iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

My #WalktheWorld #MR app died mid 2025 when Microsoft decommissioned the Bing Elevation API. Found a way to revive it using different APIs - leaner & faster. Walk the World 6.0.2.0 landed in Microsoft Store again yesterday, HoloLens 2 1st. More platforms coming. apps.microsoft.com/detail/9p6sv...

MR picture of Mount Rainier in a living room

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Reposted by Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik

Kent Bye (Voices of VR) @kentbye.com · 02/08/2026

This is an amazing archival montage documenting AR culture of HoloLens 1 & 2. Michael Hoffman says, "On the Microsoft HoloLens team, I had this idea to tell the HoloLens story in photos, so started collecting every image I could find, over 1,600." Lots of history here! picmotif.com/u/hoff/tribu...

A composite image of the HoloLens 1 on top facing right and HoloLens 2 on the bottom facing left made out of 1,600 public images. Creator Michael Hoffman says, "On the Microsoft HoloLens team, I had this idea to tell the HoloLens story in photos, so started collecting every image I could find, over 1,600."

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Recently the MetaLense 2 came to my attention. This is a fully-fledged Mixed Reality device from P&C Solution in Seoul. It seems to be getting fair use in Korea, but is nearly unknown elsewhere localjoost.github.io/Playing-arou.... Iwrote down my experiences and how it compares to the HoloLens 2.

localjoost.github.io

Playing around with the P&C MetaLense 2 - a Mixed Reality device from Korea

Long before the announced EOL of HoloLens 2, I was on the lookout for alternative devices. The writing was on the wall after January 2023, when a lot of the staff involved was laid off and Microsoft s...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Yay! Finally my custom built rig is on a 26200 #Windows build

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Squirrel on fire China squirrel Surfer squirrel

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Why are people who give the harshest unfiltered honest feedback get almost invariably extremely pissed off at even the slightest critique themselves?

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

TIL you should not short circuit a Aqara T1 no neutral switch, when you plan to use them more than once. Fortunately the fuse box in the utility closet prevented worse than mere fried electronics. And I did it twice.🤦€50 down the drain. I wasn't fully awake apparently. This is not my day.

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Well I'll be bucketed. #Northernlights over #Amersfoort! Visible from my first floor front window! It even shines trough the cloud. I must say it takes a camera to really see it but still

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Someone once said that if David Bowie would die, the world would fall apart. Quite prescient and pretty much spot on, I would venture to say, 10 years after the fact.

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

#Unity moves fast and break things, in this case my #MRTK3 demo on #Apple #VisionPro on slightly higher versions - as happens often. I spent some (okay, a bit too much) time on trying to find out why, and came up with a solution making the app run again localjoost.github.io/MRTK3-apps-o...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

About last night... participating in a citizen science project sometimes tells you things you'd rather not know #fireworks #pollution #particlematter

Graphs showing PM2.5 and PM10 pollution during New Year's Eve due to fireworks

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Good luck to anyone working on the #ER / #SEH (Spoedeisende Eerste Hulp), the #firebrigade or the #police in the Netherlands tonight. I fear it's going to be the mother of all #NewYearsEve. I also hope from here on things will be better.

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

@richcampbell.bsky.social ref Aussie whisky: met a guy from Sullivan's Cove at a whisky tasting here in Amersfoort ages ago. Organized by well-known liquor shop here. Was hooked immediately. He shipped cask strength for a very reasonable price, like in the €80 per 0.7l range if I recall correctly

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Using UIKit made creating buttons in Lens Studio so much easier compared to using plain Spectacles Interaction Kit... but we lost a few things, like fine grained behavior control, and sound effects. I show you how to bring those to UIKit buttons. localjoost.github.io/Controlling-...

localjoost.github.io

Controlling a Lens Studio UIKit button’s Interactable behavior

In ye olden days - in Lens Studio time units, this is about 8 weeks ago - we used a PinchButton from the Spectacles Interaction Kit to create a button on some kind of menu. This was - and still is - a...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

If you are at #UnitedXR next week - I will not be there, but my friend @jbmcculloch.bsky.social and his colleagues *will* be there, *with* Snap #Spectacles. If you have not tried them out yet, this is your chance and you should really take that chance

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Dear #FedEx, your chat bot is so stupid and limited that I think it is a net negative to your value as a courier

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Reposted by Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik

.NET @dot.net · 26/11/2025

The latest version of Visual Studio brings instant startup, improved debugging and diagnostics, and deeper GitHub Copilot integration. #VS2026 enhances productivity across every stage of development with modern UI updates and tighter .NET and Azure connections. Learn more: msft.it/63321tTtbH

spot art
text reads: Visual Studio 2026 is here: faster, smarter, and a hit with early adopters.
Read the announcement

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

@richcampbell.bsky.social maybe your crack shot aunts life can be filmed as "crocodile Dundee's NZ niece" 😂. I LOL'd at the boar story

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Having a car with voice control and kids in the rear with that particular sense of teenage humour must be a recipe for insanity if not disaster 😂

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

RIP Jane #Goodall. Science lost a great mind, humanity - and its close relatives - a great and kind person.

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Boom! Visual Studio 2026 Insiders is here! The world’s most popular IDE just got an upgrade. Read this post by the one and only @madskristensen.net I can already tell you it compiles and edits Mixed Reality app *just fine* ;) devblogs.microsoft.com/visualstudio...

devblogs.microsoft.com

Visual Studio 2026 Insiders is here! - Visual Studio Blog

Visual Studio 2026 Insiders is here – and it marks one of the most ambitious steps forward we’ve taken with the IDE. This release brings AI woven directly into the developer workflow, performance impr...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Annoying behavior by Dutch charities: calling me on the phone, profusely thanking me for supporting, then starting a long story... I stop them after 30 seconds saying "can we skip forward to the part where you start begging for more money?" I hate those scripted call centres

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Snap Inc employees seem to be almost exclusively using Mac, so using Windows for Spectacles development requires you to know a few not-so-obvious things, particularly when it comes to deploying apps using USB cables. This is how to get it working, quirks and all localjoost.github.io/Deploying-on...

localjoost.github.io

Deploying on Spectacles from Windows using an USB cable

Apparently I am a bit of an oddball in the Snap Spectacles community, as apparently everyone else - including the Snap folks themselves - uses Macs for development. Although I do have a Mac Mini, it’s...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

One of those days... and it isn't even Monday

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

And here's me complaining about the neighborhood cats invading my garden... this is next level

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

For HoloATC for Snap Inc. #Spectacles, I made a component to select a location specifically on the floor. I spun that off into a reusable component and described how to use it - and for the more technically inclined, how it works. localjoost.github.io/A-Lens-Studi...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

OMG Randall Munroe, never change,. This one made me lol and even showed it to my non-nerd wife, and she laughed too. www.xkcd.com/3121/

xkcd.com

Kite Incident

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

For fun, I decided to enter my HoloATC for Snap Inc. Spectacles app into their 4th 'Community challenge' some time ago. Didn't expect much from it, as there's lot of competition from highly talented young people. Kind of forgot about it, too. Until yesterday evening:

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Today I replaced my 10+ year old single router by a mesh network. I really wonder how 'normal' people are to overcome the hurdles I had to overcome. OTOH, normal people probably don't have 30 network devices, 18 Zigbee devices and 6 custom devices in their house, a pi-hole amongst them.

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

#MRTK3 and #Unity is going places - proving you can even run C# on an #Apple #VisionPro. This blog details how you can move an existing MRTK3 XR solution to run on the AVP. localjoost.github.io/Adapting-MRT... Yes folks, it finally happened. I have a Mac. Only used for AVP development though ;)

localjoost.github.io

Adapting MRTK3 apps for Apple Vision Pro

“In fair annum of Lady Hopper, the hundred and nineteenth, did Joost of Local - valiant champion of Microsoft, and sworn foe to fruity contraptions - receive with trembling hand a Mac most miniature, ...

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

After a Lens Studio project keeping me occupied for half a year, I finally made some time for blogging again. For my Lens Studio app, I made an architectural piece of code called a "Service Manager", Which made me run into some peculiar TypeScript things again. localjoost.github.io/Service-driv...

localjoost.github.io

Service driven development for Snap Spectacles in Lens Studio

Regular readers may have noticed my blog production has dropped dramatically over the past few months, to an unprecedented low of only two posts in nearly half a year. I blame this entirely on Jesse M...

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Reposted by Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik

Barry Dorrans @blowdart.me · 28/07/2025

What if heaven exists and when we get to the gates St Peter asks “how many unused domain names did you have?”

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

How to be a leader and not be an *sshole, or how a normal person not coming from a high socio-economical class more or less accidentally became a country's PM, was in the hot seat during various natural disasters, a terrorist attack, and a global pandemic. And became mother while doing all that.

Book cover "A different kind of power" by Jacinda Ardern

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

Soviet Star Trek - some people have WAY too much fun with AI video. I wonder how much Kilowatts have been burned making this People have way too much too much fun AI video www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwDk... www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtuI...

youtube.com

Star Trek - Soviet Russia (AI Trailer)

YouTube video by Dreamloop Cinema

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

This is one hell of a speech. The point where his voice breaks, when he recounts learning his parents sold the van, and for what... that really hit me, for very personal reasons. No more spoilers. Go watch.

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Look what I found back. With recipes from lots of MVPs (former) Microsofties and community members (including @scott.hanselman.com @maryjofoley.bsky.social @papa.dev @chriswoodruff.bsky.social @richcampbell.bsky.social etc. From 2011 #mvpbuzz 😁

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

9 years ago I built my first real #MixedReality app, HoloATC, for #HoloLens 1, in #Unity. I just completed a port - or actually a complete rewrite) - for #Snapchat #Spectacles. If you have one, give it a try! It is my first XR venture outside Unity my-lenses.snapchat.com/28249103-810...

A Mixed Reality app showing models of aircraft flying above a map of Heathrow, in a yellow kitchen

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Joost 'LocalJoost' van Schaik @localjoost.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Well, I must say *this* is a surprise. I assumed my stint as an MVP would end when Microsoft left the XR field. Lo and behold: last year I was a Mixed Reality Development / Windows Development MVP, this year I am a proud Windows Development / Developer Tools MVP. #mvpbuzz

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