Whapow! Blog

I was killing some time late last night browsing Facebook after doing a load of work when I noticed an ad for a programming contest. Intrigued, I took a look and thought it was pretty interesting. The only problem is the deadline was in less than three days, so on a whim, I whipped up a webapp and entered the contest!

I present to you:

What is it? It’s an interactive map of all the major reported crime in DC from the past three years (which is a rather scary amount; there are nearly 100,000 entries in the database!). Unlike other boring crime maps, though, you can enter in a specific address and search a radius of 0.1 to 10 miles around that area for any time period in the past three years. Plus, you can sign up to receive daily alerts of new reported crime for any given area. The webapp updates itself daily with crime data handily made available for free by the DC government.

Please take a look! I put in about twelve hours straight today and sacrificed a night of sleep to get it done. In fact, I put in many more hours than I expected due to a wonky PHP bug that was throwing off my great circle calculations.

And if you like the webapp, then please go vote for me at http://www.appsfordemocracy.org/stay-safe-dc/. The more votes I get, the better chance I have of winning the People’s Choice Awards!

I’d enter a second app, but I just don’t think I have the time over the next two days to code up another! So go vote for the only one I’ve got!

Whapow! LLC is still around! I’ve just been too busy to work on my own projects recently, but I’ve been able to devote the past couple days to working on this new website: Track and Buy.

What is it? Well, it keeps track of Amazon.com price data, so you can view historical data (up to two days worth right now; this will of course grow over time) to help you make decisions on when to buy an item. I’ve added the top ten bestsellers from all of the top-level categories and have been testing it with some random wish lists.

Please test it out and add lots of items to the database! The easiest way is by simply adding your wish list. You can then subscribe to the items via RSS. I’ll add an email feature shortly. I’m just afraid of blowing over email quotas at the moment.

If you have any ideas about how to make Track and Buy better, then please let me know! And if you spot any bugs (I’m sure there are many), then definitely let me know! Thanks!

Mostly for the fun of it, Whapow! just acquired GarlicFingers.com. Go learn a bit about our friends up north and try out the recipes!

Do you need a nice PowerPoint layout? Well, then, have we got the site for you! Whapow! LLC has just acquired Myprizo, a site with 78 very nice PowerPoint layouts. 31 are free while 47 cost only $2.99.

For the near future, business will generally continue as usual, though I’m planning on dropping the custom template design, adding more templates and layouts, and possibly making all of them free. However, those changes are far down the line, as I’m currently busy with other things, so do enjoy the site the way it is now!

And as always, if you have any opinions on how to change the site, I’m all ears.

On a whim, I bought the domain name nintendont.com along with the website content. What’ll happen to it? I don’t know yet. For now, it’ll remain as it was until I make a decision. Any and all ideas are welcome!

Looking back, I haven’t really donated as much money and time as I would have liked to truly worthy causes. Sure, I volunteer for the occasional beer fest and random things here and there, but who is that really helping?

As a result, I’ve decided to start lending money through Kiva. 5% of all profits here at Whapow! will go towards 0% loans or donations to Kiva itself. I’ve kicked off the funding with 5% of gross proceeds thus far less transaction costs.

I heard of Kiva a while ago soon after Prosper hit the scene and really like their concept. Unlike traditional donations where you give money to some behemoth non-profit that then fritters away up to 90% of your original donation on ridiculous administrative costs, 100% of your money goes straight to the intended recipient. This money is loaned at 0% interest to individual entrepreneurs in developing nations to help them “lift themselves out of poverty”. Over time, the loan is repaid, and the money can be reused for whatever you want, including loaning it to another person.

You can loan for as little as $25 using PayPal, which generously processes all Kiva payments without fees.

I’m excited for the first four loans I made and can’t wait to make more! Care to join me?