Jaikido Blog

If you access Jaiku using third-party applications, you might have noticed that the apps you use are displaying a message asking you to sign in with your API key. Here’s why: a Jaiku user recently let us know about a security vulnerability in an iGoogle gadget developed by a third party. The gadget was exposing user API keys in certain instances, and while we haven’t seen any reports of malicious use, we’ve pulled the gadget down and are working with the developer to correct the issue. We’ve also reset all Jaiku API keys to restore the security of accessing Jaiku using third-party apps.

To get your new API key, go to http://jaiku.com/api. And, as always, please exercise caution when sharing your API key with third parties — don’t share it anywhere you wouldn’t be comfortable sharing your password.

Over the past days we’ve been working to address the performance issues some of you have experienced lately. Starting on Wednesday, January 16, at 12:01 am PST (08:01 GMT), we will take Jaiku offline for approximately 24 hours to complete a set of related maintenance operations. Once things are back up and running, any posts made before December 16, 2007, will be temporarily unavailable as we move them to another database to make Jaiku even faster. Once we’ve completed the move, all your previous posts, feeds, and comments will be made available to you again.

We know there’s never a good time for downtime, but we want to get Jaiku back into top form as quickly as possible, so we can focus on all the other things we have in store for you. Thanks again for your patience, and — as always — let us know if you have any questions.

It’s been a while since we’ve given you a decent update on Jaiku, and it looks like more than a few of you are wondering what’s going on and what’s in store for the future. That’s completely our fault — between joining the Google team, the holiday season, and all the new stuff we’ve been working on, it’s been a hectic three months. Here’s a quick update:

First, we know the Jaiku site is currently not as responsive as it should be. The issue is that users (some of them spammers) are starting to add new feeds to their accounts at a more rapid pace, so we’re working on cleaning up the database to get the site back to its normal level of responsiveness. We should have everything sorted out soon; in the meantime, thanks for your patience.

Second, I know you’re all excited to hear what’s next for Jaiku and what we’ve been working on since joining Google. To be honest, a lot of our time in the early going was spent on getting to know Google. And, of course, a little R&R during the holidays. But we’ve also been working hard on the next steps for Jaiku, and are already making progress on what I think are some cool new ways to help you stay connected with the people you care about. We can’t share any of the specifics right now, but stay tuned.

And, as always, don’t be shy about letting us know what you’d like to see from Jaiku, how you think Jaiku might complement the Google products you use, and how you’d like to be involved in all this. We are definitely listening!