Given that it was such a genre-defining game, Valve had been surprisingly hushed this week despite it being the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2. Consider that silence well and truly broken now, as it has just dropped a two-hour long documentary about the game’s development, released a new update for the game to enhance it even further, and essentially created an entirely new version of Half-Life 2 that is totally free to add to your library - if you’re fast. Continue reading Valve just released a new version of Half-Life 2, and it’s free right now MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best old games, Best FPS games, Best VR games

Donald Trump Names Karoline Leavitt White House Press Secretary

Time surely flies, and Gordon Freeman's followers know it better than anyone. Half-Life 2 is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and Valve has decided to make good on the occasion.

Awe-Inspiring: Unveiling the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Reagan Library

Trump Formally Taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for Interior Sec, Seat on National Energy Council

Illustration: The Verge WhatsApp dropped the most “I can’t believe this wasn’t already there” feature this week: message drafts. Now, WhatsApp lets you know if you have unsent messages typed up in chats so you know to get back to them later. To let you know about a draft, messages you’ve started writing will show a green and bold “Draft” word followed by what you’ve typed up. That way, you can ponder about finishing it when you open the app and not accidentally ignore your friends (though you still purposefully could, I guess.) Drafts also end up at the top of the chats list, so you don’t have to scroll to search for lost ones. The feature is now available in the app worldwide, Engadget reports. WhatsApp announced in July that it had hit 100 million monthly... Continue reading…

In which various government bodies fight over “permissionless” assets | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to “unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States” when it comes to crypto, according to a lawsuit from 18 states. These states want to halt the SEC’s enforcement actions, so they can manage crypto regulation instead. Also named as a plaintiff on the suit is the DeFi Education Fund, a special interest lobbyist. Controversial SEC chair Gary Gensler is named in the suit, along with other SEC commissioners. Gensler’s treatment of crypto during his time as chair has made him a punching bag for the industry — and for Republicans such as president-elect Donald Trump. There has been an ongoing turf war over crypto regulation. Until this point, the two major contenders were the... Continue reading…

As 2024 winds to a close, it's hard not to look ahead to the new year and everything it will bring with it. They might not be at the top of the list, but new emojis are being prepared for 2025, and this week, Unicode shared its draft list for eight of the emojis that are being considered for your phone's keyboard in the coming months. As spotted by Emojipedia, the Unicode Emoji Standard and Research Working Group proposed 164 emojis to the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) earlier this month. Of those, the working group provided sample designs for nine of them: Emojis in the works for 2025. Image source: Emojipedia Here's what they all represent, in case you're drawing a blank looking at any of them: Distorted face Fight cloud Ballet dancer Apple core Orca (aka killer whale) Hairy creature (which looks like Bigfoot) Trombone Landslide Treasure chest Beyond the new emojis, the proposed list also includes dozens of skin tone variants for existing emojis, such as "People with Bunny Ears" and "People Wrestling." The new ballet dancer emoji will support all five standard skin tone modifiers as well. As Emojipedia explains, the 164 proposed emojis are all draft candidates for Emoji 17.0. These are always subject to change, which means there might be additions (or subtractions) before the new version is approved. That is expected to happen in September 2025. Of course, approval doesn't mean the fresh emojis will immediately show up on your iPhone or Android device. For instance, Emoji 16.0 was approved in September of this year, but we've still yet to see any of the new emojis on our built-in emoji keyboards. In the meantime, iPhone owners can use Genmoji to create their own AI emojis. Don't Miss: Here’s how Genmoji works in iOS 18 The post These are the new emojis you might find on your phone in 2025 appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2024: Get $415+ free Best Apple deals for November 2024 Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Today’s deals: $17.50 Apple AirTags, $50 off Madden NFL 25, $30 Crock-Pot Electric Lunch Box, more

Talgua Cave, known also as the ‘Cave of the Glowing Skulls’, is a cave located in the Olancho Valley, which is situated in Catacamas, a municipality in northeastern Honduras. The cave’s name may be said to be a misnomer, as the skulls do not actually glow on their own. Instead, the piles of human bones on the surface of the cave were coated over the centuries by a layer of calcium crystals. These crystals reflect light, thus giving the bones a glowing appearance. The existence of the Talgua Cave is said to have been known by locals for generations. Nevertheless, the area where the ‘glowing skulls’ were found seems to have not been known by the outside world. Knowledge of its existence in modern times may be dated back only as far as 1994. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyAncient PlacesAmericasRead Later 

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., slammed GOP senators who publicly dissed the choice of Matt Gaetz for attorney general, specifically calling out Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and saying she is not a real Republican.