Ben Foxall
@benfoxall.bsky.social
I love the web, data, spatial, robotics and hacks.
Prev, Robot Web at Wayve 🫶 🤖 🚗
Prev, Robot Web at Wayve 🫶 🤖 🚗
… though to be fair, it did *sincerely apologize* and promised never to do it again.
I've reset my credentials, but probably won't update my repo secrets anytime soon 😅
github.com/benfoxall/lu...
I've reset my credentials, but probably won't update my repo secrets anytime soon 😅
github.com/benfoxall/lu...
January 26, 2026 at 10:50 AM
… though to be fair, it did *sincerely apologize* and promised never to do it again.
I've reset my credentials, but probably won't update my repo secrets anytime soon 😅
github.com/benfoxall/lu...
I've reset my credentials, but probably won't update my repo secrets anytime soon 😅
github.com/benfoxall/lu...
So @github.com copilot decided to extract some secrets into a plain markdown file which it committed to my repo 😰
January 26, 2026 at 8:53 AM
So @github.com copilot decided to extract some secrets into a plain markdown file which it committed to my repo 😰
Lunatech
benjaminbenben.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:04 PM
We think our cat is being bullied 😿 (keep seeing her getting chased home by a stray cat).
… I found an undocumented api for her location tracker (Tractive) and made some plots. Looks like she's been exploring way less over the last few weeks.
… I found an undocumented api for her location tracker (Tractive) and made some plots. Looks like she's been exploring way less over the last few weeks.
December 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
We think our cat is being bullied 😿 (keep seeing her getting chased home by a stray cat).
… I found an undocumented api for her location tracker (Tractive) and made some plots. Looks like she's been exploring way less over the last few weeks.
… I found an undocumented api for her location tracker (Tractive) and made some plots. Looks like she's been exploring way less over the last few weeks.
Yes! Handy feature otherwise I might accidentally get your blog post burned into my CRT Display
December 5, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Yes! Handy feature otherwise I might accidentally get your blog post burned into my CRT Display
@remysharp.com I just came back to a page I was reading yesterday to see it replaced with your face bouncing around. Love it 📀
December 5, 2025 at 12:56 PM
@remysharp.com I just came back to a page I was reading yesterday to see it replaced with your face bouncing around. Love it 📀
Have you explained about how your approach is much more efficient? I feel like a few graphs/slides would get the message across well.
December 3, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Have you explained about how your approach is much more efficient? I feel like a few graphs/slides would get the message across well.
I dreamt up a very elegant and secure way of restricting which doors you could open, but then I figured:
1. I'd be doing that for me, rather than the person I made it for
2. Real ones aren't that secure either
1. I'd be doing that for me, rather than the person I made it for
2. Real ones aren't that secure either
December 3, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I dreamt up a very elegant and secure way of restricting which doors you could open, but then I figured:
1. I'd be doing that for me, rather than the person I made it for
2. Real ones aren't that secure either
1. I'd be doing that for me, rather than the person I made it for
2. Real ones aren't that secure either
December 3, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I gave a talk last week about communication & data extraction with QR Codes.
One thing clicked for me recently: When you scan a QR Code, you're _copying_ data from the physical world to your device.
Was interesting to talk about performance & security with that in mind.
One thing clicked for me recently: When you scan a QR Code, you're _copying_ data from the physical world to your device.
Was interesting to talk about performance & security with that in mind.
December 1, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I gave a talk last week about communication & data extraction with QR Codes.
One thing clicked for me recently: When you scan a QR Code, you're _copying_ data from the physical world to your device.
Was interesting to talk about performance & security with that in mind.
One thing clicked for me recently: When you scan a QR Code, you're _copying_ data from the physical world to your device.
Was interesting to talk about performance & security with that in mind.
Thanks Paul 🙏! Sorry to hear the search has been rough, is there an end in sight?
November 25, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Thanks Paul 🙏! Sorry to hear the search has been rough, is there an end in sight?
Thanks! And thanks for sharing my post that I was searching. I got a few good leads who mentioned you specifically.
November 24, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Thanks! And thanks for sharing my post that I was searching. I got a few good leads who mentioned you specifically.
Had some final stage interviews with a multi-billion dollar company this afternoon, managed to tell:
→ The CTO & Cofounder – It's my mum's birthday today
→ Head of Engineering – I went clubbing at the weekend and considered replying to an email at 1am, but didn't
→ The CTO & Cofounder – It's my mum's birthday today
→ Head of Engineering – I went clubbing at the weekend and considered replying to an email at 1am, but didn't
November 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Had some final stage interviews with a multi-billion dollar company this afternoon, managed to tell:
→ The CTO & Cofounder – It's my mum's birthday today
→ Head of Engineering – I went clubbing at the weekend and considered replying to an email at 1am, but didn't
→ The CTO & Cofounder – It's my mum's birthday today
→ Head of Engineering – I went clubbing at the weekend and considered replying to an email at 1am, but didn't
… does anyone know where I can buy a cat wig?
November 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
… does anyone know where I can buy a cat wig?
Now we're talking 😻
November 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Now we're talking 😻
… I guess this is technically what I asked for
November 14, 2025 at 10:03 AM
… I guess this is technically what I asked for
It's getting to the time of year that people I met in the summer have started noticing that I always wear shorts
November 13, 2025 at 9:16 PM
It's getting to the time of year that people I met in the summer have started noticing that I always wear shorts
And it all packages up well. Now I've got a self-contained docker image (around 440mb) that I can deploy wherever I want.
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
And it all packages up well. Now I've got a self-contained docker image (around 440mb) that I can deploy wherever I want.
There's something cool about making a local map server, this one is only really useful if you're in Dublin.
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
There's something cool about making a local map server, this one is only really useful if you're in Dublin.
1. Download open streetmap data for the area you want to route through
2. Process/extract/partition your data into a bunch of osrm.* files
3. Run the server
github.com/Project-OSRM...
2. Process/extract/partition your data into a bunch of osrm.* files
3. Run the server
github.com/Project-OSRM...
GitHub - Project-OSRM/osrm-backend: Open Source Routing Machine - C++ backend
Open Source Routing Machine - C++ backend. Contribute to Project-OSRM/osrm-backend development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:18 PM
1. Download open streetmap data for the area you want to route through
2. Process/extract/partition your data into a bunch of osrm.* files
3. Run the server
github.com/Project-OSRM...
2. Process/extract/partition your data into a bunch of osrm.* files
3. Run the server
github.com/Project-OSRM...
I'm impressed with how straightforward it is to setup your own routing service with OSRM.
(this instance finds walking directions around Dublin).
(this instance finds walking directions around Dublin).
November 7, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I'm impressed with how straightforward it is to setup your own routing service with OSRM.
(this instance finds walking directions around Dublin).
(this instance finds walking directions around Dublin).
oh wow, that map view is cool. There's so much train data that I know nothing about.
Dunno if you've seen trntxt.uk by Dan Pope? It's very very data optimised (most page loads are <2k single rt)
Dunno if you've seen trntxt.uk by Dan Pope? It's very very data optimised (most page loads are <2k single rt)
Train Text
A data-friendly train times service for Great Britain.
trntxt.uk
November 3, 2025 at 7:46 PM
oh wow, that map view is cool. There's so much train data that I know nothing about.
Dunno if you've seen trntxt.uk by Dan Pope? It's very very data optimised (most page loads are <2k single rt)
Dunno if you've seen trntxt.uk by Dan Pope? It's very very data optimised (most page loads are <2k single rt)
Everything comes from a single endpoint `getCurrentTrainsXML` api.irishrail.ie/realtime/
I did some git-scraping for a few days, pulled everything into DuckDB and generated a csv file to pull into the frontend.
I did some git-scraping for a few days, pulled everything into DuckDB and generated a csv file to pull into the frontend.
Our central signalling system is subject to ongoing work to support this real-time
facility. However real-time information has weaker coverage in certain areas, these
include:
api.irishrail.ie
November 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Everything comes from a single endpoint `getCurrentTrainsXML` api.irishrail.ie/realtime/
I did some git-scraping for a few days, pulled everything into DuckDB and generated a csv file to pull into the frontend.
I did some git-scraping for a few days, pulled everything into DuckDB and generated a csv file to pull into the frontend.
November 3, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Foxall
I dug into progressive image rendering and found a bunch of common assumptions aren't quite true.
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
The present and potential future of progressive image rendering
Exploring progressive image rendering across JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, and JPEG XL.
jakearchibald.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:16 AM
I dug into progressive image rendering and found a bunch of common assumptions aren't quite true.
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...