Items tagged with portal
Do you remember the Facebook Phone, aka the HTC First? That device crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. What about the Facebook Portal? That smart display family launched last year in sizes up to 15.6-inches, but it hasn't exactly won over the consumer market like competing entries from Amazon (Echo Show) and Google (Nest Home Hub Max). Facebook is now trying again to prod consumers into buying its first-party hardware, which brings us to the Portal TV and some other new Portal hardware. The Portal TV looks somewhat like a reincarnation of the unloved Microsoft Kinect camera for the original Xbox One. The device plugs into a free HDMI port on your television and allows you to partake...
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Facebook has faced scrutiny for its lapses in privacy protections, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal that prompted the US Congress to question Mark Zuckerberg about all aspects of the social network, along with Facebook's history of screwing up and later apologizing. So, some users may find it concerning that Facebook's new Portal and Portal+ smart camera devices can in fact be used to facilitate targeted ads. Portal and Portal+ represent Facebook's attempt to cash in on the smart device craze that was largely started by Amazon and its Echo line. Rather than go out completely on its own, Facebook infused Amazon's Alexa assistant into its Portal gadgets. They are essentially Facebook's versions...
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Although they are being announced a little later than previously thought, Facebook has announced new hardware products that we first told you about last month. The company is debuting two smart displays dubbed Portal and Portal+, which are similar to devices currently on the market like the Amazon Echo Show and the Lenovo Smart Display. The Portal, which will retail for $199, has a 10.1-inch display (1280x800) with an integrated speaker in its base. The Portal+, however, has a ginormous 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 1920x1080 and will retail for $349. Whereas the Portal has a fixed display in a landscape orientation, the Portal+ has a display that can rotate...
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It’s not very often that we get lengthy commentary from Gabe Newell, Valve’s reclusive CEO, but things definitely took a turn for the better yesterday when he took place in a reddit AMA session. As expected, Newell took questions on a number of topics near and dear to the hearts of gamers, including the mythical Half-Life 3 which may or may not ever see the light of day. Thankfully, things progressed much better than his last AMA session in 2015. Rather than force you to peruse through the entire AMA discussion thread to find salient comments made by Newell, we’ve compiled a thorough list here for you that hits most (if not all) of the high points during the sitdown. First of all, let’s go ahead...
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Way back in 2013, it was announced that both a Portal and Half-Life movie would be coming to theaters, although very little additional information was given. Still, the mere announcement set fans off in a frenzy. Could a Half-Life movie mean that HL3 would finally become a reality? No - it sure doesn't look like that. That announcement was made three-years-ago, and today, we're seemingly no closer to seeing the loose ends of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 tied up. Fast-forward to today, and our hopes are renewed. None other than mega producer J.J. Abrams admitted on the red carpet this week that both movies are still in the cards, although it seems extremely likely that we'll first hear about the...
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A pair of classic game titles developed by Valve have now been ported over to NVIDIA's recently launched Tegra K1-powered SHIELD tablet. The classic games include Portal and Half-Life 2, though these aren't straight (or lazy) ports -- both feature a wide variety of high-end and exclusive visual effects built to showcase the 192-core Tegra K1 chip in NVIDIA's SHIELD. According to a blog post on NVIDIA, these exclusive effects -- render-to-texture shadows, bump mapping, specular highlights, motion blur, and higher quality texture filtering -- make Portal and Half-Life 2 just as visually appealing as the full PC editions. In addition, Valve optimized both titles to utilize the SHIELD tablet's optional...
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Listen, if you're not rocking a turret at your desktop, then you're simply not taking computer security seriously enough. You're letting the terrorists win, along with Henry from accounting who's always poking his nose into your cubicle when you're off on a coffee break. A password protected screen saver keeps nosy Nellies at bay, but if you want to send a clear message that your work space is off limits, you need to bring out the big guns. The Portal 2 Sentry Turret USB Desk Defender is one such option. Yes, it's forty bucks at ThinkGeek, and that's kind of expensive for a novelty toy, but it's an awesome gadget (and looks to be small enough to wedge in a stocking -- hint, hint). It's also far...
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Here's a crazy one, but yet, an awesome one. Steam, the online gaming portal that enables the digital downloading of titles far and wide, is moving into a new direction. And that direction is school. The very place where teachers generally would yell at students to stop gaming and start paying attention to their lessons. The newly announced Steam For Schools program enables teachers to use Portal 2's level builder to concoct their own lessons. Portal is obviously a thought-based game, mixing challenges and puzzels with more traditional gaming, and it's quite obvious that these could be used to educate students, too. The program comes with a free copy of Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker,...
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Portal 2. By this point, you've probably heard just about enough of Valve's upcoming mystery / brain-twister, but if you aren't a hardcore PC gamer, you may be wondering if there's anything out there for you. Lucky for you, there is. Portal 2 for PlayStation 3 has just been detailed, with the parent company detailing the Steam launch details for the PS3 version. The PS3 version will launch alongside the PC version as the first title to support Steam on a console. That's a pretty big, monumental step in the gaming universe, and it sets up a realm where cross-platform matchmaking, gameplay, friends, chat, and achievements are a reality. Steam on the PS3 will also save co-op game progress and single...
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Well, one thing is for sure. If Valve doesn't sell a ton of Portal 2 copies, they'll be in debt for advertising for quite some time. The company is really going all-out. There are entire city buses in places like Chicago where vinyl wraps for the game are covering public transportation, and the company has obviously spent a lot of time creating promotional videos to pump things up from a viral standpoint. We won't even pretend to think that we aren't playing right into Valve's hands here, but hey -- when you make promo videos that are this hilarious, who cares how many people see it? In case you're still wondering, Portal 2 will go on sale at 7AM PST this coming Tuesday, April 19th, and pre-orders...
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Valve. Just mention the word in gaming circles, and a conversation is bound to start. The company has a long history of producing amazing software titles, many of which are legendary. Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and more recently, Portal. And with the great success of Portal, there's obviously opportunity for a second version. We're still a long ways out from having the incoming title in our hands, but this teaser definitely has us interested. Will you be one of the first in line to grab it? Check the video and see!...
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Linux is finally starting to make inroads into mainstream computing, as evidenced by the Eee PC and the HP Mini-Note ultraportable laptops. It should come as no surprise that vendors are starting to embrace Linux with open arms, due to its low-cost of entry. VIA Technologies is the latest Linux lover with its launch of the VIA Linux Portal beta Website, intended to provide support to the open source community for development of Linux drivers for VIA-based platforms. A VIA press release stated: "The VIA Linux Portal will initially offer graphics drivers for the VIA CN896 digital media IGP chipset for the new Ubuntu 8.04 LTS distribution. Documentation and source code for these drivers will be...
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TEAM FORTRESS 2, PORTAL, AND HALF-LIFE 2 EPISODE PACK STAND ALONE RETAIL RELEASEPC Games From The Orange Box Flying Solo Into Retail April 9 and 11March 13, 2008 - Valve, creators of Half-Life® 2 and Counter-Strike®, today announce the retail launch dates for the stand-alone, PC versions of Team Fortress® 2, PortalTM, and the Half-Life 2: Episode Pack are April 9th in North America and April 11th around the globe.Portal - the unique single player game that mixes puzzle, adventure and first-person action - is expected to retail for approximately $19.99.Portal has been named Game of the Year by over 30 publications worldwide and earned 40 more awards for special achievements in game...
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It looks like NVIDIA has made a strategic move and purchased PortalPlayer, a company that has historically developed semiconductor, firmware and software platforms for portable multimedia products such like personal media players, like the iPod, and personal wireless entertainment devices. "NVIDIA Corporation said Monday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire iPod chipmaker PortalPlayer, Inc. in a cash for stock transaction. Under terms of the agreement, which have been approved by the Board of Directors of each company, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based graphics technologies developer will pay $13.50 in cash for each outstanding share of PortalPlayer common stock. The deal represents...
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Lycos announced Lycos Phone on Monday, adding free multimedia-enhanced VOIP communications as a key part of its portal infrastructure. The Lycos Phone service will allow users free PC-to-PC communications to any other Lycos Phone user, consistent with other PC-to-PC applications, like eBay's Skype. However, Lycos has gone a step further and will also provide users with a free U.S. phone number, so that callers can dial in and talk to a Lycos customer on his desktop or laptop computer....
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