Win a Mercedes-AMG C 43 Coupe on Super Bowl Sunday with your finger and a phone

Do you remember those contests where people place their hands on a car and after some time, the last one remaining won the car? It’s a test of endurance above all else, and Mercedes-Benz is putting a modern spin on the challenge. Starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on Super Bowl Sunday (February 4), U.S. residents 18 and over can compete in a contest to win a 2018 Mercedes-AMG C 43 Coupe. The key feature to “Last Fan Standing” is that you can participate from anywhere.

“The country will be obsessed with one game,” the announcement video states, clearly not in reference to the Super Bowl. And to hammer the point home, the Mercedes game begins at the same time as the big game. So you’re going to have to take your eyes off the big screen and focus on the little screen in your hand.

Registration starts on Sunday, February 4 at 12:01 a.m. ET and ends at 6:25 p.m. (5 minutes before the game starts), and the game will run until there’s one contestant left. In the case of a “deadlock,” where the game runs too long and it appears that nobody will win in a reasonably amount of time, the sponsor will select a winner at random from those remaining. The game must run for a minimum of 20 minutes.

To enter, your smartphone needs a internet connection and, and you can register at LastFanStanding.mbusa.com. You can also register through Facebook. Once you’re signed up, you can play a demo to practice. You can share a Twitter post inviting others to participate in the game. If you do so, you earn one timeout break of up to five minutes.

During the game, you must keep your finger on the vehicle at all times. It won’t be standing still, however — you think they’d make it easy to win a car with a $63,140 MSRP? The luxury coupe will be moving around the screen, and there will be other distractions as well. As the game goes on, the difficulty ramps up.

If you lose power, you’re out. If your phone drops the signal, you’re out. So make sure you’re plugged in and connected to a reliable network.

We drove a 2017 C 43 Coupe and found it to be a nice upscale entry in the C-Class. Its 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 churns out 362 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque. This power, combined with comfortable and supportive seats, make the C 43 a solid and enjoyable grand tourer.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S will be priced in the U.S. at $106,950
• ‘Sunday Night Football’ will arrive on all your devices for the 2018 season
• Have a taste for excellence? These are the most iconic Mercedes-AMG cars of all time
• 2018 Mercedes-AMG GLC63 S First Drive
• HTC U11 Life vs. Moto X4: Who rules the midrange smartphone market?

Facebook is coming closer to humanizing its chatbots

Over the past several years, Facebook has devoted a considerable amount of its resources towards developing chatbots. It has made several advancements in this area, but is now focusing its efforts on improving conversational abilities.

Despite their label, chatbots aren’t very good at making small talk. In a recent report, Facebook’s researchers pointed to several key areas in which they need improvement. The first problem is that these A.I.s do not have any consistent personality. They don’t stick to the same set of facts about themselves throughout a conversation, which can make the experience feel unnatural.

Perhaps more frustrating is the fact that the A.I. can’t remember its own past responses or those of the person it is talking to, resulting in conversations that can easily go off the rails. Finally, when asked a question they don’t have an answer to, these bots will often make use of canned pre-programmed responses.

Many modern chatbots are trained with lines taking from movies. This, predictably, has some issues since even the best-written scripts are not natural conversations. Everything is written with the intent of informing the viewer about the film’s characters, world, or narrative. This can often result in strange or nonsensical responses.

In order to help remedy this problem, Facebook engineers have constructed their own datasets to help train the A.I. These datasets are taken from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk marketplace and consist of more than 160,000 lines of dialogue.

The interesting thing about this data is that it isn’t entirely random. The Verge reports that in an effort to create consistent personalities for their chatbots, Amazon’s team was instructed to create a short biography for their chatbots. For example, one of the chatbots is based on the following statements: “I am an artist. I have four children. I recently got a cat. I enjoy walking for exercise. I love watching Game of Thrones.”

It’s hardly an award-winning novel, but it does serve to provide a bit of structure and consistency to the chatbots’ conversations, though it does have some downsides. While these bots did score well on fluency and maintain a consistent personality, users found them less interesting than A.I. based on movie scripts.

For now, these chatbots have a long way to go before they can truly imitate human speech, but they are improving.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Deep learning vs. machine learning: what’s the difference between the two?
• IBM and MIT are working together to make sure A.I. isn’t our downfall
• Truly creative A.I. is just around the corner. Here’s why that’s a big deal
• Zach Braff reprises his ‘Scrubs’ character to read a script written by an A.I.
• New Facebook Messenger tool could let businesses broadcast mass chat messages

‘Monster Hunter: World’ welcomes veteran street fighters Ryu and Sakura

Capcom is no stranger to bonus characters, and the epic action-RPG Monster Hunter: World is no exception. Just days after its console release, the Capcom blog announced that Street Fighter favorites Ryu and Sakura would soon be joining the action.

Each character comes with new armor sets, which can’t be mixed with other armor pieces. The full sets can be equipped by either male or female characters, however, and their voices can be changed to match the individual Street Fighter.

The armor sets must be unlocked by completing special quests. For PlayStation 4 owners who have a Street Fighter V save file on their console, a special quest will appear shortly, called “Down the Dark Muddy Path.” Completing the quest will reward you with some tickets that the smithy will exchange for the new armor.

Monster hunters on Xbox One and PS4 without the necessary save file will have a bit longer to wait. A new Event Quest will premiere sometime soon, opening up the opportunity for everyone to acquire the bonus items.

Some special chat stamps and iconic gestures (Hadouken and Shoryuken) are also on the way. These items will soon be available in the Xbox Marketplace and PlayStation Store:

• Guild Card: Bonus Stage (Free)
• Achievements: Rival, Destined, Living Legend and Bandana Girl (Free)
• Pose: Shoryuken & Hadoken (Free)
• Gesture: Street Fighter V Hadoken ($4)
• Gesture: Street Fighter V Shoryuken ($4)
• Stamp Set: Street Fighter V Set ($2)

This won’t be the end of crossover characters either, as Capcom previously announced that Mega Man will be joining the game as a Palico, a sidekick companion to help complete quests. The Blue Bomber will come equipped with his own set of weapons accompanied by a classic Mega Man soundtrack.

In our review, we found Monster Hunter: World to be an epic update of the cult classic franchise that’s surprisingly accessible to newcomers. We’ve also got a monster-hunting beginner’s guide to help you get started and provide some help with those elder dragon and wyvern battles.

Monster Hunter: World is presently only available on consoles, although a PC version (a first for the series) is currently being optimized and is planned for a fall 2018 release.

Editors’ Recommendations

• ‘Monster Hunter: World’ costumes will be up for grabs in ‘Street Fighter V’
• ‘Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection’ is a fighting fan’s dream
• Prowl the Ancient Forest in this weekend’s ‘Monster Hunter World’ beta for PS4
• ‘Monster Hunter: World’ review
• Start 2018 right with the best new games of January

Strava’s fitness tracking map reveals sensitive information about U.S. troops and foreign bases

The company’s Global Heat Map called a ‘clear security threat’ for inadvertently showing troop activities overseas.

The Pentagon has been interested in fitness trackers since it distributed Fitbits to U.S. troops in 2013. Unfortunately, now they will have a different concern as online fitness tracking has created a global map filled with potentially damaging and sensitive information about U.S. installations abroad. What started as a tool to help users get fit and stay fit has become a matter of national security.

At least that’s what international security analyst and expert Tobias Schneider thinks. The Washington Post reports that Strava’s Global Heatmap, an aggregate worldwide map of where and how we use our fitness trackers, includes information from U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East in sensitive installations.

The Global Heatmap was published in 2017, but the security oversight was only recently noticed. Now that it’s come to light (pardon the pun) people are zooming in to see if they can pinpoint places the Pentagon freely admits exist, but aren’t anything it likes to publicize. Especially when it comes to the exact location.

Many people wear their fitness trackers all day long to measure their total step counts, and soldiers appear to be no exception, meaning the maps reveal far more than just their exercise habits.

Lines of activity extending out of bases and back may indicate patrol routes. The map of Afghanistan appears as a spider web of lines connecting bases, showing supply routes, as does northeast Syria, where the United States maintains a network of mostly unpublicized bases. Concentrations of light inside a base may indicate where troops live, eat or work, suggesting possible targets for enemies.

Strava, a popular app for runners and cyclers alike, is available for many fitness devices, including Fitbit, Android Wear, and Samsung’s Galaxy Gear. The 2017 map doesn’t show any live data, but the information available provides what would normally be classified data for anyone too see. Including the site of a U.S. base that is yet to be announced.

At a site in northern Syria near a dam, where analysts have suspected the U.S. military is building a base, the map shows a small blob of activity accompanied by an intense line along the nearby dam, suggesting that the personnel at the site jog regularly along the dam

Not only U.S. sites have been exposed through the map, as suspected Russian and Syrian bases are visible, too. Interestingly enough, no Iranian bases are seen. Security experts say this suggests they “either don’t use fitness trackers or prudently turn them off.” This is an important minor detail — users are told about how their activity is tracked and given an easy option to shut down any sending of fitness data. Enough users to give a clear picture of sites the Pentagon would rather not be publicized aren’t doing it. I imagine that has come to a sudden halt.

Read the fine print on every app you download and install, folks.

Strava fitness tracking data reveals details of secret bases

Location data in fitness apps is frequently a good thing, since it helps you remember and optimize your routes. However, it’s also producing an unexpected security risk: it’s revealing details of secret military bases. UCA analyst Nathan Ruser has discovered that Strava’s publicly available activity map includes the fitness routes of soldiers and agents in sensitive locations, including American bases in Afghanistan and Syria, the UK’s Mount Pleasant airbase in the Falkland Islands, a suspected CIA base in Somalia and even Area 51. It’s mostly American and British troops who show up, but Russian bases have also been outlined by the Strava data.

While many of these locations are well known, they may give away info that governments might not want public, such as the likely location of living quarters and the most frequently-trafficked paths. In Afghanistan, the activity data extends beyond bases and hint at patrol or supply routes.

Strava has reminded users that they could turn off location sharing, and that the map doesn’t include private activities or areas deemed private. Many people aren’t aware of what the app shares, however, and might not understand the implications of publicly sharing that data from sensitive locations. And of course, not every fitness-minded app has a public activity map that makes searches easy. It’s doubtful that Strava could have considered every possible effect in advance, but this is a reminder that open data can sometimes include more than some would be comfortable with. Likewise, this might prompt militaries to limit smartphone use or educate soldiers on the importance of privacy.

Source: Guardian, Washington Post

Facebook tries giving chatbots a consistent personality

Dig into the personalities of chat bots and you’ll find that they’re about as shallow as they were in the days of Eliza or Dr. Sbaitso. They respond with canned phrases and tend to be blithely unaware of what you’ve said. Facebook wants to fix that. Its research team has tested a new approach that gives bots more consistent personalities and more natural responses. Facebook taught its AI to look for patterns in a special 164,000-utterance data set, Persona-Chat, that included a handful of facts about a given bot’s persona. An AI trying to mimic a real person would have five biographical statements to work with, such as its family and hobbies, with each of them revised to say the same things in a different way. Train existing chat bots from that and you get AI that ‘knows’ what it likes, but still maintains the context of a conversation and speaks relatively fluently.

The emphasis, of course, is on “relatively.” Sample conversations from Facebook’s study showed that the bots were much more consistent and fluent than bots trained on movie phrases, but they definitely wouldn’t pass a Turing test. Testers added that the bots weren’t as engaging, although The Verge speculates that this may have stemmed from the limited number of factoids. Real people often have much more than five things to say about themselves, so the well of conversation may have run dry much earlier with the bots than it does with humans.

This is a research project, so it’s not certain if or when the lessons learned here will apply to real-world chatbots or other conversational AI systems. However, it’s hard to imagine Facebook ignoring what it learned here. Many AI helpers, whether they’re bots or voice assistants, tend to have either no personality at all or one defined only by cute stock phrases. This would at least flesh them out and give them more to talk about than the weather or your latest purchase.

Via: The Verge

Source: ArXiv.org (PDF)

Secret Service warns of ‘jackpotting’ hackers targeting ATMs in the U.S.

Hackers targeting ATMs are usually relatively subtle. Sometimes they install a “skimmer” that collects hundreds of customer PINs that can be used to drain accounts remotely, or fraudulent cards that bypass security measures and dispense hundreds of dollars, even when there’s no money in the account.

But what if you could make an ATM simply spew out all the cash it had in a matter of seconds?

These types of attacks are known as “jackpotting,” and government officials are quietly warning ATM manufacturers and financial institutions that jackpotting hackers have been spotted targeting cash machines here in the U.S.

According to a Secret Service memo obtained by Krebs on Security, the agency has received information that cybercriminals are planning to use “cash-out crews” to target ATMs manufactured by Diebold Nixdorf. It cites a series of thefts over the past ten days and warn of possible upcoming attacks across the country.

“The targeted stand-alone ATMs are routinely located in pharmacies, big box retailers, and drive-thru ATMs,” stated the alert. “During previous attacks, fraudsters dressed as ATM technicians and attached a laptop computer with a mirror image of the ATMs operating system along with a mobile device to the targeted ATM.”

The Secret Service alert says that criminals can use an endoscope — a device usually inserted into the human body during medical procedures — to look inside the ATM and find a place to connect their laptop to the internal mechanism.

Once connected, the criminals use a jackpotting malware program called Ploutus.D to remotely control the machine. “In previous Ploutus.D attacks, the ATM continuously dispensed at a rate of 40 bills every 23 seconds,” said the memo. The ATM is then emptied of cash in a matter of minutes.

The security firm FireEye first reported on Plotus attacks back in 2013 in Mexico, calling it a “technique that had never been seen before.”

If confirmed, these would be the first “jackpotting” attacks in the U.S. The Russian cyber firm Group IB previously reported similar attacks in Europe in 2016, as well as ATMs targeted in Thailand and Taiwan.

The ATM manufacturer confirmed to Reuters that it also issued a warning to banks and financial firms, but a Diebold Nixdorf spokesman declined to comment further or go into any detail about specific banks that had been targeted or how much cash had been lost.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Sophisticated ‘Triton’ malware shuts down industrial plant in hacker attack
• North Korea suspected of stealing millions in bitcoin from South Korean exchange
• Hackers may be able to access private WhatsApp conversations
• A growing email scam has cost a major airline millions of dollars
• Obama’s cybersecurity commissioner offers advice on how to keep safe when shopping online

Secret Service warns of ‘jackpotting’ hackers targeting ATMs in the U.S.

Hackers targeting ATMs are usually relatively subtle. Sometimes they install a “skimmer” that collects hundreds of customer PINs that can be used to drain accounts remotely, or fraudulent cards that bypass security measures and dispense hundreds of dollars, even when there’s no money in the account.

But what if you could make an ATM simply spew out all the cash it had in a matter of seconds?

These types of attacks are known as “jackpotting,” and government officials are quietly warning ATM manufacturers and financial institutions that jackpotting hackers have been spotted targeting cash machines here in the U.S.

According to a Secret Service memo obtained by Krebs on Security, the agency has received information that cybercriminals are planning to use “cash-out crews” to target ATMs manufactured by Diebold Nixdorf. It cites a series of thefts over the past ten days and warn of possible upcoming attacks across the country.

“The targeted stand-alone ATMs are routinely located in pharmacies, big box retailers, and drive-thru ATMs,” stated the alert. “During previous attacks, fraudsters dressed as ATM technicians and attached a laptop computer with a mirror image of the ATMs operating system along with a mobile device to the targeted ATM.”

The Secret Service alert says that criminals can use an endoscope — a device usually inserted into the human body during medical procedures — to look inside the ATM and find a place to connect their laptop to the internal mechanism.

Once connected, the criminals use a jackpotting malware program called Ploutus.D to remotely control the machine. “In previous Ploutus.D attacks, the ATM continuously dispensed at a rate of 40 bills every 23 seconds,” said the memo. The ATM is then emptied of cash in a matter of minutes.

The security firm FireEye first reported on Plotus attacks back in 2013 in Mexico, calling it a “technique that had never been seen before.”

If confirmed, these would be the first “jackpotting” attacks in the U.S. The Russian cyber firm Group IB previously reported similar attacks in Europe in 2016, as well as ATMs targeted in Thailand and Taiwan.

The ATM manufacturer confirmed to Reuters that it also issued a warning to banks and financial firms, but a Diebold Nixdorf spokesman declined to comment further or go into any detail about specific banks that had been targeted or how much cash had been lost.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Sophisticated ‘Triton’ malware shuts down industrial plant in hacker attack
• North Korea suspected of stealing millions in bitcoin from South Korean exchange
• Hackers may be able to access private WhatsApp conversations
• A growing email scam has cost a major airline millions of dollars
• Obama’s cybersecurity commissioner offers advice on how to keep safe when shopping online

The best monitor for the MacBook Pro

As great as the displays on Apple’s range of MacBook Pros are, notebooks can never quite live up to the grandeur and functionality of working or watching various media on a large-scale desktop display. Especially if you’re planning to use your laptop on a desk somewhere. If there’s one category of hardware accessory that’s easy to get swamped for choice in though, it’s monitors.

Apple used to make its own monitor, the Cinema Display, but it’s been discontinued since 2014. There are rumors that Apple will introduce a 5K Cinema Display at some point, but there’s no reason to think it’s coming soon. In the meantime, there are a lot of features to consider, whether you’re concerned about refresh rate, color accuracy, display resolution, or response time. Whatever your needs though, before you ultimately make your purchase, you need to know which is the best monitor for the MacBook Pro.

If you’re still are the stage where you’re deciding on which MacBook Pro to buy, in this guide we compare each offering head-to-head.

The best

BenQ PD3200U 32-inch 4K IPS ($800)

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

This monitor made our list of the top MacBook Pro accessories, so it’s no wonder it steals the top spot here. At 32-inches diagonally with a 4K resolution, it’s an absolutely huge display with tonnes of screen real-estate. Productivity on this will not be a problem, though it may take some getting used to, as it will feel like working on a TV for a while.

Still, once you do get used to it, you’ll not want to go back as this display is gorgeous. Built using an IPS panel for fantastic color accuracy, it has a 4ms response time so would even be good for gaming if you so wished. It also features BenQ’s Eye-Care technology for reduced blue-light and flickering, making it more comfortable to use over longer periods of time.

In our testing, the only negative point that we really noted was that it’s a little on the bulky side. Unless you’re planning on hauling around your desktop monitor on a regular basis though, that’s not of too much concern.

If the $800 price tag is a little rich or you think the resolution is overkill, there is a substantially cheaper QHD (2,560 x 1,440) version also available, with all of the same specifications and features otherwise.

Buy one now at:

Amazon

The rest

LG 27UD88-W 27-inch 4K IPS ($700)

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Although our testing didn’t paint this as a perfect monitor, the LG 27UD88-W is an affordable option for those looking for sheer style, with a lot of substance. Its 4K resolution in a 27-inch form-factor means its pixels are dense and its colors are rich, if a little lacking in accuracy.

The whole package is gorgeous to look at though thanks to its sleek and ergonomic design. The stand is an attractive curve and the bezel surrounding the IPS panel is basically non-existent. This screen blends right into the room and its menu controls allow for nuanced customization of the visuals it puts out.

Although there are better options out there, this 4K display is both stylish and perfectly functional, which is a difficult combination to find in monitors of this size and price point.

Buy one now at:

Amazon Newegg

LG 27MD5KA‑B Ultrafine 5K ($1,300)

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

As much as it is the most expensive display on this list and it isn’t without its drawbacks, it’s hard to deny the LG 27MD5KA-B a mention, as it looks absolutely stunning when in operation. It’s also the only monitor on this list built in conjunction with Apple specifically for MacBook Pros, which makes connecting it up to yours about as easy as it can be.

With a staggering resolution of 5,120 x 2,880, this monitor makes even 4K displays look lacking in terms of pixel density — especially since these ones are crammed into a 27-inch form-factor.

In our review, we loved how easy it was to connect this display up to your MacBook Pro and that once you do, not only does it start working straight away, but it also starts charging your laptop immediately. MacOS will automatically detect and configure the monitor as a second display, and if you disconnect and reconnect later, all your windows and apps will jump back to where they were before.

There are some issues with color accuracy and the design is far from as attractive as the other LG entry on this list, but this display is still sublime to look at. Gorgeous to use, but flawed and expensive.

Buy one now at:

Apple Store

HP Envy 27-inch 4K IPS ($500)

4K on a budget isn’t something that was even conceivable a few years ago and yet HP’s Envy 27-inch model offers that with nary a dip in quality. Generally priced at $500 and occasionally snaggable at $400 in sales, this monitor comes with the necessary USB-C connection to hook it straight up to your MacBook Pro, expanding your visuals with a great looking second display that crams 4K pixels into 27-inches of diagonal IPS panel.

It has 99 percent support of the sRGB color spectrum and AMD Freesync support to prevent screen tearing. On top of the display itself, its bezel is trim and blacked out so as to look practically edge-less when the display is powered down.

The response time on the Envy 27 is weaker than most, coming in at 14ms. That’s not great for gaming, but if you’re working on a MacBook Pro (and buying a 4K display to boot) that is unlikely on your mind.

Buy one now at:

HP Store Newegg

Acer H277HU 27-inch QHD ($425)

Just because 4K displays are more affordable today than they have ever been in the past, doesn’t mean you have to shell out for one. The Acer H277HU is a 27-inch panel that looks great with its QHD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440. Featuring a response time of just 4ms, it’s surprisingly spry for an IPS panel and its slimline bezel makes it an attractive addition to your home or office from any angle.

Although its price tag is practically economical compared to some entries on this list, if you find it too rich for your blood or don’t need something as big as the 27-inch model, there is also a 25-inch variant which knocks around $100 off the asking price.

Buy one now at:

Newegg

Lenovo Thinkvision P24H QHD IPS ($260)

24-inch monitors are far from the expansive display choice they used to be, but the form-factor still represents a substantial upgrade in screen-space over even the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Lenovo’s Thinkvision P24H is a great option in that case, as it’s bright and colorful, and supremely affordable.

With a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 it’s no slouch in detail either and won’t feel like a substantial drop-off from your MacBook Pro’s main display. It’s not the most attractive monitor out there, but neither is it ugly, with a relatively svelte bezel and a functional, if drab adjustable stand.

With its wide viewing angle and speedy 4ms response time, the Lenovo Thinkvision P24H isn’t going to beat out any other displays on this list, but it’s still a great option for an economical display expansion for your MacBook Pro.

Buy one now at:

Newegg

Editors’ Recommendations

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‘Die With Me’ app is the answer to your low battery anxiety

App Attack is a weekly series where we search the App Store and Google Play Store for the best apps of the week. Check out App Attack every Sunday for the latest.

With all the time we spend on our smartphones, our batteries tend to have trouble keeping up. This week, we have an app that will help ease the pain of your device reaching its temporary demise.

Chat app “Die With Me” — available for iOS and Android — can only be used when your phone’s battery is on less than five percent. Once your phone recognizes that it’s below that mark, you’ll have access to a chat room consisting of others suffering from the same issue.

Once your phone is at 4 percent or lower, the app will ask you to enter a name you’d like to identify yourself by. The freedom to create a username using any characters made me a bit nervous, as I could only imagine what lie ahead in the chatroom.

There is a user agreement you’ll have to accept that explicitly states not to say anything inappropriate, but does anyone really follow through with those? Should someone violate the agreement, you can report them by holding down on their message and tapping ‘Report Message,” which could potentially block them from using the app once the report is reviewed. 

“Die With Me” is also very much in its infancy, so it’s important to take that into consideration while using it. We experienced some crashes — which could be due to the influx of users — but after a while it was smooth sailing.

Entering this chatroom felt extremely reminiscent of my pre-teen self sitting in front of my computer, back when my parents would warn me not to talk to strangers on the internet. But we’re all well past those days, and instead of “stranger danger,” I was actually having a sense of social anxiety. Even though I had no idea who these people were, I hesitated to jump into the conversation to say anything.

It also didn’t help the chat room was clearly flooded with tons of people, making it almost impossible to know if anyone even saw what you sent. The conversations are definitely interesting — with most people spewing random questions like “What kind of phone does everyone have?” or “Where is everyone from?” There was, of course, the occasional talk of politics but that died down quickly.

I worked up the courage to send a simple “How’s everyone’s day going?” and was pleasantly surprised when people actually started answering. Before I knew it, we were talking about our love for Nintendo and our favorite games. I was also no longer afraid to jump in when I wanted to contribute to the conversation.

When you’re in the chat room, you can also see the percentage that other people are at — which makes it even more comforting. While your battery slowly decreases, you’ll start to see others at the same amount and know that you’re not the only one who is about to reach zero. If you do start charging your smartphone, a little lightning bolt will appear beneath your name so others will be aware.

If you end up finding a charger before your battery dies, you’ll still be able to stay in the chat room up until a certain point. Once your battery reaches above five percent, it will lock you out and a message will appear letting you know you can only use the app if your phone battery is below that. But strangely enough, there were a few people with 64 percent battery still in the chat room, and everyone was equally as confused.

Being in the chat room felt weirdly similar to the random and light conversations my best friends and I have in our group chats. Since we’re busy throughout the day, we’ll randomly send messages here and there that spark short conversations. But sometimes, they won’t answer for hours and it’s rare they conveniently do when you need a distraction from the fact that your phone is dying.

But using “Die With Me” was weirdly comforting. Instead of scrolling mindlessly through social media apps slowly waiting to hit one percent and for my screen to go black, I was engaging in some entertaining conversations instead. It was a strange but refreshing experience and soon I found myself more bummed to have had to leave the conversation than I was that my phone died.

Some might think the premise of the app is absolutely insane, but having anxiety over your smartphone battery dying is clearly far more common than we all want to admit. After all, there’s nothing more calming than knowing that your phone is fully charged and you won’t have to worry about all the possible things that could go wrong with a dead battery.

It’s a temporary cure and companion for when you start to really panic that you’re phone is reaching that one percent mark. Also, who would’ve thought all it takes is a bunch of dying smartphone batteries for a group of strangers to bond?

Editors’ Recommendations

• ‘Die With Me’ is a chat you can only access when your phone’s almost dead
• How deep is your crate?’ DJ Cut Chemist digs down on ‘Die Cut’
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