IBM has launched a free syndicated content service enabling access to technical resources and emerging technologies via systems ranging from computers to devices like the popular iPhone.
The effort involves extending content to Web platforms, including Google, Yahoo, NetView, and iPhone, via a syndication tool called a "developer gizmo." Content is accessed from the IBM developerWorks Web site.
Developer gizmos include widgets, gadgets, and modules customized to display IBM content within a browser, operating system, a desktop, or a mashup page. They extend services offered by content providers like Yahoo to customize publicly available code or processes. Users can export content from IBM through podcasts, forums, blogs, and other mediums.
"It's a new way for us to syndicate our content to the users very easily by basically having our gizmos, so they can just with the click of a button add developerWorks content," said Kathy Mandelstein, IBM director of worldwide developer programs. Gizmos take APIs from popular portal sites and build on the APIs so developerWorks content flows into those formats, she said.
Adoption of concepts like social networking and Web 2.0 is a goal of the initiative. A small business owner, for example, could create a customized gizmo on a MyYahoo Web page to receive updates and information on Web 2.0 technologies. Or a game developer could developer a gizmo to syndicate technical information from the game development space on developerWorks.
The gizmos provide an interface enabling users to select content from developerWorks, which features thousands of technical resources.
Developers can get more information on building gizmos on developerWorks at this Web page.
IBM, as part of the announcement, is providing new avenues for custom syndicated content:
- developerWorks community spaces, which serve as a platform for developers to build communities on a broad range of topics and business trends, such as Web 2.0 and SaaS.
- developerWorks "build your own feeds" application, enabling users to select any combination of developerWorks open-source topics, technologies, or IBM product brands and export the corresponding article as RSS, ATOM, HTML, or as a Yahoo Widget, Google Gadget, or NetVibes Module.
- developerWorks Google Desktop Gadget for viewing content and searching the developerWorks Web site from a user's desktop.
Apple iPhone users can view developerWorks top stories through an interface customized for the iPhone, to be accessible on the developerWorks site.
