In past jobs and bygone times I was mostly doing C/C++ work on various Linux platforms. Projects involved embedded network projects on both ARM platforms and Intel i386 to userland projects on wireless web pads (10 years before the iPad mind you). Even further back in the 90s I worked on antivirus shareware software for Commodore Amiga. Now I'm focusing on web, mobile and emerging platforms.
I consider myself a kind of painter.
Ideas I've had for websites or applications have fueled my learning. I build them partly because I can't help myself if I feel I have a good idea, and partly for keeping me up-to-date with new technologies. I have more personal projects under my belt than I than count. Some of the previously public but now defunct projects are a multi-user RSS/Atom news reader and a lyrics/wiki community mashup site.
Below is a list of personal projects which are still online.
Setlisting
Setlisting is the one of the best sites around if you're looking for setlists from your favourite artists (a setlist is simply a list of which songs an artist performed at a concert).
Visit Setlisting.
Shared Playlists
Shared Playlists is a site for users of music streaming applications such as Spotify to share playlists and discover new music. It can integrate with a users last.fm account and give the user recommendations for new music.
Visit Shared Playlists.
Screenah
I love movies but often I would watch a trailer and forget everything about wanting to watch the movie when the movie came out. Screenah solves this problem by giving the user the ability to say yes/no to movies based on the trailer.
Visit Screenah.