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15
Jul

T-Mobile offers customers unlimited data for Pokémon Go


Starting with its next Tuesday giveaway, T-Mobile will be offering its customers free, unlimited data on Pokémon Go. This means that the game won’t eat up your high-speed data allotment. This offer will cover your data usage in the game for a year.

pokemon-shop.jpg?itok=yyjd2Y83

In addition to free Pokémon Go data, T-Mobile will offer customers their customary set of T-Mobile Tuesday goodies. These will include a Lyft ride with a value of $15 or less, a free Wendy’s Frosty, and 50% off certain accessories.

The Un-carrier is offering 250 of its customers $100 each in free PokéCoins, which can be used to buy in-game items like Poké Balls, incense, lures, and more. The data offer is similar to T-Mobile’s Music Unlimited and Binge On programs, which offer access to certain music and video services without eating into your data allotment.

How much mobile data does Pokémon Go use?

Press release:

Pokémon Go Mania Sweeps the Country … So T-Mobile Thanks Customers with Free Pokémon Data and More

Next week’s T-Mobile Tuesday is all about unleashing you to catch ’em all!

Bellevue, Washington — July 14, 2016 — T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today announced that, with next week’s T-Mobile Tuesday, the Un-carrier is thanking its customers with free, unlimited data for Pokémon Go—the new sensation that’s taking the world by storm. On July 19th, as part of next week’s T-Mobile Tuesdays, the Un-carrier will give customers great ways to take their Pokémon Go skillz to a whole new level, including …

  • Free, unlimited data on Pokémon Go, so it won’t touch your high-speed data—for a full year!
  • Free Lyft rides up to $15 to get to a new PokéStop or Gym
  • Free Wendy’s Frosty to fuel up for your hunting trip
  • 50% off select accessories – including portable power packs and chargers at T-Mobile stores – so you can keep on playing for hours

On top of that, 250 people will each win $100 in PokéCoins, and five people will win a Pokémon Go hunting trip anywhere in the U.S. for themselves and a guest!

“This is what T-Mobile Tuesday is all about – thanking customers with hot, new, totally free gifts every week, and right now, nothing is hotter than Pokémon Go!” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “With the carriers’ shared data schemes, players could easily burn up the family’s data bucket – and then, hello, overages! At T-Mobile, we’re unleashing Pokémon Go so our customers can play free for a year. It’s gonna be a fantastic T-Mobile Tuesday!”

Since Pokémon Go launched July 6th, the mobile game has raced past the likes of Facebook and Twitter on the app charts, already attracting a record-setting 21 million daily users in the U.S. alone. The groundbreaking AR game has surged to the No.1 free game and No.1 grossing game in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in record-breaking time, qualifying Pokémon Go as a certifiable global phenomenon.

New and existing T-Mobile customers can get free and unlimited high-speed data for all your Pokémon Go gaming in the U.S. – all the way through end of August 2017. They just need to download the T-Mobile Tuesdays app and claim the free gift. But hurry – this limited-time offer will be available to redeem starting next Tuesday, July 19th and available to redeem every T-Mobile Tuesday through Tuesday, August 9th. Everyone who’s eligible for T-Mobile Tuesdays is eligible for all this Pokémon fun.

Last month, T-Mobile unveiled its 11th iconic Un-carrier move – #GetThanked – a set of history-making initiatives dedicated exclusively to saying “thank you” to customers, offering T-Mobile customers ownership in the company, free stuff every week, and free in- flight smartphone Wi-Fi on Gogo equipped U.S. flights. With T-Mobile Tuesdays, customers can count on getting thanked each week with free recurring gifts, a surprise free gift from a new partner and a chance to win something epic. After launch, the T-Mobile Tuesdays app immediately jumped to No.1 on the App Store. And, millions of T-Mobile customers have already been thanked with free stuff.

The new offers will be visible in the T-Mobile Tuesdays app on iOS and Android and at http://www.t-mobiletuesdays.com starting tomorrow, so customers can get ready for next Tuesday. Previously, the T-Mobile Tuesdays app featured partner Gilt and a focus on fashion for this coming week, but don’t worry, t-shirts and fashion will be coming back to T-Mobile Tuesday soon. For more information about T-Mobile Tuesdays, visit explore.t-mobile.com/t-mobile-tuesdays.

Limited time offers; subject to change. Qualifying service required. Detectable Pokémon Go data on our U.S. network does not count against high-speed data allotment; some content may be excluded & additional incidental content may be included. See app terms of use; age 13+. For sweepstakes, NO PURCHASE NECESSARY & void where prohibited. See Official Rules at T-MobileTuesdays.com. $15 Lyft Credit must be redeemed by Wednesday 7/20/16; must be over 18. Accessories offer valid only in stores 7/19. Extremely high data usage may result in deprioritization (& slower speeds). T-Mobile is not an associate, affiliate, or licensee of Pokémon/Niantic. We’re just big fans.

About T-Mobile US, Inc.
As America’s Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company’s advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to more than 65.5 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.

Pokémon Go

  • Join our Pokémon Go forums!
  • How to deal with GPS errors in-game
  • Which team should you choose?
  • How to play without killing your battery
  • The Ultimate Pokémon Go Game Guide!

15
Jul

Razer has a new iPad Pro mechanical keyboard case for gamers


Razer on Thursday announced an iPad Pro accessory that’s perfect for those of you who like to game while on the go.

It’s also for those of you not in love with the iPad Pro’s stock smart keyboard. Razer is offering an alternative that uses its new “Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical Switches” in order to provide the same acuity and responsiveness found in full-size mechanical keyboards. The peripheral-maker appears keen to help Apple push the iPad Pro as a PC replacement, so it’s rolling out a new compact keyboard case created just for the slate.

The Razer Mechanical Keyboard Case is cloaked in all-matte black, has a detachable polycarbonate shell with a metal kickstand, and boasts chiclet keys that require just 70 grams of force. It appears the keyboard case pairs to the iPad Pro via Bluetooth, rather than the Smart Connector, and therefore can’t recharge the iPad Pro while in use. But it does have a 10-hour battery life with the backlight at maximum (or 600 hours without).

“We’re commonly thought of as a company that makes phenomenal products for gamers, but to design the very best products, we’ve had to innovate from the ground up – even from each individual component such as mechanical switches,” explained Min-Liang Tan, Razer’s CEO.

“We’re excited about the potential of our Ultra-Low-Profile Mechanical Switch and look forward to exploring other applications in addition to the mechanical keyboard we’ve designed for the iPad Pro,” Tan added, indicating it plans to use its new mechanical switch in other products.

  • The Razer RealSense Camera will enhance your broadcasts
  • Razer Mamba (2015) hands-on: The best gaming mouse on the planet
  • Calling all GDC goers: Pick up your free Razer Nabu X smartband today

Until then, you can get Razer’s new mechanical keyboard case for iPad Pro. It is releasing right now, with pricing set at $169.99 in the US or €189.99 across Europe. It’s available at both Razer’s online store brick-and-mortar locations.

15
Jul

Pokemon Go: How to find and catch rare Pokemon?


So you’ve been playing Pokemon Go for a bit and want to catch a rare one, eh?

You’re in luck. We at Pocket-lint have played with the game ourselves and scoured the internet for the best tips and tricks out there, so everything you need to know is laid out below, including details about which Pokemon are common/rare/legendary, as well as how to find and catch rare ones.

Once you’re done getting all the information you need, check out these pieces for more stuff about Pokemon Go, such as how to play, general tips and tricks, how to get the game in your country, why is everyone talking about it, and other mind-boggling facts about the new app:

  • Pokemon Go: How to play and other tips and tricks
  • Can’t get Pokemon Go in your country yet? Here’s how to download it now
  • What is Pokemon Go and why is everyone talking about it?
  • Pokemon Go: Best, worst and craziest places people have found Pokemon
  • London through the eyes of Pokemon Go
  • Pokemon Go: 11 amazing, mind-boggling facts about the AR game
  • Pokemon Go: How to catch Pikachu as your first Pokemon

What are Pokemon?

Everyone has heard of Pokemon. They’re fictional creatures from the self-titled franchise that exploded in the 90s. The idea is that Pokemon Trainers – aka humans – try to catch and battle Pokemon for sport. Pokemon originated in a Nintendo video game for the first Game Boy and eventually landed in trading cards, animated shows, movies, and comics. Now, via Pokemon Go, they’re in an augmented-reality mobile game.

There are more than 700 Pokemon that have appeared in the Pokemon franchise over the past 20 years, though only 151 of them are in the new mobile app. Browse our gallery of all the Pokemon in Pokemon Go, in alphabetical order:

  • How many Pokemon are in Pokemon Go? 151, and here they are

What are rare Pokemon?

There’s actually two types of rare Pokemon: Rare and Legendary. The Legendary ones are the rarest creatures in the Pokemon universe. In fact, few have actually seen them. It’s been confirmed (via code in the game) that Legendary-status Pokemon are hiding, and Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, and Ditto were even spotted by a player. Rumour has it Niantic, the game’s developer, is withholding them for a huge in-game event or something.

Now, as for the general rare ones… this gets complicated. Pokemon that are rare might only be rare in your area; they could be very common Pokemon somewhere else. Still, there seems to be some Pokemon that almost all players have trouble spotting and catching. Here’s a list of just 20 rare Pokemon, in order of most rare (it’s based on information compiled by thousands of users around the world at Poke Assistant):

(Click each to see an image.)

  • Charizard
  • Ditto
  • Omastar
  • Charmeleon
  • Dragonair
  • Muk
  • Vaporeon
  • Machamp
  • Ivysaur
  • Venusaur
  • Blastoise
  • Nidoqueen
  • Nidoking
  • Vileplume
  • Poliwrath
  • Alakazam
  • Weepinbell
  • Victreebel
  • Slowbro
  • Marowak

How do you find rare Pokemon?

The most common Pokemon found in Pokemon Go include Pigey, Rattata, Caterpie, Duduo, etc. Chances are – often playing the game for a few days – you’ll notice you keep finding these little guys and none of the rare ones, like a Marowak. So, how do you find these elusive creatures? Simple: raise your trainer level. Wild Pokemon rarity is tied to your trainer level and CP stat (how well a Pokemon can attack).

You can see your trainer level in the lower left-hand corner of your screen. To raise your trainer level, you need to get experience. That means you must grab all those PokeStops, fight in several gyms, hatch those eggs, walk around a lot, and just play the game basically. You can even buy a Lucky Egg from the store to double your experience gain for 30 minutes. After about 10 levels or so, you will spot those wild, rare beasts.

How do you catch rare Pokemon?

The Nearby menu in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen show how close a Pokemon is to you. When hunting the rare ones, you’ll want to track the creatures that appear greyed-out behind a silhouette. These are Pokemon you haven’t caught yet, and thus they aren’t recorded in your Pokdex. The closer the Pokmon is to you, the fewer footprints you’ll see underneath the silhouette (3 footsteps = 300 metres, etc).

Make sure to keep the Nearby menu open and then circle the Pokémon you want to capture by clicking on it. The circled silhouette should shift up and down based on proximity to you (the more right and down the silhouette is, the father it is from you). If the Pokémon is moving down the menu, walk away to see if it gets closer. Pokemon listed on the Nearby menu are always close by, so keep trying and looking.

Now, check out this guide to learn how to catch a Pokemon in general. For rare Pokemon, try to get the ring around the Pokemon as small as possible before flinging a Poke Ball. The smaller the ring, the more likely the Pokemon won’t escape from the ball. If the Pokemon does escape, just fling several Poke Balls at it before it has a chance to run away. That and pray to the Poke Gods is about all lower-level players can do.

Higher-level trainers upon hitting Level 7 can grab Razz Berries from PokeStops. Feed these to wild Pokemon to make them less likely to run away or escape Poke Balls. At Level 10, you can use more powerful Poke Balls (like Great and Ultra Balls). Wild Pokemon of all levels have difficulty escaping these balls. And if you feed a rare Pokemon a Razz Berry first, then fling a powerful ball at it, you’ll likely be successful.

Are there any other tips and tricks?

Rare Pokemon change from location to location, and it depends on a number of factors, including player population density, proximity to certain types of landscapes, nearby landmarks, different times of the day, etc. Also, certain Pokemon dwell in areas related to their type. Psychic- and ghost-type Pokemon can be found near cemeteries, while fire- and ground-type Pokemon are more likely to appear in arid, desert climates.

Based on information culled from Reddit, Twitter, and our own experiences, here’s other tips and tricks on how to find and catch rare Pokemon:

  • Wall a lot, and walk slowly.
  • Check unvisited lanes, undiscovered locations, and unpopulated areas.
  • Go to locations depending on the type of rare Pokemon you want to find.
  • Place lures at PokeStops to lure all nearby Pokemon to your area.
  • Use Incense to draw Pokemon if you’re staying put in an area for 30 mins.
  • Look for rustling leaves in the game.
  • Continually check the near “Nearby” menu for Pokemon.
  • When you spot one, switch off the AR Camera (top-right corner of screen).
  • Throw a clean Poke Ball without excessive hand movements.
  • Make sure your phone has plenty of battery.
15
Jul

Emmys recognize online video with this year’s nominees


You knew this was coming. The Emmys announced back in March that it would expand its award categories beyond the conventional, big-budget television productions to include short-form series, virtual reality and internet-only videos — and it has. At the upcoming 68th annual Emmy Awards, five popular online series are in the running for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series. The nominees include YouTube hits Epic Rap Battles of History and Honest Trailers, Funny or Die’s Gay of Thrones, and both Making A Scene With James Franco and Park Bench With Steve Buscemi from AOL.

What’s more, Her Story, a YouTube exclusive, was nominated for “Outstanding Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series,” against traditional television shows like Comedy Central’s Childrens Hospital, Lifetime’s UnREAL The Auditions and even a Fear the Walking Dead episode.

This is a big deal. Even just a few years ago, the thought of any but traditional television programs being nominated for an Emmy, much less actually winning one, was laughable. However, given online video’s global reach and rapid maturation, shows like these now rival conventional media in both audience size and production quality. So it’s no wonder that they’re now getting serious looks from the Academy. The Emmys will air September 18th, 2016 at 5PM Pacific.

Source: The Television Academy

15
Jul

This contest proved how far behind the times chatbots really are


The chatbots you’re hitting up on Facebook or Kik may seem as though they can really understand you, but in all actuality they’re pretty stupid, at least when it comes to common sense. That’s why a new Turing Test in the form of the Winograd Schema Challenge seeks to prove how lacking the bots really are in the grand scheme of things.

The challenge asks computers to make sense out of specific sentences with grammar that humans can understand, but that may be obtuse to machines. For instance, in the sentence “The city councilmen refused the demonstrators a permit because they feared violence,” computers aren’t able to parse who the word “they” is actually talking about. In contrast, human readers can understand it because of context clues. That’s exactly the type of thinking researchers are looking to improve, namely with deep learning.

The contest featured a grand prize of $25,000 for entrants who could achive 90 percent accuracy with similar sentences, and the best came from Quan Liu, a researcher from the University of Science and Technology of China as well as Nicos Issak, a researcher from the Open University of Cypress.

Facebook and Google, who have long since been championing the improvement of the bots’ understanding of complex human speech were not present at the contest, but they also have utilized “deep learning” neural networks to improve their chatbots and personal assistantes. Quan Liu’s group, from the challenge, did as well.

The contest came as a result of an improvement on the original Turing Test, which is a way for humans to evaluate a machine’s intelligence. Still, even with the accuracy the teams were able to achieve during the conference, machines clearly have a long way to go when it comes to matching human accuracy.

Source: MIT Technology Review

15
Jul

NVIDIA’s ‘VR Funhouse’ carnival game just launched on Steam


A few months ago, NVIDIA showed off a new virtual reality tech demo designed to showcase what its new graphics technology could do for VR. Today, it’s releasing that demo to the public: VR Funhouse is a free, virtual reality carnival with collision-based haptic feedback, advanced physics simulation and a ton of other NVIDIA graphics technologies designed to make fire, hair, water and particles all look more real. All you need to play is an HTC Vive and a really, really powerful computer.

A high bar of entry is pretty normal for PC virtual reality right now, but VR Funhouse is aimed at machines with only the latest graphics technology. Specifically, NVIDIA recommends its GeForce GTX 1080, though users with a GTX 980 Ti, Titan X, 1060 or 1070 should be able to run the game on low-quality settings. That’s a lot to ask for a carnival game. That said, VR Funhouse is less important as a game as it is a platform to show developers what NVIDIA’s Gameworks technologies can add to the VR experience — which is why the title will be open sourced later this summer. Either way, if your PC has the specs, fell free to check out NVIDIA’s carnival. VR Funhouse launches later today on Steam.

Source: Steam, NVIDIA (1), (2)

15
Jul

Researchers create skeleton robot with human-like muscles


If robots that mimic animal or human behavior are your nightmare fuel, turn away now. Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology went one step further with a skeleton robot, giving it human-like muscles to help with movement. The microfilament muscle “tissues” connect to joints and expand/contract just like the real thing. In fact, the robot has the same number of muscles in its legs as we do. At this point, they’re not very strong and though the strands help with smoother movements, the skeleton still requires assistance to walk.

The skeleton robot can also move its arms and, perhaps most importantly, its jaws with the help of the muscle fibers. This means that it can enjoy the finer things in life, like Cheetos. It’ll be interesting to see if the team can continue to refine the robots movements. More specifically, getting those muscles to expand and contract quickly so that the skeleton can improve its soccer skills.

Via: Popular Science

Source: Tokyo Institute of Technology

15
Jul

Facebook’s Instant Articles are heading to its Messenger app


Facebook’s fast-loading news stories have been around for a while now, but soon they’ll make their way to the company’s standalone chat app. Instant Articles will son be available inside Messenger. When someone shares a link with you, a lightning bolt icon will let you know that it’s available as one of the quick-to-load stories. This means you won’t have to wait for it to appear like a regular ol’ web article. There are ads inside the Instant Articles and those will make the trip over to Messenger as well.

Before now, links shared inside the Messenger app loaded up in a mobile browser. With the addition of Facebook’s own articles, those items will appear up to 10 times faster and the communication application will offer the same reading experience as the full-on social app. Facebook says the stories will debut on Android today with iOS to follow “in the coming weeks.”

Via: Recode

Source: Facebook

15
Jul

Twitch says ‘CS:GO’ gambling broadcasts are prohibited


The niche world of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin gambling is starting to crumble. Last week, two YouTube personalities were outed as the owners of CS:GO Lotto, a third-party gambling website that used CS:GO weapon skins as currency for online casino games. Yesterday, Valve announced the service was in violation of its terms and service agreement. Now, Twitch is chiming in, stating that any stream that violates a game’s service agreement is prohibited from broadcasting — specifically calling out gambling businesses that misuse Steam’s OpenID API.

Technically, the announcement doesn’t change anything on Twitch’s end: streams that break third-party terms of service agreements (such as pirated software or showing a game running on an unauthorized, private server) have always been prohibited. Even so, the statement serves as a reminder to broadcasters: if Valve wouldn’t be okay with your Stream, Twitch probably isn’t either. Added to the fact that the owners of CS:GO Lotto have been added to an ongoing gambling lawsuit against Valve, skin-betting doesn’t seem long for this world.

Source: Twitch

15
Jul

Twitter’s latest sports streaming deal is for Pac-12 college games


Twitter already has a deal in place with the NFL to stream Thursday Night Football games this fall, and reports indicate that the social network has its eye on even more sports live action. Adding to the slate of streaming agreements, Pac-12 Network announced today that Twitter will host over 150 events during the upcoming 2016-2017 academic year. More specifically, the deal is for content from Pac-12 Plus: “a broadband network” of live coverage produced by the 12 universities that make up the conference.

While the lineup of content is still being sorted out, the Pac-12 says streams will cover events in Olympic sports of soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, baseball, ice hockey, swimming and diving, softball, track and field, wrestling, lacrosse, tennis and water polo. You’ll notice that football is absent from that list. No, it’s not an Olympic sport, but it is the most popular college athletic action besides basketball — which also isn’t mentioned. Those two sports typically command big money television deals, so it’s understandable if Twitter couldn’t nab those rights as well.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: PAC-12