September 16, 2025

ReHacked vol. 337: ChatControl update, Modern Museums Experience and more

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"It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult." --Queen Elizabeth II

I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens | Seth Purcell #culture

If your museum's exhibits could be experienced just as well on an iPad at home, you're doing it wrong.

When I was a kid in the ’80s, one of my two favorite places on Earth was The Franklin Institute (TFI) in downtown Philadelphia. We lived a couple hours away so a visit was a rare and precious thing. I think I only visited two or three times but it left an indelible impression on me. I remember wandering in amazement through its enormous spaces getting to actually play with amazing and interesting things. I remember sweeping off a table and then filling an overhanging funnel pendulum with sand, setting it going, and watching it create unexpected patterns on the table. I remember running through the gigantic model heart with other kids. I remember the overpowering joy of being in an actual monumental marble temple of curiosity and fascination. So I was filled with anticipation a couple weeks ago when, during a family trip to the East Coast, we managed to squeeze in a visit to TFI with our six-year-old son.

We parked and ran in, paid close to ninety bucks (ouch! but I love you, so take my money), and started off on the top floor with the Wondrous Space exhibit.

And were met with screens.

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Make a donation - support Ukraine. Щира подяка. Разом до перемоги!

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::rebel:: #ChatControl update #privacy

The good news is that the blocking minority held. Members states raised concerns about privacy and cybersecurity as reasons for their opposition. Even countries that are officially in support of the proposal asked questions along these lines for the first time – showing that they are facing increased pressure back home.

The bad news is that #Denmark is moving forward even though they did not receive full support. They are keeping their plan to take this proposal to the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on October 14th.

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Cat Aquarium – Shop Fish Tanks Made for Cats #fun

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Google's top AI scientist says 'learning how to learn' will be next generation's most needed skill #futurism

Speaking at an ancient Roman theater at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google's DeepMind, said rapid technological change demands a new approach to learning and skill development.

"It's very hard to predict the future, like 10 years from now, in normal cases. It's even harder today, given how fast AI is changing, even week by week," Hassabis told the audience. "The only thing you can say for certain is that huge change is coming."

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Proton Mail Suspended Journalist Accounts at Request of Cybersecurity Agency #privacy

THE COMPANY BEHIND the Proton Mail email service, Proton, describes itself as a “neutral and safe haven for your personal data, committed to defending your freedom.”

But last month, Proton disabled email accounts belonging to journalists reporting on security breaches of various South Korean government computer systems following a complaint by an unspecified cybersecurity agency. After a public outcry, and multiple weeks, the journalists’ accounts were eventually reinstated — but the reporters and editors involved still want answers on how and why Proton decided to shut down the accounts in the first place.

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Windows 10 resists its end: usage share climbs while Windows 11's falls - gHacks Tech News #software

Next month, Microsoft is ending support for home editions of its Windows 10 operating system officially. While users may extend support by one year -- business customers get three -- the number of users who will take up Microsoft's offer is unclear. The extension is more or less free, as you get it as a consumer when you enable the backup functionality during the signup process. There is even a tool for that that lets you do all that with a local account and as little interaction as possible.

Recently, Windows 11, the successor of Windows 10, has been gaining traction. While it led the leaderboard of the most popular operating system on Valve's highly influential Steam gaming platform for some time, it passed Windows 10 at Statcounter's monthly OS popularity ranking in July for the first time.

Being newer and with the advantage that its main competitor is on its last months of support, one could predict the trend easily. Windows 10 usage declines naturally, as users start to migrate to Windows 11, if their devices are compatible, upgrade by bypassing compatibility checks, or buy entirely new PCs.

But in August 2025, stats reversed seemingly, at least according to Statcounter. Windows 11 usage dropped by four points from 53 percent to 49 percent. Windows 10's usage jumped three points to 45 percent. Even the out-of-support Windows 7 operating system jumped by 1.5 points to more than three percent usage, according to Statcounter.

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KDE launches its own distribution (again) [LWN.net] #software

KDE contributor Nate Graham wrote an announcement blog post on September 6 to accompany the release of KDE Linux. Harald Sitter had introduced the project as "Project Banana" during a talk (video, slides) at Akademy in 2024, and has been leading its development along with major contributions from Hadi Chokr, Lasath Fernando, Justin Zobel, Graham, and others.

KDE Linux is an immutable distribution that uses Arch Linux packages as its base, but Graham notes that it is "definitely not an 'Arch-based distro!'" Pacman is not included, and Arch is used only for the base operating system. Everything else, he said, is either compiled from source using KDE Builder or installed using Flatpak.

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Under the circumstances | Seth's Blog #productivity

Everyone is always doing their best.

Given their situation, priorities, and awareness (the circumstances), people make choices.

If we want to change how others respond, we need to change their circumstances and how they see their options.

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Dainius