A smattering of useful things I’ve come across this month

July 2026

General

  • Rubin Observatory - A 3.2 billion pixels camera that takes an image every 40 seconds. You can download high-resolution images that are 56,428 x 29,949 pixels. That’s 1.7 billion pixels. It’s a 9.4-gigabyte file. Info from Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy Newsletter, which I highly recommend.

  • How Not to Forget What Matters - I enjoyed this article on what the Stoics called hypomnemata. We call it meditations now, I guess. Essentially, it’s meditations on problems you encounter or habits you want to reinforce. The author gives a short history and good examples.

  • WhatCable - This is awesome! This is the best USB-C info software that I have tried. I purchased the pro edition, and I think it’s indispensable. If you have any doubts about your cables, this will tell you all about them: cable speed, charging limits, e-marker data, and connected devices.

  • ScreenCastsonline - SCO has been around a long time. I used them many years ago and just started using the service again. Check out what they offer and which software they cover, and see if it would help you out. It’s 30 - 40 minute instructional videos on Apple and 3rd party software. If you need to fully understand a piece of software, they cover every detail. I recently needed some assistance in understanding and setting up BusyCal and BusyContacts and having them work together, and they covered it all. I was a pro by the end of it, using all the advanced features.

  • Kronecker Wallis | Fine Editions of Newton, Euclid, Turing & More. - I have purchased several books from Kronecker Wallis. Outstanding quality. If you are a book lover, check out what they offer.

Photography

  • A good review of Ilford 400 Vintage Tone film. You can see my photos using the film here.

  • The Phoblographer - Recently just came across this photo blog and it’s really good. I’m enjoying it much more than Petapixel.

  • WANDRD Camera Straps - This new twist on camera straps looks intriguing. I backed the project to try one out.

  • Used Photo Pro - Another good used photography gear site that I stumbled upon.

  • Aphera Raw Photo Editor - Aphera is out of beta, and they are having a 50% off sale right now if you’re at all interested. I beta-tested it, and I think it’s a great product, especially if you don’t use Adobe products, but I won’t be purchasing. I’m pretty locked into LR, which I’ve been using forever now, and I know it’s frowned upon by many, but I like it. Adobe could one day run me away with price, but everything costs something now except maybe Darktable. Even Aphera will be 200/year after the sale is done. It costs money to maintain and improve software. Update: I purchased Aphera during the sale to experiment with it further.

  • Is This the Best Replacement for a Tripod? - This looks awfully interesting.

  • How JPEG works (Christopher G. Jennings) - Want to understand JPEG? This is really well done.

  • Polaroid: A Chemical, Mechanical and Optical Miracle - Outstanding video on the history and uses of Polaroid. I learned an incredible amount.