5/15/2011 - Try my new app Magic Maps!

Tell me what you think: email me.


SOFTWARE
(RSS)
WRITINGS
(RSS)
For map nerds
  • Magic Maps – Easy-to-use mapping and analysis tool for Mac
For Chicago residents:
  • Police Radio Chicago – Listen to Chicago police dispatchers on your iPhone
  • Hyde Park Maps – Maps of crime, coffee, buses, more
For Erlang developers:
  • Chicago Boss – An Erlang web framework
  • ErlyDTL – Django's template language compiled to Erlang bytecode
  • Aleppo – Alternative Erlang Pre-Processor
For Nginx administrators:
  • mod_circle_gif – Serve round corners with colors specified in the URL. The original Nginx module!
  • mod_zip – Assemble ZIP archives on the fly. Originally developed for box.net in Palo Alto.
  • nginx_upstream_hash – A hashing load balancer.
  • mod_rrd_graph – Link RRDtool's graphing facilities directly into Nginx.
  • nginx.vim – Syntax highlighting for the world's best text editor.
For MediaWiki administrators:
  • Google Maps Extension – Embed and edit Google Maps in your wiki.

FREE IDEAS

If you implement any of these, please let me know!

SafeWalkTM for iPhone – Walking directions for the route where you're least likely to be mugged.

GroupBond – Groupon for small-business loans.

But Will It Last? – Bet on celebrity matches (actual and potential).

Magic Stats – A simple, visual statistics program that can plug into any database.

Proj4GPU – Perform map projection logic on the graphics card.

Library of Postcards – A giant digital archive of every postcard ever sent.

Garbage Intelligence (GI) – Scan municipal garbage trucks for RFID tags and figure out which products tend to break and which tend to last.

High-Performance Buildings (HPB) – Link employee productivity measures to environmental factors (light, noise, colors, humidity, etc.)

ChefRoulette – ChatRoulette for the kitchen.

Environmental Facts – Nutrition Facts for the planet.

apache2nginx – Convert Apache config files to Nginx. A sure path to open-source sainthood.

Applied math:
  • How Not To Sort By Average Rating – We all make mistakes.
  • Rank Hotness With Newton's Law of Cooling – A simple equation for showing what's fresh on a website.
  • How Not To Run An A/B Test – The hazards of repeated significance testing.
  • Holt-Winters Forecasting Applied to Poisson Processes in Real-Time (pdf) – Monitoring business metrics.
Economic analyses, proposals, prophecies:
  • A Simple Way To Prevent Bank Runs – The FDIC can be made obsolete.
  • Golden Footballs and the Economics of Groupon – Coupons are cool.
  • Is Groupon The Next Google? – Yes.
  • Deterministic Dynamic Programming: An Example With Cake (video for my students)
  • Finance For Founders – Basic concepts, nothing new.
Semi-personal reflections:
  • Premature Optimization and the Birth of Nginx Module Development
  • How I Read – A cautionary tale.
  • How To Become An Open-Source Contractor – Experiences developing some of the stuff you see on the left.
  • Unstructured Thoughts on Making Websites – A misspent youth.
Miscellaneous software notes:
  • Notes on Rendering 2D Graphics on a Mac – Picking the right tool for the job.
  • Functional Tests As A Tree Of Continuations – DRY applied to functional tests.
Miscellaneous B.S.:
  • Keynote '11 Application Icon Redesign – A modest proposal
  • Are These Your Socks? I Have Your Panties – An unsolved mystery
  • The Devil's Writing Admonitions – Words to use with care
Software references for Nginx developers:
  • Emiller's Guide to Nginx Module Development – The guide that started it all... somewhat dated.
  • Emiller's Advanced Topics In Nginx Module Development – The sequel.
Software references for Erlang developers:
  • Chicago Boss: A Rough Introduction – NEW A tutorial for the Erlang web framework.
  • The Joy of Erlang; Or, How To Ride A Toruk – A beginner's guide to Erlang.
  • Write a Template Compiler for Erlang – To my knowledge, no one has actually used this. But there's good stuff in here.

© 2011 Evan Miller – emmiller@gmail.com