The hottest APIs Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Retrospective on a Kenyan Payments Workflow

Vivid Leaves • 2 HN points • 14 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Payments Infrastructure Ecommerce APIs
  1. Ecommerce players in emerging markets often face challenges with cash management due to low card adoption and customer trust issues, leading to a need for innovative solutions like payment upon delivery.
  2. M-Pesa in Kenya revolutionized cashless payments with its mobile money network, which played a crucial role in enabling online commerce and providing a solution for payment workflows in the region.
  3. Creating unique solutions, like using M-Pesa for cash remittance and optimizing delivery routes, can help businesses navigate operational challenges and improve efficiency in regions with specific infrastructural characteristics.

API Renaissance: The Dawn of API Unicorns Supporting Invisible Apps

Alex Furmansky - Magnetic Growth • 58 implied HN points • 26 Apr 23
🕹 Technology AI APIs Startups Innovation Future
  1. The future may see billion-dollar startups without websites or apps, catering more to AI bots than humans.
  2. Apps are evolving to serve AI, with a focus on efficient endpoints for AI bots instead of human interactions.
  3. APIs are becoming crucial for AI interactions, leading to opportunities in API generation, documentation, accountability, authentication, paywalling, revenue generation, and marketplace exchanges.

Introducing Masked-AI, An Open Source library that enables the usage of LLM APIs more securely

Adam’s Notes • 58 implied HN points • 30 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Open Source APIs Data security Python Machine Learning
  1. Use Masked-AI to securely access LLM APIs by replacing sensitive data with placeholders.
  2. Be cautious of sharing sensitive data with third-party APIs like OpenAI and consider privacy risks.
  3. Consider alternative models like Meta's Llama while waiting for self-hosted options to run large language models.
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The Impact of a Large Number of API Features

The API Changelog • 2 implied HN points • 08 Mar 24
🕹 Technology APIs Integration Developer Experience Documentation
  1. API features play a crucial role in how customers interact with a product when building integrations, and having a large number of features can be a significant business decision.
  2. The number of API features impacts the structure of teams within a company, as each feature may require a dedicated team, potentially increasing operational complexity.
  3. A low number of API features can lead to easier support, clearer documentation, and a simpler Developer Experience, ultimately contributing to better business outcomes.

Unlocking the Power of DALL·E 3 in C#: A Comprehensive Guide for .NET Enthusiasts

The AI Observer • 3 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Programming Software Development Machine Learning APIs
  1. DALL-E 3 in C# allows for high-quality image generation from textual descriptions with unique features like text incorporation, landscape/portrait compatibility, and intricate prompt interpretation
  2. Implementing DALL-E 3 in C# requires understanding API parameters and making adjustments like model selection, image dimensions, and quality for tailored image generation
  3. To avoid rate limit issues, consider upgrading plans for higher limits and be mindful of pricing details for different image quality options with DALL-E 3 in C#

How to hunt down TikTok's top videos

12challenges • 3 HN points • 13 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Social media Data Analysis Web scraping APIs Regulations
  1. Hunting down TikTok's top videos is challenging because the data is not easily accessible through conventional methods like Google search.
  2. Using TikTok's Research API is limited and not helpful in obtaining the top TikTok videos by view count.
  3. Scraping TikTok's platform or using social monitoring tools are options to consider, but these methods come with challenges like legal implications and high costs.

Two Ways to Influence Business Growth with API Documentation

The API Changelog • 2 implied HN points • 01 Mar 24
🕹 Technology APIs Business Growth Documentation Cost reduction Customer Retention
  1. Good API documentation can significantly reduce the cost of API support by enabling consumers to troubleshoot their integration issues independently.
  2. Enhancing customer retention is crucial for business growth, and providing a positive developer experience through good documentation can lead to increased retention rates.
  3. API documentation plays a vital role in influencing both the cost of support and customer retention, ultimately driving the success of a business.

Back-end for Front-end Pattern in Ecommerce

Cristian’s Substack • 39 implied HN points • 10 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Development Architecture APIs Microservices Patterns
  1. Back-end for Front-end (BFF) pattern helps reduce front-end complexity by acting as an interface between front-end and microservices/APIs.
  2. BFF pattern separates front-end requirements from back-end concerns, making the application easier to maintain and more resilient to API changes.
  3. Implementing BFF pattern can improve error handling, maintainability, and performance in an ecommerce platform by allowing for better control over API consumption and reducing network steps.

The Ruler of API Governance

The API Changelog • 3 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology APIs Governance Security Development Business
  1. API governance is crucial for aligning API goals with business objectives and ensuring consistency in the API lifecycle.
  2. The role of the ruler of API governance involves overseeing all aspects of the API lifecycle, such as design, versioning, security, and compliance.
  3. Being a great ruler of API governance requires deep thinking, wisdom to navigate business complexities, and a desire to improve processes.

Nylas API v3, MuleSoft PDK,Escape Found 18K+ Leaked Secrets

The API Changelog • 2 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🕹 Technology APIs AI Fintech Security
  1. API trends in 2024 include a dynamic ecosystem of tooling, AI integration, and the rise of API product managers for enterprise success with a focus on governance and visibility
  2. Companies like Nylas, MuleSoft, and BlueBox Systems are introducing new API solutions to enhance performance, security, real-time tracking, & urban infrastructure development
  3. Security remains a critical concern with news of over 18,000 exposed API secrets discovered by the team at Escape, emphasizing the importance of token management and regular rotations

Digital Innovation on Payor side platforms using API's, AI and beyond

healthviva • 19 implied HN points • 06 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Digital innovation APIs AI
  1. Digital transformation in healthcare is being driven by evolving patient expectations, interoperability challenges, and a shift towards value-based care.
  2. API-led innovation empowers patients to access health data, helps providers improve care through data sharing, and assists payors in streamlining operations.
  3. Challenges in digital healthcare transformation include API security, scalability, maintenance, and regulatory compliance, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach.

Speech to Text AI - the best apps, free tools, and APIs

Mythical AI • 19 implied HN points • 10 Mar 23
🕹 Technology AI Apps Tools APIs Open Source
  1. The post covers the best speech to text apps you can try today like Apple Dictation, Otter.ai, and Descript.
  2. It provides an overview of free open-source speech to text models you can use, like Whisper and Vosk.
  3. The post also lists paid speech to text APIs, such as Deepgram, AssemblyAI, and Google Speech-to-Text, with their pricing and features.

Nibble #16

The Nibble • 12 implied HN points • 16 Jul 23
🕹 Technology AI Startups Space Exploration APIs
  1. New AI models like Claude 2 and updates like Google's Bard June Updates are making waves in the tech world.
  2. Tech companies like OpenAI and Stability AI are involved in legal disputes and deals that impact the industry.
  3. Exciting advancements in AI, such as the discovery of anti-aging drugs and leaked details about GPT-4, continue to shape the future of technology.

100K context windows, Stable Animation SDK, Airtable AI, Google's massive AI updates, Transformers Agent and more

AI Brews • 17 implied HN points • 12 May 23
🕹 Technology AI APIs Models Learning
  1. Anthropic's AI chatbot Claude can now handle 100K tokens and outperforms in complex question synthesis
  2. Stability AI released a Stable Animation SDK for creating animations from text or inputs like images or videos
  3. Airtable launched Airtable AI allowing users to utilize AI in workflows without coding, such as auto-categorizing feedback

How to Query HaveIBeenPwned Using a Microsoft Sentinel Playbook

Rod’s Blog • 19 implied HN points • 09 Jan 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity APIs Guides Microsoft
  1. You can query HaveIBeenPwned using a Microsoft Sentinel Playbook. This enables you to check if email addresses associated with an Incident have been compromised in data breaches.
  2. There is a fee of $3.50 per month to use the HaveIBeenPwned API, but you can pay for a single month to test its value.
  3. Ensure you obtain the API key before deploying the Playbook and make sure to properly connect accounts and input the API key in the designated field.

Introducing the Ecosystem

Developer GTM – by Calyx Consulting • 59 implied HN points • 17 Mar 21
🕹 Technology Platforms APIs
  1. Companies are recognizing the value of platforms to expand their business, but may lack talent or resources to build them.
  2. Building a successful platform involves challenges like fostering developer community, telling a compelling platform story, and driving adoption.
  3. Thriving platforms function as ecosystems where partners, developers, and the core platform benefit from each other.

OpenAI vs Self Hosted LLMs: A Cost Analysis

ScaleDown • 3 implied HN points • 19 Sep 23
🕹 Technology AI Cost Analysis APIs Comparison
  1. OpenAI pricing is token-based, with different costs for input and output tokens, encouraging more detailed prompts for accuracy.
  2. Self-hosted LLMs costs are based on computational resources rather than tokens, with potential for higher costs but no API limits.
  3. Comparing OpenAI and self-hosted LLM costs requires considering utilization rates, where high utilization makes self-hosted more cost-effective.

Introducing Signia

tldraw • 4 HN points • 02 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Programming Open Source APIs Framework
  1. Signia is an original library that offers a core reactive state management system for TypeScript using a new lazy reactivity model based on logical clocks.
  2. Signia's main differentiating features are incremental derivations for saving work during re-computations and transactions with built-in support for rollbacks.
  3. The scalability of Signia's signals is enhanced by always caching derived values and emitting change descriptions (diffs) to incrementally recompute values, offering a new approach to reactivity.

How I Cracked Homestuck's Alchemy with Stable Diffusion and GPT-4

Record Crash • 3 HN points • 16 Jun 23
🕹 Technology AI Image Generation Data processing Machine Learning APIs
  1. Homestuck's Alchemy involves combining items using different operations and can create various outcomes, like weapons, outfits, and more.
  2. Using Generative AI models like GPT-3 and GPT-4, along with stable diffusion, can help in automating the process of generating new Homestuck alchemy results.
  3. Building a pipeline with ChatGPT, image generation, and compositing tools can streamline the process of generating text descriptions and corresponding images for Homestuck alchemy creations.