Extra Future

Hi, I’m Phil Nelson, a writer, developer, and audio-visual maker of stuff. I have been making stuff online for over 25 years. I run RetroStrange and Set Side B. Good to see you.

Blog Archives

Month: August 2010

  • Vanilla Forums 2.0

    [The smoothest forum package][link] you’ll find right now [hits version 2.0][announce] (finally). I missed this when it happened on July 21st, but better late than never.

    [link]: http://vanillaforums.org/ “Vanilla – Free, Open-Source Forum Software”
    [announce]: http://vanillaforums.org/blog/vanilla-2-released/ “Vanilla 2 is announced on the blog”

  • “Lost” Rod Serling Interview From 1970

    Serling interviewed by University of Kansas professor James Gunn. Part 1 and Part 2.

    This video was to be part of the professor’s film series “Science Fiction in Literature,” but was not included due to rights issues with Serling’s work. Blame CBS. Via SF Signal.

  • Venture Bros. Season 4 Part 2 Premieres Sept. 12th

    [Straight from Jackson’s blogmouth][link], with a bonus list of the upcoming episode titles and a nice collage of screen-grabs.

    [link]: http://jacksonpublick.livejournal.com/29389.html “Publick Nuisance – Nocturnal Emission”

  • My Predictions For The September 1st Apple Event

    I agree with almost everything [Jesper of Waffle Software][link] has said on his blog in the past. This is no different.

    * Huge capacity iPod Touch (128gb?) with FaceTime-enabled cameras, iPhone 4 guts, and Retina.
    * Goodbye iPod Classic.
    * The Shuffle goes away, and in it’s place there is now an iPod Nano at the $99 price point, right in between the old Shuffle ($49) and the current Nano ($149). I doubt Steve will actually kill the Shuffle on stage, but it will quietly be taken off the store, lead to a remote field and abandoned to rot with its ancestors.
    * Newly-christened iTV Developer Program
    * TV Show Rentals for $0.99
    * Wifi Syncing for iOS devices
    * Streaming content from the iTunes Store (like, say, the aforementioned TV rentals.)

    I’m not super sure about the Shuffle. The $49 price point is part of why the Shuffle exists in the first place, but I don’t know a single person who owns one. The primary market seems to be children whose parents wish to reward for less than $100, or people who work out and are afraid of breaking their iPod Touch or Nano. The price point is hard to argue with , though, as a gateway to the larger (more expensive) Apple ecosystem.

    Wouldn’t it be something if the Nano got Facetime?

    [link]: http://waffle.wootest.net/2010/08/29/forecasting-the-first/ “Waffle: Forecasting The First”

  • Yet Another Box2D Javascript Port

    [Being an optimized version][link] of the [original Box2d-JS port][orig], which is based on Box2d 1.4. Does your head hurt yet?

    This version depends on jQuery instead of Prototype, and uses SVG instead of the Canvas tag. [Check out the demo.][demo]

    [link]: http://github.com/hrj/box2d-js “hrj’s box2d-js at master – GitHub”
    [demo]: http://lavadip.com/box2d_demo/index.html “Box2d Demo”
    [orig]: http://box2d-js.sourceforge.net/ “Original Box2d Port”

  • box2dweb – Another Box2dFlash Port for Javascript

    [This one uses the even newer Box2d 2.1.][link] It, [like the previously mentioned port][prev], is extremely short on documentation aside from the standard Box2d docs.

    [link]: http://code.google.com/p/box2dweb/ “box2dweb – Project Hosting on Google Code”
    [prev]: http://extrafuture.com/2010/08/28/box2dflash-2-0-javascript-port/ “Previously mentioned Box2d Flash 2.0 Javascript Port”

  • Box2Dflash 2.0 Javascript Port

    [An (automated) port of Box2dflash 2.0][link], which is a bit slower than the older (and dead) [Box2D 1.4 JS port][14], but is less complicated to use and has fewer dependencies.

    [It has a Github, too.][git]

    [link]: http://29a.ch/2010/4/17/box2d-2-flash-ported-javascript “Box2Dflash Version 2.0 ported Javascript — 29a.ch – Jonas Wagner’s Blog”
    [git]: http://github.com/jwagner/box2d2-js “Box2d2-js on Github”
    [14]: http://box2d-js.sourceforge.net/ “Box2dJS 1.4”

  • Patent-Trolling “Intellectual Ventures” Using Over 1,000 Shell Companies

    [Possibly the worst patent trolls ever.][link] Their business model is to threaten companies into paying them for use of their (often dubious) patents, using shell companies so the action can’t be traced back to them.

    Just so we’re clear on Extra Future’s position: Intellectual Ventures is a jackass company run by jackasses. The fact that it exists is an indictment of the problems with the US patent system.

    [link]: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100217/1853298215.shtml “Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures Using Over 1,000 Shell Companies To Hide Patent Shakedown | Techdirt”

  • Custom Sixth Scale Rod Serling Action Figure

    [Costing $55 for the unpainted head of Mr. Serling][link], I wish I had the kitbashing skills an the cash to buy this little guy and have him sit on my desk, silently judging me. This guy used the body of a Cigarette Smoking Man figure, which looks great, but a blue shirt and red tie? Rod wouldn’t have been caught dead on TV in anything but a black tie and a white shirt.

    [link]: http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_112108a.htm “custom Twilight Zone sixth scale Rod Serling action figure – Another Pop Culture Collectible Review by Michael Crawford, Captain Toy”

  • Quirksmode: Introduction to Range

    [A useful overview of Ranges in an HTML Document][link], with examples for (of import to myself) getting the text a user has selected so you can do stuff with it.

    Of note: None of the examples here seem to work on iOS WebKit.

    [link]: http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/range_intro.html “Introduction to Range”