The web server firmware opens up a ton of possibilities with CGI scripting. When booting up in AP mode, you can even connect the ESP8266 to another access point right from the your browser.

Eldon’s server farm is currently serving web pages here, running on three ESP8266 boards. Or it was before this posting reduced it to a smoking ruin (screenshot below just in case).

The ESP8266 tutorial on GitHub explains how to configure the virtual machine, install everything, compile the web server example, and flash the firmware. The following video simplifies the process by ...