Yahoo! recently launched Yahoo! Pipes, which is a Web 2.0 service for combining and processing feeds of any kind. The name is inspired by “pipes” in Unix which are simple programming functions which can be easily combined together to do much more powerful things, and that is was the new web service sets out to do. Lifehacker contributor Gina Trapani provides an excellent walk-through example of Pipes in use. The current arms race inspired by Google’s breathless pace of R&D is producing some really powerful tools which are sparking real innovation. Long may it continue.