Enlarge / Messier 45 as seen from Texas. (credit: Jeff Cohen)

Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light; a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’re going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.

Enlarge

• TCL 55-inch Q7 QLED 4K Smart TV with Google TV for $498 (was $750) at Amazon
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II for $199 (was $279) at Amazon
• Apple AirTag 4-pack for $87 (was $99) at Amazon
• Sony HT-A7000 Dolby Atmos soundbar for $998 (was $1,398) at Crutchfield
• Lenovo Slim Pro 7 (14-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS) for $1,250 (was $1,450) at Lenovo
• Samsung 65-inch Class OLED S90C for $1,600 (was $2,600) at Samsung
• Netgear Nighthawk WiFi 6 Router for $250 (was $298) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation, USB-C) for $200 (was $249) at Best Buy | Amazon

Headphones and hearing aids

• Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation, USB-C) for $200 (was $249) at Best Buy | Amazon
• Apple AirPods Max Wireless Over-Ear Headphones for $480 (was $549) at Amazon
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II for $199 (was $279) at Amazon
• Beats Studio Buds Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds for $100 (was $150) at Best Buy
• Beats Studio Pro Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-the-Ear Headphones for $300 (was $350) at Best Buy
• Beats Fit Pro True Wireless Noise Cancelling In-Ear Earbuds for $180 (was $200) at Best Buy
• Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds w/ Noise Cancelling for $170 (was $230) at Amazon
• JBL Tune 760NC – Foldable Over-Ear Wireless Headphones with Active Noise Cancellation for $65 (was $100) at Amazon
• Sony WH-1000XM4B.CE7 Limited Edition Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones for $248 (was $350) at Amazon
• Soundpeats Air4 Wireless Earbuds with Snapdragon Sound AptX Adaptive Lossless Audio for $72 (was $90) from Amazon
• JBL Tune 510BT: Wireless On-Ear Headphones for $25 (was $50) at Amazon
• JBL Tune 230NC Wireless Noise Canceling Earbuds for $50 (was $60) at Amazon
• JBL Live 660NC Wireless Over-Ear Noise Canceling Headphones for $100 (was $200) at Amazon
• Beats Studio Buds Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds for $100 (was $150) at Best Buy
• Bose Headphones 700 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-the-Ear Headphones for $279 (was $379) at Best Buy
• JBL Live 460NC – Wireless On-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones for $65 (was $130) at Amazon
• JBL Live Free 2 True Wireless earbuds with adaptive noise canceling for $75 (was $150) at Amazon
• Poly – formerly Plantronics – Voyager 4320 for $158 (was $170) at Best Buy
• Soundcore by Anker P20i True Wireless Earbuds for $20 (was $40) at Amazon
• Soundcore by Anker Life P3i Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds for $50 (was $60) at Amazon
• Lexie Lumen self-fitting hearing aids for $649 (was $799) at Best Buy
• Lexie B2 Hearing Aids Powered by Bose for $899 (was $999) at Best Buy
• Lexie B1 Hearing Aids for $699 (was $849) at Best Buy

Tech essentials

• Netgear Nighthawk WiFi 6 Router for $250 (was $298) at Amazon
• Netgear Cable Modem WiFi Router Combo C6300 for $140 (was $200) at Amazon
• TP-Link Deco AX7800 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (Deco X95) 2-pack for $350 (was $450) at Amazon
• TP-Link Deco AXE5400 Tri-Band WiFi 6E Mesh System(Deco XE75) 2-pack for $230 (was $300) at Amazon
• TP-Link WiFi Extender with Ethernet Port for $30 (was $50) at Amazon
• TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System (Deco S4) 3-pack for $110 (was $150) at Amazon
• TP-Link AC1900 WiFi Extender (RE550) for $70 (was $80) at Amazon
• Amazon eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi System 2-pack for $280 (was $400) at Amazon
• Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi router for $90 (was $140) at Amazon
• Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen, 2021 release) for $70 (was $130) at Amazon
• Seagate IronWolf 8Tb NAS Internal Hard Drive for $160 (was $170) at Amazon
• Anker 120 W USB C Charger, Anker 737 GaNPrime for $72 after coupon (was $89) at Amazon

Herman Miller office and gaming chairs

• Herman Miller Aeron Chair for $1,354 (was $1,805) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Embody Chair for $1,703 (was $2,270) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Embody Gaming Chair for $1,384 (was $1,845) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Sayl Chair for $588 (was $735) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Sayl Chair, Special Gaming Edition for $816 (was $1,020) at DWR
• Herman Miller Cosm Chair, Low Back for $1,048 (was $1,310) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Cosm Chair, Mid Back for $1,256 (was $1,570) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Cosm Chair, High Back for $1,680 (was $2,100) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum Gaming Chair for $636 (was $795) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller x Logitech G Embody Gaming Chair for $1,384 (was $1,845) at DWR
• Herman Miller Eames Aluminum Group Chair, Executive for $2,040 (was $2,550) at DWR
• Herman Miller Eames Aluminum Group Chair, Management for $2,296 (was $2,870) at DWR
• Herman Miller Eames Soft Pad Chair, Executive Height for $3,516 (was $4,395) at DWR
• Herman Miller Mirra 2 Chair for $1,128 (was $1,410) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Setu Chair, With Arms for $668 (was $835) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Aeron Chair, Special Gaming Edition for $1,354 (was $1,805) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Aeron Stool for $1,391 (was $1,855) at Herman Miller
• Herman Miller Lino Chair for $684 (was $855) at Herman Miller

TVs, soundbars, and home entertainment

• Hisense 65-inch Class U8 Series Mini-LED ULED 4K UHD TV for $1,048 (was $1,400) at Amazon
• TCL 55-inch Q7 QLED 4K Smart TV with Google TV for $498 (was $750) at Amazon
• TCL 55-inch Q6 QLED 4K Smart TV with Google TV for $348 (was $500) at Amazon
• Sony 65-inch Class Bravia XR A80L OLED 4K smart Google TV for $1,700 (was $2,600) at Best Buy
• Sony 55-inch Class Bravia XR A80L OLED 4K smart Google TV for $1,400 (was $1,900) at Best Buy
• Sony 83-inch Class Bravia XR A80L OLED 4K UHD Smart Google TV for $4,500 (was $5,500) at Best Buy
• Samsung 55-inch Class OLED S90C for $1,300 (was $1,900) at Samsung
• Samsung 65-inch Class OLED S90C for $1,600 (was $2,600) at Samsung
• Samsung 83-inch Class OLED S90C for $3,500 (was $5,400) at Samsung
• Samsung 65-inch Class OLED S95C for $2,400 (was $3,300) at Amazon Samsung
• Samsung 55-inch Class OLED S95C for $1,900 (was $2,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 77-inch Class OLED S95C for $3,600 (was $4,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 55-inch Class TU690T Crystal UHD 4K for $300 (was $380) at Samsung
• Samsung 65-inch Class QLED 4K QN90C for $1,700 (was $2,800) at Samsung
• Samsung 98-inch Class QLED 4K Q80C for $5,000 (was $8,000) at Samsung
• Samsung 65-inch Class Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN800C for $2,600 (was $3,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 75-inch Class The Frame QLED 4K LS03B for $2,600 (was $3,000) at Samsung
• Samsung 85-inch Class The Frame QLED 4K LS03B for $3,300 (was $4,300) at Samsung
• LG 65-inch Class G3 Series OLED 4K UHD for $2,300 (was $3,000) at Best Buy
• LG 77-inch Class G3 Series OLED 4K UHD for $3,500 (was $4,300) at Best Buy
• LG 83-inch Class G3 Series OLED 4K UHD TV for $5,000 (was $6,000) at Best Buy
• LG 77-inch Class B3 series OLED 4K UHD for $2,019 (was $3,300) at LG
• Sony 55-inch Class Bravia XR A95K 4K HDR OLED Google TV for $2,500 (was $2,800) at Best Buy
• Samsung 120-inch Class The Premiere LSP7T 4K Smart Laser Projector for $3,000 (was $3,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 120-inch Class The Premiere LSP7T 4K Smart Laser Projector for $6,000 (was $6,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 70-inch Class QLED 4K QE1C for $940 (was $1,800) at Samsung
• Samsung 70-inch Class QLED 4K QE1C for $1,500 (was $2,800) at Samsung
• Samsung 75-inch Class Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN900C for $4,500 (was $6,300) at Samsung
• Samsung 65-inch Class Samsung Neo QLED 8K QN800C for $2,600 (was $3,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 43-inch Class Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN90C for $1,000 (was $1,200) at Samsung
• Samsung 85-inch Class Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN90C for $2,800 (was $4,800) at Samsung
• Samsung 55-inch Class Samsung Neo QLED 4K QN85C for $1,000 (was $1,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 55-inch Class QLED 4K Q70C for $850 (was $1,000) at Samsung
• Samsung 86-inch Class Crystal UHD TU9010 (2021) for $1,600 (was $1,700) at Samsung
• Samsung 85-inch Class Crystal UHD CU7000 for $900 (was $1,100) at Samsung
• Samsung 50-inch Class QLED 4K Q80B (2022) for $900 (was $1,000) at Samsung
• Sony HT-A7000 Dolby Atmos soundbar for $998 (was $1,398) at Crutchfield
• Sony HT-S2000 soundbar for $348 (was $498) at Crutchfield
• Sony HT-A3000 soundbar for $498 (was $698) at Crutchfield
• Sennheiser AMBEO Dolby Atmos Soundbar | Max for $2,000 (was $2,500) at Crutchfield
• Sony HT-A5000 Dolby Atmos soundbar for $698 (was $998) at Crutchfield
• Yamaha SR-B20A soundbar for $150 (was $200) at Crutchfield
• Samsung HW-Q600C 3.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos Soundbar for $328 (was $600) at Crutchfield
• Samsung S-series 3.0 ch. Soundbar S50B for $150 (was $250) at Samsung
• Samsung Sound Tower Party Audio ST40B for $230 (was $500) at Samsung
• Samsung Q-series 3.1.2 ch. Wireless Dolby Atmos Soundbar Q700C for $400 (was $700) at Samsung
• Samsung Q-series 5.1.2 ch. Wireless Dolby Atmos Soundbar Q800C for $690 (was $1,000) at Samsung
• Samsung Q-series 7.1.2 ch. Wireless Dolby Atmos Soundbar Q900C for $989 (was $1,400) at Samsung
• Samsung Q-series 9.1.2 ch. Wireless Dolby Atmos Soundbar Q910C for $989 (was $1,400) at Samsung

Lenovo deals

• Lenovo Slim Pro 7 (14-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS) for $1,250 (was $1,450) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Yoga 7i (14-inch, Intel Core i5-1335U) for $880 (was $1,100) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i9-13900HX and RTX 4090) for $2,385 (was $2,850) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 (14-inch, Intel Core i5-1335U) for $1,319 (was $2,399) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i5-13500HX and RTX 4050) for $1,070 (was $1,480) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Slim 5 Gen 8 (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 5 7640HS and RTX 4050) for $950 (was $1,300) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (15-inch, Intel Core i7-13700H and RTX 4050) for $1,030 (was $1,400) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS and RTX 4050) for $980 (was $1,260) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Slim 7i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700H and RTX) for $1,400 (was $1,770) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Pro 5i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i5-13500HX and RTX) for $1,070 (was $1,480) at Lenovo
• ThinkPhone by Motorola for $450 (was $700) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Gen 3 (14-inch, AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 5675U) for $629 (was $2,688) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Slim 5i Gen 8 (16-inch, Intel Core i5-13500H and RTX 4050) for $1,000 (was $1,350) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 (14-inch, Intel Core i5-1250P) for $945 (was $3,049) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (15-inch, Intel Core i5-13500H and RTX 3050) for $750 (was $1,020) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkBook 14 Gen 4 (14-inch, Intel Coire i5-1235U) for $632 (was $1,404) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700HX and RTX A1000) for $1,749 (was $3,899) at Lenovo
• Lenovo LOQ (16-inch, Intel Core i5-13500H and RTX 4050) $840 (was $1,200) at Lenovo
• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 (15-inch, AMD Ryzen 5 7530U) for $475 (was $700) at Lenovo
• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Chromebook Plus (14-inch, Intel Core i3-N305) for $495 (was $550) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 5 7645HX and RTX 4050) for $1,080 (was $1,430) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX and RTX 4070) for $1,400 (was $1,960) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7730U) for $894 (was $1,719) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen (16-inch, Intel Core i7-13700H and RTX A2000) for $1,979 (was $4,389) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Gen 5 (14-inch, AMD Ryzen 5 7530U) for $610 (was $1,219) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 (14-inch, Intel Core i7-1365U) for $1,143 (was $2,859) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 1 (16-inch, Intel Core i5-1355U) for $725 (was $1,449) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P16s Gen 2 (16-inch, Intel Core i7-1360P and RTX A500) for $1,629 (was $3,629) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 (14-inch, Intel Core i7-1360P and RTX A500) for $1,529 (was $3,389) at Lenovo
• Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 (14-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 7840U) for $1,099 (was $2,199) at Lenovo
• Lenovo Legion Slim 7 Gen 8 (16-inch, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS and RTX 4060) for $1,300 (was $1,680) at Lenovo
• Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 10 (14-inch, Intel Core i7-1260P) for $1,238 (was $3,439) at Lenovo

Monitors and displays

• Samsung 34-inch G85SB OLED Ultra WQHD for $900 (was $1,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 34-inch ViewFinity S50GC Ultra-WQHD for $280 (was $380) at Samsung
• Samsung 27-inch Viewfinity S80TB 4K UHD for $500 (was $580) at Samsung
• Samsung 55-inch Odyssey Ark 4K UHD for $1,800 (was $2,700) at Samsung
• Samsung 49-inch Odyssey G9 DQHD for $1,200 (was $1,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 49-inch Odyssey CRG9 DQHD for $950 (was $1,200) at Samsung
• Samsung 28-inch Odyssey G70B 4K UHD for $600 (was $800) at Samsung
• Samsung 43-inch Odyssey Neo G7 4K UHD for $800 (was $1,000) at Samsung
• Samsung 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8 4K UHD for $1,000 (was $1,500) at Samsung
• Samsung 32-inch Odyssey G32A FHD for $220 (was $330) at Samsung
• Samsung 32-inch Odyssey G50A QHD for $400 (was $450) at Samsung
• Samsung 32-inch Odyssey G70B 4K UHD IPS for $650 (was $1,000) at Samsung
• Samsung 32-inch Odyssey G65B QHD for $550 (was $800) at Samsung
• LG 34-inch 34WN80C-B UltraWide WQHD IPS for $400 (was $550) at LG
• LG 27-inch UltraFine 4K OLED pro for $1,800 (was $1,900) at LG
• LG 43-inch 4K UHD IPS Smart Monitor for $500 (was $600) at LG
• LG 22-inch Class Full HD IPS for $80 (was $120) at LG
• LG 27-inch FHD IPS 3-Side Borderless for $130 (was $180) at LG

Apple gear

• Apple AirTag 4-pack for $87 (was $99) at Amazon
• Apple 2020 MacBook Air Laptop M1 chip, 13-inch for $950 (was $999) at Amazon
• Apple 2023 MacBook Air Laptop M2 chip, 15-inch for $1,049 (was $1,299) at Amazon
• Apple iPad Mini (6th Generation) for $400 (was $499) at Amazon
• Apple iPad (9th Generation) for $249 (was $329) at Amazon
• Apple iPad (10th Generation) for $399 (was $449) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) with USB-C charging for $200 (was $249) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) for $150 (was $169) at Amazon
• Apple AirPods Max Wireless Over-Ear Headphones for $480 (was $549) at Amazon

Games

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch (European version) for $56 (was $60) at Amazon
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch (US version) for $58 (was $70) at Amazon
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch (US version) for $45 (was $60) at Amazon

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Enlarge (credit: The Washington Post / Contributor | The Washington Post)

After a viral TikTok trend spurred tens of thousands of car thefts this summer, cops in Washington, DC, started realizing that it was much easier to recover stolen vehicles that could be tracked with Apple AirTags.

Because of this, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) rolled out a pilot program this week, doling out free tracking devices to residents in DC areas where cops are seeing “the greatest increase in vehicle theft,” according to a press release from the office of DC mayor Muriel Bowser.

Over the next few days, MPD will hand out the tracking devices—both AirTags and Tiles—at distribution events, where officers will help residents hide the devices in their vehicles and pair the devices to their phones. Residents will be able to choose whether they want an AirTag or a Tile, MPD said, and once the device is installed, only the resident will have access to tracking information as the sole owner of the device, but they will be required to share data with police if their vehicle is stolen.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Authorities on Wednesday arrested the owners of a southern Colorado funeral home after discovering 190 decaying, improperly stored bodies at their facility—a discovery made only after reports of a putrid smell seeping from the facility.

Jon and Carie Hallford, the owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, which claimed to provide environmentally friendly “green” burials, were arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma, according to a news release from the office of Michael Allen, the district attorney for Colorado’s 4th judicial district.

The Hallfords were arrested without incident on four felony charges: abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering, and forgery. The probable cause affidavit is sealed, but Allen told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that he would not contest releasing it to the public at a later date, according to NPR.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | traffic_analyzer)

In 2021, Congress required the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules “preventing digital discrimination of access based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin” within two years. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last month released her draft plan to comply with the congressional mandate and scheduled a November 15 commission vote on adopting final rules.

The plan is likely to pass in a party-line vote as Rosenworcel has a 3-2 Democratic majority, but aspects of the draft could be changed before the vote. Next week’s meeting could be a contentious one, judging by a statement issued Monday by Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr.

Enlarge (credit: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Google is hoping regulators will bail it out of the messaging mess it has created for itself after years of dysfunctional product reboots. The Financial Times reports that Google and a few cell carriers are asking the EU to designate Apple’s iMessage as a “core” service that would require it to be interoperable under the new “Digital Markets Act.” The EU’s Digital Markets Act targets Big Tech “gatekeepers” with various interoperability, fairness, and privacy demands, and while iMessage didn’t make the initial cut of services announced in September, Apple’s messenger is under a “market investigation” to determine if it should qualify.

So far various services from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft have been hit with “gatekeeper” status because the EU says they “provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services.” The list targets OSes and app stores, ad platforms, browsers, social networks, instant messaging, search, and video sites, and notably leaves out web mail and cloud storage services.

The criteria for gatekeeper services all revolve around business usage. The services the EU wants to include would have more than 45 million monthly active EU users and more than 10,000 yearly active business in the EU, a business turnover of at least 7.5 billion euros, or a market cap of 75 billion euros, with the caveat that these are just guidelines and the EU is open to arguments in both directions. When the initial list was announced back in September, the EU said that iMessage actually met the thresholds for regulation, but it was left off the list while it listens to Apple’s arguments that it should not qualify.

Enlarge / A Roman bad girl: Tullia was the younger daughter of a Roman king, Servius Tullius. She plotted the king’s overthrow and murder—callously running over his body in the street—so her husband Lucius Tarquinius could become king. (credit: Public domain)

Around 186 BCE, a former slave turned courtesan named Hispala Faecenia fell in love with a young upper-middle class Roman man named Publius Aebutius. Then she learned his mother and stepfather planned to have Aebutius initiated into the Mysteries of Bacchus, a religious cult that, legend holds, featured drunken orgies and frenzied women tearing young men limb from limb. Hispala objected strenuously, fearing her lover’s reputation would be ruined or he would be injured or killed. And she questioned the parents’ motives—with good reason. Apparently Aebutius’s mother had squandered the young man’s inheritance and he was about to come of age, thereby exposing her financial mismanagement.

Eventually the local consul got involved and set up an investigation into this Bacchanalian scandal, with Hispala reluctantly testifying about what she knew of the “obscene rites” from her younger days as a sex slave. Deeming it a religious conspiracy, the Senate issued a formal decree prohibiting the Bacchanalia throughout Italy—all because a lowly freedwoman wanted to protect her lover.

Chances are you’ve never heard Hispala’s story (she is only mentioned in Livy’s History of Rome), but historian Emma Southon is out to change that with her new book, A Rome of One’s Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire. Southon earned a PhD in ancient history from the University of Birmingham and is also the author of the wittily irreverent 2021 book, A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome, discussing how the people of ancient Rome viewed life, death, and what it means to be human. She brings that same sensibility—combining solid scholarship with a breezy conversational tone—to her female-centric revisionist history of the Roman Empire.

Enlarge / I’m just so good at this game, it would be disheartening for you to see my progress in your feed. Yep, that’s it. (credit: Getty Images)

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Pavel Djundik, creator of the Steam insight tool SteamDB, shows options on the three-dot menu to the right of a game, with the last being “Mark as Private.” A tooltip on the option reads, “Mark this game as private and hide it from my friends.” Djundik’s example is Counter-Strike 2, which, perhaps in some circles, is a game worth hiding.

Tweet (Xeet?) from the SteamDB founder, pointing to a not-yet-public feature in Steam for hiding certain games from public or friends’ profiles. (credit: X / Pavel Djundik)

Some folks may be concerned to show the massive hour counts they’ve put into certain games. Others might be concerned about certain obsessive or ignoble achievements in games standing out in their timeline. More likely, of course, are the kinds of adult and fetish games with which Steam has a highly confusing relationship. The replies to Djundik’s tweet suggest that people get this, though they also have some suggestions about other refinements, like finer-grained friend management tools.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Since January, eight separate developer tools have contained hidden payloads with various nefarious capabilities, security firm Checkmarx reported. The most recent one was released last month under the name “pyobfgood.” Like the seven packages that preceded it, pyobfgood posed as a legitimate obfuscation tool that developers could use to deter reverse engineering and tampering with their code. Once executed, it installed a payload, giving the attacker almost complete control of the developer’s machine. Capabilities include:

• Exfiltrate detailed host information
• Steal passwords from the Chrome web browser
• Set up a keylogger
• Download files from the victim’s system
• Capture screenshots and record both screen and audio
• Render the computer inoperative by ramping up CPU usage, inserting a batch script in the startup directory to shut down the PC, or forcing a BSOD error with a Python script
• Encrypt files, potentially for ransom
• Deactivate Windows Defender and Task Manager
• Execute any command on the compromised host

In all, pyobfgood and the previous seven tools were installed 2,348 times. They targeted developers using the Python programming language. As obfuscators, the tools targeted Python developers with reason to keep their code secret because it had hidden capabilities, trade secrets, or otherwise sensitive functions. The malicious payloads varied from tool to tool, but they all were remarkable for their level of intrusiveness.

Enlarge / Students decide between Lunchables and a walking taco during lunch at Pembroke Elementary School on Thursday September 7, 2023, in Pembroke, NC. (credit: Getty | Matt McClain)

For the first time, health experts who develop the federal government’s dietary guidelines for Americans are reviewing the effects of ultra-processed foods on the country’s health—a review that could potentially lead to first-of-their-kind warnings or suggested limits in the upcoming 2025 guidance, The Washington Post reports.

Such warning or limits would mark the first time that Americans would be advised to consider not just the basic nutritional components of foods, but also how their foods are processed.

Ultra-processed foods have garnered considerable negative attention in recent years. Dozens of observational studies have linked the food category to weight gain, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, the Post notes. A small but landmark randomized controlled study in 2019, led by the National Institutes of Health’s nutrition expert, Kevin Hall, found that when inpatient trial participants received diets with ultra-processed foods, they ate roughly 500 extra calories a day compared to a control group of inpatient participants who were served a diet that was matched in macronutrients but did not include ultra-processed foods.

Enlarge / How’s about we just forget about those plans for a competing Android app store? (credit: Getty Images | krisanapong detraphiphat)

For years now, Google has stressed the “open” nature of the Android’s sideloading-enabled mobile platform over Apple’s completely locked-down iOS App Store. But Epic has used the opening days of its jury trial against Google to argue that this technical openness hasn’t prevented Google from creating an effective monopoly over Android app distribution through its Google Play Store.

In its opening statement (as reported by multiple sources inside the San Francisco federal courtroom), Epic attorney Gary Bornstein pointed out that the Google Play Store is responsible for 90 percent of all Android app downloads, resulting in $12 billion in profit for Google. And Epic argues that Google has maintained that dominance through a “bribe and block” strategy that “pays actual and potential competitors not to compete—literally gives them money and other things of value.”

Epic’s opening arguments specifically called out League of Legends maker Riot Games as one of the companies that Google paid to eliminate the possible launch of a competing Android app store. While Epic says Google was smart enough not to note this payment in written contractual language, a less formal system helped ensure Riot was one of many companies that would “sit this one out and let [Google] win.”

Enlarge / A non-Amazon TV displaying a fire. (credit: Getty)

People who buy a Fire TV from Amazon are probably looking for a cheap and simple way to get an affordable 4K smart TV. When Amazon announced its first self-branded TVs in September 2021, it touted them as being a “great value.” But owners of the devices will soon be paying for some of those savings in the form of more prominently displayed advertisements.

Charlotte Maines, Amazon’s director of Fire TV advertising, monetization, and engagement, detailed the new types of ads that Amazon is selling on Fire TVs. In a StreamTV Insider report from November 1, Amazon said the new ads will allow advertisers to reach an average of 155 million unique monthly viewers.

Some of the changes targeting advertisers, like connecting display placement ads with specific in-stream video ads, seem harmless enough. Others could jeopardize the TV-watching experience for owners.

Enlarge / Dikembe Mutombo rejects your flawed publication. (credit: DAVID MAXWELL / Getty Images)

In a move that surprised very few people, the journal Nature retracted a paper claiming a major advance in high-temperature superconductivity. This marks the second paper the journal retracted over the objections of Ranga P. Dias, a faculty member at the University of Rochester who led the research. Or at least it’s implied that he objected to this retraction, as he apparently refused to respond to Nature about the matter.

Dias’ work on superconductivity has focused on hydrogen-rich chemicals that form under extreme pressures. Other research groups have shown that the pressure forces hydrogen into crystals within the material, where it encourages the formation of electron pairs that enable superconductivity. This allows these chemicals to superconduct at elevated temperatures. Dias’ two papers purportedly described one chemical that could superconduct at room temperatures and extreme pressures and a second that did so under somewhat lower pressures, putting it within reach of more readily available lab equipment.

But problems with the first of these papers became apparent as the research community dug into the details of the work. Dias’ team apparently used a non-standard method for calculating the background noise in a key experiment and didn’t include the details of how this was done in the paper. In other words, the data in the paper looked good, but it wasn’t clear whether it accurately reflected the experimental results. As a result, Nature retracted it, although all nine authors of the paper objected to this decision at the time.

Enlarge / SpaceX’s second Starship rocket stands a few feet taller than the first iteration of the full-size vehicle. (credit: SpaceX)

But first, the rocket needs to make it into space. That didn’t happen during Starship’s first full-scale test flight on April 20, but SpaceX learned a lot from that mission. Engineers learned they needed to beef up the launch mount, which took a beating from the Super Heavy booster as it generated more than 15 million pounds of thrust from its methane-fueled Raptor engines.

Enlarge / This image shows the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) as NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft departed the system. (credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL)

Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light; a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’re going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.

Good morning. It is November 8, and yes, we’re headed back out to the Lucy mission again. NASA has shared some additional information about an asteroid flyby last week, and there’s more goodness to share.

A few days ago, the Daily Telescope reported that the Lucy spacecraft had found not one but two asteroids during its flyby of the small main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh. It turns out that was not the whole story. Subsequent data downlinked from the spacecraft revealed that the smaller of the two asteroids is a contact binary—two smaller asteroids in contact with one another.