Nerd News: Steam for Linux Limited Beta is out

http://steamcommunity.com/linux

They have around 24 games available so far, according the post.

Have to see how widespread this really becomes, I might switch to Linux primarily for gaming, if enough of the games I am interested in are available after the Beta ends.

Nerd News: Valve Linux Beta

http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/

Valve is beta testing Linux.

I know a lot of Nerds are excited about this, I am interested, though I am just getting into Linux myself.

Motivation for me is to get my old XP machines back into use, and also for security using Live CD, thinking I will probably study pen testing a bit as well.

Don't think I will get very serious about doing pen testing myself, but it will help a lot for understanding computer security.

Security & Hacking: Proof of Concept Steam Vulnerabilities

Saw story mentioned couple places http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012128/researchers-steam-url-protocol-can-be-abused-to-exploit-game-vulnerabilities.html and http://www.macworld.com/article/2012128/researchers-steam-url-protocol-can-be-abused-to-exploit-game-vulnerabilities.html

Also saw this http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2971493

They reference this source (PDF) http://revuln.com/files/ReVuln_Steam_Browser_Protocol_Insecurity.pdf

It isn't in the wild AFAIK, if anyone has any evidence of that I would like to hear about it!

Nerd News: "Ubuntu port of Steam, Source engine, and Left 4 Dead 2"

Story at Ars http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/5n3_nAq1AkM/

They linked to Valve/Steam press release http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/

This news should make a lot of Nerds happy!!!  ^_^

Sounds like they plan to port more games to Ubuntu, hopefully in the near future!

Nerd News: Valve’s Gabe Newell

In case you missed Penny Arcade's interview of Gabe Newell, here is link, and teaser [Gabe Newell's response to a question]:

It’s not my job to track down or supervise everyone and make sure they’re doing the right thing. It’s more like I’m a resource here and I can be helpful at addressing a problem. It works surprisingly well, but it takes a while for people to get used to it. We’re optimized for people who are very experienced and have been working for a long time and don’t really need someone looking over their shoulder or second-guessing their decisions. 

Sounds like a really cool place to work, I am a fan of Valve, though I tend to think of them as Steam, cause I was buying games from Steam before I knew what Valve was, if your not clear on the difference take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Corporation

Gabe Newell also mentions wearable computers and related hardware, something that I am interested in, since it seems to me the logical interface for smaller and smaller electronic devices.

Nerd News: Steam Mobile, Steam for iPhone & Android

Hmm seems like it is just for chatting and browsing games, they don't seem to have added mobile games yet, Steam link here http://store.steampowered.com/mobile

According to TechSpot:

Although you can install the app, it's still in closed beta so you can't login if your account isn't approved. However, by attempting to log in, your account is entered into the pool of potential beta invites.