the applying-data-to-the-situation-for-the-win dept.
News_and_info writes "Intel has released an online tool called Mash Maker with the intent of allowing anyone to create mashups. They offer some training on how to use it, but the tool is fairly easy to use out of the gate. I see it more as a rudimentary semantic browser. From the article: 'Mashups have still not really penetrated the mainstream. My mother is not using mashup sites, and she is definitely not creating them. Even if there was a mashup out there that did exactly what she wanted, the chances are that she wouldn't know it existed, and would be confused by it if she tried to use it ... With Mash Maker, mashups are part of the normal browsing experience. As you browse the web, the Mash Maker toolbar displays buttons representing mashups that Mash Maker thinks you might want to apply to your current page.'"

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  • more info in the summary (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23, @01:22PM (#20720765)
    what is a mashup for those of us who dont subscribe to all this web2.0 nonsense?
  • What's REALLY needed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Colin Smith (2679) on Sunday September 23, @01:22PM (#20720769)
    Is to wire the balls of whoever thought up the word "mashup" to the mains supply and to shock them until they repent and take it back.

     
  • What's a "mashup"? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by HateBreeder (656491) on Sunday September 23, @01:26PM (#20720799)
    Besides, you'd expect something like this (Software Research) from Microsoft or Google... But Intel?!
  • Abusable? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rancher dan 3 (960065) on Sunday September 23, @01:27PM (#20720821)
    This seems like it's ripe for abuse by people trying to drive web traffic to their sites. If the signal to noise ratio doesn't get out of hand almost instantly, I'll be surprised.
  • Joyous Day! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jane Q. Public (1010737) on Sunday September 23, @01:27PM (#20720823)
    Wow! Now I can have Dictionary.com give me definitions of the names of all the streets in my town via Google Maps. Just what I need!
  • Mashups are... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dr. Stavros (808432) on Sunday September 23, @01:31PM (#20720855)
    (http://snoozing.wordpress.com/)
    Karma-whoring Wikipedia-link explanation of mashups [wikipedia.org]. Thanks!
    • Re:Mashups are... (Score:4, Funny)

      by ystar (898731) on Sunday September 23, @01:40PM (#20720919)
      You don't need wikipedia to whore karma this time. Imagine reading two or more websites at once, maybe even with some ajaxy instant messaging stuff, all kind of mixed together.

      This is useful because you don't get excess cheeto dust in your keyboard by having to type in multiple URLs.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Mashups are... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by glwtta (532858) on Sunday September 23, @02:03PM (#20721077)
      (http://slashdot.org/)
      That's what I love about Wikipedia - often you don't even need to read most of the text, just the quality of writing tells you everything you need to know.

      "a Mashup is used in order to make a certain source of information exponentially more useful", translation: "complete bullshit; a nearly nonsensical term made up by some 14 year-old with a hard-on for MySpace".

      I sure hope these Mashups will be all Web 2.0, and lets not forget to crowdsource some folksonomies, too.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Mashups are... by RealGrouchy (Score:1) Sunday September 23, @04:01PM
    • Re:Mashups are... by porcupine8 (Score:2) Sunday September 23, @05:38PM
  • by Chonine (840828) on Sunday September 23, @01:36PM (#20720891)

    More power to those out there that edit wikis religiously, blog daily, use and create mashups, get their news through an RSS reader, can name their favorite 10 podcasts, share their Google calendars with their friends, have a FlickR and Delicious account, use 100 firefox plugins, and have an application-loaded Facebook among their many social networking sites - these can be some great tools with great utility to people.

    But for some reason, this newfangled web doesn't seem to appeal to me, my friends, or anyone I know. I'm a Computer Science Masters student, and my friends work in industry. Am I backwards? Antiquated? Should I be mashing it up? I do it like I have for years - an xterm, an email app, an IM app, and a tabbed-to-the-hilt browser.

  • Will it blend? (Score:1)

    by JackMeyhoff (1070484) on Sunday September 23, @01:40PM (#20720917)
    http://www.willitblend.com/ [willitblend.com] Will it Blend?
  • Firefox only (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats (122034) on Sunday September 23, @01:47PM (#20720973)
    (http://www.animats.com)

    Note that it's Firefox-only. No Internet Explorer support.

    Intel has lately started to move into Microsoft's space. Microsoft used to object when Intel did much with software on mainstream platforms, and Intel used to back off. Intel isn't backing off any more. Interesting.

  • WTF is a mashup? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by noidentity (188756) on Sunday September 23, @01:55PM (#20721029)
    Article summary could have had a few extra words summarizing what a "mashup" is. To me it sounds like what I do with my potatoes before I eat them.
  • the truth is (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pair-a-noyd (594371) on Sunday September 23, @02:09PM (#20721113)
    older folks such as myself don't use this mashup crap because it sounds STUPID.
    The name alone implies that it's some sort of hap-hazardly created frankenstein stuff that 10 year olds create.
    The name does not indicate at all, in any way what a mashup is or does.

    It just sounds stupid and totally un-professional.

    No, I'm not trolling, this isn't flamebait, I'm giving MY take on it from the perspective of someone near 50 years old.

    Why not call this stuff, what ever it is, by a name that gives people a sense of what it's about?
  • "my mother" "mashup" "tools" "mashup bars" "intel release" "mashup here, mashup there" "mash the mashing mash up" .....

    your mother's mashup with what tools ? and intel ? what kind of slashdot pos is this ?

    dont play games with /.ers' minds in the dead of the night.
  • Mashup security (Score:1)

    by Rastafario (1083239) on Sunday September 23, @02:27PM (#20721221)
    All it takes is one malicious content source for a mashup site's security to be compromised.

    Advice to users, stay away from mashups unless you trust its makers ensure third party content is 100% safe.

    If you do end up using a mashup site, make sure that you observe all safe browsing tips, especially logging out of you web mail/banking services before entering.

  • buzzzzzz wordsssss (Score:1)

    by Sczi (1030288) on Sunday September 23, @02:28PM (#20721237)
    Slashdot and Fark are the closest thing I need to a mashup. The second my life gets so complicated that I need 18 web site portions shoehorned into the next frankenstein's monster, that will be the day I move to the country and open a bakery.

    Coincidentally, the day the computers can read what we're looking at and know us well enough to offer an even remotely successful guess at what comes next will be the day the computer decides it doesn't need me anymore. And I think we all know what happens when the computers decide they don't need us anymore.

    And while I still have a bad attitude, I'll add that I'm getting tired of kids thinking they "made something". Listen, kid, did you actually make ANYTHING on that page? Besides the poorly written prose reflecting on whether or not Vanilla Ice really can dance better than any Kidd or Play, your page mostly looks like a combination of non-anti-aliased animated gifs that clash with your background and a few youtube videos that you didn't write, film, produce, rip, or even upload yourself, and only 50/50 chance you even found it yourself. Well job, newb, well job. Nevermind that you contributed maybe a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the total time it took to create that page.

    Sorry for the ot in the third p, I'm still a little upset after being eye-raped by some myspace pages at work last week and then being told mine sucks because it's too plain. Heh, elegant simplicity, young padawan. Wisdom comes from typing less and reading more.
  • They did the mash... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chris Mattern (191822) on Sunday September 23, @02:54PM (#20721447)
    ...they did the website mash
    The website mash
    It was a network smash!

    Chris Mattern
  • We did it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by redcaboodle (622288) on Sunday September 23, @03:03PM (#20721529)
    We actually slashdotted Intel.
    • Re:We did it! by i.of.the.storm (Score:1) Sunday September 23, @04:38PM
    • Re:We did it! by Pollardito (Score:2) Sunday September 23, @06:07PM
    • Re:We did it! by HighPerformanceCoder (Score:1) Sunday September 23, @07:36PM
      • Re:We did it! by jagdish (Score:1) Sunday September 23, @11:00PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • by MBraynard (653724) on Sunday September 23, @03:20PM (#20721663)
    (Last Journal: Tuesday July 31, @12:20AM)
    Those two are the ones I notice a lot of jumping back and forth from, but any such 'mashup' would have to be approved by both parties.

    I get the sense that if there is a large population of people who desire a site with a common set of features from two different sites one of those sites would simply add them on their own. Otherwise a third party would wind up simply ripping off the other's content.

  • Orchestr8 [orch8.net] also released its personal mashup platform this past week, AlchemyPoint [orch8.net]. It's similar to MashMaker in some ways but also offers a bunch of capabilities MashMaker doesn't, like the ability to visually scrape or cut-and-paste [orch8.net] web content, even dynamic content (search results, etc.). The tool was reviewed favorably on Mashable [mashable.com] earlier this week.
  • Just when you thought Java and Flash banner ads, streaming audio/video imbedded, and other cruft out the arse made so many pages out there look overbusy and poorly arranged... enter mashups! Woohoo, look out MySpace, you're gonna get even more garbage-filled pages!

    I had to look the word up. I was pretty sure this wasn't about combining two different artists' songs into one funky unit.
  • Mash Maker thinks (Score:1)

    by SlashV (1069110) on Sunday September 23, @04:46PM (#20722241)
    (http://jaap.info.tm/)

    As you browse the web, the Mash Maker toolbar displays buttons representing mashups that Mash Maker thinks you might want to apply to your current page.
    Mash Maker thinks ?? I prefer not to let my computer do my thinking for me. It's like asking it for a cup of tea. You know it's gonna give you something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea !
  • This Web 2.0 "hype" is largely a phantom, imo, and this Intel release re-confirms it for me. Web 2.0 only escapes the realm of vaporware in the sense that applications and uses are actually created under this hype, yet it all seems pretty shallow considering how not only more than one person on this page has admitted it ( I could easily ask a bunch of friends both living on the internet and not). The only time I seem to really notice the hype, honestly, is when calling it by the accepted name: Web 2.0 lol. While all of these things are being developed, most of it isn't being taken seriously (MySpace the most blatant example, but honestly, any site with a design like that is just going to fall flat of the finish line; would it kill them to have some negative space on that site, or maybe kill some of the seizure inducing themes who seem to really like clashing bright colors & 120 videos on one page).

    I wouldn't call it all a waste; eventually the fallout of this almost imaginary Web 2.0 hype will be more useful as experience from trying to make such things work: Yahoo Pipes versus efficient knowledge of PHP, older designs that work well, manage a decent amount of both functional CSS and media and DO NOT BREAK vs. newer, unproven designs involving ad hock amounts of AJAX, CSS 2.Fail, experimental CSS 3, not entirely understood uses of Rails, etc. I mean, Pets.com failed for reasons (like many a dotcom); many of this stuff will to for similar reasons under different as well as similar circumstances.

    All in all, I'm beginning to actually see, however, useful things develop amid this Web 2.0 business, mainly because it's beginning to look like it's going to start to die down soon, specifically:

    • Facebook being used as a portfolio (great idea, imo)
    • Last.fm (with the obvious exception of their similar artists suggestions, that kind of needs work)
    • Users, Coders/Developers working together to create alternatives to the largley failing CSS
      • + WHATWG finally getting the ball rolling on updating HTML 4 to HTML 5
      • + CSS Frameworks as a counter to the annoying b.s. CSS involves with margins and grids
      • +The prospect of using Python (CleverCSS), Pearl (HTML Mason, it's been around but yea still counts) mixed with CSS; I was even reading this interesting page on how a person rightfully pointed out the failings of CSS (and how CSS 3 will most likley continue this) and how CSS should be written: CSS 3: A Giant Serving Of FAIL [dojotoolkit.org]

    Admitelly, I'm not a programmer just yet, but I find it excellent that I can somehow get my foot in (hopefully) in learning the concepts of actual programming with stuff I already know (HTML Mason being the best as HTML is dead simple, so I'd imagine picking up on some of Perl in context would help ease the stigma of learning how to use a programming language). Web 2.0 sites , specifically about CSS 2.0, I've found for the most part useful when they are A. Not repeating the same things, which is a rare that they don't and B. Are not spouting pro-CSS only zealot B.S. about how tables only "data" when by definition, everything you put on a webpage is "data" LoL!

    CMS I also find a very good consequence of Web 2.0, as it's helping me get my grounding in finally managing a comic navigation system for a future project and learning some minor but nonetheless PHP along the way. In theory, it should help keep me active, just like this whole Web 2.0 thing is really all in theory. In theory, I could easily put up my entire daily life on LiveJournal, Facebook, etc. etc. But if I sign up for those things, I do not use them any where near to the extent others may imagine others, or myself imagined, using them. Personal barriers became established, the "trendy" feeling went away, friends just keep sending the same fucking mindless bulletins via myspace, spam fills the youetube inbox, etc. etc. I

  • Mashups? (Score:2)

    by RomulusNR (29439) on Sunday September 23, @06:58PM (#20723111)
    (http://kradeleet.com/)
    How on earth are they going to remove the vocals from I Am The Walrus?
  • Email issues (Score:2)

    by RomulusNR (29439) on Sunday September 23, @07:08PM (#20723149)
    (http://kradeleet.com/)
    Their mailer seems to have been ./ed, it keeps insisting it can't send me mail when it clearly hasn't tried.
  • by debuglife (806973) on Sunday September 23, @07:52PM (#20723383)
    http://hci.stanford.edu/research/mashups/index.html [stanford.edu]

    Source-code examples of APIs enable developers to quickly gain a gestalt understanding of a librarys functionality, and they support organically creating applications by incrementally modifying a functional starting point. As an increasing number of web sites provide APIs, significant latent value lies in connecting the complementary representations between site and service in essence, enabling sites themselves to be the example corpus. We introduce d.mix, a tool for creating web mashups that leverages this site-to-service correspondence. With d.mix, users browse annotated web sites and select elements to sample. d.mixs sampling mechanism generates the underlying service calls that yield those elements. This code can be edited, executed, and shared in d.mixs wiki-based hosting environment. This sampling approach leverages pre-existing web sites as example sets and supports fluid composition and modification of examples. An initial study with eight participants found d.mix to enable rapid experimentation, and suggested avenues for improving its annotation mechanism.
  • by davygrvy (868500) <davygrvy@pobox.com> on Sunday September 23, @08:47PM (#20723697)
    taking words to a Madonna song and singing it over a punk tune like 'London Calling'. Here's a cite/site: http://www.aplusd.net/ [aplusd.net]

    I shall now refuse to sublimate the word 'mashup' to this web thingie and shall from here forth be unnamed.

  • by redwoodtree (136298) * on Sunday September 23, @10:16PM (#20724293)
    Yes, like others have said, we don't need the 20th iteration of "Mash-up Maker" that lets us link to Google maps and have yet another proof of concept. The best use for mashups are behind the firewall, bringing together diverse sources of data that everyone struggles with a work.

    I have server logs, databases, wikis, sysedge data, snmp information, ticketing system information, and I have to visit 20 different web pages a day to get all my information. Now, mash THAT INFORMATION up and give it to me in one page, without too much programming, and you have something useful.

  • Mash Maker (Score:1)

    by jflo (1151079) on Sunday September 23, @11:59PM (#20724953)
    I thought that canned that show back in 80s.... I really hated that piece of American television. Wtf?
  • Mashup (Score:1)

    by Tomfrh (719891) on Monday September 24, @04:06AM (#20726179)
    Mashup = putting google map into your webpage.
  • by Qbertino (265505) on Monday September 24, @04:43AM (#20726323)
    Yahoo Pipes [yahoo.com] does this much better AFAICT. And it's been around for almost a year now. AND it's a good place to look if you can't quite pin the meaning of this new buzzword called "Mashup". (I'll explain it in a different post)
  • What Mashups are: (Score:2)

    by Qbertino (265505) on Monday September 24, @04:54AM (#20726373)
    Mashups target dynamic web-readiness and are often used to exploit visionary ROI in order to syndicate front-end systems. In order to exploit ubiquitous bandwidth Mashups can also be utilzed to unleash efficient e-business and envisioneer intuitive applications.

    Hope that helps.

    ... (What really scares me that most of the above actually makes a strange sort of sense) ...

    [Disclaimer: Large portions of this post where generated using the official Web Economy Bullshit Generator [dack.com] in order to aggregate web-enabled networks. ... God, I just *love* this tool ... ]
  • Not necessarily stupid (Score:3, Informative)

    After reading Intel's description of their product I have no interest, but the mashup idea, despite the stupid name, had its early expression in some really brilliant and useful work. Check out http://www.chicagocrime.org/ [chicagocrime.org] for a superb example. Of course, this was created by programming (using the nifty django framework, which uses python, by one of its creators) rather than by clicking on a toolbar.
  • by Barakk (1129545) on Monday September 24, @03:17PM (#20734055)
    I hope it has toolbar buttons for red AND white spud mashes.
  • Re:Legal issue.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Minwee (522556) <dcr@neverwhen.net> on Sunday September 23, @01:52PM (#20721007)
    (http://www.neverwhen.net/)
    Actually, saying that things are illegal when they aren't is illegal.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:Legal issue.... (Score:1)

    by astrotek (132325) on Sunday September 23, @02:12PM (#20721139)
    (http://www.plainfast.com/)
    Deep links is such a non issue with modern web servers. Any modern sandbox implementation can deny people access to files that they shouldn't be looking at directly.
    [ Parent ]
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