Ben Fry
@benfry.com
…and Brazil (which also looks nice in night mode).
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
…and Brazil (which also looks nice in night mode).
…which got Paul thinking about smaller areas he wanted to see, like Andorra, Brunei*, Taiwan…
* this is Brunei/Malaysia/Singapore (many thanks to Geofabrik for these OSM exports)
* this is Brunei/Malaysia/Singapore (many thanks to Geofabrik for these OSM exports)
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
…which got Paul thinking about smaller areas he wanted to see, like Andorra, Brunei*, Taiwan…
* this is Brunei/Malaysia/Singapore (many thanks to Geofabrik for these OSM exports)
* this is Brunei/Malaysia/Singapore (many thanks to Geofabrik for these OSM exports)
…so then Katherine was all “um, Hong Kong?” (love this one! look at those neighborhoods! a new favorite)…
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
…so then Katherine was all “um, Hong Kong?” (love this one! look at those neighborhoods! a new favorite)…
…so then Mark wanted a Finland (which also looks sharp on black, evoking NASA's Earth Lights image)…
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
…so then Mark wanted a Finland (which also looks sharp on black, evoking NASA's Earth Lights image)…
I dusted off the code over the weekend because Karlie was wanting a version of Alaska to give to a friend who moved there and is feeling the disconnect* of living in a very rural area.
* no offense to Alaska, which is stunning and arguably better for its lack of pavement
* no offense to Alaska, which is stunning and arguably better for its lack of pavement
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
I dusted off the code over the weekend because Karlie was wanting a version of Alaska to give to a friend who moved there and is feeling the disconnect* of living in a very rural area.
* no offense to Alaska, which is stunning and arguably better for its lack of pavement
* no offense to Alaska, which is stunning and arguably better for its lack of pavement
Fun with streets… from 2007, here's what a map of the United States* looks like made up of only roads.
No other features have been added to this image, however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population.
* the “lower 48,” sorry AK & HI
www.benfry.com/allstreets/
No other features have been added to this image, however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population.
* the “lower 48,” sorry AK & HI
www.benfry.com/allstreets/
November 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Fun with streets… from 2007, here's what a map of the United States* looks like made up of only roads.
No other features have been added to this image, however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population.
* the “lower 48,” sorry AK & HI
www.benfry.com/allstreets/
No other features have been added to this image, however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population.
* the “lower 48,” sorry AK & HI
www.benfry.com/allstreets/
I'm really struggling with what to even say, but here's a perfect articulation of the work from John Palfrey, the President of the Foundation:
November 18, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I'm really struggling with what to even say, but here's a perfect articulation of the work from John Palfrey, the President of the Foundation:
Delighted that there's an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the concept of “spherical cows.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheric...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheric...
November 16, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Delighted that there's an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the concept of “spherical cows.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheric...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spheric...
The installer for macOS Sequoia version 15.7.1 is… 15.71 GB.
Well done, everyone. A++
Well done, everyone. A++
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
The installer for macOS Sequoia version 15.7.1 is… 15.71 GB.
Well done, everyone. A++
Well done, everyone. A++
Finally an excuse to purchase: the Playdate is now a work expense.
October 23, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Finally an excuse to purchase: the Playdate is now a work expense.
…and finally, Paul's “My Pet Fox“
October 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
…and finally, Paul's “My Pet Fox“
…Mark's ominously titled “The Food”…
October 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
…Mark's ominously titled “The Food”…
…Karlie's “what's outside my submarine”…
October 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
…Karlie's “what's outside my submarine”…
What Ellory was able to throw together during the hour…
October 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
What Ellory was able to throw together during the hour…
On Friday's we often end the day with a short workshop taught by someone in the studio. Recently, my 8yo came by the office to teach a (very entertaining) workshop on building stop motion animations with LEGO. Somehow, he was completely unfazed by doing this for people several times his age.
October 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
On Friday's we often end the day with a short workshop taught by someone in the studio. Recently, my 8yo came by the office to teach a (very entertaining) workshop on building stop motion animations with LEGO. Somehow, he was completely unfazed by doing this for people several times his age.
Reading a bedtime story to my 8yo and was not expecting to find @djpatil.bsky.social as one of the characters in his Wayside School book… 💜
October 8, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reading a bedtime story to my 8yo and was not expecting to find @djpatil.bsky.social as one of the characters in his Wayside School book… 💜
A couple others burned in my memory… the announcement of the 128K Mac, we also had a Lisa at home for a brief time, and this tiny computer on the beautiful green background, as well as this lovely orange composition…
September 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
A couple others burned in my memory… the announcement of the 128K Mac, we also had a Lisa at home for a brief time, and this tiny computer on the beautiful green background, as well as this lovely orange composition…
Happy 50th anniversary to BYTE magazine, which a young version of me happily devoured or at least stared at, trying to understand it (I was 8 or 9 or 10…)
Much of its cover art also stuck with me as interesting visions of computing. Here's all of 1977–1986, my favorite decade of the bunch.
Much of its cover art also stuck with me as interesting visions of computing. Here's all of 1977–1986, my favorite decade of the bunch.
September 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Happy 50th anniversary to BYTE magazine, which a young version of me happily devoured or at least stared at, trying to understand it (I was 8 or 9 or 10…)
Much of its cover art also stuck with me as interesting visions of computing. Here's all of 1977–1986, my favorite decade of the bunch.
Much of its cover art also stuck with me as interesting visions of computing. Here's all of 1977–1986, my favorite decade of the bunch.
…and it also works with HTML tables. Right-click, bam—categories counted, histogram distributions, state/county/world maps.
Our premise is that more of what's considered “visualization” needs to just be automatic. Not just easier tools or “no code” but zero effort and always present.
Our premise is that more of what's considered “visualization” needs to just be automatic. Not just easier tools or “no code” but zero effort and always present.
September 18, 2025 at 10:41 AM
…and it also works with HTML tables. Right-click, bam—categories counted, histogram distributions, state/county/world maps.
Our premise is that more of what's considered “visualization” needs to just be automatic. Not just easier tools or “no code” but zero effort and always present.
Our premise is that more of what's considered “visualization” needs to just be automatic. Not just easier tools or “no code” but zero effort and always present.
Our Rowboat tool is about instantly seeing what's in a dataset, so we added a Chrome Extension that lets you open random datasets from all over the internet. Right click, poof! 0.2 seconds later we see what this dataset actually looks like.
No workspace to set up, no waiting for the app, no db.
No workspace to set up, no waiting for the app, no db.
September 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Our Rowboat tool is about instantly seeing what's in a dataset, so we added a Chrome Extension that lets you open random datasets from all over the internet. Right click, poof! 0.2 seconds later we see what this dataset actually looks like.
No workspace to set up, no waiting for the app, no db.
No workspace to set up, no waiting for the app, no db.
(by Nathan W. Pyle @nathanwpyle.bsky.social)
September 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
(by Nathan W. Pyle @nathanwpyle.bsky.social)
I cut out the middleman and named our office security camera “FFS” which made the nonsense notifications more entertaining.
August 20, 2025 at 8:03 PM
I cut out the middleman and named our office security camera “FFS” which made the nonsense notifications more entertaining.
Worlds colliding this morning while I was looking something up, and instead found this “Candid Photos of Computer Scientists” collection, and I'm scrolling through, only to see…my Dad!?
Here he is behind the podium at ACM SIGMOD in 1974. Meanwhile, the photographer? None other than Ben Shneiderman.
Here he is behind the podium at ACM SIGMOD in 1974. Meanwhile, the photographer? None other than Ben Shneiderman.
July 31, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Worlds colliding this morning while I was looking something up, and instead found this “Candid Photos of Computer Scientists” collection, and I'm scrolling through, only to see…my Dad!?
Here he is behind the podium at ACM SIGMOD in 1974. Meanwhile, the photographer? None other than Ben Shneiderman.
Here he is behind the podium at ACM SIGMOD in 1974. Meanwhile, the photographer? None other than Ben Shneiderman.