Tech For Everyone #8: Now I REALLY ❤️ Steam

Gabe Newell currently has a net worth of $4.1 billion. The net worth of Valve’s contributions to PC gaming? Priceless. According to me, anyway…

In today’s issue, Steam evolves a feature that feels perfect and absolutely necessary in this post-pandemic world.

Plus, Intel’s fake MacBook Pro looks better than the real thing.

And a brand new album recommendation from my old podcasting co-host Joe Ressington.

Last week I wrote a minor rant about Intel’s awkward and somewhat grudge-tinged marketing campaign against Apple Silicon. Nevermind the fact that a Mac is technically also a PC. Nevermind that Apple still sells Intel-powered MacBook Pros.

Nevermind all of that, because Intel actually portrayed the latest MacBook Pro in a more favorable light than it deserves!

YouTuber Rene Ritchie was the first to spot the best-looking MacBook Pro in existence. Why best-looking? Because it’s practically bezel-less! I mean LOOK AT THIS:

I’m looking at my 2016 MacBook Pro in disgust.

And no, not even the brand new M1 MacBooks look that sexy. They still have those curiously large bezels, in a world where Dell, Huawei and the majority of laptop makers have been giving us nearly edge-t0-edge displays for years.

Does Intel know something we don’t know? Did they get their grubby mitts on a new prototype?

Nope. Here’s the honest explanation from Intel’s Ryan Shrout:

Shrout is right though. My own attempts to capture a variety of laptop screens without any reflection or glare or smudges or dust have been unsuccessful. It’s frustrating because I can never record it exactly the way my eyes are seeing it.

Anyway, here’s to hoping we get Intel’s version of the MacBook Pro design this year!

Nevermind that almighty Gaben and Valve treat Linux like a first-class citizen when it comes to gaming, having enabled somewhere north of 7000 Windows-only games to be played on Steam for Linux practically out-of-the-box. 

They’ve sincerely cranked up the good vibes now, and I am approximately 10x more excited about PC gaming today than I was yesterday (as long as I don’t have to buy any graphics cards), following Steam’s remarkable “Remote Play Together” news. 

OK. Hop on the nostalgia train and transport yourself to a time when playing Goldeneye 64 or Mario Kart with three of your buddies was as easy as inviting them over and handing them a controller.

Only one of you needed to own the game; the rest of you could enjoy it together on the same TV. 

Well, the Steam Link app is kinda like the TV and controller in that classic scenario, and Remote Play Together is the modern-day split-screen party. 

Valve really hit this one out of the park. Remote Play Together now allows you to launch one of literally thousands of games, and send a URL to any of your friends or family to join you in some local multiplayer. 

All they need is the Steam Link app installed, and that URL you send them. Steam Link is a lightweight utility with no registration or login required (at least for the purpose of Remote Play Together). And it runs on pretty much anything now – including macOS, any Linux distribution under the sun, and newer Raspberry Pis!

As for the list of games? It’s impressive so far. We’re not talking about some token offering of indie titles no one’s heard of. Remote Play Together supports thousands of games that include local multiplayer, ranging from AAA hits like Mortal Kombat 11, Civilization VI and NBA 2K21 to indie gems like Stardew Valley and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. And of course Valve classics like Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. 

You can view the entire list here. 

There may be some latency depending on the game, the connection, and the distance. But kudos to Newell and Valve for not playing the greed card here. 

Valve now hovers at the top of my list as one of the most consumer-friendly companies out there. When it comes to juggernaut gaming entities (*cough* EA *cough* Activision *cough* Epic Games), can we agree that most of them are decidedly anti-consumer in their practices?

Before I sign off, I wanted to call your attention to a pair of new album releases today. The musician is someone you might recognize, especially since we hosted the Choose Linux podcast together on Jupiter Broadcasting. (This was way before Linux For Everyone became a thing.)

Yep, Joe Ressington has finally unearthed and polished up 20 years of his recordings and released them as two separate albums: “Repetitive Nonsense” and “Noise With Guitars.”

“Repetitive Nonsense” is Joe’s electronic album (I haven’t heard this one yet).

But I have listened to “Noise With Guitars,” which is straight-ahead guitar-driven rock and roll with biting social (and personal) commentary. And you know what? He has some songwriting chops.

For music that was buried and semi-forgotten on a NAS, there are some raw gems here and I hope Joe continues his music adventure.

Let me know what you think about his tunes. You can listen and buy them all on Bandcamp.

I also have a song on Bandcamp under the name Hurricane Blonde. And like Joe, I have many more sitting on various hard drives. I’ll keep you posted on that front…

Thanks as always for being here, and remember that responding to this and every issue is as simple as hitting REPLY.

Go try out Remote Play Together with a friend. And lemme know if you want to have a Halo multiplayer party sometime. But bring your own OG Xbox and TV – I like having the screen all to myself.

Until we chat again, take care! And take care of each other.