Category: General

Firefox’s “Memory Leak” Explained

For those concerned with reports of how much system memory the open-source webbrowser Firefox uses, this Inside Firefox article sheds some light on how much of that memory usage is a feature, not a bug.

Of course that still doesn’t excuse the number of third-party extensions that have terrible memory leaks, but it should help explain all the complaints about just how much memory the program uses.

Half-Life 2: Episode One

Gordon and Alyx - Half Life 2: Episode One

If you’ve started up Valve’s Steam gaming distribution client lately, you’ve probably already noticed that the oddly named Half-Life 2: Episode One has been released.

The idea of episodic gaming content has been done before, but this $20 release seems to be getting strong reviews from the gaming community.

The episode is definitely short, giving roughly four to six hours of play for the average gamer. Also, the game doesn’t stray far at all from the basic format laid out in the original Half-Life or Half-Life 2. But for those who liked the previous game, and this will no doubt be welcome news.

Although the game uses the same gaming engine as Half-Life 2, there are some subtle differences. If your video card is capable of using High Dynamic Range rendering, as seen in the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast tech demo, then you’ll be glad to know the feature is available in Episode One as well.