Tom Bakker

100 Tips for a Better Life

2025-12-15 09:51:21 UTC

Just a list of good advice.

Bag of words, have mercy on us

2025-12-08 13:46:42 UTC

Trying to understand LLMs by using the rules of human psychology is like trying to understand a game of Scrabble by using the rules of Pictionary. These things don’t act like people because they aren’t people. I don’t mean that in the deflationary way that the AI naysayers mean it. They think denying humanity to the machines is a well-deserved insult; I think it’s just an accurate description. As long we try to apply our person perception to artificial intelligence, we’ll keep being surprised and befuddled.

We are in dire need of a better metaphor. Here’s my suggestion: instead of seeing AI as a sort of silicon homunculus, we should see it as a bag of words.

My month as a Dumbphone guy

2025-11-29 13:00:46 UTC

Introduction

Earlier this year, I realised I’d been struggling with my phone in ways I couldn’t ignore anymore. I’d tried to use it less, tried to set boundaries, tried to be disciplined. None of it worked for long. So I decided to remove the problem entirely and switched to a cheap dumbphone for a month. This is what led me to that decision, and what happened next.

History of My Phone Addiction

My origin story begins in my first year of high school with a hand-me-down HTC Touch Diamond. Not long after, I got my hands on an iPhone 3G, and that’s when things really clicked.

That’s where my love for smartphones—and eventually app development—started. I built my first “app,” which is a generous word. It was really just an HTML page I made with jQTouch to look like an iPhoneOS app, containing my school timetable. I somehow managed to serve it on my phone. I genuinely have no memory of how I hosted it. Probably my dad’s doing. Thanks, Dad.

My friends were quick to tell me I was addicted to my phone. One by one, as smartphones became ubiquitous, I saw them fall victim too. Around my fourth or fifth year of high school, WhatsApp group chats exploded. My attention basically got sucked into a black hole of memes, drama, and very important teenage updates. I flunked school that year, and looking back, it was a pretty pivotal moment.

Over the years, my relationship with smartphones stayed complicated. I loved exploring new apps. If there was a new social media platform, I was usually the first of my friends to be on it. But as I got older, it became problematic. My phone use bothered my girlfriend (now wife). I would usually respond that it could be a lot worse…

One holiday, I read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport on the beach, which really opened my eyes to how my phone affected me. That’s when I tried to curb my phone use.

I tried all the tricks—deleted social media apps, nuked notifications, set my phone to greyscale like a sad indie film. It worked… until it didn’t.

I always slipped back.

The Nokia Experiment

I used to blame this on a lack of self-control. But honestly, that’s nonsense. You wouldn’t tell a drug addict to “just have some self-control.”

I’d been floating the idea of trying a dumbphone before—not a Light Phone with “mindful design” and an $700 price tag, but an actual dumbphone. One that could call, text, and maybe play Snake.

But there were reasons I didn’t follow through. My wife thought it was a hassle and wasn’t thrilled about adjusting her habits to accommodate my crazy experiment. Also, WhatsApp is a pretty essential communication tool here in the Netherlands. At the time, there wasn’t a way to receive messages without the app running.

And, most importantly: I literally get paid to build apps for smartphones.

So what changed? Work did. Due to a large project being delayed, I wasn’t going to be on a mobile project for the rest of the year. Suddenly, I had space to experiment without being wildly irresponsible.

I bit the bullet and bought a Nokia 105 on Amazon. Thanks to leftover credit, it cost me about €10. I got a prepaid SIM and forwarded my real number to it.

The first few days were weird. I’d reach for the phone, unlock it, realize it did nothing, and put it away. I played Snake sometimes, but even Snake couldn’t scratch the itch.

But then I also almost immediately felt that things were changing.

I was more present, which my wife really appreciated. I started talking to my colleagues more—actual conversations! I had only recently switched jobs and had been hiding in my screen during lunch. Without my smartphone, I rediscovered basic social skills. Lovely.

I enjoyed reading again. Movies. Music. I put music on a thumb drive to listen in the car because I couldn’t connect via Bluetooth. It made me rediscover how nice it is to listen to an album as a whole, and the craft that goes into them.

Texting on a T9 keypad is hell, so I preferred calling. I used WhatsApp Web on my Mac to stay up to date with group chats. Thankfully, WhatsApp no longer requires your phone to be on for Web to work. It turned the whole dumbphone lifestyle from “impossible” to “actually doable.”

Navigation wasn’t as much of a challenge as I’d anticipated. I’d realize, “Huh, I actually know my way around the neighbourhood.” Sometimes I looked up general directions beforehand and relied on signage. For bigger trips we just used my wife’s phone for navigation.

Some things simply require apps—banking, public parking, two-factor authentication. Whatever tasks I could, I tried to delegate to my Mac or iPad.

But even with the annoyances, my time with the Nokia was nice. I didn’t actually want to go back yet.

The End of the Nokia Experiment

And then my €10 piece of plastic betrayed me.

I brought the Nokia on a weekend trip with my wife’s cousins. At the restaurant, we had to order food via a QR code. This gave me the opportunity to do a hilarious bit where I tried to scan a QR code with my Nokia. Ten out of ten. No notes.

Later, we went for drinks. I lived the dream: phone in my pocket, no distractions. The next morning, I turned on the display… and it was completely broken.

Nokias used to be indestructible. But Nokia isn’t Nokia anymore. And honestly, what do you expect from something that costs less than a cocktail?

The phone was unusable. I could’ve bought another one, but I felt like I’d won. I’d beaten the addiction! I could just go back to my iPhone with a few rules and be fine.

Returning to the iPhone (and Turning It Into a Pseudo-Dumbphone)

So, back I went to my iPhone 15 Pro. I removed almost all my apps. Even the ones I used to pretend were “productive,” like Letterboxd and Reeder.

I disabled all notifications.
No exceptions.

And for a few days… it worked.

Then I started slipping. Not into Instagram reels, thankfully, but into micro-browsing. Looking things up. Falling into tiny Safari rabbit holes. It turns out my addiction isn’t to social media or news or gaming.

It’s to the smartphone itself.

I love the device. The feel of it. The interaction. The playing. I’d start customizing my lock screen. Updating contact photos. “Researching” the remaining apps I still had installed. It all felt very normal until you realize you’ve opened the IKEA app for the fifth time that day.

Judging by Screen Time, I did better—usually less than an hour a day. But the cracks were showing. My wife noticed. She even suggested I get another Nokia—even though she wasn't thrilled when I bought the first one.

So I knew I needed a better solution.

Enter the Apple Watch

The answer was something I was already using in conjunction with my Nokia experiment: an Apple Watch.

I already had a Series 9 Apple Watch with 4G, which means it can operate almost entirely without my phone. It supports calls, iMessage, and basic apps. It’s basically a modern-day iPod strapped to my arm—just annoying enough to prevent overuse, but functional enough to live with.

Paired with AirPods, I can listen to podcasts via Overcast. I listen to music—either Broadcasts for radio or Spotify. The NOS app gives me the latest four headlines. Nothing more.

I can get directions in a pinch with Apple Maps. Check items off our shared grocery list in Reminders. Check my calendar.

I started using Voice Memos a lot:

To note little things instead of taking a photo (like remembering where I parked the car).
To record meetings, which I then transcribe locally on my Mac with MacWhisper and send to Obsidian. I’m terrible at taking notes, so this feels like cheating in the best way.

My iPhone now stays turned off in my backpack. I only turn it on when necessary. Need navigation for a longer trip? Turn it on. Need to pay a Tikkie? Turn it on.

But most days, I don’t turn it on at all.

How I Deal With This as a Mobile Developer

If you’re a developer thinking, “Cool story, but I literally build apps, I can’t ditch my phone”… yeah, I get it. I still love my job. But here’s how I make it work:

I use the iOS Simulator a lot more. M-series Macs have also made using the Android Emulator bearable.
If I absolutely need a device, I turn the iPhone on, test, and put it away. No installing random apps “for inspiration.”
And instead of checking apps for UX patterns—which used to be my gateway drug—I use Mobbin. It’s like Pinterest for app design, without the risk of falling into an actual app.

It’s actually very doable.

What I Learned for My Work

I still love apps. They make life easier, better, and sometimes even fun. But I’m more aware now of the type of experiences I help create.

I want to build things that are useful. Not things that trap attention.

Also, phones—specifically phones—are addictive. Not Macs. Not iPads. Not Watches. The form factor matters. It’s personal, discreet, always nearby, and filled with a million micro-rewards. I can watch reels on my iPad, I guess, but… I don’t. It just doesn’t scratch the same itch.

Making your product available on iPad, the web, and even Apple Watch is a kindness to people like me—people who want to have utility without falling into the black hole of smartphone usage.

Conclusion

So this is where I am: mostly using the Apple Watch, iPhone turned off, and surprisingly happy about it. Maybe in the future I’ll laugh at this whole thing and wonder why I ever thought I was addicted. Maybe I’ll relapse. Who knows.

But for now, this works. And if you’re reading this, maybe think about your own relationship with your phone. Is it serving you? Or are you just feeding the glowing rectangle more hours than you want to admit?

Either way, there are ways to take control back. Even if it starts with a €10 Nokia.

Redesigning Disney World… But for Cars

2025-06-30 21:08:00 UTC

Ridiculous and hilarious… as a Dutchman I was appalled by the Test Track idea — What the hell is a HAWK signal!?

How Field Notes went from side project to cult notebook

2025-06-18 05:49:47 UTC

I’ve been using Field Notes as my engineering notebook for a while now. They’re great for jotting down work notes, and the National Parks series covers bring me a little joy every day.

Lazy Tetris

2025-06-17 20:17:14 UTC

Tetris and chill. After a while it became very meditative for me.

Choosing optimism about iOS 19

2025-03-18 21:57:03 UTC

A wonderful excercise in positive thinking by David Smith:

Optimism isn’t enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a feeling, optimism is a choice. […] Something I’ve learned as I’ve aged is that pessimism feels better in the moment, but then slowly rots you over time. Whereas optimism feels foolish in the moment, but sustains you over time.

The hardest working font in Manhattan

2025-02-15 20:41:31 UTC

Gorton has been around for over 135 years and used in so many countries for so many reasons, and yet I found no single article about it.

Via Kyle Lambert on Bluesky

Love Hotel

2025-02-14 15:19:19 UTC

«Love Hotel!» is a collection of photographs of the facades of Japanese Love Hotels, taken in 2023 during a road trip between Tokyo and Shikoku Island. Photographer François Prost paints a vernacular portrait of Japan, made by ordinary roadsides, faded signs and colorful facades, far from the usual clichés.

Happy Valentines!

Universal Epic Universe is taking shape

2025-02-06 19:11:30 UTC

Alicia Stella has been covering the construction of Universal's new park Epic Universe for a long time now. It has been a while since I've seen a full update video, and I'm amazed by the progress. This park looks absolutely spectacular!

New app: Art of Fauna

2025-02-05 17:48:58 UTC

Labrador Duck

A lovely new puzzle game by Klemens Strasser — an Apple Design Award finalist of Letter Rooms fame. It is a pretty straightforward puzzle game where you have to piece together illustrations of various wildlife. Simple, but the beautiful illustrations, thoughtful design and luscious sound design make it a very relaxing experience.

Also, 20% of the proceeds are donated to nature conservation organisations.

Wintering better

2025-02-02 20:15:11 UTC

Winter can be a bit… depressing. Rachel Kwon writes about reframing how you look at the dark days of the year.

Five years of React Native at Shopify

2025-02-01 01:21:31 UTC

I work as a mobile app developer for Efteling, the largest theme park in the Netherlands. Our app is built (partially) in React Native, so I'm up to speed with the community.

In 2020, Shopify made waves when they announced that they would move their mobile efforts to React Native. Since then, Shopify has grown to be a prolific contributor to the React Native community with projects like React Native Skia and Flashlist.

Mustafa Ali reflects five years after their last introduction:

"We’re happy to share that our transition has been quite successful [...] Engineers are able to work across web and mobile, allowing teams to do more with the same number of people and unlocking new growth opportunities."

I also strongly agree with their stance on using native code in combination with React Native:

"100% React Native should be an anti-goal. It is great for building features just once, but is not the right technology for everything. [...] Instead of thinking native or React Native, think native and React Native."

This has been our mentality at Efteling as well — React Native allows us to build features fast, but sometimes you just need the performance. Our map, for example, is just plain-old UIKit on iOS.

What on earth is “jogging” (1971)

2025-01-27 22:01:47 UTC

One thing I also noticed in this video from the BBC is the amount of people horse riding in Hyde park — something you can do even today apparently. Just not something I would think possible in a large public park in a city like London.

Video: Debugging An Undebuggable App

2025-01-24 22:29:01 UTC

Bryce Bostwick takes us on a journey into the binary of TopWidget⁺ — an iOS app that blocks debuggers from attaching, exits early when code is injected, and even has the audacity to crash your entire phone just for fun. Why the app goes to such extremes will be explained in an upcoming video. If you'd rather not watch a video, Bryce has also written an article on the topic.

Bryce's channel is a goldmine of in-depth iOS content. My favorite video of his — and the reason I started following his channel — is when he unsolicitedly fixed a bug in the Disneyland app. If you're interested in iOS development, definitely check out both his blog and YouTube channel!

How to survive being online

2025-01-24 21:44:18 UTC

The first four years of Donald Trump was a continuous panic attack. I’m not going through that again. You don’t have to either. They’re on stage, but you don’t have to be their audience.

Via kottke.org

Japanese aquarium cheers up lonely sunfish with cardboard cutouts of people

2025-01-21 21:24:18 UTC

The Kaikyokan Aquarium in Shimonoseki, Japan closed for renovation in December 2024. Soon after, they found their Sunfish got sick. The cure?

we attached the uniforms of the staff members (to the tank) […] Then…the next day, it was in good health again!

Also check this video. Some fish just perform better with an audience…

Trip Report: Disneyland Paris

2025-01-20 20:44:58 UTC

I recently returned from a three-day trip to Disneyland Paris. Since meeting my girlfriend (now fiancée) in 2017, I’ve visited the park three times. The last time I went was in September 2021, so I was greeted by a lot of new experiences. This time, we went with two good friends of mine who were visiting for the first time, which added a whole new layer to our experience.

Trip Details:

Duration: Three days, two nights
Travel: By car. (We were able to borrow my father-in-law’s car because my own car broke down at a concert two days prior 🙃)
Weather: The first day was sunny and beautiful. The other two days were foggy but still manageable. All days were freezing 🥶
How did we book? We booked our stay with Oad.

Hotel: Newport Bay Club

The entrance of Hotel Newport Bay Club

We stayed at the Newport Bay Club Hotel — one of three hotels on Lake Disney. This hotel is huge (the largest in France) but still has a nice, welcoming feel. The theme is fun without being too "in-your-face" Disney. We stayed in a Superior Room. The beds were very comfortable, and having a bath was a major win (my fiancée will go out of her way to find a room with a bath on holiday).

We had drinks at the Captain’s Quarters on the second day but decided not to eat at the hotel’s restaurants, opting instead for the Hunter’s Grill at Sequoia Lodge — the group I was with wasn’t big on seafood.

We also made use of the swimming pool and spa facilities. There’s a large pool, a small kids' pool, and a whirlpool. The water was pretty chilly in all of them, but the pool stayed open until 10:00 PM, making it a nice way to relax after a long day at the parks.

Overall, I really enjoyed my stay at Newport Bay. The common areas and services are all very nice, but the rooms do show their age. The hotel was renovated in 2016, but I wouldn’t have blinked if you’d said it hadn’t changed since 1992. From what I’ve heard, the renovations have benefitted the other hotels more (my partner stayed at Hotel New York: The Art of Marvel a few years ago).

Tales of Magic

On January 10th, Disneyland Park premiered Disney Tales of Magic, a new nighttime show in front of the castle. We saw it twice — once on our first day, standing on the plaza in front of the castle, and again on our last day, from the back of Main Street.

I really liked this show! The effects and music are beautiful, and the story is emotional. This was the first time I saw the drones in action, and WOW, what a cool effect! The drones are especially impressive when used for big gestures, like when they form a huge Emperor Zurg during the Buzz Lightyear section or the crazed eyes of Bruno in the Encantomedley. They also add nice touches in smaller moments, like the sparkles that pop out from the castle. For me, it makes up for the reduced fireworks.

I also believe this show — unlike earlier shows in the French parks — was created largely by European Imagineers. The songs and properties chosen really seem to resonate with a European audience.

Avengers Campus

This was my first time visiting Avengers Campus, one of the only major attractions at the Studios park! During our visit, all the shows except Pixar: Together were unavailable, and with the fencing around Studio 1, the park felt a bit crowded.

That said, the park definitely improved with the introduction of Avengers Campus. The whole area has a great vibe. The theming is well done for what they had to work with. Creating an inviting space using an industrial theme isn’t easy, but I think they pulled it off here. The best way I can describe it is that it just looks cool. It probably helps that I enjoy the Marvel movies (mostly up until Avengers: Endgame; after that, I think they lost their way a bit).

Avengers Assemble: Flight Force was better than I expected. The theming is (once again) cool, and the ride and layout are fun. It didn’t feel as empty as I’d heard others describe it — maybe because of the later additions. I’ve ridden it twice, and both times, the Iron Man animatronic wasn’t working 😤.

The biggest surprise of my trip was WEB SLINGERS (ALL CAPS). I had a fantastic time with this ride. The gameplay was fun, the animation and 3D were great — overall, just a very enjoyable experience. One downside, though: I got a bit too competitive. I was working way too hard to get a high score and didn’t focus enough on the ride itself. This could be blasphemy, but I think WEB SLINGERS might have been my favourite ride of the trip.

Walt’s - An American Restaurant

The menu at Walt's

On the second day, we had lunch at Walt’s on Main Street. The experience of sitting down for a meal (whether lunch or dinner) on a busy park day is something I highly recommend. I had the Creamy Pea Soup, Farmhouse Chicken with a Golden Honey and Cajun-Spiced Coating, and the Flower Street Sundae for dessert. The price for a three-course menu (without drinks) was €55.

Creamy Pea Soup with Whipped Isigny Cream and Smoky Popcorn

The restaurant is lovely, but, like every other restaurant at Disneyland Paris, the food suffers from being made in advance and often feels hastily plated. For example, instead of scooping fresh ice cream for the sundae, it was definitely re-frozen. The food was still tasty — though the chicken was a bit underwhelming — but you expect a bit more from the dining experience.

Other Observations:

The entrance and the Disneyland Hotel look stunning. I really came to appreciate the design and beauty of the turnstile area. Everything looked clean and fresh.
The updated scene in the Nautilus is a definite downgrade. The 3D effect was convincing, but the stock footage of whales and other marine life just felt cheap. Couldn’t they have animated a cool Kraken attack or something?
I felt like the parks, more than ever, were centered around merchandise. The stores were filled to the brim with items catered to Disney Adults. The shoulder plushies were everywhere. This might have been more noticeable since we were visiting with first-timers, but it did feel different compared to previous visits.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I had a fantastic stay at Disneyland Paris. However, I do think I won’t be back very soon — the resort desperately needs new attractions. But it’s pretty remarkable that a park that hasn’t had any major new attractions in two decades still manages to entertain as much as it does. It really is a testament to the amazing work the Imagineers did when building this park.

Live like an artist

2025-01-19 21:39:09 UTC

“Every pencil is filled with a book.” It sounded very poetic to him so he went on to research this: “And as things turn out, a regular no. 2 pencil has enough lead to write about 45 000 words — a small novel.” He does further math calculating how many words are in the Harry Potter series and that writing them (if one were to write with pencils) would take a bit more than “the use of twenty-four pencils.”

Via Jcprobably

It’s a Small World (with Groot) opens at Tokyo Disneyland

2025-01-15 22:59:42 UTC

Cabel Sasser on Bluesky:

I dream of a Disney where WDI could still say "we'd like to build a multi-million dollar attraction that celebrates humanity and reminds our guests that we all share a very small planet, the only one we'll ever have, so our similarities outweigh our differences. oh, also, an earworm loops forever"

I am currently visiting Disneyland Paris for three days. Although Paris’ It’s a Small World has remained largely untouched (thanks to 25+ years of neglect in Disneyland Park), I do feel this sentiment from Cabel.

A lot of the modern Disney park experience is built on artificial hype for one franchise or another, catering to a bubble of social-media-heavy Disney Adults.

LMNT: Range

2025-01-13 10:22:37 UTC

My ears have limited range. I can’t hear into infinity. Twitter gave everyone in the world the capability to shout into my ear. There’s nothing sustainable or healthy about that.

Making space for a handmade web

2025-01-10 22:18:20 UTC

Chia Amisola on the Figma blog:

If the idea of a more handcrafted internet resonates with you, the best way to be part of the movement is simply to make your own website. This may seem intimidating if we expect webpages to be a holistic reflection of ourselves, like a resume, portfolio, or blog. [...] A website doesn’t need to be anything but your own.

I made this blog—first and foremost—for myself. I want to have a place to call my own on the internet, but I want to not set any goals for my website. It's just mine.

Sony's The Last of Us immersive experience at CES

2025-01-09 22:19:15 UTC

This looks incredible in the video, but I can't help but wonder how it holds up in real life. It feels like something they could drop right into a Universal Park...

Via The Verge

Did you know about git bisect?

2025-01-08 17:40:06 UTC

Just today, the git bisect command came in clutch for me. By marking commits as ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ it quickly pinpoints the exact commit that introduced a bug.

The video linked above is a great example of how this command works, presented by the awesome Typecraft.

I don't recommend Supabase for your personal projects

2025-01-07 20:23:00 UTC

I recently built my wedding website in NextJS — I have a lot of experience with React and hosting via Vercel is free for the traffic I expect to get.

There is information about the wedding on there, but I also wanted to collect RSVP's via a form. I wanted to try Supabase for this purpose. The development experience was good, the dashboard is nice but recently this has been my life...

Me and Ant Wilson are best friends now...

Supabase will pause projects after seven days of inactivity. Our wedding guests are not RSVP'ing every single day so this happens every seven days for me.

Not a knock against this product, but just be aware of this rule if you want to use Supabase for a project with infrequent activity.

Magic Links Have Rough Edges, but Passkeys Can Smooth Them Over

2025-01-06 21:43:22 UTC

I’m of the opinion that Magic Links are a superior way of authenticating users for infrequent services. In this post Ricky Mondello makes a great case for how Passkeys could work together with Magic Links. The example video speaks volumes—this is how we all should implement auth from now on.

Your favourite Irish Pub? Mel McNally probably designed it

2025-01-06 18:51:28 UTC

Niels Posthumus for Trouw (article in Dutch):

McNally has since designed more than two thousand Irish pubs in over fifty countries, according to his own records. [...] He had all those interiors fully built in Ireland. McNally and Guinness established that this would be a requirement to grant pubs abroad the label of "authentically Irish."

A good bar is a good bar by design, whether that design is "authentic" or not. Theme parks are a great place for this — spaces are designed to be fun and inviting without a pretence of authenticity.

via Ochtend in Pretparkland

SQLite facts

2025-01-05 20:43:52 UTC

19. […] SQLite had to change the default prefix from sqlite_ to etilqs_ when users started calling developers in the middle of the night.

via: kevquirk.com

'Webcams SUCK, so I built my own one'

2025-01-05 20:18:54 UTC

The iSight camera is still a beauty (22 years old now 🤯). Retrofitting an old one with a Raspberry Pi Camera is an awesome project.

Also, should I buy a 3D printer?

Ghostty 1.0 is out

2025-01-05 15:08:05 UTC

From the Ghostty documentation:

Ghostty is a terminal emulator that differentiates itself by being fast, feature-rich, and native. While there are many excellent terminal emulators available, they all force you to choose between speed, features, or native UIs. Ghostty provides all three.

I used to use the fantastic iTerm2, but recently I have gotten on the hype train and switched to Ghostty. I really enjoy the defaults it ships with—most people won't need to do any configuration for a great terminal experience. Highly recommend you check it out!

Simon Willison's approach to running a link blog

2025-01-05 15:00:42 UTC

For a long time now, I wanted to create a little corner of the internet for myself. As Simon Willison states:

[...] blogging doesn’t have to be about unique insights. The value is in writing frequently and having something to show for it over time—worthwhile even if you don’t attract much of an audience (or any audience at all).

The format of a linkblog (like Daring Fireball) speaks to me on this front. I want to keep a collection of interesting stuff I find on the internet and have a little website to tinker on.