I'd like to suggest that you try to get these feature's implemented in getclicky. They're smaller. I feel like that make's them more susceptible to change. I think it's pretty apparent that Google isn't really listening to us here.
Plus they already has some of these features, which I think is awesome.
Lucky for you, the developer of Clicky actually reads this web site. (Yeah, that'd be me).
#1 and #2 (API and real time) we have been doing at Clicky for a LOOOOOOOONG time. I still am in awe that Google hasn't released an API - that's just insane.
Plus they already has some of these features, which I think is awesome.
http://getclicky.com/