Emailed invoices are easy to ignore. But a physical letter? Mailed invoices can earn higher response rates--especially for overdue payments. One brand study reported that the majority (59%) of its customers failed to pay on first billing when emailed and needed additional reminders. Yikes. On the other hand, only 29% of those billed by direct mail …
Only One Woman in Top 100 Stack Overflow Accounts
There's been a lot of talk about women in tech these days. Headlines include both the repugnant and up-lifting. One the ugly side, we've all read about the sexual harassment and mistreatment at famous tech companies. On a more uplifting note, more campaigns and movies are celebrating women's contribution to tech--and inspiring future ladies to take …
Ruby, Go and C# Added to the Marketplace
We've got some exciting news to share! We've added three new languages to the marketplace (and we bet you can guess which ones by our headline). Now, you can export your code snippet in Ruby, Go and C# in addition to Node.JS, Python, PHP, Objective-C, Java and cURL. Read on for why we chose each of these languages or jump …
Build an Alexa Flight Departure Time Skill [TUTORIAL]
We've all been there. You *think* your flight is on time. But sure enough, by the time you get to the airport, you find that it's been delayed for hours. What if you could ask Alexa about your flight status before heading out the door? We built a skill that connects Alexa to the Laminar Flight API so that you can ask Alexa the status of your …
Microsoft Emotion and Spotify “Mood Music” Project [API Smash]
One of coolest things about APIs is seeing what you can build when you smash them together. We built a script that identifies an emotion from an image (with Microsoft's Emotion API), then recommends a musical playlist based on the emotion identified (using Spotify's Public API). We're calling it Mood Music after the team universally vetoed …
HackDavis Teams Shine with Google Translate Skill
This weekend, we were in Davis, California for the Hack Davis hackathon! This hackathon was centered around the idea of social good, and we were definitely feeling the warm and fuzzies. Here are two projects we were pretty impressed by: …
Optimizing SEO for Single Page Applications with Isomorphic JavaScript
When we built RapidAPI, we wanted to reap the functional benefits of a single page application (SPA). However, we ran into some challenges with how search engines processed and indexed our website. We found a solution by using isomorphic JavaScript. Here's how we did it. Origins and Benefits of the SPA First, we want to fully explain the …
Make Tech More Accessible with These 12 Accessibility APIs
More and more hackathons today embrace themes like social good and accessibility--and we love it. It's pretty amazing to watch developers code projects like SaveURPlanet, an app to measure your carbon footprint, or a robot that acts as a companion to seniors in nursing homes (seriously!). To help more hackers build cool projects like these, …
Israeli Queues: Exploring a Bizarre Data Structure
This morning, I stumbled upon a data structure called an Israeli Queue. As I’m flying to Israel tomorrow, I had to check it out. It turns out that the Israeli queue data structure isn’t just a punny data structure, it’s a useful one too. Israel is notorious for extremely unorganized queues or lines. I can say that--I’m from there. Because …
Yelp Fusion API Profile: Pull Local Business Data
Yelp currently has over 115 million reviews. Even better? You can access them programmatically. Today, we're profiling Yelp's Fusion API in our #12DaysOfAPIs series. We talked to the API tech lead, Tomer Elmalem, to get the inside scoop. Connect to API …
GitHub API Profile: Automate Your GitHub Workflow
We're wrapping up our #12DaysOfAPIs series! Today, we're highlighting every developer's favorite tool, GitHub. …
Twilio API Profile: Add Voice Calls and Messaging to Your App
Update: Twilio's official APIs are now available on RapidAPI. Be sure to check them out. It’s the new year! Why not kick 2017 off with a side project? We’re wrapping up our #12DaysOfAPIs series that profile cool APIs to test. Today, we’re covering Twilio’s primary messaging and voice call API. Related: How to use the Twilio SMS API with Ruby …
How To Use the OneSignal API to Add Push Notifications to your App
We're back with 12 Days of APIs! Today, we're profiling One Signal's push notification API with some help from co-founder and CEO George Deglin. Read on for more info or jump straight to the package page to start making calls! …
How To Use the Spotify API: Surf a Giant Musical Database
Need a side project for the new year? We've got #12DaysOfAPIs to give your project inspiration. Today, we're highlighting Spotify's Public API and what you can build with it. Read on or go straight to the Spotify package page to get started. …
NASA API Profile: Explore the Cosmos with Code
Welcome back to #12DaysOfAPIs! Today, we're blasting off with the NASA API. What you can do with the NASA API We can pretty all much agree, space is awesome. Navigating the all of NASA's APIs though is a little tricky. According to Programmable Web, NASA has 62 (!!) public APIs. While NASA's API developer portal and articles like …