Yahoo has launched a service called Pipes designed to let regular users mix different RSS and Atom feeds and create data “mashups,” a process that so far has required programming knowledge.Pipes features a drag-and-drop interface that the company hopes non-technical users will find simple and intuitive as they manipulate content syndication feeds to combine data in new and useful ways.An example of a Pipe is one that meshes listings from Craigslist with data from Yahoo’s local search engine to display apartments for rent near any business, Yahoo said.Another one collates news about topics chosen by the user from a variety of sources. “Pipes’ initial set of modules lets you assemble personalized information sources out of existing Web services and data feeds. Pipes outputs standard RSS 2.0, so you can subscribe to and read your pipes in your favorite aggregator. You can also create pipes that accept user input and run them on our servers as a kind of miniature Web application,” reads Yahoo’s description of the service, posted Wednesday night.While Pipes today lets users mix data from RSS and Atom feeds, Yahoo hopes to extend the service to support other data formats, Web services, processing modules and output renderings, Yahoo said. For example, Yahoo will open up access to the Pipes engine to programmers and add support for the KML data source, which is used to display geographic data in Google’s popular Google Earth mapping application and Google Maps website. The initial response from observers has been enthusiastic. “Yahoo’s new Pipes service is a milestone in the history of the Internet,” Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of computer book publisher O’Reilly Media, wrote on his blog. “While it’s still a bit rough around the edges, it has enormous promise in turning the Web into a programmable environment for everyone.”The Pipes website, available throughout this morning, was nonetheless down at press time, displaying the message: “Our Pipes are clogged! We’ve called the plumbers!” Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service (Miami Bureau)Related Links: Yahoo Tops Revenue, Earnings Expectations in Q4 Mashups, Ajax and Other Buzz from Web 2.0 The Web 2.0 MashupCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe