ReHacked vol. 291: Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead bassist and founding member, dies at 84, 1st photo of Earth from space, 78 years ago and more

Meet the Italian 'Fruit Detective' Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table | Smithsonian #art #history #longread

Six centuries ago, Italy boasted hundreds of varieties for every fruit, each adapted to specific ecological niches. Apple, pear and cherry varieties across Umbria were different, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, from Venetian, Florentine or Piedmontese varieties. At the turn of the 20th century, the country was home to at least 1,000 pear varieties, according to Dalla Ragione. Today, Italy is one of Europe’s foremost producers of pears. Yet for both pears and apples, a mere four varieties each now compose more than 70 percent of the country’s production, compared with the hundreds of varieties that were common a century ago. A 2020 Atlas of Biodiversity commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture—to which Dalla Ragione contributed—documents how dozens if not hundreds of varieties of peaches, cherries, grapes and apricots once cultivated in Italy’s many regions have shrunk to a handful of uniform varieties for each fruit nationwide.

Make a donation - support Ukraine. My favourite: Support the Armed Forces of Ukraine | via National Bank of Ukraine. More options if you want alternatives. Also, very important Come Back Alive Foundation - Charity Organization.

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Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead bassist and founding member, dies at 84 #promemoria

Grateful Dead founding member and bassist Phil Lesh died Friday morning, according to a post on his official Instagram account.

The California native and rock legend was 84.

Chinese researchers break RSA encryption with a quantum computer | CSO Online #security

In a potentially alarming development for global cybersecurity, Chinese researchers have unveiled a method using D-Wave’s quantum annealing systems to crack classic encryption, potentially accelerating the timeline for when quantum computers could pose a real threat to widely used cryptographic systems.

Published in the Chinese Journal of Computers under the title “Quantum Annealing Public Key Cryptographic Attack Algorithm Based on D-Wave Advantage,” the paper outlined how D-Wave’s machines were used to break RSA encryption and attack symmetric encryption systems, raising serious questions about the future of cybersecurity.

1st photo of Earth from space, 78 years ago today #space #history

Were you alive before we saw Earth from space? If so, you were born on or before October 24, 1946. That was when a group of soldiers and scientists in the New Mexico desert launched a V-2 rocket – carrying a 35-mm motion picture camera – to a height 65 miles (105 km) above Earth’s surface. NASA defines the edge of space as 50 miles (80 km) above the surface. After a few minutes, the camera dropped back to Earth and was destroyed on impact. But the film survived.

How one engineer beat the ban on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia | Games | The Guardian #hardware #history

Typically, computers and consoles have a CPU – which forms the “brain” of the machine and performs all of the calculations – in addition to a video controller/graphics chip that generates the images you see on the screen. In the Atari 2600 console, for example, the CPU is the MOS Technology 6507 chip, while the video controller is the TIA (Television Interface Adaptor) chip.

Instead of having a separate graphics chip, Antonić thought he could use part of the CPU to generate a video signal, and then replicate some of the other video functions using software. It would mean sacrificing processing power, but in principle it was possible, and it would make the computer much cheaper.

“I was impatient to test it,” says Antonić. As soon as he returned from his holiday, he put together a prototype – and lo and behold, it really worked. Thinking outside the box had paid off.

His next thought was that perhaps other people would want to make their own version of the computer – although he didn’t foresee how far that particular thought would take him. “Everything that happened after that was not because of me,” he says, “but because of smart journalists, who knew how to make good story.”

Linus Torvalds Comments On The Russian Linux Maintainers Being Delisted - Phoronix #software

Since yesterday there's been a lot of concern and mixed views over a number of Linux kernel maintainers being de-listed from the kernel's MAINTAINERS file seemingly over being Russian or using Russian email addresses. In response to the patch posting from last week has also been proposals to revert that prior patch, some of the affected maintainers voicing their surprise over this sudden move, and some being upset over the lack of public clarity into the seemingly new "compliance requirements" imposed on the Linux kernel.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT launch marks a divorce from Android • The Register #software

Huawei formally launched its home-brewed operating system, HarmonyOS NEXT, on Wednesday, marking its official separation from the Android ecosystem.

Huawei declared it released and "officially started public beta testing" of the OS for some of its smartphones and tablets that run its own Kirin and Kunpeng chips.

Unlike previous iterations of HarmonyOS, HarmonyOS NEXT no longer supports Android apps.

Elon Musk, Tesla sued for Blade Runner AI robotaxi ripoff #copyrights

Elon Musk, his car company Tesla and Warner Brothers Discovery were sued Monday over their alleged artificial intelligence-fueled copyright infringement of images from the film “Blade Runner 2049” to promote Tesla’s robotaxi concept.

The lawsuit by the dystopian sequel’s producer, Alcon Entertainment, says that the mega-billionaire Musk and the other defendants requested permission to use “an iconic still image” from “Blade Runner 2049″ for the Oct. 10 event hyping the Cybercab at Warner Brothers Discovery’s studio lot in Burbank, California. That request was denied.

David Lynch Presents Interview Project: TRAILER - YouTube

The Interview Project team has decided to re-release all 121 episodes of the original series on October 1, 2024 to commemorate the 15 year anniversary.

Google Drive Blackout in Italy After Another Major Anti-Piracy Blunder * TorrentFreak #copyrights

After blocking Cloudflare to prevent IPTV piracy just a few months ago, on Saturday the rightsholders behind Piracy Shield ordered Italy's ISPs to block Google Drive. The subsequent nationwide blackout, affecting millions of Italians, wasn't just a hapless IP address blunder. This was the reckless blocking of a Google.com subdomain that many 10-year-olds could identify as being important.

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