Ben Fry
@benfry.com
Rest in Peace, Robert Tinney, the artist behind many of—and the best of—these covers: tinney.net/in-memoriam
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.
February 12, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Rest in Peace, Robert Tinney, the artist behind many of—and the best of—these covers: tinney.net/in-memoriam
This piece was published exactly a year ago, and at the time I /hoped/ it was at least a bit alarmist, but it has proven to be overwhelmingly correct, and perhaps even understated.
Well worth reading to understand where we are, where we're headed in the US: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Well worth reading to understand where we are, where we're headed in the US: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
February 11, 2026 at 12:05 PM
This piece was published exactly a year ago, and at the time I /hoped/ it was at least a bit alarmist, but it has proven to be overwhelmingly correct, and perhaps even understated.
Well worth reading to understand where we are, where we're headed in the US: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Well worth reading to understand where we are, where we're headed in the US: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Fifteen years later, it's a new version of “if IBM's Watson is so f*ing smart, why can't it fix IBM's stock price?”
…but this is even more on-point.
…but this is even more on-point.
Once again: if these LLMs could actually do all the things their owners claim, they wouldn’t be selling access. They would be building and selling all the things they claim their software can do.
February 5, 2026 at 3:06 AM
Fifteen years later, it's a new version of “if IBM's Watson is so f*ing smart, why can't it fix IBM's stock price?”
…but this is even more on-point.
…but this is even more on-point.
Can't get over how gleefully people use the word “agentic” as if it doesn't sound like a terrible disease.
“Millions were sickened by Agentic Flu and thousands more died of the hemorrhagic fever before scientists were able to identify a vaccine candidate…”
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
“Millions were sickened by Agentic Flu and thousands more died of the hemorrhagic fever before scientists were able to identify a vaccine candidate…”
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
Xcode 26.3 unlocks the power of agentic coding
Xcode 26.3 introduces support for agentic coding, a new way in Xcode for developers to build apps, powered by coding agents from Anthropic and OpenAI.
www.apple.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:27 PM
Can't get over how gleefully people use the word “agentic” as if it doesn't sound like a terrible disease.
“Millions were sickened by Agentic Flu and thousands more died of the hemorrhagic fever before scientists were able to identify a vaccine candidate…”
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
“Millions were sickened by Agentic Flu and thousands more died of the hemorrhagic fever before scientists were able to identify a vaccine candidate…”
www.apple.com/newsroom/202...
Always appreciate people who can put numbers in perspective.
The sheer scale of a billion dollars can be hard to understand. Let me put it in perspective for you. You would have to earn a dollar a day for a billion days straight to have that much money.
January 31, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Always appreciate people who can put numbers in perspective.
“my dream of combining my loves of math, art, and teaching into a book is finally a reality” —@gwenbeads.bsky.social
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
January 28, 2026 at 2:17 PM
“my dream of combining my loves of math, art, and teaching into a book is finally a reality” —@gwenbeads.bsky.social
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Reposted by Ben Fry
Happy large boulder the size of a small boulder day for all who celebrate
January 27, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Happy large boulder the size of a small boulder day for all who celebrate
Beautiful perspective from this map of the world re-oriented using the “Spilhaus” projection, which depicts Earth as a single, connected ocean.
From Woods Hole's “Why the Ocean” campaign: www.whoi.edu/campaign/why...
From Woods Hole's “Why the Ocean” campaign: www.whoi.edu/campaign/why...
January 26, 2026 at 12:02 PM
Beautiful perspective from this map of the world re-oriented using the “Spilhaus” projection, which depicts Earth as a single, connected ocean.
From Woods Hole's “Why the Ocean” campaign: www.whoi.edu/campaign/why...
From Woods Hole's “Why the Ocean” campaign: www.whoi.edu/campaign/why...
Reposted by Ben Fry
I wrote the speech I *wish* Chuck Schumer would give tonight - as an actual opposition leader. Here it is:
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.
January 25, 2026 at 2:06 AM
I wrote the speech I *wish* Chuck Schumer would give tonight - as an actual opposition leader. Here it is:
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
Reposted by Ben Fry
A reminder that we can expect and must demand so more from political leaders—including moral clarity.
I was fortunate to have Ami, a great speechwriter, work with me on several White House speeches.
Read what he would have Schumer say in an alternate parallel universe of courage and conviction 🧵
I was fortunate to have Ami, a great speechwriter, work with me on several White House speeches.
Read what he would have Schumer say in an alternate parallel universe of courage and conviction 🧵
I wrote the speech I *wish* Chuck Schumer would give tonight - as an actual opposition leader. Here it is:
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
"My fellow Americans: At this hour, an unrestrained force of militarized and violent federal officers is carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing in the streets of American cities."
1/14
Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.
January 25, 2026 at 2:28 AM
A reminder that we can expect and must demand so more from political leaders—including moral clarity.
I was fortunate to have Ami, a great speechwriter, work with me on several White House speeches.
Read what he would have Schumer say in an alternate parallel universe of courage and conviction 🧵
I was fortunate to have Ami, a great speechwriter, work with me on several White House speeches.
Read what he would have Schumer say in an alternate parallel universe of courage and conviction 🧵
“The bugs are real. The math is not. All estimates are made up. Your frustration, however, is valid.”
www.bugsappleloves.com
www.bugsappleloves.com
Bugs Apple Loves
Bugs Apple won't fix. Why else would they keep them around for so long? We did the math.
www.bugsappleloves.com
January 24, 2026 at 1:37 AM
“The bugs are real. The math is not. All estimates are made up. Your frustration, however, is valid.”
www.bugsappleloves.com
www.bugsappleloves.com
This is art. The writing style of ChatGPT, recursively explained using that same voice.
I asked chat gpt to explain its writing style. Once you catch on to the dumb rhythms it's really hard not to spot in the wild.
January 18, 2026 at 12:31 PM
This is art. The writing style of ChatGPT, recursively explained using that same voice.
21,689 rows of film data (100 MB file!) and filtering by Director instantaneously on hover.
All in the browser, no roundtrip to a server. Just insane what we can do here: rowboat.net/f/7vb8dx84
(I'm actually moving slower in the first half to make it less confusing—second half is actual speed.)
All in the browser, no roundtrip to a server. Just insane what we can do here: rowboat.net/f/7vb8dx84
(I'm actually moving slower in the first half to make it less confusing—second half is actual speed.)
January 16, 2026 at 3:18 PM
21,689 rows of film data (100 MB file!) and filtering by Director instantaneously on hover.
All in the browser, no roundtrip to a server. Just insane what we can do here: rowboat.net/f/7vb8dx84
(I'm actually moving slower in the first half to make it less confusing—second half is actual speed.)
All in the browser, no roundtrip to a server. Just insane what we can do here: rowboat.net/f/7vb8dx84
(I'm actually moving slower in the first half to make it less confusing—second half is actual speed.)
Boosting for 1) using bread for infographics and 2) what the costs of running a business actually look like
London bakery The Dusty Knuckle cleverly used a loaf of bread as a graph to illustrate the costs of running their business. [kottke.org]
Bread Infographic
London bakery The Dusty Knuckle cleverly used a loaf of bread as a graph to illustrate the costs of running their business:
From their post:
This comes off the back of a big decision to increase our bakers’ pay ahead
kottke.org
January 15, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Boosting for 1) using bread for infographics and 2) what the costs of running a business actually look like
Reposted by Ben Fry
I really, really like this post from design consultancy Fathom: it’s a thoughtful take on why they’re not planning to incorporate “generative AI” into their practice. www.fathom.info/notebook/260...
A culture of work we believe in | Fathom Information Design
Katherine reflects on how we've been thinking and talking about generative AI in the studio.
www.fathom.info
January 12, 2026 at 8:39 PM
I really, really like this post from design consultancy Fathom: it’s a thoughtful take on why they’re not planning to incorporate “generative AI” into their practice. www.fathom.info/notebook/260...
An excellent piece by @kayserifserif.place about how we're thinking about Generative AI at @fathom.info, focused on the things we /want/ to build—from the artifacts we produce to the internal culture that makes it happen:
www.fathom.info/notebook/260...
www.fathom.info/notebook/260...
A culture of work we believe in | Fathom Information Design
Katherine reflects on how we've been thinking and talking about generative AI in the studio.
www.fathom.info
January 13, 2026 at 2:54 PM
An excellent piece by @kayserifserif.place about how we're thinking about Generative AI at @fathom.info, focused on the things we /want/ to build—from the artifacts we produce to the internal culture that makes it happen:
www.fathom.info/notebook/260...
www.fathom.info/notebook/260...
While trying to sort out and assemble my own thoughts about generative AI, it's been helpful to take in the work of others who are more articulate about it.
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
January 11, 2026 at 5:36 PM
While trying to sort out and assemble my own thoughts about generative AI, it's been helpful to take in the work of others who are more articulate about it.
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
“You open…an article on some subject you know well… You read & see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the ‘wet streets cause rain’ stories.”
January 10, 2026 at 1:36 PM
“You open…an article on some subject you know well… You read & see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the ‘wet streets cause rain’ stories.”
Couple years ago, I had like a one line quote in Wired about Apple's App Store policy hell. After the article got attention, they actually deployed comms people to lie & try to scare the writer into removing the quote.
So it's hilarious they can't seem to find aaaanyone to comment on this. 🙈
So it's hilarious they can't seem to find aaaanyone to comment on this. 🙈
New: Trio of Dem senators urge Apple and Google to enforce their own terms of service and ban X, Grok apps for their flood of nonconsensual sexual imagery.
I've repeatedly asked both Apple and Google about this for three days. They're completely silent, seemingly hoping the question just goes away.
I've repeatedly asked both Apple and Google about this for three days. They're completely silent, seemingly hoping the question just goes away.
Senators urged Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from app stores over sexual deepfakes
“Turning a blind eye to X’s egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation
practices,” three Democratic senators wrote to Apple’s and Google’s CEOs.
www.nbcnews.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Couple years ago, I had like a one line quote in Wired about Apple's App Store policy hell. After the article got attention, they actually deployed comms people to lie & try to scare the writer into removing the quote.
So it's hilarious they can't seem to find aaaanyone to comment on this. 🙈
So it's hilarious they can't seem to find aaaanyone to comment on this. 🙈
Reposted by Ben Fry
Holy fuck they actually did it
January 8, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Holy fuck they actually did it
Reposted by Ben Fry
Scottish gritter truck names are on another level
January 8, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Scottish gritter truck names are on another level
Reposted by Ben Fry
One of my favorite things about living in a city is catching all the different languages being spoken. What a treat.
In celebration of Mamdani's first day in office, the map from our 2016 NYC atlas celebrating Queens as the most linguistically diverse place on earth. (800 languages spoken in NYC, according to NY's Endangered Language Institute, which collaborated with us on this map.
January 3, 2026 at 1:05 PM
One of my favorite things about living in a city is catching all the different languages being spoken. What a treat.
Emily Bressler's “I Work For an Evil Company, but Outside Work, I’m Actually a Really Good Person” for McSweeney‘s might be one of the best things written this year, and the backstory only confirms and further elevates it: www.patreon.com/posts/top-25...
Top 25 of '25: Emily Bressler's "I Work For an Evil Company, but Outside Work, I'm Actually a Really Good Person" | McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Get more from McSweeney's Internet Tendency on Patreon
www.patreon.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Emily Bressler's “I Work For an Evil Company, but Outside Work, I’m Actually a Really Good Person” for McSweeney‘s might be one of the best things written this year, and the backstory only confirms and further elevates it: www.patreon.com/posts/top-25...
“6 or 7 characters should be plenty for a password, or maybe 8 if you must”
![Connect to the file server “borges” as:
( ) Guest
(x) Registered User
Name: [ a very large text field… ]
Password: [••••••••] [x] Add to Keychain](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:3jxxtvxhel7vjozs4kg63mh4/bafkreiawqba3kf7qnfcdqmuszedu44wx4bya2chfc7xmt5xvwokant4zum@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 12:20 AM
“6 or 7 characters should be plenty for a password, or maybe 8 if you must”