I am an early-thirties, technically-driven individual who is proactive and responsible, with a track record of producing high quality results.
I rely on my rational judgement and risk-assessment experience to guide and contribute seamlessly within team environments.
I trained academically at the University of Waterloo, receiving a honors BASc and MASc, as well as interning at several companies within North America. In the past I lead development of customer-driven features within the developer tools of IBM Message Broker and Android development at Echoworx. Currently, I am building interesting ideas at the Samsung Accelerator. I also build Android and web apps for fun.
I have a couple of life-long tendencies: a curiosity in understanding how and why things work, the generation and collection of data for analysis and reflection, an enjoyment of minimalist design & aesthetic, and emotional projection through music.
I trained academically at the University of Waterloo, receiving a honors BASc and MASc, as well as interning at several companies within North America. In the past I lead development of customer-driven features within the developer tools of IBM Message Broker and Android development at Echoworx. Currently, I am building interesting ideas at the Samsung Accelerator. I also build Android and web apps for fun.
I have a couple of life-long tendencies: a curiosity in understanding how and why things work, the generation and collection of data for analysis and reflection, an enjoyment of minimalist design & aesthetic, and emotional projection through music.
Current Projects
I have always had a knack for observation and identifying points of improvement, then finding out a solution and driving the idea to fruition. Here are several projects that I have developed and am still actively working on.
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I have always had a knack for observation and identifying points of improvement, then finding out a solution and driving the idea to fruition. Here are several projects that I have developed and am still actively working on.
Condado - An unofficial implementation of San Juan
Condado is a fan-created implementation of the board and card game San Juan for Android OS. Working alone, I implemented the entire game (including 2 expansion sets) from scratch, including the game engine and various AI opponents employing different strategies. Condado has been highly rated on the Android Marketplace, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 from over 350 reviews. It has also been downloaded over 17,000 times.
DidTheLeafsWin?
I was frustrated that there was no way to receive a simple push notification with the final score of a Toronto Maple Leafs game. To solve this problem, I created a cron script which would parse the Leafs score and use the Twitter API to post the result shortly after the game completes. The framework is flexible to support other teams in other sports, but is currently only setup for the Leafs (@DidTheLeafsWin) as I don't follow any other teams (following the Leafs is painful enough).
Free iTunes Downloads
Free iTunes Downloads is my very successful attempt at niche blogging. I built a huge following by providing a simple service that addressed a need in the marketplace; providing users with easy ways to find (legal) free downloads from the Apple iTunes store. Currently I have over 65,000 RSS subscribers, 1300+ Twitter followers (@FreeiTunesStuff), 3000+ fans on my Facebook application page, and 2 deleted Facebook pages (with 8000+ and 4000+ fans).
FiD has spawned and outlasted many competitors including http://itsfreedownloads.com/, http://www.myfreetunesdownloads.com/, and Free iTunes Music. It was also featured as Blogger's Blog of Note on October 16, 2006.
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Past Projects
In the past, I've had to make the painful decision to wind down a project that I had spearheaded due to time committment and shifting priorities. Here are some of the interesting projects that I have thought up and implemented over the last few years.
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In the past, I've had to make the painful decision to wind down a project that I had spearheaded due to time committment and shifting priorities. Here are some of the interesting projects that I have thought up and implemented over the last few years.
Foursquare Finder - http://www.kevinquan.com/foursquare/finder/
Foursquare Finder was an experiment in using HTML5 geolocation to pinpoint a user's location and to use that information to return Foursquare venues that were nearby. Users can further filter their results using search terms and quickly check-in to their current location. Foursquare Finder uses AJAX technologies for refreshing, and the backend is provided by the Foursquare API.
Foursquare Finder was an experiment in using HTML5 geolocation to pinpoint a user's location and to use that information to return Foursquare venues that were nearby. Users can further filter their results using search terms and quickly check-in to their current location. Foursquare Finder uses AJAX technologies for refreshing, and the backend is provided by the Foursquare API.
Gas Up - http://www.kevinquan.com/gas/
Gas Up began because I wanted a simple and quick interface to query the gas price in the greater Toronto region from my mobile phone. This evolved into reporting the next day's gas prices in over 10 Canadian cities, several Twitter bots (e.g. @GasUpToronto), and a JSON service supporting a native Android app I wrote named Gas Up Eh?.
Gas Up began because I wanted a simple and quick interface to query the gas price in the greater Toronto region from my mobile phone. This evolved into reporting the next day's gas prices in over 10 Canadian cities, several Twitter bots (e.g. @GasUpToronto), and a JSON service supporting a native Android app I wrote named Gas Up Eh?.
VIVA Next Bus - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kevinquan.viva
Viva Next Bus was an Android app that tells you, on demand, when the next buses are departing from the bus stops that you select. While there was no public API to the VIVA bus schedule, the times are retrieved in real-time from the VIVA trip planner to reflect any actual delays from the scheduled times.
Viva Next Bus was an Android app that tells you, on demand, when the next buses are departing from the bus stops that you select. While there was no public API to the VIVA bus schedule, the times are retrieved in real-time from the VIVA trip planner to reflect any actual delays from the scheduled times.
Urban Dead for Android - http://market.android.com/details?id=com.kevinquan.urbandead
Urban Dead for Android is an Android client to play the web-based MMORPG Urban Dead. This Android game was a technical preview to prove the feasibility of creating a native Android front-end using screen-scraping. Even though the functionality was limited, it targetted a clear niche and accumulated over 10,000 downloads in a few months!
Urban Dead for Android is an Android client to play the web-based MMORPG Urban Dead. This Android game was a technical preview to prove the feasibility of creating a native Android front-end using screen-scraping. Even though the functionality was limited, it targetted a clear niche and accumulated over 10,000 downloads in a few months!
Foursquare Badges - http://apps.facebook.com/foursquarebadges/
Foursquare Badges was a Facebook application that displayed the Foursquare badges that a user had earned on their Facebook profile. This application uses OAuth and the Foursquare API to retrieve the user's data and integrated with the Facebook API.
Launched in the last week of April 2010, it reached 300 users and 15 fans before the end of the month. As of November 2010, it had over 13,000 monthly users. Unfortunately in November 2010, Facebook removed the ability for third-party applications to add tabs onto profiles which limited the utility of Foursquare Badges and the app is no longer supported.
Foursquare Badges was a Facebook application that displayed the Foursquare badges that a user had earned on their Facebook profile. This application uses OAuth and the Foursquare API to retrieve the user's data and integrated with the Facebook API.
Launched in the last week of April 2010, it reached 300 users and 15 fans before the end of the month. As of November 2010, it had over 13,000 monthly users. Unfortunately in November 2010, Facebook removed the ability for third-party applications to add tabs onto profiles which limited the utility of Foursquare Badges and the app is no longer supported.
Yummy Chinese - http://market.android.com/details?id=com.kevinquan.yummy
Yummy Chinese is an approach to learning common Chinese characters related to food packaged in an Android application. A typical flashcard approach is combined with a recurring rewards system to act as an incentive to continue learning and remembering Chinese. The entire application, aside from graphics, was implemented within a weekend.
Yummy Chinese is an approach to learning common Chinese characters related to food packaged in an Android application. A typical flashcard approach is combined with a recurring rewards system to act as an incentive to continue learning and remembering Chinese. The entire application, aside from graphics, was implemented within a weekend.
Tweet Followers - http://market.android.com/details?id=com.kevinquan.twitter.followers
Tweet Followers is an Android home screen widget that displays the number of followers a Twitter user currently has. The widget is refreshed, using the Twitter REST API on an interval specified by the user.
Tweet Followers is an Android home screen widget that displays the number of followers a Twitter user currently has. The widget is refreshed, using the Twitter REST API on an interval specified by the user.
Winterlicious '10 Map - http://www.kevinquan.com/winterlicious10-map/
I created a Google Maps mashup which plotted the location, and showed the details of the restaurants participating in the 2010 edition of Winterlicious. My motivation to do this came from a need to visualize the Winterlicious offerings by price and vicinity which the official Toronto website did not provide.
My Google Map was picked up and featured in Torontoist, BlogTO and Sweetspot.ca
I created a Google Maps mashup which plotted the location, and showed the details of the restaurants participating in the 2010 edition of Winterlicious. My motivation to do this came from a need to visualize the Winterlicious offerings by price and vicinity which the official Toronto website did not provide.
My Google Map was picked up and featured in Torontoist, BlogTO and Sweetspot.ca
GTA Traffic Flow - http://www.kevinquan.com/traffic/
The MTO provides a great service by publishing data of the traffic flow along the 400 series highways in Southern Ontario. However, the data is not formatted or visualized in a method suitable for mobile phones. I wrote scripts to parse the government's data and built a small site that visualizes Toronto's traffic flow data in a manner that is quickly accessible and usuable for handheld portable devices. In January of 2010, the MTO stopped publishing the data feed used to power this site.
The MTO provides a great service by publishing data of the traffic flow along the 400 series highways in Southern Ontario. However, the data is not formatted or visualized in a method suitable for mobile phones. I wrote scripts to parse the government's data and built a small site that visualizes Toronto's traffic flow data in a manner that is quickly accessible and usuable for handheld portable devices. In January of 2010, the MTO stopped publishing the data feed used to power this site.
orangefever - http://www.orangefever.net/
I started blogging in 2000, and gradually wrote my own blogging software running on a MySQL backend with comments, archiving and syndication. In 2009, I exported my archive of blogs and started using publicly available blogging software.
I started blogging in 2000, and gradually wrote my own blogging software running on a MySQL backend with comments, archiving and syndication. In 2009, I exported my archive of blogs and started using publicly available blogging software.
Coop Rankings - http://www.cooprankings.com/
In 2003, I co-founded Coop Rankings, a student-oriented community dedicated to providing students with the necessary information to make informed decisions for Coop and internship programs. In March 2009, Coop Rankings merged with InternSHARE.
Review Coop Rankings on archive.org
In 2003, I co-founded Coop Rankings, a student-oriented community dedicated to providing students with the necessary information to make informed decisions for Coop and internship programs. In March 2009, Coop Rankings merged with InternSHARE.
Review Coop Rankings on archive.org
InternSHARE - http://www.internshare.com/
InternSHARE was the merging of the two major student-oriented sites for coop and internship reviews in Canada. We received favourable press after the merger including being written about in TechCrunch.
InternSHARE was the merging of the two major student-oriented sites for coop and internship reviews in Canada. We received favourable press after the merger including being written about in TechCrunch.
PhotoQuickies - http://www.photoquickies.com/
I created PhotoQuickies in order to share my tricks, tips, & gotchas while pursuing my photography hobby. This was my first foray into niche blogging and was not as successful as I had hoped. PhotoQuickies was shuttered in 2008.
Browse PhotoQuickies on archive.org
I created PhotoQuickies in order to share my tricks, tips, & gotchas while pursuing my photography hobby. This was my first foray into niche blogging and was not as successful as I had hoped. PhotoQuickies was shuttered in 2008.
Browse PhotoQuickies on archive.org
Talk To You Soon - http://www.talktoyousoon.com/
I created Talk To You Soon as a means to track my graduating friends' current contact info and to quickly notify your friends of any change in yours. TTYS was closed in 2006, a few years after opening, due to larger services within the same space from sites such as Plaxo.
View Talk To You Soon on archive.org.
I created Talk To You Soon as a means to track my graduating friends' current contact info and to quickly notify your friends of any change in yours. TTYS was closed in 2006, a few years after opening, due to larger services within the same space from sites such as Plaxo.
View Talk To You Soon on archive.org.
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Patents
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- K. Quan, V. Birsan, M. Litolu, P. A. S. Ward. Method for Solving Application Failures using Social Collaboration. US Patent 7904403. Mar 8, 2011 (View)
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K. Quan, G. Taylor, S. Kalia. Method, System and Computer Program Product for Maintaining Synchronization of Files. US Patent 7761415. July 20, 2010.
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K. Quan, A. Chan, Z. Chen, I. Godil. Selective Delta Validation of a Shared Artifact. US Patent Application 12732502. Filed March 26, 2010.
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K. Quan, A. Leung, J. Mourra, C. L. Parsons, C. Su, G. Taylor, H. Tsuji. Optimizing the Storage of One-to-Many External References to Contiguous Regions of Hierarchical Data Structures. US Patent Application 12839005. Filed July 19, 2010.
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- K. Quan. Using the new Applications and Libraries feature in WebSphere Message Broker V8. IBM Developerworks. Published December 21, 2011 (on Developerworks)
- S. Kalia, K. Quan. Impact analysis in WebSphere Message Broker V7. IBM Developerworks. Published June 30, 2010 (on Developerworks)
- K Quan, Y Chung, D Emond, S Kalia. Method and System for Distributing Non-Modifiable Files Across Heterogeneous Environments. IP.com Prior Art Database. DocumentID: IPCOM000199644D. Published September 2010. (on IP.com)
- K Quan, I Godl, S Nagchowdhury, A Martens, D Lee. Pattern for Designing Binding-Agnostic Processing Elements. IP.com Prior Art Database. DocumentID: IPCOM000188282D. Published September 2009. (on IP.com)
- Mohammad A. Munawar and Kevin Quan and Paul A.S. Ward. Interaction Analysis of Heterogeneous Monitoring Data for Autonomic Problem Determination. AINA Workshops (2), pp. 536-542, IEEE Computer Society, 2007. (on ACM)
- Mohammad A. Munawar and Paul A.S. Ward. Adaptive Monitoring in Enterprise Software Systems. In SIGMETRICS 2006 Workshop on Tackling Computer Systems Problems with Machine Learning Techniques (SysML)., 2006 (presented in lieu of authors)
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