Noonhat is a simple Django web app that lets people find someone to have lunch with. It provides an opportunity to meet someone who has different opinions than you. To use it enter your email address, a date for having lunch, and you adjust the radius overlay on a Google Map to show how far you’re willing to travel. The morning of your lunch you’ll be sent a mail that introduces you to two other noonhatters; the rest is up to you.
Its creator, Brian Dorsey, spoke about it at both Ignite Seattle and Gnomedex. It really resonated with both crowds. The sign-ups after Ignite equalled the previous month. Noonhat was initially Seattle only, but the service is now available nationally.
A large part of Brian’s talk is devoted to just how easy it was for him to make the app. Despite this being his first Django project, he was able to build Noonhat in about fifty hours. He used WordPress for his blog and of course Google Maps to handle the geo aspect. He’s spent $15 on hosting and $20 on a Noonhat t-shirt. It’s really as simple as it could be and it works for just that reason.