80legs releases python API

The Ruby API is still on the to-do list! Note that a Ruby API is in the works, but Ruby 80apps are not.

Looking at their "app store" it looks like exactly what it sounds like. Web Crawling. You don't need a nefarious goal to go out and crawl, it just seems rather inaccessible to the common person.

While it would require quite a bit more structure than this, imagine an "application" which would take a keyword/topic, and start crawling the web, looking for links mentioning it. Pages involving that topic/keyword would be ranked higher, as would their children. Basically, a reverse PageRank. No, it isn't the way things are done right now, but it could/does have a place, however obscure it might be.

Our customers do things like the following:

1. Monitor online ad distribution

2. Build directories of people on the web

3. Check for IP violoations (digital watermarking, etc.)

4. Build niche, localized search engines (picture searching, regional searching, etc.)

5. Collect information on product pricing, retail data, etc.

Crawling gets a bad rap. It's useful for a bunch of stuff.