The Nikon Z9’s Latest Firmware Brings New Enhancements and Picture Control Support

Officially announced at the end of 2021, it’s hard to imagine that the Nikon Z9 has been the camera manufacturer’s undisputed workhorse body for five years. At that time, the Z9 was an absolute beast, demonstrating to the camera industry what photographers should come to exp…

Pop quiz: what time was it?

Here’s a small quiz derived from some incorrect advice from an AI coding assistant. This program prints two timestamps; will they be a. Roughly the same time (ie, the same second)b. Roughly 10 seconds apartc. Something else Answer after the fold

Tunes and typefaces

In an Irish session, tunes are almost never played in isolation. They’re played in sets. A set of tunes might be as few as two. More usually, it’s three or more. It’s unusual to change from one tune type into another. You tend to get a set of jigs, or a set of reels, or…

We’re getting down to the wire for gifts to be shipped in...

We’re getting down to the wire for gifts to be shipped in time for Xmas. Take a look at the 2025 Kottke Holiday Gift Guide if you still need to shop for your fam & friends.

“On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the...

“On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925.” Includes Betty Boop, Blondie & Dagwood, and works by William Faulkner, Agatha Christie, and the Marx Brothers. 💬 Join the discu…

Telescope Types

Shitting Us Not

Near-universal surveillance of our digital lives (and in some places our natural ones) has been with us for two decades or more. John Robb sees this expanding to surveillance by the state, with systems in the U.S. coming to resemble China’s: “As this system matures, the desi…

Machine With Concrete

Arthur Ganson is a kinetic sculptor who builds “Rube Goldberg machines with existential themes”. One of his works is called Machine with Concrete, which demonstrates the magic of gear ratios According to a piece in Make, the input shaft spins at 200 rpm, which is reduced…

Chef Saves 78-Year-Old Man’s Life After He Stopped Showing Up for His...

Chef Saves 78-Year-Old Man’s Life After He Stopped Showing Up for His Daily Dinners at Local Restaurant. “Mr. Hicks don’t miss no days. I knew, then, something was wrong.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

[Trailer] The Muppet Show is returning! It’s a one-time event, hosted by...

[Trailer] The Muppet Show is returning! It’s a one-time event, hosted by Sabrina Carpenter, to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary. “It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights…” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Nature: The Best Science Images of 2025

Nature magazine has chosen its favorite science images of the year. I’ve featured a few of these on the site already — Skydiving the Sun, red sprites in the New Zealand sky — so I picked a couple of other favorites to share: The first was taken by Francisco Negroni of…

dmitriid is being grumpy

dmitriid: All modern software is rapidly losing the ability to properly apply even the simplest filters. Search for "Open Now", Google Maps will happily show closed businesses. Search for "Today", Facebook will happily show you events from any date except today. Search for a…

Astronomy Picture of the Day for Dec 12: a red fox beneath...

Astronomy Picture of the Day for Dec 12: a red fox beneath a swirling aurora. “In a Finnish myth, when an arctic fox runs so fast that its bushy tail brushes the mountains, flaming sparks are cast into the heavens creating the northern lights.” 💬 Join the d…

The Devil You Know is an 8-part podcast series from the CBC...

The Devil You Know is an 8-part podcast series from the CBC and Sarah Marshall (host of You’re Wrong About…) about the Satanic Panic. “These thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found…” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Taking it Slower

To the best editor I've ever had Paolo once told me that cats came to Earth to enslave the standing monkeys. While funny and in some ways true, cats can be more than that. They can be as loyal as dogs (and both species far more loyal than grown humans to each other), and friends…

Want a Medium Format DSLR? Consider These

Medium format cameras are a niche, but they are important for many photographers. They offer several options, ranging from increased pixel density to massive builds and vibrant colors. There are multiple cameras that excel in this area, but if you are looking at medium format ca…

The Lies and Falsifications of Oliver Sacks

In a recent bombshell piece for the New Yorker (archive), Rachel Aviv explored the personal journals of the celebrated neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks. What she found was shocking: he had fabricated and embellished some of his most well-known work — like Awakenings and The…

The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2025. “Historians will study how bad...

The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2025. “Historians will study how bad this book is. English teachers will hold this book aloft at their students to remind them that literally anyone can write a book.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Viltrox 35mm f1.2 LAB Z Mount: Bulky But Stunning Image Quality

The Viltrox 35mm f1.2 LAB Z mount lens is a lens that gives you a sense of power over what you see in your camera's viewfinder. Far from delicate or subtle, it makes its presence felt the moment you lift the camera. About a hundred grams lighter than the Nikon 35mm f1.2 S lens,…

Planning to Visit the US? Take It From This American Citizen –...

Planning to Visit the US? Take It From This American Citizen – Don’t. “If I were a tourist, though, I’d pick a less totalitarian place to travel.”

Matt Webb reports on going to algoraves. “There are special browser-based programming...

Matt Webb reports on going to algoraves. “There are special browser-based programming languages like strudel where you type code to define the beats and the sound, like mod synth in code, and it plays in a loop even while you’re coding.” 💬 Join the discus…

nikitonsky is being grumpy

nikitonsky: What do you think this cross button means? Well, it’s not a button. It’s error indicator. Hover to see! Nope, sorry, hover to see a message that you need to click it to actually see the error message! You don’t care about errors, right? Thanks @komarovman for…

Is Pentax Developing a New Compact Film Camera?

Following the launch of the Pentax 17, one couldn't help but wonder in which direction the company is taking. Film photography in 2025 may seem odd, but with more young creators going after vintage image aesthetics, the launch made sense. It now appears that Pentax means to not…

Panasonic S1II E Review Update: Does it Matter for Photographers?

We've updated our Panasonic S1II E review for photographers -- which means that we didn't test all the new video stuff. Photographers should know that this is a pretty minor update overall. The S1II E is the S5 II's sensor with new externals and a new processor. It's a pretty go…

Ragú Unveils Sensory Deprivation Marinara Tank. “The detoxifying marinara is slowly simmered...

Ragú Unveils Sensory Deprivation Marinara Tank. “The detoxifying marinara is slowly simmered to the exact temperature of the user’s body, allowing the mind to drift freely into a meditative gravy state, just like Nonna used to make.”

Disclosure Day

Over his storied career, Steven Spielberg has made only four studio films about aliens: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — the outsized influence of the first two gives the impression that he’…

Seven Voting Laws Every Blue State Should Enact Right Now. “1. Enact...

Seven Voting Laws Every Blue State Should Enact Right Now. “1. Enact a statutory right to vote for every eligible citizen. This may surprise you, but there is no general federal constitutional right to vote.”

Is Canon’s Retro Camera Actually the R6 Mark III in Disguise?

Canon's latest streak of cameras has been exciting, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. One of the reasons is that the company has yet to address the creation of a 'retro-style' camera, one that can compete with Nikon's compact Zf. While there has been no news on its progre…

The Hit Hollywood Didn’t Want. “Sinners is a threat to a business...

The Hit Hollywood Didn’t Want. “Sinners is a threat to a business model built only on regurgitation, on endless return trips to Jurassic World, on more Toy Stories and feature-length toy commercials.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

If we were all Japanese pond frogs, we’d have nothing to fear...

If we were all Japanese pond frogs, we’d have nothing to fear from murder hornets. “When I watched the recorded videos in slow motion, the frogs were clearly stung multiple times yet showed no apparent injury or mortality.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottk…

New Animated Version of Animal Farm?

Hmm, I really don’t know about this one: an animated adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a sort of Ice Age-ish comedy adventure? One commenter on YouTube says, “This movie is 100% gonna end with a random dance party scene with the pigs and humans dancing to some…

“The Trump administration’s vision for the United States is one of a...

“The Trump administration’s vision for the United States is one of a white Christian nation. And the path to accomplish it is through the exclusion and removal of all who do not fit that vision — in other words, through ethnic cleansing.”

A roundup of the words/phrases of the year for 2025, including “rage...

A roundup of the words/phrases of the year for 2025, including “rage bait”, “vibe coding”, “Mar-a-Lago face”, “chaos”, “performative male”, and “Kavanaugh stop”. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →