My simple YQL helper function.

yql.php

<?php
/**
 * Get data via YQL
 *
 * @author Marc Görtz (http://marcgoertz.de/)
 * @see https://gist.github.com/420381
 * @license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/
 * @param string $select YQL query
 * @param string $format output format, either 'json' or 'xml' (default: 'json')
 * @param string $method HTTP method for accessing YQL (default: 'GET')
 * @param mixed $cache maximum caching time in seconds or boolean FALSE (default: FALSE)
 * @return object results as JSON or SimpleXML object
 */
function yql($select, $format = 'json', $method = 'GET', $cache = FALSE) {
	$yql = 'https://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql?q=' . urlencode($select) . '&format=' . urlencode($format) . '&env=store%3A%2F%2Fdatatables.org%2Falltableswithkeys&diagnostics=false';
	if ($cache) {
		$yql .= '&_maxage=' . $cache;
	}
	$curlConnection = curl_init();
	curl_setopt($curlConnection, CURLOPT_URL, $yql); // URL to connect to
	curl_setopt($curlConnection, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); // return the result as string
	curl_setopt($curlConnection, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE); // do not check SSL certificate (but use SSL of course), live dangerously!
	switch (strtoupper($method)) {
		case 'POST':
			curl_setopt($curlConnection, CURLOPT_POST, 1); // use POST method
			break;
		case 'PUT':
			curl_setopt($curlConnection, CURLOPT_PUT, 1); // use PUT method
			break;
		case 'GET':
		default:
			curl_setopt($curlConnection, CURLOPT_GET, 1); // use GET method
			break;
	}
	$output = curl_exec($curlConnection);
	curl_close($curlConnection);
	$data = ($format === 'json') ? json_decode($output)->query : simplexml_load_string($output);
	return $data->results;
}