California's Assembly passed Bill 1856, amending the Digital Age Assurance Act to exclude operating systems and software meant to be freely copied, redistributed or modified from mandatory age-verification requirements. This shields most Linux distributions, though derivative projects with proprietary layers like Valve's SteamOS may still need to comply. The bill also fixes the DAAA's overly broad definition of 'user' and restricts sharing of age data to law enforcement requests.
Livestream shopping, long popular in China, is gaining traction in the U.S. through platforms like TikTok Shop and Whatnot, now valued at $20 billion. Companies such as Beachwaver, run by celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa, generate a significant share of sales through hours-long live sessions featuring product demos, auctions and interactive stunts. Legacy retailer QVC has also pivoted to this model, broadcasting over 200 hours weekly across seven TikTok channels after emerging from bankruptcy.
Roughly 12 terabytes of data from Valve's old Steam2 backend, covering games published between 2003 and 2013, has surfaced online after being left exposed in a public repository. The trove reportedly includes prototype builds like an early version of Left 4 Dead with a different HUD, materials tied to the canceled Half-Life 2: Episode 3, and files from non-Valve titles such as Grand Theft Auto 5. Content creators covering Valve say no hacking was involved, and only game data was exposed, not player information.
A 12-terabyte trove of Steam2-era content dating from 2003 to 2013 has appeared online, reportedly containing nearly every uploaded build for that decade, including cut Portal 2 assets, Half-Life 2: Episode 3 files, and beta versions of Left 4 Dead 2, CS:GO, Spore, and Dragon Age: Origins. Researchers say the material came from an unsecured public API tied to Valve's old distribution system, which was replaced by SteamPipe in 2013 and left this data exposed without any password protection.
A 12-terabyte archive of data from Valve's old Steam2 content servers, used between 2003 and 2013, has surfaced via BitTorrent in an incident dubbed the 'Teraleak.' The trove reportedly contains unreleased builds and prototypes from Valve and other developers, including early Portal 2 prototypes and a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 build, and appears to have been assembled from publicly accessible endpoints rather than a hack.
Several exhibitors at Gamescom in Cologne reported stolen equipment from booths in the show's business zone, including developer Ryan Laley's new Alienware laptop, two laptops from publisher iam8bit, and two laptops plus a Steam Deck from Tessera Studios. The thefts occurred despite the area being restricted to press and industry badge holders, with organizers claiming 24/7 security was in place.
A massive 12TB torrent dubbed the Steam 'teraleak' has surfaced online, containing thousands of game depots from Valve's old Steam2 content distribution system used between 2003 and 2013. The trove includes public release builds as well as previously unseen prototype, pre-release, and playtest versions of games from Valve and third-party publishers. Data miner Gabe Follower says the material was pulled from a publicly accessible API endpoint, suggesting the exposure originated from Valve's own systems rather than a hack.
An unidentified party leaked over 12TB of Valve's internal builds and unreleased assets, spanning games published on Steam between 2003 and 2013. The trove reportedly includes early versions of Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, CS:GO, and material tied to the canceled F-Stop project and the long-rumored Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Researchers say the data appears to have been exposed via a publicly accessible endpoint, which explains why nothing newer than 2013 has surfaced.
A massive 12-terabyte leak containing builds of nearly every game uploaded to Steam between 2003 and 2013 has surfaced online. Researchers combing through the trove have already found scrapped assets from the canceled Half-Life 2: Episode 3, cut Portal 2 material including alternate dialogue and intro sequences, and early builds of titles like Call of Duty, Resident Evil, Mirror's Edge, and Dragon Age: Origins.
Building trade unions, including Steamfitters UA Local 602, are mobilizing to pressure politicians who oppose new data center construction, with leadership warning members they will withhold political support from officials seen as hostile to the industry. An internal memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal frames the fight as an 'existential moment' for the union, given how much work data centers generate in the Maryland-DC-Virginia corridor known as data center alley.
California's legislature unanimously passed Assembly Bill 1856, which carves out open-source operating systems and software distributed under permissive licenses such as GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache from the state's Digital Age Assurance Act. The bill also exempts software components not sold as standalone apps through app stores, covering package managers like apt and pacman, and excludes browser extension stores. The measure now awaits Governor Gavin Newsom's signature before the underlying law takes effect on January 1, 2027.
Fatal Claw, developed by Ndev Games and published by Com2us Holdings, has exited early access with its 1.0 launch, casting players as a cat named Kisha who absorbs abilities from infected creatures in a technologically revived ancient kingdom. Separately, Sigil Games released Divinum, a pixel-art Metroidvania where players control warrior Fjør defending an island using a dual-weapon combat system with parrying, dodging and customizable rune-based skill builds.
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