PageGlimpse is a service providing developers with programatic access to thumbnails of any web page. The thumbnails can be virtually used in any kind of applications that require the display of website screenshots: web sites, windows/linux/mac applications, iPhone/mobile utilities, browser plugins, etc. 

The service is using Amazon web services EC2, S3 and SQS. The entire architecture is described in their blog here: http://blog.pageglimpse.com/2008/10/02/pageglimpse-platform-overview/.

PageGlimpse web service is a REST service, meaning that you can easily construct request URLs that will work in your code, in your browser or at the command line. The REST access to the PageGlimpse service is simply an HTTP GET or POST request (RFC2616). The service parameters are passed as simple HTTP parameters.

The quality of the thumbnails is really good and the service provides big size thumbnails (430×310) which none of their competitors offer.

The service is still in BETA, with promises of a full release early next year and there’s no charge for using the service. To use the service, simply create an account here. A developer key will be issued to you and you’re ready to go! The service cannot be accessed without a valid developer key. 

A Wordpress plugin is provided for displaying a “thumbnail bubble” in your blog.

PageGlimpse service is used by Adjix, DotNetShoutout and many Wordpress websites. You can contact them by going to their website: http://www.pageglimpse.com.

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