Speaking of Netflix, I’m receiving word from my inside sources that Netflix is planning to roll out a developer API tomorrow, October 1! I played around with a bit of the data from their Netflix Prize contest, and they’ve got some good stuff. And the best part? It’s licensed for commercial use! You know what that means – the race is on to get your unofficial Netflix app up on your favorite platform. Unfortunately I’ve got a couple of meetings tomorrow, so I’ll be a good blogger and throw out a few of my initial ideas. Note to any devs with a little time on their hands – this is a great chance to be one of the first apps to take advantage of this bountiful gift from the API gods.
RST Video.
The idea is to create a very basic app that can help people decide what movie to pick at the local video store. Here are a few quick features:
- Search on a movie title to get ratings and basic plot information
- Lists of top-rated movies from various genres (Top 10 80’s flicks, Best Classic Movies, etc..)
- Ability to scan the barcode of a video and see if it’s available via “Watch Now” (but if it’s an indie video store, at least buy some popcorn and candy)
Stick It In Your Queue.
This is a simple social network app where you can suggest movies for people to add to their Netflix queues. Visitors could search and add movies to your virtual queue, and if you like any titles that your friends have added, you could click a button and add it to your real queue. Thanks to Ralph and Ben for the inspiration on this one.
MoviePhone
Forget filling out long profiles on traditional dating sites. The MoviePhone dating app makes matches based on movies that you’ve watched recently and ratings that you’ve given to recent movies. The site scans across all active users to find the most compatible matches within your area. Users can choose which people they’d be interested in meeting, and if two people mutually decide they’re interested in each other, the site would show a phone number you could call to contact your match for a date. Bonus feature – along with the number, the site could suggest a romantic movie that both users would be interested in.
Had a chance to try out the API? Post your first impressions in the comments below.
A Startup A Day 