Pipes is a new Yahoo! mashup tool which lets you create customized RSS feeds. This is a huge step forward in search and RSS feed aggregation. You basically build your own search engine, pulling information from different sources (pipes) and they gush force to produce search results to you via a feed (your pipe output). The searched sources can include Google, Yahoo (of course), Flickr, blogs, anything. You create your pipe using a drop and drag system for various modules. You can save and publish your pipes for others to see and use. If you find a pipe you like subscibe to it.
Here is a very basic pipe used to find coffee within a 10 mile radius of Fairbanks, Alaska (very useful on those long dogsled runs).
Yes it looks easy. It is and it isn’t. I created a simple pipe in 5 minutes but had a little trouble getting the hang of laying a long pipe. Here’s an example of an apartment search pipe:
The learning curve may be too steep for beginners, but the pros should love it.
