Just finished the API book on Safari Online.
This book goes into the business side of the API as a strategy for businesses and touched on some aspects of the technical side of the implementation like security, authentication, load balancing and etc. It opens up my eyes how the Google Map API, Twitter and other seemingly free on-line services are powering the internet. And you can even make money out of it like Netflix and Amazon API are doing. I was surprised by how many of the developers out there are taking in all these services (like NY Times) and re-packaging into something creative and useful to the end users (like NPR). It’s like an ecosystems that feeds on itself. Nice.