Daniel Roy Greenfeld

Daniel Roy Greenfeld

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Launching our API at PyCon 2012

A few months ago me and my fiancee (now wife), Audrey Roy, launched our start up, Consumer Notebook. It's a Python powered product comparison site that combines the best features of Open Comparison, Yelp, Consumer Reports, and Pinterest. We've worked day and night to make it better, with countless members of the Python community using the site and giving us invaluable feedback.

All of that brings us to PyCon. We're not just here as attendees and participants, but also to promote our startup. It used to be the cool thing to launch your startup at SXSW, but times have changed. Now it's the cool thing to launch at PyCon!

Like Twilio, Twitter, Facebook, and Google, we've got an API we want developers to use. And as an upcoming startup, we've got to really be creative in how we gain your attention, so here is what we're doing for PyCon 2012:

1. Demos at our PyCon Startup Row booth.

Thanks PyCon!

We've got a booth on Saturday. We've got banners and bright red track jackets. We're giving out handy API reference cards, as well as 10 different flavors of Oreo cookies (see our site for a complete list of every Oreo cookie flavor, by the way).

So stop on by, sign up for the BETA, have a cookie, and talk to us about our API. For that matter, feel free to talk to me or Audrey about the API any time you see us. We're wearing bright red jackets with 'Ask me about our API' on our back.

Speaking of the API, the next item on our plan is...


2. A big kickoff API contest.

We've put together the Consumer Notebook API, which lets you get product list and comparison data out of our site via a simple REST interface.

We're kicking off our PyCon 2012 API launch with an API contest.

You have from now until April 22 to find new and exciting ways to use our API. If you win we'll give you a Kindle Fire or equivalent gift certificate valid in your nation of origin.

API Contest Details

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3. We're hosting the Saturday night PyCon Capoeira Open Space

Want to see some awesome Capoeira moves? Want to learn some of the basics? Want to just have fun?

We've hired professional Hollywood stuntman and Capoeira instructor to the stars, Contra Mestre Xingu, to come up from Los Angeles to lead this event. In addition to appearing in movies, videos, and commercials, he's got first hand experience with snakes. In his own words:

Capoeira saved my life. What? How? Well it was a sunny afternoon, I was shooting a film in the Hollywood hills off Coldwater Canyon at a house. I was running back to set from the bathroom and out of nowhere a rattlesnake jumped up from the ground and tried to bite me. I quickly jumped out of the way and did a fast negative rolé away from the snake. Then I called the other people on set and we caught it. I really didn't think much of it afterwards until after the shoot. My friend told me the rattlesnake was a young one and I'm lucky I didn't get bitten. When a younger rattler bites you, it usually unloads all of it's venom in you because it cannot control the amount it releases.

-- Contra Mestre Xingu

Over 30 people have signed up up for this event, including Python core developers.

Details:

When: Saturday, 8pm - 10pm
What to bring: Camera!
What to bring if you are participating: Workout clothes, water bottle

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Location: The PyCon upstairs central open space


See you around!


Tags: python django OAuth api Consumer-Notebook pycon
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