Willem L. Middelkoop

Imagine seeing your dead family members - not just on a picture, but lifelike and in three dimensions!

As a little side-project, squeezed between my normal work, I have been working on something of personal interest: a native workout tracking app for iOS.

Last Sunday, I participated in the Venloop, a half marathon event in Venlo.

If you're an accomplished developer (as in: you've actually created things in the past), you may recognise this scenario: people reaching out to you, asking you to build something specific.

Currently, I am overlooking a lake at Mount Hood while writing this.

Since the start of this new year I am working out harder than the previous months.

In today's digital age, safeguarding your data is paramount.

Imagine a week without your smartphone, replaced solely by the sleek simplicity of a smartwatch.

The darker days are here in the northern hemisphere, and so is the need for good lights on your bike.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of leading a training session on the application of cutting-edge AI techniques, such as OpenAI's large language models (GPT), for a team of individuals from varied backgrounds, education levels, and disciplines.

While enjoying my fresh wok lunch in Amsterdam, I noticed something odd: other folks coming in for something to eat ignored the person standing at the counter, preferring to order through a digital kiosk.

It's been over half a year since I moved from the city to the countryside.

This Monday I completed 235KM on my fixed gear bike during the Fietselfstedentocht 2023.

The iPad Pro's utility has sparked much debate recently.

As part of my software optimisation efforts to cut cloud costs, I needed to replace an existing piece of inefficient server software with something that uses more robust (yet fragmented) tooling available in Debian GNU/Linux.

As part of a greater plan to optimise my entire workflow, I am doing a little experiment this month: using a 15-year old ThinkPad X200 laptop as main computer.

In preparation for this year’s Fietselfstedentocht (236KM), I took my bike and set out for an adventurous ride through half of the Netherlands.

Like many, I faced soaring cloud service costs for my clients, prompting a wake-up call.

This month, I headed back to university for a special course on scientific programming.

The year 2022 has been very special to me, after working very hard to make it possible: me and my family finally made the big move to Limburg.

This month marked "the big move": relocating my family from Amsterdam to Noord-Limburg's countryside.

Last Sunday I experienced a breathtaking fusion of legendary rock band MUSE and Amsterdam's iconic Royal Theatre Carré.

Rarely have I been so amazed by a bike: the past 5 months since I've picked up my Brompton foldable bike in Amsterdam have been great fun!

This morning I enjoyed my bike ride on a nearly empty bicycle lane, picture perfect rays of sunlight illuminated the dew above the fields around me.

Chances are that you've encountered a CAPTCHA in the wild: they protect web forms by asking you to type over weirdly rendered characters or by asking you to select photos containing a particular thing.

Music has the universal power to move people.

Last week I received a very kind invitation from a Belgian artist, to attend her art exhibition in Antwerp.

How often do you look in the mirror?

People regulary ask me why I have a small smartphone, a modern iPhone 13 Mini.

You might wonder how puncture proof a "puncture-proof" bicycle tire really is.

Nearly all folks I know use iOS or Android from a mainstream smartphone brand, yet alternatives still exist!

Together with my kids I love to explore the world that we think we know as adults.

In response to an incident on a server, I detected a possible security breach.

Today I witnessed the birth of my daughter!

For a Dutch organisation that serves customers throughout Europe, I was asked to help dismantle a live server room.

Sadness could be seen in my eyes when my custom made watch got damaged earlier this month, while awaiting repairs I was fortunate to wear a Grand Seiko.

This month I received my reMarkable paper tablet and ever since I have been using it extensively: reading, writing and thinking.

This week we experienced the first time that our son was hospitalised since he was diagnosed with MCADD, a metabolic condition that limits his body's ability to utilise fats for energy.

This month a special piece of wearable tech arrived for me to try: the Tap Strap.

Today I took my fixed gear bike for a ride, 176KM from Amsterdam to America (Limburg, The Netherlands).

You learn from working with experts and this month I had the privilege to work with a professional food photographer, my brother.

When you write for your blog or for your company's website, there are things you can consider to maximise the discoverability, longevity and impact of your writing.

For the past weeks I have been wearing two watches, and boy this is a thing!

It's easy to dismiss your phone's notifications as something that disturbs you, something annoying.

Downtime happens and it is nothing to be ashamed of, just make sure that you set yourself up to discover problems as soon as possible!

This month I am leveraging platform capabilities to launch a new product.

The past year I have been experimenting with creating my own tablet operating system using Debian GNU/Linux and the i3 window manager on a Microsoft Surface Go 2 with LTE.

This week my trustworthy commuter bike started making strange squeaking noises when braking.

This month I received a shipment from China containing some special hardware, Android devices with embedded printers!

Apple now designs its own processors and I had a chance to work with the very latest from Cupertino: a brand new MacBook Air with M1 processor.