Alexa opens up API
This is huge, and I hadn't ignored it, just didn't get the time to blog it sooner. Alexa, the search company owned by Amazon has decided to open its API and make its index available for anyone to query. It is available as a set of web services through the Alexa Web Search Platform and integrated with Amazon Web Services. The first 10,000 requests per month are free. As John Battekke notes, their databases have about 5 billion documents in its index - about 100 terabytes of data. This will allow creation of all kinds of new vertical search engines.
Also covered on Techcrunch and Wired, and discussed on Slashdot.