Intro
Is it just me or are the years starting to fly by?
At first, I thought it was the new normal in post-pandemic life. Plenty of people told me something along the lines, “the pandemic altered time itself!” Which, while obviously not true, at least gave me a little bit of comfort – I wasn’t the only one experiencing this new condensed timeline.
But now, I’m convinced it’s just a symptom of growth. My mom warned me of ‘time flying by’ with age, and now being in my late-20s, I reckon I’m entering my grown-up era. Terrabyte is still a fledgling company, but in a lot of ways, I think it’s at this same cusp. We’re seeking funding to build bigger things faster, we’re working on business plans and grant applications, we’re networking across the Omaha sustainability landscape… And with these processes, the time is only going faster and faster. My company and I are both growing and evolving – so even though it’s sad that it feels like I’m constantly running out of time to build all the dreams I have for Terrabyte, it’s a beautiful thing that I’m able to even do them in the first place.
So, what are these projects you have been able to work on? Well, let me tell you.
Webstore Expansion
We’ve finally added some substantial items to the webstore! We’ve been adding some things covertly over the past few months, but today, we’re launching the most exciting one.
For a while, I’ve had the idea to turn thrifted blank shirts into merch – because why would a green tech company want to contribute to the fast fashion crisis at hand? We’ve taken some time to get comfortable with the process (eco-based fabric paint and stencils), so now, we’re taking the plunge. Everything came together further once we decided what the graphic would be. Something simple, something recognizable, something to communicate the environment. What about, a pixel tree…
Pinekeepers
Yes, Pinekeepers is back on! While never canceled, being shelved for a couple of years is never a promising sign. We had to do what we had to do at the time (time is of the essence, am I right), but I’m really looking forward to taking some time now to revisit the game. It’s much too early to say when the beta will be playable BUT just know that I want it to be sooner than later. We’ll build it with the same techstack as Wasted Space, so it’ll be cool to have two games with a similar look and feel.
There’s a lot to be excited about (I know I am)! You can support development by getting yourself an upcycled pixel tree shirt (or if you’re a developer, reach out to see if you can help that way ;).
Pixel Peeps (via Patreon)
We’ve been looking at Patreon as a viable option to raise a little bit of money for a while, but it never seemed like the right move. I’ve been overwhelmed with my workload for some time, how could I shell out even more time to create even more content on a recurring basis? That was until I had the urge to just start small and at least try it.
So here it is: become a Pixel Peep (AKA join the wallpaper fan club) for just $2 a month to receive an environmental pixel-art wallpaper monthly! These wallpapers will be exclusive to Patreon (maybe at a later date they’ll come to the webstore, but not any time soon) and will either explore a Pixel Planet Today post topic, environmental issue, or other byte-sized window to the natural world. Wallpapers will also be provided in mobile and desktop sizes. Subscribe for a full year and you’ll get some extra Pixel goodies!
byteOS: Notes
Going from the bigger projects to one of the smaller ones – byteOS: Notes needs some love, I’m well aware. 😂 We initially made the app to keep our place in the Play Store (Wasted Space simply MUST come to mobile), but it’s got some bugs. We recently pushed some updates, but more updates like auto-saving and note management are in the pipeline. I use byteOS: Notes almost exclusively for taking simple notes on my devices, so some “quality of life” updates are very much in order.
It’s a ways out, but I’ve also been thinking: what if we were to update the app so emojis were displayed as our own Pixelmojios? We don’t have all emojis converted to pixel art versions, but for the ones we do, why not? Something to think about.
Solar Array
One of our New Year’s Resolutions was to source 25% of our energy needs from our solar array, so let’s take stock of where we are right now. There’s still some room for error with our methods (the rest of the team works remotely, tracking energy use per computer task is difficult), but right now, estimates put us at 9%. Obviously room for improvement, but I’m still optimistic. Even in just the past few days, I’ve been solely using energy from the solar array and boosted it a couple of percentage points. So all I gotta do is have a few more solar power sessions and we’re there. 🙂 I have been able to keep with my goal of charging my tablet using only solar energy, which feels incredible.
Quick note on numbers: this is just on using our solar array, not any solar sources contributing to the grid. In a previous post, we mentioned how, on average, 33% of the energy in the Omaha grid comes from renewable sources. That’s awesome (and higher than I expected), but those numbers will just be tacked onto our resolution. So, for instance, if I can get 25% of my power needs from our solar array, by year’s end, our total renewable energy percentage will actually be over 50%!
I think that’s all for now. Like many of you, I’m honestly struggling with the current state of things (government funding shakeups, policy changes, general anxiety), but I’m hobbling along. However, it brings me so much hope and purpose to be able to work on these types of projects, to connect with people over these eco-ideas, and to build things that mean something. I’ve said it before, but Terrabyte is like a harbor for my dreams – I can’t let some old white men hundreds of miles away tell me when it’s time to hang it up on the planet. And I hope you don’t either. The planet was here before us, it’ll be here after we leave, but that doesn’t mean compassion, empathy, and kindness should go by the wayside?
This blog post was wrote using 100% renewable energy from our solar array! I love promoting this where we can and looking back at our renewable energy usage for the year so far, I’d say there’s going to be more in the future. ❤️🌎