Black Mesa Source Released

After eight years in development, the long-awaited Black Mesa Source is here (currently for PC only, with Xbox controller support). A recreation of Valve Software's Half-Life, the mod was released today at 8:48am New Mexico time, "because that's when Gordon arrived for his first day at work".

To download the mod you will need to download both Steam and Source SDK Base 2007 (to download the latter simply look under the "Library -> Tools" section in Steam). Then you simply need to download the mod itself, and since the servers are currently unreliable due to the heavy traffic they are reciving, you will need to have a torrent client (such as uTorrent). You can then download the full 3.07GB (8GB uncompressed) of BMS via the magnet link: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:VG2UNOAUDQQQQ4GOBHCDAOFGV3U6AFL7. However, the trackers are under heavy stress, meaning they may not be accesible, so simply right click the Black Mesa torrent and click on "properties". In the Trackers section of properties you can then copy and paste the trackers listed on this pastie (making sure to leave a line between each one).
Once downloaded, you can install Black Mesa Source via the EXE file.

This current version takes the player through to the Xen level, with the rest of the game to be released later once compelte. Hopefully it won't take another eight years to see the light of day.

Tidbit: Other teams are also working on getting Opposing Force and Blue Shift converted into the Source Engine too (codenamed "Operation Black Mesa" and "Guard Duty" respectivly), with Opposing Force coming to Steam's Greenlight service later this year.

Eden Crow - @EdenHJCrow

Better Battery Life: Smartphone Data 3G vs WiFi

Smartphones have become fairly mainstream recently and all I hear is how WiFi kills your battery and how 3G is slow (in most city areas). While both statements above are true, you can get the best of both worlds.

WiFi is often disregarded by mobile users unless they are at home and have a charger nearby. The sole reason being, it can drain your tiny smartphone battery quickly if not used correctly. Although this is a downside, WiFi is far more efficient than 3G when it comes to downloading and extended mobile browsing. Another thing that most people don't realize is that 3G draws more juice than WiFi when actually being used, communicating with the tower is no small task for your handheld device. In city areas it's even worse, everyone connecting makes the network slow which in turn lengthens the amount of time your phone needs to hold a solid connection with it.

Enough with the technical stuff, you obviously just want a fix.

The answer is fairly simple, to get the best out of your phone turn WiFi on when updating applications and watching YouTube videos. (This also will save you precious MB's with the new Data caps! :))

As soon as you are finished with your data hungry task, flip it off and carry on with your day! Leaving WiFi on keeps your phone searching for a network as you roam about during the day. The scanning and analyzing of local WiFi networks is what chews up your battery like a rottweiler. To make it simple for you lazy people who didn't want to read or are not sure when to switch it up, I made an easy to use chart :D Click to view it big! (Note: I am no artist)

At a glance you can tell when to use WiFi and when to use 3G!

Helpful Tip - If you have an Android phone make a widget (like the one below) on one of your homescreens so you can flip it on and off quickly and easily.

thejustinmurphy.com

What are your dreams?

Well, I'm in grade 12 and obviously the big topic that everyone is asking everyone else is, "So where are you going next year?" Some people say one school, others say "oh, no way, same here". However, unless they are in the same program or going for the same major (type of classes ie: science, business, etc.) they may rarely, if ever, see each other around school. So along with the question of "Where are you going next year?", comes the obvious follow-up "for what?".

Me, I'm attending a university about 40 minutes away and for Cinema Studies (film, television, etc). So my question to all of you is, what do you want to be when you're older? Whether it be a doctor, zoologist, hockey player, business man, artist... Everyone is unique and has different dreams, so now's the time to share them with your fellow tech lovers!

More reasons to hate the iPhone

I personally have the iPhone and I love it! Great iPod interface, the UI is remarkable, the browser is the best in the biz, etc. Now there is one downside to having all these features, and that is the battery life. Now, give it credit, when you run push email , push twitter accounts, and surf the web, granted you'll have some significant battery lose. The iPhone has been relatively good at managing the battery life of the phone, but is still not up to par. Now in the last Apple event called "It's time for Rock and Roll...but we like it" Apple announced the new Apple OS 3.1 which gave some decent updates and some good additions. Weeks later, Apple is getting countless calls from owners saying they had "remarkable battery lose", now take into account the iPhone battery was already poor. I personally haven't seen much of a change in the battery life, but it is definitely something they need to fix in the future.

For more Apple news, headlines, and rumors follow @AppleTechRumors on twitter!

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