Portal is game design milestone. Originally only available bundled in with larger cousins Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 in The Orange Box, its creators, Valve Software, changed what first person gameplay could be. It's been a stand alone product for much of the four years since its release, but never an expensive one, usually available for $5 on Steam (also created by Valve). If that barrier to entry was too high for you, or you just never got around to trying it, there are no more excuses....
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
Since PDF files are so popular in both our daily life and work, we see them everywhere. And sometimes we find there are terrfic images or text in the PDF files and we want to save them as seperate files for future use, such as in a presentation or post. Here's the question: how can we save those elements from the non-editable file formats?
FRONDEUR 62 points (12 points without the bingo) Definition: a rebel [n]
Now we're getting to the kids who actually know what's going on. You're more likely to get enthusiasm and dare I say focus from grade school and middle school kids. Here's the lowdown:
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
Welcome to Pizza Perfect. I'm a novice pizza maker with one goal: to master the art of the homemade crust. The cheese (fresh mozzarella), the sauce (endless options or super basic), and the toppings (the sky is the limit) are all easy. But the crust I've found to be somewhat elusive.
Yesterday, Google's VP of Product Management, +Bradley Horowitz, sat down with founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, +Tim O'Reilly, to discuss Google+, its future, and where it's headed. You can watch the hour-long video here: I wasn't able to find a transcript for this video, but O'Reilly has helpfully rounded up some of the more interesting points.
This week's roundup features three games that I've either never bothered to play, was unable to play due to PC technical limitations, or haven't played because they've just been released. None of these three games cost more than $15.
Minecraft may seem like a game for just hardcore gamers and computer nerds, but it's totally not. It can hook anyone and everyone, from casual gamers to online addicts to total newbies—it can even turn its users into serial killers. And now, Notch and his Mojang crew have made it possible for more people in the world to become Minecraft addicts who'll never leave their servers. A console version for the Xbox 360 will be available this winter, but for now you can all enjoy the cubed sandbox wo...
Last year, Hasbro unveiled Scrabble Flash, an electronic version of the popular word game which consists of five SmartLink letter tiles that can communicate with one another using near field communication (NFC) to spell and score words. It's an interesting (and fun) way to build your Scrabble vocabulary for words ranging from two to five letters, but that's about it.
From cooking shows to concerts, people have been finding all sorts of creative uses for Google+ hangouts. But what about something a little more basic? What if you could watch YouTube live streams with your friends?
Minecraft has been out nearly two years now. Hard to believe, isn't it? Fans of the game have been spoiled with a lot of new content over that span from its creator Notch, as well as its modders. A couple months ago, Notch tortured the Minecraft community by tweeting some screens of a "Sky Kingdom" that he was working on.
Last week, we discussed whether Google should require you to use your real name for Google+ profiles. Google is working on eliminating fake profiles, and in the process, they've booted some real people, including actor +William Shatner. If you find out that your Google+ account has been suspended, you can appeal the suspension and get your profile reinstated.
It's only been a few weeks, and already there are a lot of misconceptions and myths floating around Google+. Let's take a deep breath, and tackle some of the more prominent ones.
Game Developer Magazine is a prominent periodical for game industry folk to read up on their craft. For those who don't work in games, it can be a little dry, but every year they release a Game Career Guide devoted to welcoming other people into their world. Best of all, it's free! You can view the newest issue just released here in your browser, or download the PDF version.
It's called a Quick Response code, but most know it simply as QR code, a matrix barcode dedicated to the world of smartphones. The information contained within the square black modules could be text, a URL, vCard, or some other kind of data. And even though mobile tagging has been around for eight years, it's just now spreading like wildfire across the globe, being incorporated into artistic portraits and wall art. And most recently... "social clothing".
Stewart Butterfileld is one of the last great old-fashioned tech billionaires. He founded Flickr, and then sold the company to Yahoo! for a stupendous amount of money in 2005. Like Mark Cuban and others before him, he was left wondering what to do with the rest of his long and fabulously wealthy life. Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks and turned them from unabashed losers into beloved champions. Butterfield decided to try his hand at game design (something he had attempted with the ambitious ...
Angry Birds may have lost its first place grip in the iTunes App Store, but it still reigns supreme on the NOOK. And starting today, for a limited time, Angry Birds addicts with a NOOK Color can visit any Barnes & Noble retail location to unlock the free playable character, Mighty Eagle.
Video games have been a purely digital medium for some decades now. They exist in the electronic nether, embedded on discs and projected on screens. Since digital distribution has gained popularity, even the physical manifestation of the game disc is going away, leaving games (especially digitally distributed indie games) more ethereal than ever before. It is unclear whether this slightly unsettling fact was on the minds of the three people who made Receipt Racer, but regardless, it stands as...
Google's sociable equivalent to the Facebook Like button is finally here, and it works very similar to your favorite social network's recommendation system, except it shows up directly in Google search results. Whenever your Google friend gives a website or webpage the +1, you'll see it in your search results, as long as you're signed into your Google Account.
What is the Strongest Beer in the World?? Long live the Queen and move over Sean Connery because the Scottish have done it! The strongest beer in the world belongs to a company called Brewdog out of Fraserburgh. The beer is called Tactical Nuclear Penguin and has an alcohol content of over 32% -WOW! That is more than many hard alcohols and its creator warns it should be drunk in "...spirit sized measures." This means no 12oz. bottle for this mother of all beers. Instead try a 2oz. shot glass!
Fujitsu Limited has developed what they call the world's smallest Windows 7 PC, which will become available shortly on NTT DoCoMo, Japan's predominant mobile phone operator. The dual-boot device acts as both a smartphone and a portable personal computer that runs the Windows 7 operating system.
As of right now, Guinness World Records claims that the highest human flight with a rocket belt is 152 feet, accomplished by Eric Scott in 2004. But they may need to update their records soon thanks to Martin Aircraft Company in New Zealand, whose Martin Jetpack finally showed the world it can fly—really fly.
Where We Go Wrong Nutritionally In our fifties we face numerous food challenges. We often choose to ignore them rather than face them head on. Here are the problems we face:
Are you familiar with Studio Ghibli? It's the dreamy Japanese animation studio responsible for anime classics Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Howl's Moving Castle. Regarded as highly inventive, serene, and spooky, Studio Ghibli puts out internationally renown films, loaded with magic, monsters and lovable creatures, such as Totoro (pictured to the right, and above).
It's been about five months since Google first unveiled their prototype future computers running Chrome OS, and the time is nearly here for the Chromebooks to be unleashed on the public. But there are a lot of qualms over the release of Chromebooks, with most criticism coming from their lack of traditional laptop-based features such as an optical drive, storage space and the ability to run comprehensive software programs like Adobe Photoshop.
Eureka! I ve seen the future, and it is Friendly Game SimplifierFriendly Gaming Simplifier is an add-on to the Foxfire or Chrome browsers. You can download a version for either one here: http://rzadki.eu/projects/fgs/ You don’t have to play FrontierVille through Firefox or Chrome to use it; it shows up as a tab on your Facebook wall.It will also accept the sort of gifts that usually go straight to your FrontierVille Utilities. You’ll still have to accept Game Requests, but Botoholic’s Gift Bo...
If one asks where origami originated from most people will answer "Japan". But is this really the right answer?
Calling all curious minds—scientists, anthropologists, relentless tourists: Saturday, April 9th, is International Obscura Day, the day to "explore hidden treasures in your hometown," or so says Atlas Obscura, a website dedicated to public curiosities and esoterica. If you're the kind of person who appreciates public oddities every day of the year, tomorrow is icing on the cake. Celebrate Obscura Day in one of hundreds of locales—from Los Angeles to Sydney, from Berlin to Manila.
It's happened to the best of us—a drunk dial or text; a humiliating Tweet or incriminating photo uploaded to Facebook. Spirits are high, gestures are fearless… If only we could take it all back once the cold, sober morning light creeps through the blinds.
Okay, look behind your shoulder. Now check behind the other. Anybody looking? No? Then read on... Here's the scenario: You're single. You're an avid Facebooker. You're tired of your sans hottie reputation, and you're yearning for some much needed street cred. Well, Facebook street cred.
If you're willing to shell out for a mind-blowing party trick, here's another great one to add to your repertoire. Unfortunately this isn't a dirt cheap junk drawer DIY—you'll need a $40-$60 gallium kit (which doesn't include the spoon mold). What is gallium, you may ask? An amazing, man-made metal which melts at the low temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Plunk your trick spoon into a cup of hot water, and amaze. According to the Department of Energy, it's safe to handle as long as you don...
Type: Digital, theme Theme: Why is Earth Day important to our planet?
NOTE ONE: I want to ask everyone who reads this to please be patient with the progress of this website - soon it will be filled with goodies for you all to lay eyes on, but at the moment, I'm just piecing it all together for you :)
So, at this time of the year, everyone seems to be going through a lot of stress - and by “everyone,” I mean, “anyone who has any contact with people who are in schools of any kind.” Still, stress can hit you at any time of the year, whether it’s right before Christmas, or when you’ve let all those little chores pile up, or when omigod all those bills are due tomorrow. When you feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions, it’s easy to want to murder everyone or plan an elaborate esc...
CNA skills may vary from state to state. Depending on your state of residence, the skills section of the CNA certification exam will consist of three to five randomly chosen skills.
Huzzah! My sentences have been recorded! This is normally the most exciting part of beginning a language with this method, because you actually had another person do something for you that is really of great value. I remember receiving my first recording in Japanese. I listened to that thing about 100 times. I shadowed it, repeated it to my family multiple times and still hear it in my head from time to time.
The Kinect is sure to swarm the homes of Xbox 360 gamers this holiday season. Even though some of us are amazed at the hands-free gaming capabilities it offers, others feel it to be frustratingly limited. Adafruit Industries is one of them.
A recent Japanese study proposes a simpler, softer, more natural-feeling alternative to silicone breast implants: fat-derived stem cells. The cells are extracted from liposuctioned fat, and then injected into the patient to increase breast circumference. San Diego-based biotech company Cytori Therapeutics is currently waiting on FDA approval to start clinical trials.