Bringing Microsoft Comic Chat to the Mac using Fable
I asked Claude Fable to port Microsoft Comic Chat to macOS. Two days later, it had revived a 28-year-old piece of my childhood.
Latest
Festivalletje Beta: een festivalapp voor vriendengroepen
Ik bouwde Festivalletje: een gedeelde festivalapp voor vriendengroepen, met timetable, notificaties, locatie, foto’s en widgets.
Creating a poll that doesn't crash under load
Building a live audience poll for 3,500 people at Nerdland Festival. Why my default stack failed, how Durable Objects saved it, and the only thing I didn't think to protect against: a curious 9-year-old .
The next chapter
After wrapping up a longer project, I'm doubling down on side projects.
Introducing HomeBar for Homey Pro
Frustrated by digging for my phone to close office shades, I built HomeBar: a sleek macOS menubar app for Homey Pro. Control devices, run flows, and track energy, all in one click.
Free stuff I built the past few weeks
A dev log of 6 "scratch-your-own-itch" tools: 4 macOS menu bar apps for pixel art, port tracking, and Git reminders, plus 2 CLI tools.
Creating a Minecraft clone in under a day
Last week, I built a multiplayer Minecraft-like game with my 8-year-old daughter. Not in months. Not in weeks. In under a day.
I built my own blogging software
This blog now runs on an experimental CMS I built myself with the help of AI agents. After years of hopping between platforms like Ghost, I wondered how far I could get by building my own—purely for the love of making things.
Are we starving the tools we depend on?
I love AI's speed, but it’s hurting the open-source tools we rely on. Tailwind CSS is struggling because LLMs bypass their docs, killing the traffic they need to survive. If we don't support these creators, the giants we stand on will crumble. It's time to pay for what we use.
Table Champion v2.0: a much-needed glow up
Table Champion 2.0 is here. A complete redesign, new game modes, smarter UX, background music, a new mascot, and lots of under-the-hood improvements.
Lijsje v2.0: bigger, better, and coming to town 🎅
Lijsje 2.0 is here. What started as a forgotten side project turned into a full rebuild with Bol.com search, multiplayer features and Secret Santa. A simple Sinterklaas request brought it back to life.
We are f*****, the presentation
I gave a lecture at PXL. These are my slides.
ai
"We are fucked" and some other half-assed thoughts on AI and coding
I thought AI would take my job. Instead, it gave me a second brain and made me love programming all over again.
3d-printing
Playing around with the DeskHog
Playing around with the first hardware product from PostHog.
apps
Table Champion: creating and submitting an app in less than 20 hours
App speed build, but make it real: Expo + Redux + Gluestack UI + careful AI usage = 20 hours from 'dad these flashcards suck' to 'it's live in both stores' 😺
Launching Titans of Industry
After several unfinished attempts, I finally launched my professional site - a modern take on DOS aesthetics.
automattic
Life at/after Automattic
The final part of my post-Automattic series, where I look back at my final months there.
freedom-log
Life after Automattic: week 10 & 11
Missed last week's update since I've been busy polishing my projects. Added PostHog analytics and dark mode to Lijsje, made light-up tiaras for the neighborhood parade, and caught an amazing Vampire Weekend show. Taking it slow for the holidays!
Life after Automattic: Week 9
A weekly sabbatical update covering Lijsje's new sublist feature, Endgame's quiet Product Hunt launch, and a fun pixel art side-project for displaying album covers.
freedom-log
Life after Automattic: Week 8
Released Endgame 1.1 with home screen widgets, saw Lijsje growing to 60+ lists daily, took a break to explore Antwerp's sewers, and remembered what sabbaticals are about.
Life after Automattic: Week 7
I finally regained access to my Apple Developer account after weeks of bureaucracy - Endgame is ready to launch. Meanwhile, Lijsje's product browser is seeing little usage.
freedom-log
Life after Automattic: Week 6
Embracing chaos. This week: building a product finder for Lijsje, battling Apple's bureaucracy, and exploring AI code editors.
freedom-log
Life after Automattic: Week 5
Life after severance: wrestling with Apple support, growing my apps, and letting AI help build new ones - plus a vinyl shelf rescue.
coding
My 2024 programming stack
Last year, I chronicled my tech stack journey - from languages to frameworks to tools, diving deep into what made my developer life tick. Now, a year wiser (and maybe a bit more cynical about free tiers), it's time for my 2024 update.