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: October 2012

  • The Magazine

    [A new subscription-based digital magazine][link] from Marco Arment of Instapaper. Really looking forward to seeing where this goes. How can you not love a guy who not only understands this:

    >Usually, things are done the way they’re done for good reasons. But sometimes, they’re only done that way because nobody has questioned it recently.

    … but is also willing to put his money where his philosophy is.

    [link]: http://the-magazine.org/1/foreword “The Magazine”

  • SmoothLifeL

    [A crazy version][link] of [Conway’s Game Of Life][con] using floating point numbers instead of integers. The results are disturbingly organic-looking. Could be images from a blurry microscope.

    [link]: http://www.jwz.org/blog/2012/10/smoothlifel/ “SmoothLifeL | jwz”
    [con]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway’s_Game_of_Life “Conway’s Game Of Life”

  • Drawing with text

    [Click & drag your mouse to “draw” with a given set of text][link]. I could see this being used to make some really cool JS-based generative art.

    The demo explains it better than I can, and you really should check it out. This is a tool you should have in your utility belt.

    [link]: http://codepen.io/tholman/pen/qCnfB “Drawing with text · CodePen”

  • WebPlatform Docs

    [A new initiative from the W3C:][link]

    >Web Platform Docs is a new community-driven site that aims to become a comprehensive and authoritative source for web developer documentation.

    [link]: http://docs.webplatform.org/wiki/Main_Page “WebPlatform Docs”