steam

The game Portal is regarded by many to be one of the best of all time. GameSpot awarded it a 9.0 and an Editors' Choice. IGN called it "quirky, clever, polished, and presented with a spark of a subtly evil humor."

Originally part of Valve's The Orange Box bundle, then later a $20 standalone game, Portal is now available absolutely free. And not just for PCs, but also for Macs. (Speaking of which, be sure to check out Rich Brown's recent hands-on testing of Portal on four different Mac systems.)

The one and only string … Read more

Would you ask your entire Facebook friend base this question:

"Do these jeans make me look fat?"

I wouldn't. At seven months pregnant, everything makes me look fat. But I digress.

Diesel stores in Spain are using something called the Diesel Cam to let people take photos of themselves in potential purchases and upload them over Facebook Connect to crowdsource whether they are worthy of Diesel's hefty price tag.

I can see this going all kinds of wrong.

First off, if you ask me what I think of those jeans, I'll tell you. Publicly. On … Read more

With four different Macs sitting in the CNET lab right now, Valve couldn't have picked a better time to release its Mac Steam client, at least from a testing perspective. We just spent the past few hours with Steam, as well as Portal and Torchlight, two of the more graphically demanding games available for Steam at launch. So far, we find Steam on the Mac just as seamless as the Windows version. The games are also mostly trouble-free.

First, to accompany this launch Valve is offering Portal as a free download until May 24. If you haven't played Portal, or even if you have, we recommend it. It's fun.

The Steam software itself should feel instantly familiar to anyone who's used the Windows version. Valve recently gave Steam a cosmetic overhaul, so even Steam veterans might need a minute to adjust, but overall it remains intuitive to navigate. One considerate touch: In the Steam store you'll see the full list of titles available for download, Windows titles included, but a mouse-over message will warn you if you hover over a game that's unavailable for the Mac. That will hopefully prevent any incompatible purchases. At launch, there were roughly 50 Mac titles available.

For the games themselves, we have few complaints about their performance on our various test systems. Granted, we'd expect neither the older Portal nor the purposefully lightweight Torchlight to challenge a halfway respectable computer. With more games coming to Steam for the Mac from Valve and (presumably) other game manufacturers, future titles may provide more of a challenge to the Macs we tested. For today at least, we find that Apple's higher-end Mac laptops and all-in-ones make capable gaming systems.

Our four test systems:

For the gamers out there, Valve software's "Steam" gaming client package is available. Similar to the iTunes store, Steam is a single program through which you can purchase, download, and manage games for your computer. In addition, the program offers networking options for locating and joining online game servers, chatting, and providing in-game communication enhancements.… Read more

Update: Steam for Mac is now live. You can download the client directly here. (Link fixed.)

The client download doesn't seem to have materialized just yet, but according to reports, today's the day for Valve Software to introduce an OS X-compatible version of its Steam game download service. Assuming the client file goes live at some point today, Mac owners will finally be able to enjoy the streamlined Valve service that has dominated digital gaming distribution on Windows systems since its debut in 2003.

You can read Valve's press release on the launch on its Web site. … Read more

Mac gamers who have been eager for Valve to port over its Steam game distribution software to OS X now have a date to look forward to. Valve on Thursday finally set Wednesday, May 12, as the day when the software will be made available to the general public.

Valve has been testing the Mac version of its Steam client in a private beta since the end of March. Screenshots and videos of the pre-release software began leaking out just a few weeks later.

As mentioned in previous coverage, the software promises to bring the same digital distribution for games … Read more

Home cooks are faced with many different options for preparing meals. Unfortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it), not all of them are healthy. After all, at times it can be a chore to try and produce a healthy meal. However, one of the healthiest ways of cooking (steaming) doesn't have to be relegated to countertop appliances or elaborate stovetop setups. Instead, it can be as easy as opening the oven door.

The new Thermador Steam and Convection Oven offers an easy way for home cooks to make healthy meals. The oven features three distinctly different … Read more

The European Parliament is, somewhat unexpectedly, riding to the world's rescue by demanding that the super evil ACTA agreement be negotiated in the open and that the three-strike ISP provisions be taken out. Well, hot damn! That's big news! I mean, that Cisco router is big news, too, but it just doesn't have the same sexy factor.

Cisco’s big announcement was a really fast router; AT&T has tested it http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10466043-266.html http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0594332.htm… Read more

It looks like gamers can finally start taking the Mac platform seriously. Confirming recent stirrings, Valve announced Monday that it will bring its gaming service Steam, and Source, its proprietary gaming engine, to Macs.

Started in 2003, Valve is now arguably the biggest online distributor of games. By last month, Valve revealed that it had more than 25 million active Steam user accounts and, at any given time, about 2 million gamers are using the service. There are more than 1,000 games available on Steam. Not all of them will be immediately available on the Mac platform as this … Read more