Pokémon GO players catch 500 million Pokémon in under two days

Spurred by Pokémon GO’s latest event, players have caught 500 million pocket monsters in less than two days. Developer Niantic kickstarted the Global Catch Challenge on Sunday (inviting fans to collectively catch a whopping 3 billion Pokémon in return for prizes) and it’s well on its way to becoming the game’s biggest hunt yet.

That was fast, Trainers! You’ve caught over 500 million Pokémon & unlocked new rewards during the Global Catch Challenge. #PokemonGOtravel pic.twitter.com/GuOTPxh6ts

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) November 21, 2017

The more Pokémon everyone nabs, the more prizes get dished out, including region-locked pocket monsters, like Farfetch’d (which will be available worldwide for 48 hours when players hit the top milestone). The same goes for Kangaskhan — which is currently restricted to Oceania — who will pop up in East Asia for the same duration. But, you’ve only got till November 26th to complete the task before the clock runs out, and the prizes dry up. So, get your ass off the couch and start searching if you want to complete that Pokédex. Even though at this rate amassing 3 billion Pokémon should be a cinch.

The first set of rewards (including double XP and a six-hour timer on Pokémon-attracting incense) are now available. The silver tier (unlocked after 1.5 billion catches) will throw in double stardust to boot. Best of all, more pocket monsters are now appearing worldwide, and will continue to emerge as more benchmarks are secured. And, if you still haven’t got your fill of cute critters, the event also includes a video series that sees trainers travel the world catching Pokémon.

Source: Pokémon GO

Google’s Gboard app gets more languages and built-in stickers

After catching up with iOS, Google’s keyboard app for Android is now racing ahead, courtesy of an update that packs 40 additional languages (including Japanese), and built-in sticker packs. Although Google already has a keyboard for non-Latin script languages, it’s not forcing you to adopt Gboard, as noted by 9to5Google. Instead, you’ll need to manually configure the Android app for a new language.

For the uninitiated, Gboard puts Search right in the keyboard. And, it also adds GIFs, emoji-centric tools (including type and scrawl to search), and glide and voice typing to the mix — which may make you kick your other keyboards to the curb.

With the latest update, Gboard now boasts 120 languages in total. Plus, you get access to four sticker packs by default (previously Gboard only included stickers if Google’s Allo messaging app was installed) — so you never have to use words again.

Source: Gboard (Google Play)

Pick up an unlocked 32GB Moto G5 Plus at Amazon for $170

This deal features the Moto G5 Plus at its lowest price ever!

Is this deal for me?

Amazon is selling the unlocked Moto G5 Plus phone for just $169.99. This is the device’s lowest price ever and saves you around $50 off its regular price. This offer is only available on the Lunar Gray device.

The Moto G5 Plus features:

• Fingerprint reader
• High-grade aluminum design
• Octa-core processor
• 5.2″ HD Display
• 12 MP rear camera
• 5 MP front-facing camera
• 3000 mAh battery
• Android 7.0

This model comes with 32GB of storage space though there’s a 64GB model available for $300. You can add a microSD card for more space if you want as well.

TL;DR

• What makes this deal worth considering? – This unlocked device is free of ads unlike the other discounted version Amazon sells.
• Things to know before you buy! – The Moto G5 Plus has a 4.1 out of 5-star rating on Amazon and is the #1 best-seller on the site in the Unlocked Cell Phones category.

See at Amazon

Deal: Alcatel Idol 5S is down to $200, its lowest price ever

Some great Black Friday smartphone deals.

Last year, Alcatel’s Idol 4S was one of our top budget smartphone choices, so we were pretty excited when the sequel, the Idol 5S, didn’t make too many changes.

What the phone did, though, was get introduced at a much lower price than its predecessor. For $280, users got a 5.2-inch 1080p panel, a Snapdragon 625 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 2620mAh battery, a 12MP rear camera, and a low-profile version of Android 7.1 Nougat.

Now the Idol 5S is down to $199.99 for a limited time — between Thursday, November 23 at 12:00AM PST and Monday, November 27 at 11:59PM PST — for Black Friday. That’s the same price Amazon sells the ad-supported Prime Exclusive version, but this one is ad-free and compatible with all four U.S. carriers.

See at Amazon

Alcatel is also discounting its entry-level A30 smartphone to $60 for the same period, which is a pretty outstanding deal on a device with a Snapdragon 210 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an 8MP camera, and Android 7.0 Nougat.

See at Amazon

GE hub connects its smart lights to Alexa and Google

When GE introduced its latest C-series smart light bulbs, the focus was on affordability — as they talked directly to your phone through Bluetooth, you didn’t need a bridge device. That kept them out of touch of voice assistants, however, which meant replacing the whole lot if you wanted hands-free control. Well, you won’t have to rethink your investment from now on: GE has introduced a hub, the C-Reach, that puts its bulbs on WiFi to enable support for Amazon’s Alexa and (by the end of 2017) Google Assistant. As with most smart lighting kits, you can steer lights individually or in groups just by talking to your phone or a smart speaker.

The C-Reach is available on Amazon right now, although whether or not it makes sense depends on what you buy and when. By itself, the hub costs $50 — your once-thrifty lighting setup could suddenly cost about as much as its peers. Things get better if you’re starting fresh. A kit with a hub and two basic C-Life bulbs (which only do white light) will sell for $65, or $50 if you buy on Cyber Monday. A bundle with color temperature-shifting C-Sleep bulbs sells for $85, or $65 on Cyber Monday. If you don’t need more advanced bulbs from a system like Philips’ Hue, this might represent a bargain.

Via: The Verge, Slashgear

Source: GE

The FCC’s plan to undo net neutrality is about to be revealed

Back in April, new FCC chairman Ajit Pai outlined a plan to undo net neutrality protections implemented during the Obama administration, before taking public comments. Millions of messages in response crashed the FCC’s website for a time, but despite opposition, he is reportedly ready to move forward and may unveil more details this week. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Politico separately reported that we will find out details later on Tuesday, before the commission votes on them in December.

All three described the upcoming plans as a “full repeal,” reversing a decision to treat broadband as a utility and removing protections preventing ISPs from blocking, slowing down or charging extra to deliver different kinds of content, while also reassigning regulation of any anticompetitive behavior to the FTC. Gigi B. Sohn, a former counselor to the previous FCC Chairman, said in a statement that “In a few short weeks, the big broadband providers will be free to double their prices, extract extra tolls on fast lanes for online businesses, and track and sell their customers’ web browsing activity. Senator Brian Schatz tweeted that “You pay the ISP, you get the whole Internet. What the FCC is doing is revoking that rule… I generally prefer that this kind of thing get settled in the legislative branch.”

We’ve explained the looming issues with these changes before, but it appears we’ll find out the details of the plan — and see what those opposed to the rollback are preparing in response — in just a few hours.

Source: New York Times, Politico, Wall Street Journal

Tesla’s Desktop Supercharger is the desk charger your phone deserves

Tesla’s Desktop Supercharger and Powerbank are expensive, but boy do they look good.

Tesla recently held an event in New York City to announce its all-new semi truck and updated Roadster 2.0, and if you’re still riding the Tesla high after reserving a couple Roadsters for the cool price of $50,000 each, the company now has a couple of mobile accessories so you can show off your Tesla pride wherever you go.

Tesla Desktop Supercharger

The first, and arguably best, accessory is the Desktop Supercharger. This is an exact replica of the Superchargers that Tesla uses to charge up its vehicles, but it’s been shrunken down to fit on your desk and charges your phone rather than your car. The same 3D CAD data that’s used to manufacture that real Superchargers was used to create this model, and even if you don’t own a Tesla like me, you’ve got to appreciate the sleek design of the thing.

Tesla Powerbank

In addition to the Desktop Supercharger, you can also buy Tesla’s Powerbank. This is a portable charger with a 3350 mAh capacity, outputs at 5V/1.5A for fast top-up times, and has integrated lightning and microUSB cables. The Powerbank’s design is based off Tesla’s Supercharger monument found at the Tesla Design Studio, and while the price is pretty high considering the mAh count and lack of USB-C, it also looks wickedly good.

Both the Desktop Supercharger and Powerbank cost $45, and if you’re interested, you can buy them from Tesla’s website right now.

See at Tesla

What’s on TV: ‘Godless,’ ‘Marvel’s Runaways’

As we get ready for the holiday later this week, there are plenty of new streaming options in case you’ve already cleared your DVR. Hulu premieres its new Marvel series Runaways, while Netflix offers its western Godless and Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It. Axiom Verge is getting a physical release on PS4, while Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets arrives on 4K Blu-ray. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• Despicable Me 3 (VOD)
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (4K)
• The Hitman’s Bodyguard (4K)
• Jabberwocky (Criterion)
• The Villianess
• Leap!
• Porco Rosso
• Good Time
• The Secret World of Arrietty
• Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier (PS4)
• Gear.Club Unlimited (Switch)
• Battle of the Bulge (PS4)
• Transcripted (Switch)
• Worms W.M.D. (Switch)
• Let’s Sing 2018 (Switch)
• Crimsonland (Switch)
• Axiom Verge (PS4)
• Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV (PS VR)

Monday

• Falcons/Seahawks, ESPN, 8:15 PM
• Baltimore Rising, HBO, 8 PM
• Lucifer, Fox, 8 PM
• Kevin Can Wait, CBS, 8 PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
• Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8 PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8 PM
• Supergirl, CW, 8 PM
• Man with a Plan, CBS, 8:30 PM
• 9jkl, CBS, 9 PM
• Valor, CW, 9 PM
• The Gifted, Fox, 9 PM
• Robert Kirkman’s Secret History of Comics, AMC, 10 PM
• Scorpion, CBS, 10 PM
• The Brave (fall finale), NBC, 10 PM
• The Good Doctor, ABC, 10 PM
• Ill Behavior, Showtime, 10:30 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Tuesday

• Marvel’s Runaways (series premiere), Hulu, 3 AM
• Brian Regan: Nunchucks and Flamethrowers, Netflix, 3 AM
• Beat Bugs: All Together Now, Netflix, 3 AM
• Saving Capitalism, Netflix, 3 AM
• Lethal Weapon, Fox, 8 PM
• The Flash, CW, 8 PM
• Finding Your Roots, PBS, 8 PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
• NCIS, CBS, 8 PM
• WWE Smackdown, USA, 8 PM
• The Middle, ABC, 8 PM
• Fresh Off the Boat, ABC, 8:30 PM
• The Challenge (season finale), MTV, 9 PM
• Major Crimes, TNT, 9 PM
• The Mick, Fox, 9 PM
• DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, CW, 9 PM
• Black-ish, ABC, 9 PM
• Bull, CBS, 9 PM
• This is Us, NBC, 9 PM
• Inside the NFL, Showtime, 9 PM
• Fantomworks, Velocity, 9 PM
• Who Killed Tupac? (series premiere), A&E, 9 PM
• The Mayor, ABC, 9:30 PM
• Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 9:30 PM
• The Mane Event, BET, 10 PM
• Undercover High, A&E, 10 PM
• Cyberwar (season finale), Viceland, 10 PM
• Chicago Med (season premiere), NBC, 10 PM
• NCIS: NO, CBS, 10 PM
• Hunt for the Zodiac Killer, History, 10 PM
• The Challenge, MTV, 10 PM
• Tosh.0 (season finale), Comedy Central, 10 PM
• The Jim Jefferies Show (season finale), Comedy Central, 10:30 PM
• Drop the Mic, TBS, 10:30 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Wednesday

• Chance, Hulu, 3 AM
• Godless (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
• Barbra: The Music, The Me’ries, The Magic!, Netflix, 3 AM
• Survivor, CBS, 8 PM
• The Wall, NBC, 8 PM
• Seal Team, CBS, 9 PM
• Shannara Chronicles (season finale), Spike TV, 9 PM
• American Housewife, ABC, 9:30 PM
• Mr. Robot, USA, 10 PM
• Criminal Minds, CBS, 10 PM
• Liar, Sundance, 10 PM
• Are You the One, MTV, 10 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Thursday

• She’s Gotta Have It (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
• The Stinky & Dirty Show (S2), Amazon Prime, 3 AM
• Giants/Washington, NBC, 8:25 PM
• Supernatural, CW, 8 PM
• Young Sheldon, CBS, 8:30 PM
• Mom, CBS, 9 PM
• Arrow, CW, 9 PM
• Life in Pieces, CBS, 9:30 PM
• 30th Anniversary of Soul Train Special, BET, 10 PM
• SWAT, CBS, 10 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Friday

• Frontier (S2), Netflix, 3 AM
• The Many Faces of Ito (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
• Trailer Park Boys: Out of the Park (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
• Cuba and the Cameraman, Netflix, 3 AM
• Texas Tech/Texas college football, Fox, 8 PM
• Trolls Holiday Special, NBC, 8:30 PM
• Grammy’s Greatest Stories: A 60th Anniversary Special, CBS, 9 PM
• A Football Life: Joe Gibbs, NFL Network, 9 PM
• Z Nation, Syfy, 9 PM
• Tracey Ullman’s Show (season finale), HBO, 11 PM

Saturday

• Notre Dame/Stanford college football, ABC, 8 PM
• Washington State/Washington college football, Fox, 8 PM
• Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, BBC America, 9 PM

Sunday

• No Activity, CBS AA, 3 AM
• The 66th Miss Universe Competition, Fox, 7 PM
• Packers/Steelers, NBC, 8:20 PM
• 2017 Soul Train Awards, BET, 8 PM
• Outlander, Starz, 8 PM
• Wisdom of the Crowd, CBS, 8:30 PM
• Outlander, Starz, 8 PM
• Shameless, Showtime, 9 PM
• The Walking Dead, AMC, 9 PM
• The Girlfriend Experience, Starz, 9 PM
• NCIS: LA, 9:30 PM
• Smilf, Showtime, 10 PM
• Nude, Starz, 10 PM
• Talking Dead, AMC, 10 PM
• Good Behavior, TNT, 10 PM
• Madam Secretary, CBS, 10 PM
• Search Party, TBS, 10 PM
• Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO, 10 PM
• White Famous, Showtime, 10:30 PM

[All times listed are in ET]

Octinion’s strawberry-picking bot is quick, nimble, and ready to replace humans

With everything from self-driving tractors to robots being able to monitor crops, it’s no secret that agriculture is currently in the middle of a high-tech revolution. Well, robots just added another farmyard job they can do better than us puny humans: Picking strawberries.

The robot in question is designed and built by Belgian engineering company Octinion. Using some smart machine vision algorithms and a 3D-printed hand, it’s able to work out when a particular strawberry is ripe for plucking, and then pick it off the forb (yep, we hadn’t heard that word either!) without causing any damage.

“We have developed a fully autonomous strawberry picking robot,” CEO Tom Coen told Digital Trends. “It’s able to navigate autonomously with centimeter precision. Thanks to local beacons, no structural changes to a greenhouse are necessary. Using our own 3D vision system, the robot can perfectly detect and localize ripe strawberries. Our patented soft touch gripper then picks strawberries without bruising, just like a human picker.”

While robots have been getting way better at the kind of fine-grain movements required to pick strawberries, Coen said the team still faced challenges developing their bot. One of the big ones was the risk of bruising the fruit, which they eventually solved using a “soft touch gripper that spreads the pressure evenly over the surface of the strawberry.”

Another challenge was figuring out whether the strawberries were ripe, which was achieved by training a dedicated AI system for the task, and also picking the strawberry without any of the attached greenery. This last challenge required turning the strawberry at an angle of 90 degrees, which required the creation of an entirely new robotic arm different to others on the market.

“The robot currently picks at a speed of one strawberry every five seconds, which is close to a human picker,” Coen said. But while humans may be able to beat the robot in terms of speed, the robot has the edge when it comes to not damaging the fruit, as well as being just as keen to pick at night (and on weekends and holidays) as during the day. “Most importantly, the robot picking cost is now competitive to the human picking cost,” Coen continued.

Next up, the robot will expand its skills to also cover sorting the fruit in both size and quality, picking conditionally depending on strawberry characteristics, predicting harvests and precision farming, and packaging the strawberries up ready for shipping.

“Our robots will be picking strawberries for pilot partners in 2018,” he said. “We expect that we will have about 100 robots in greenhouses worldwide in 2019.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Robot hand is dexterous enough to screw in a lightbulb, turn a screwdriver
• Cornell engineers show why a robotic third arm is the ultimate productivity hack
• Bio-inspired robot can snap itself upright when it’s upside down
• Robot farmers have successfully planted and harvested barley by themselves
• You don’t need a JARVIS-style robotic arm, but you’ll definitely want this one

The SureFly two-person drone taxi will make its maiden flight at CES 2018

Ohio-based company Workhorse has announced that its innovative SureFly octocopter, essentially a human-sized drone for up to two people, is set to make its manned maiden voyage on January 8 in Las Vegas, prior to next year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

“CES is the perfect venue to show the SureFly,” Mike Dektas, a media spokesperson for Workhorse, told Digital Trends. “It is the premiere tech show in the world, and SureFly is a great example of how tech has entered the VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) world.”

The futuristic carbon fiber SureFly vehicle was first shown off earlier this year at the Paris Air Show. Following its (weather permitting) voyage at CES, it will be on display at the event. It can carry up to 400 pounds, driven by eight separate propellers, and is powered by a hybrid system combining gas combustion engine and parallel battery pack.

Early versions of the craft will reportedly be user piloted, but an autonomous version isn’t out of the question for the future. In the air, it is able to cruise a maximum of 70 miles (with a maximum speed of 70 miles per hour) on a single tank of fuel — although we happen to think it’s pretty nifty on the ground as well, where its propeller arms fold down to allow the SuperFly to fit comfortably into a regular car garage.

“The SureFly reinvents the helicopter,” Dektas continued. “Pilots like that the SureFly is flown using a joystick, much the same as flying a drone — simple and easy to pilot.”

Deltas said that the octocopter wasn’t designed with a particular customer in mind, but that, “we feel the market will tell us who the customers for this are.” That might include precision agriculture, emergency responders, city commuters, military, cargo carrier, and others.

Personally, we just like the idea of arriving at the office via giant drone taxi. At an estimated retail cost of $200,000 when it hopefully goes on sale by late 2019, we’d essentially be working for free for several years to pay it off — but it would totally be worth it for the look on our colleagues’ faces!

Editors’ Recommendations

• Want a drone to deliver your online purchases? Move to Iceland
• GoPro launches Hero6 Black and Fusion cameras, reveals new details
• A drone hit a passenger plane in Canada in first reported incident of its kind
• Aerial-to-aquatic RoboBee can dive into water, swim, and launch itself back out
• Tesla’s electric semi is weeks away, but Cummins beat it to the punch