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Creativity on Willem's Blog

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Against AI for writing

Nov. 11, 2024
Why not to use AI for writing - a blog post on the underestimated long term costs of AI tools for human creativity.

Two years ago ChatGPT launched, it popularised AI as tool to create things. Large language models generate text based on prompts, outputting words that are hard to distinguish from being written by a person. The short term benefits are clear, but I suspect many people underestimate the long term costs.

Go Viral on X

32K views in two days

Nov. 10, 2024
Learn how to go viral on X using simple logic in creating engaging posts.

Earlier this week one of my posts on the social network X went viral and attracted 32K views in two days. With no major presence on Elon Musk's platform, and no paid advertising, gaining that kind of attention is something special. Let me explain how this happened.

Vision Pro

Exploring Spatial Computing

Feb. 16, 2024
My thoughts on using Vision Pro to get some real work done, exploring what Spatial Computing means and how it can be useful.

Currently, I am overlooking a lake at Mount Hood while writing this. I hear birds in the distance and see the lake calm, with subtle waves and some mist in the distance. Yet, it is fake, as I am sitting on our top floor, a barely furnished room full of items belonging to a family house with two young kids. I am using Apple's Vision Pro to explore what Spatial Computing can be. I am in awe; let me explain in this blog post.

Inspiration from a child

Experience the world like a kid

Sep. 30, 2021
Explore the world together with your kids and reap the rewards of adventure and fun!

Together with my kids I love to explore the world that we think we know as adults. A kid's perspective inspires and surprises! No need to travel half the world for an adventure: Fly planes, catch bad guys, solve problems, build and break stuff - (re)discover the adventure right at your doorstep!

Using the reMarkable paper tablet

Read, write, think and repeat

May 31, 2021
The paper-like display makes you forget about reMarkable's digital innards, working with this tablet is therefore quite remarkable!

This month I received my reMarkable paper tablet and ever since I have been using it extensively: reading, writing and thinking. The paper-like display makes you forget about its digital innards. Read along for my thoughts.

Art of visualisation

Creating mouth-watering food photos

Mar. 26, 2021
You learn from experts if you have the privilege to work with them, this month I had a chance to help a professional food photographer.

You learn from working with experts and this month I had the privilege to work with a professional food photographer, my brother. Together we set out to photograph the entire menu of Café Carbòn in Amsterdam, enjoying the fabulous food afterwards. Read along for some food photography takeaways!

Building a product platform

Designing for reusability, flexibility and extensibility

Jan. 31, 2021
Leverage platform capabilities to quickly launch new products, designing for reusability, flexibility and extensibility.

This month I am leveraging platform capabilities to launch a new product. Over the years I have developed the "Lemmid" platform, a set of building blocks that allow me to swiftly develop new products. Designing a platform takes some extra considerations, but if you follow some simple rules you can do it yourself!

Designing my own watch

Timeless timepiece, both functional and comfortable

Nov. 30, 2020
Last month I received my custom made wristwatch from Switzerland, it is a minimalistic mechanical annual calendar designed to be understated and true to the metal.

Last month a very special package arrived from Switzerland, containing my custom made wrist watch. I decided to sell all my big brand watches and have them replaced by something unique, tailored to my personal preferences. This is the story of my watch.

Some thoughts on touch screen user interface design

Creating intuitive natural interfaces

June 24, 2020
I am working on a new app involving personal health that requires a natural intuitive interface that works well on touch screens. It's good to check out some best practices for touch UI design

Past weeks I have been working on a new app involving personal health. The main challenge is to come up with an intuitive, natural interface that works well on small touch screen devices. But what is it that makes an touch screen interface any good? Read along for some best practices.

Different ways to visualise health

Looking at games and fitness apps

May 25, 2020
To better understand how to visualise health I looked at different health/fitness apps and games.

This month I did some research into how health is visualised in fitness apps and games. For a new app involving personal health I am looking for an intuitive way to visualise how healthy one person is. There are many colourful approaches out there!

Outside the comfort zone: amateur acting

Wearing an heart rate monitor during my debut performance

Apr. 18, 2018
This month I strapped myself with sensors during a little experiment outside my comfort zone: I debuted as amateur actor!

This month I made my debut as amateur actor. I am no Hollywood star, nor do I envy to become one. But I do like crazy experiments and operating outside of my comfort zone often leads to new and refreshing insights. I took part in an amateur drama play and - in the name of science and fun - strapped myself with sensors to measure what happened to my body.

Tablet as main computer

Comparing the Microsoft Surface Pro to iPad Pro

Mar. 7, 2018
I have been using a tablet as my main computer for quite some time now. In this blog post I share you my experience on using Surface Pro and iPad Pro to get my work done.

For the past few weeks I have been using the Microsoft Surface Pro as my main computer. It's a modern tablet computer that can be used as laptop with the type cover. With the Surface Pen, it's a versatile PC that works in a lot of different ways. Time to find out if it's any good and how it compares to my other tablet computer, iPad Pro.

Updating Snake '97

About the challenges of developing a wildly popular game

Feb. 21, 2018
This month I bit the bullet big time: I redesigned the game engine of the wildly popular Snake '97 game. Read about the design challenges in this blog post.

Few years ago my brother threw a beer on my iPhone in an Amsterdam bar. The poor thing didn't like the Dutch brew as much as I do: it died. While waiting for a new phone to arrive, I used an old one that couldn't do anything but texting, calling and... Snake! The idea for Snake '97 was born and this month it was time to update the wildly popular game.

From tree to table

Designing and creating a night stand

Oct. 23, 2017
Creating a night stand from a raw slab of chestnut wood.

Right next to the house were I was born there was this chestnut tree, sadly it died one and a half year ago. When it was taken down, my brother saved me a slab of wood. I intended to create something from it, a nice "do it yourself" adventure, worthy of a blog post!

Programming on Apple Watch

Serious about crazy experiments

Feb. 16, 2017
Programming with VIM over SSH on Apple Watch using a bluetooth keyboard

Over the past years I have been no stranger to crazy experiments, but this time I really wanted to push it into the extreme: programming on an Apple Watch. Would it be possible to actually write code on such a tiny device? Why even bother? This post is about the case for crazy experiments, and why you should try too!

iPad Pro next to my primary machine

Using it with Apple Pencil as a creative powerhouse

Jan. 30, 2017
Using iPad Pro with Apple Pencil next to my computer to form a create powerhouse

I wanted see if I can find something better than my old fashioned pencil and paper that I use for designing software as professional developer. I knew iPad Pro from my test last summer, figuring out if it could replace my primary development machine. While it may not be able to completely replace my thrustworthy ThinkPad, it turned out to be a totally different story when it comes to paper.

Harvesting boredom to let creativity flourish

using the Punkt MP01 dumb phone

Oct. 1, 2016
What does it mean for my state of mind and creativity if I am no longer be constantly connected to the Internet using a smartphone.

Smartphones are everywhere in the modern society we live in today. Through our 4G and WiFi connections the internet is just one tap away. In fact, it is so close that it feels like a natural extension. But is this wealth of information all good or does it have a downside too? It seems like an interesting experiment to go app-less for a while and solely use a dumb phone.

iPad Pro as primary computer

testing iOS as primairy development platform

Aug. 15, 2016
Is the time right to use an iPad as primary development platform to get some real work done?

The lack of physical clutter, distracting branding, or blinking LED's makes the iPad Pro a textbook example of minimal design. My despiction of distraction explains my interest in using the iPad Pro as only computer to test if it is up to the task. Is Apple's latest effort on iOS enough to enable it to do serious development work?

All blog posts
Annotating digital documents directly - no need to print and scan
Annotating digital documents directly - no need to print and scan
Sawed pieces on work bench
Sawed pieces on work bench
The experiment is on!
The experiment is on!
iPad Pro next to my ThinkPad
iPad Pro next to my ThinkPad
Fresh lacquer... again
Fresh lacquer... again
Lacquer finish is fantastic
Lacquer finish is fantastic
Using iPad to design something - with coffee
Using iPad to design something - with coffee
sanding again
sanding again
Doom and the protagonist
Doom and the protagonist "Mud" showing how he feels
World champion of Snake '97 - but not for long...
World champion of Snake '97 - but not for long...
The kickstand is a clever piece of design and engineering, being both functional and sturdy.
The kickstand is a clever piece of design and engineering, being both functional and sturdy.
Multitool sawing
Multitool sawing
Café 't Pakhuis in Amsterdam - where Snake '97 was
Café 't Pakhuis in Amsterdam - where Snake '97 was "invented"
Running four apps simultaneously thanks to Windows multitasking - at the price of consuming more battery power
Running four apps simultaneously thanks to Windows multitasking - at the price of consuming more battery power
Sawing off rough edges
Sawing off rough edges
Heart rates during the two performance nights, left my debut, right the second performance
Heart rates during the two performance nights, left my debut, right the second performance
Whoop showing strain and recovery
Whoop showing strain and recovery
Flyer announcing the play
Flyer announcing the play "Zusters in Zaken" by "De Opregte Amateur"

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