Spring Cleaned

Extrafuture.com got “a new paint of coat,” today and I am using one of the (very easy-reading) default WordPress templates until I get the gumption to create my own again.

I keep wanting to post things here but it feels like the world has changed around this slice of the internet. The silos just keep getting bigger and more closed off. I am going to try to “go back” which of course always works out well for everybody.

Even discussing this makes me feel incredibly old. Maybe the indie web still exists. I guess there is only one way to find out…

Divergent League Baseball now has a podcast called Divergent League Update

1993 Divergent League Update Podcast Art

Two of the things I’ve wanted to do since day one with Divergent League are coming true this season: Season Tickets (coming soon) and Divergent League Update, our weekly podcast. It’ll have stats, standings, and occasional talk about how our season is different than “real life.”

This first update is a short one, at just 2 minutes. In the future you can expect to find interviews with league owners, polls, and more. As always, thanks to the owners and my Patrons for supporting Divergent League. You can too!

You can get the feed in your preferred podcatcher, as I’ve submitted it to Apple, Google, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Where To Find Phil Nelson Online, December 2020 Edition

I cannot believe it is actually December 2020. The 6th, even. Time flies. Fruit flies. Something something. Here are all of the places I’m actively hanging out and doing stuff online these days in one handy place.

  • My Patreon, where you can support me directly each month and get exclusive content and early access to stuff
  • My newsletter on Substack is where you can subscribe for free (or $5/mo) and support me while getting a little more personal view on things than I post elsewhere, sent out every Thursday.
  • My Twitch where I sometimes stream video games, sometimes in VR, and we do RetroStrange Movie Night on every other Saturday night
  • Discord: I’m philnelson#1094
  • My Thingiverse account, where I post my 3D printable models
  • Extra Future, this place here, my blog since 2008 or so, where I announce and release things
  • My Itch account, where all of my (pay if you can / free) video games are hosted including the recently-released Chipping Challenge plus old experiments like Duck Jumper, Rassler, and Haunted Floating Eye
  • I am @philnelson on Twitter
  • My YouTube where I upload the intros to every Movie Night and some additional content
  • My LinkedIn which I don’t really use, but when I do, I mostly boost cool VR/AR stuff.

Ongoing Projects I Run

I’m Available For Freelance Work Again

Having run the $1,350,000 campaign for OpenCV AI Kit, I am now stepping away from that project while they focus on computer vision development, manufacturing and fulfillment. They’ve got a big job ahead of them and I wish them the best of luck.

This means I’m available for freelance again, after several months of that project taking all my time.

My dance card is filling up rapidly, I guess that happens when you raise a million dollars, but I still have space for projects in the realm of 1-2 weeks of work. If you need video production and editing, voiceovers, UI/UX design, web development and infrastructure consulting, or have some other wacky idea- hit me up by emailing phil @ this domain name.

The 1977 Divergent League Baseball Postseason is here!

I haven’t talked about much about Divergent League (What is Divergent League?), the atemporal fantasy sports thing I run, here. My Patreon is usually kept up to date, but let’s get some cross-posting going on. Marketing 101.

The 1977 postseason has begun, and the White Sox, Yankees, Reds, and Pirates are vying for the coveted Bip Roberts Memorial Cup Even Though He’s Still Alive. We’re streaming games live every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 3:30pm PDT on Twitch. Join us!

Introducing The OpenCV AI Kit

For the last several months I’ve been helping OpenCV ready their biggest launch ever, and today it’s here. The OpenCV AI Kit is now available on Kickstarter.

A Spatial AI platform so small, it’s going to be huge.

The best press mention so far has been Devin Coldewey’s piece for TechCrunch: OpenCV AI Kit aims to do for computer vision what Raspberry Pi did for hobbyist hardware

The campaign has been up for a little over 4 hours, and we’ve passed 500 backers, smashed our goal, and are about to cross the $100,000 mark.

New Work: Introducing megaAI, a 4k 60fps AI camera – Now on CrowdSupply

The last month or so I’ve been working with a new computer vision / AI startup, Luxonis. megaAI is the first project we’ve worked on together. I named it, designed the logo, wrote a lot of the copy, and wrote/shot/edited/narrated the launched video. It’s a tiny but powerful camera built for Raspberry Pi and other embedded / low power situations.

Get one: You can get your own megaAI on CrowdSupply right now for $169.

7 Years On

I’ve been laid off by Occipital after 7 years and 2 months of 8:30am to 6:30pm days. I didn’t see it coming and it genuinely hurts. I’ve got a little money, but not much. Until the next thing comes around, let’s do some of the stuff we used to:

You can find me streaming RimWorld, Fire Pro, and other stuff on Twitch

I’m still posting too much on Twitter

If you’d like to help me directly, you can join my Patreon for a buck and help me pay my rent / eat food while I work on my indie games, apps, etc.

You can, of course, also hire me to design beautiful, usable, apps, websites, and games for you. Hit me up on LinkedIn or send me an email.

Rassler release 13 is now available

Release 13 of my doomed video game project, Rassler, is now available for download. The dev log has more details:

First and most notably: The Rassler title screen and wrestler / territory select screens have music now! I made it. It’s probably fine? I also created and added a little punch sound effect when you start a new game. You can stream / download the new theme on SoundCloud

Rassler is a pay-what-you-can game. Pay-what-you-can means you can download Rassler for free, or if you’ve got the money, you can buy it.

Bridgesketball, a mixed reality basketball game you can play anywhere

I’ve been working off and on for the last several months on a new project for the Bridge headset, which I’m calling Bridgesketball. It’s a mixed reality basketball game. You can put up a backboard practically anywhere and shoot hoops.

So I’ve promoted Bridgesketball to Project status here on Extra Future Dot Com. The last thing I did this for was la petite url (a custom URL shortener which got broken by some WordPress update or other and no longer works, sorry sorry) so… good luck, Bridgesketball. You’ll find a preview video on the Bridgesketball page as well as a slightly more thorough description, and I’ll add more stuff later. Promise.

The Best Third-Party Carrying Case for the Bridge Mixed Reality Headset

Bridge logo spray-painted on the new hard case. Naturally, I had to customize it a bit.

TL;DR: This is the best case for Bridge


If you work on mixed reality games & experiences for the Bridge headset like I do you might sometimes (ironically, for a super-portable headset like Bridge) have a bit of trouble with getting your headset from point A to point B. The box that Bridge comes in is a great way to store the device when it’s not being used but it’s a little clunky for everyday carry.

Criteria

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying out several different commodity hard cases, using the loose criteria of:

  • Does it securely fit the headset?
  • Does it have room for the charging cables, controller, or other small accessories?
  • Would it stand up to my daily San Francisco commute?
  • Can it be had for under $50?

The Winner

After trying several cases that failed in one way or another (it’s especially hard to find something with the right height), the “Khanka Hard Case Travel Bag for Sony PlayStation 4 VR (PSVR) Headset and Accessories” is the best so far.

It safely and securely fits the Bridge headset, controller, cables, and even the lens spacers in the included bag. I re-purposed the lens bag the case came with as a shroud for the Structure Sensor and Wide Vision Lens while in transit, and there’s even just enough room for an external battery if you’re into that. You’ll have to bring your own padding. I used the thick foam that came in my Bridge box, but any foam or egg crate should work just fine.