Did a leaked image reveal Apple’s upcoming desktop monitor?

Apple revealed a new Mac Mini and MacBook Air at its October 30 event in Brooklyn, New York City, but a new desktop monitor was notably absent from the fall announcements. Now coming several days after those confirmed products are set for release, a specific page from the new Mac Mini documentation might have leaked images of a new and unknown Apple display.

Have you seen the Getting started guide on the new Mac Mini? It shows the display we all want ????‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/M2Tf0xfUOB

— Jonatan ???? (@jonatan) November 2, 2018

Originally noted by Twitter user Jonatan, a welcome page from the “getting started” documentation showcases a new super-light-looking Apple display. Although it looks very similar to Apple’s now discontinued 27-inch Thunderbolt monitor, the image clearly points to a newer model with a fresh design, smaller bezels, and a slim profile.

The display in the documentation also falls in line with Apple’s current product lineup since the bezels are getting smaller for a more edge-to-edge look. This is best seen in the new MacBook Air 2018, which also cut down on the old-looking aluminum bezels for a modern fancy glass appearance.

Quite obviously, this image does not indicate that Apple is planning on releasing a new display right away, but it does fall in line with how previous leaks have gone in the past. Back in September, references to Apple’s unreleased AirPower were spotted in the documentation the iPhone XS packaging.

Though Apple might be hinting at a new display with the product documentation, a release of such a product obviously doesn’t seem imminent. New Mac Mini buyers might instead be happy with third-party displays, of which there are several on the market. As we pointed out, the BenQ PD3200U 32-inch 4K IPS display, and the LG 27UD88-W 27-inch 4K IPS are two of the best monitors for use with MacBooks and other Apple devices.

We also found that the ability to plug the Mac Mini in to an external display is what makes it a good buy over the iMac, but there is still a good option for those who really want a Mac with a super bright and vibrant display. Apple currently sells an iMac with Retina 5K Display, and while the design and specs might be a bit outdated, it remains the only all-in-one computer to exceed the requirements for 4K resolution.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Concept images dress up a new Mac Mini in a sleek space gray
• Leak confirms new MacBook, Mac Mini, and iMac are incoming
• Apple will accept some of your old iPhones, MacBooks, and Macs for repairs
• Mac Mini vs. iMac
• What to expect from Apple’s October 30 event: New MacBooks, iPads

The best A.I. movies of all time

There are some great tech documentaries out there, but sometimes you just need a good feature film. But which one to choose for the discerning A.I. fan?

Combing through the cinematic archives, we’ve made our picks for the best A.I.-themed movies you have to see before you die. Or, at least, before the machines take over and we’re put to work in the dung mines with no time for frivolous entertainment.

Metropolis (1927)

Artificial intelligence wasn’t formed as its own official discipline until the mid-1950s, but the first “must watch” movie on this list pre-dates this by more than a quarter century. Made by German expressionist filmmaker Fritz Lang, Metropolis is an epic science fiction film which has inspired countless other movies in the genre.

It tells the story of a dystopian near-future society in which technology has helped the gulf between rich and poor to grow unimaginably vast. The movie’s iconic Maria robot was clearly the inspiration for Star Wars’ later C-3PO. However, another fascinating aspect of the film is the way in which the high tech city is portrayed as an enormous living organism: a glimpse at the future reality of connected smart cities.

Watch it now on:
Prime Now

Westworld (1973)

Today, the HBO series of the same name is probably where people’s minds go when they hear the title Westworld. However, this 1973 movie — written and directed by techno-thriller master Michael Crichton — remains worth watching.

Like the HBO series, Westworld depicts a kind of dystopian Disneyland where society’s wealthiest can indulge their fantasies by interacting with robots in a Western-themed amusement park.

It’s a great high concept thriller, but what makes it interesting in the context of this list is the way it explores what happens when science and technology is used frivolously by unprincipled business-people wanting to make a quick buck. Crichton explored the same topic, with a focus on genetic engineering instead of robots, in his most famous work, Jurassic Park.

Watch it now on:
Prime Now

Ex Machina (2015)

Ex Machina does what science fiction does best: take complex philosophical and technological ideas and give them fictitious form. Ex Machina brings a semi-Apocalypse Now vibe to proceedings. Programmer Caleb Smith is invited to the isolated home of intense and unhinged CEO Nathan Bateman, who lives miles from anyone.

Bateman reveals that he has created a robot, Ava, who has passed the Turing Test. Smith’s job is to judge whether she possesses genuine consciousness. Then things take a dark turn. A taut, capable thriller that doesn’t feel like it’s dumbing down its subject matter.

Watch it now on:
Prime Now Netflix

I, Robot (2004)

Based on a story by sci-fi writer extraordinaire Isaac Asimov, I, Robot is set a few decades in the future, in a world where robots are commonplace. Will Smith plays a cop investigating the death of a robotics professor, who may have been killed by one of his creations.

Like Ex Machina, I, Robot does a good job of exploring the philosophical questions in A.I. (in this case, the conundrum of machine ethics) in a way that remains engaging as a story.

Plus, it has one of the greatest interactions regarding the thin line between humans and machines, when Smith’s character asks: “Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?” The robot responds, “Can you?” That’s a robo-mic drop right there!

Watch it now on:
Prime Now

The Terminator (1984)/Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

“[Skynet] goes online August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m.” Okay, so that timeline might have been missed (although the Terminator movies do make clear that the future is malleable), but Skynet remains one of our most enduring reference points for A.I. run amok.

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, T1 and T2 tell the story of cyborgs sent back from the future to influence an unfolding war between machines and humankind. The series went to hell after the first two James Cameron movies, but these two entries in the franchise are masterpieces. They’re both five-star classics, so we couldn’t help but put both on this list.

Watch Terminator now on:
Prime Now Hulu

Watch Terminator 2: Judgement Day now on:
Prime Now

The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix makes a fascinating counterpoint to the Terminator movies. It echoes the idea of machines overthrowing humanity, but with a twist. Whereas Skynet set out to destroy humanity, the machines in The Matrix instead imprison mankind and sets about harvesting their bodies for energy, while trapping them in a simulated reality.

A.I. might not be the only idea the movie is grappling with, but it’s interesting enough to warrant a place on this list.

Watch it now on:
Amazon

Blade Runner (1982)

Set in the dystopian far future of, err, 2019, Blade Runner is a neo-noir sci-fi directed by visionary director Ridley Scott. Its protagonist, played by Harrison Ford, is a world-weary cop whose job involves hunting down synthetic humans called replicants.

At the risk of *SPOILERS* the question of whether Deckard is, himself, actually a replicant has caused many, many, many late night conversations among fans over the years. A brilliant movie which explores the “uncanny valley” divide between human and machine. Its sequel, Blade Runner 2049, is brilliant, too.

Watch it now on:
Amazon

Her (2013)

Arriving two years after the debut of Siri on the iPhone 4s, Spike Jonze’s Her tells the near future story of a lonely depressed man whose life changes after he purchases a talking A.I. assistant. Named Samantha, they build up a relationship of sorts, bonding over discussions about love and life.

Unlike many of the other movies on this list, Her doesn’t ever come close to tipping over into action or hard sci-fi, but rather remains a soulful, affecting drama. It’s like a much, much better version of 1984’s Electric Dreams, an admittedly prescient movie about a love triangle involving a human and an A.I.

Watch it now on:
Amazon Netflix

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

More than half a century after it was made, 2001’s HAL 9000 remains the most famous A.I. in movie history. The film was remarkably accurate at predicting the future of everything from iPads to voice-based computer interactions. That’s not too surprising considering how many future engineers were inspired by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s vision.

HAL’s chilling delivery of the line “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that” has been endlessly parodied, but his hyper-rationality in the face of astronaut Dr. David Bowman’s growing panic remains the perfect encapsulation of many people’s fears about machine intelligence.

Watch it now on:
Amazon

WarGames (1983)

There are some superb movies about intelligent computers gone awry, but WarGames remains a sentimental favorite. It arrived at the time that personal computers were just starting to become a fixture in American homes, and tells the story of a kid hacker who manages to accidentally break into a military supercomputer in control of the United States’ nuclear weapons system.

While this is a kids’ movie, the questions about the usage of A.I. in warfare are increasingly relevant in today’s world of military robots and battle drones.

Watch it now on:
Amazon

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best HBO series (September 2018)
• The best Android apps (October 2018)
• The scariest TV shows you can binge this Halloween
• The best free TV show episodes on YouTube
• The best Galaxy S8 cases and covers

Help your Arlo Security Light reach its full potential with these team-ups!

Home security cameras can give you a much better look at who keeps cutting through your backyard if you can get some light on them. The Arlo Security Light is a wire-free smart light that’s weatherproof and can be mounted over any walkway, porch, backyard, or hunting blind on your property. Now, this little light can do a lot on its own, but it can do so much more if you combine it with some sensible accessories and fellow smart home products.

Official skins

Arlo Security Light silicone cover 2-pack

You wouldn’t take your phone out into the big, bad world without a case, so why would you let your Arlo Security Light face the elements naked?? Netgear sells skins in 2-packs in camo and black.

$40 at Amazon

Solo silicone

HOLACA Covers

These skins are sold in singles, pairs, or 3-packs so that you can cover as many or as few lights as you own. Choose white if you want your Security Light to be easy to spot, or black if you don’t mind it hiding in the dark when it’s not on.

$9 at Amazon

Brimming with promise

AhaStyle Arlo Light Case

These silicone skins sport cute little brims, which make a little more sense on a camera than the Arlo Security Light, but they can still keep raindrops off the sensors. Like the Arlo skins, they come in black and camo, but these 2-packs are only half the price.

$14 at Amazon

All-purpose mount

VideoSecu Security Camera Mount

This highly adaptable mount is trusted by many users for mounting projectors, Vive sensors, and security cameras. Mount your Arlo Security Light between 2-6 inches away from whichever wall or ceiling you screw it into in order to make sure that the sensor is the proper height and angle to detect movement and illuminate the area.

$10 at Amazon

Mount anywhere

Wasserstein Quadpod mount

Need to mount your light somewhere a little more non-traditional, like a branch outside your hunting cabin or around a conduit on your garage? This flexible mount lets you wrap the legs tightly around a post or pipe, or you can set the mount up like a tripod and let the security light just balance atop it.

$15 at Amazon

Damage-free mounting

Wasserstein Gutter Mount

Real estate around the roof of your house can be a bit hard to come by, or maybe you live in a rental and need a mount that doesn’t leave behind a lot of wall damage. This gutter mount keeps your Security Light nice and high without breaking out a drill; just be mindful that it may not fit every style of gutter perfectly.

$16 at Amazon

Plug in

Arlo Outdoor Power Adapter

The Arlo Security Light comes with a USB power adapter for indoor use, but if you want to run it off an outside outlet, grab this official adapter. This cable is angled to better fill the gaps around the cable so that most errant dust and water can be kept at bay. Just remember that this still won’t be totally waterproof!

$25 at Amazon

Battery buddy

Arlo Rechargeable Battery

Arlo includes one of these batteries with your Security Light, but they’ll need to recharge every couple of months, so it’ll be easier to just swap out the battery rather than take the whole light down and bring it inside to charge. It’s also generally a good idea to have spare batteries.

$48 at Amazon ($48)

Time to recharge

Arlo Rechargeable Battery Charging Station

Of course, if you’re going to have a spare battery, you’ll need a charger to juice it back up — otherwise, you’ll need a spare Arlo light to charge it up inside of. This charger also doubles as a handy battery cubby to keep your spare in once it’s topped off.

$52 at Amazon ($52)

Alexa, kill the lights

Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen)

When it comes to controlling the Arlo Security Light, most of the automation integration you’ll get will only happen with other Arlo products, but the Arlo Alexa Skill will allow you to turn your Security Light on and off — as well as changing the color and brightness of the light — with just your voice. The new Echo Dot has a bigger sound and a plusher look as it controls your light.

$50 at Amazon

Totally wireless

Arlo Pro 2

A wire-free security makes more sense with a wire-free camera to go with it, and the Arlo Pro 2 system is the latest and greatest Arlo has to offer. Mount your Arlo Security Light so that it can illuminate your Arlo Pro 2’s field of vision — or even expand the motion sensor range by linking them together!

$380 at Amazon

Lights, camera, alerts!

Arlo Q Plus

The Arlo Q Plus is a nifty camera for 24/7 recording, but it’s trapped indoors. Point one out the window and use the Arlo Security Light to both give you a light on what’s moving and a handy list of times it detected motion. That way, you don’t have to scrub through the whole night/weekend’s feeds to see who stole your daughter’s bike.

$200 at Amazon

These are a lot of accessories to consider, but the three I’d absolutely buy for any Arlo Security Light are the HOLACA skin since you don’t have to buy that one in pairs, Wasserstein’s quadpod mount so you can stick the light anywhere and everywhere you want, and the Amazon Echo Dot (3rd gen) so that you can turn the light on and off without having to dig out the app at 3 a.m. when bugs or spiderwebbing is making it go off every 15 seconds. It is kind of insane that Alexa can control the Arlo Security Light and Google Assistant can’t, right?

Can’t access Ingress Prime? Here’s the fix!

Are you experiencing issues logging in to Ingress Prime? Here’s what you should do!

Niantic launched its huge update for Ingress known as Ingress Prime which has given the game a fresh new look, and the ability for the developers to start adding new content to the game. Unfortunately, the launch has caused some bugs and issues to pop up when loading up the new version of the game. If you’re looking for some help on how to resolve these issues, here are some things you can try.

Error loading Ingress account data

If you’ve played Ingress before, and installed the new Ingress Prime update, you may be getting a screen that looks a lot like the image to the right. As of right now, lots of users on both Reddit and Twitter seem to be complaining of seeing this message pop-up, and it seems to be a simple case of busy servers.

Many users have reported that waiting for several minutes and trying to load the game up again has solved the issue. This was also my experience loading up the game for the first time. This message appeared on the screen for me four or five times before it finally let me in after relaunching the app several times.

Old data not syncing

Some users have reported a loss of data from there Ingress account when switching to Ingress Prime causing them to start from Level 1 again and with no progress on their account. While some Twitter users have reported that this has fixed itself after waiting several minutes, Niantic has been reaching out to people on Twitter and send them to make a report to Ingress Support.

It’s important that you log in to the same account that you used for Ingress if you want your progress to carry over. So double check that you’re entering the right account details before you send off a report to Niantic.

Other fixes

As with a lot of different bugs in various apps and games, sometimes deleting the app and then re-installing the app can fix minor bugs. Your results may vary on effectiveness, but if you’ve already tried waiting and relaunching Ingress several times, it may be worth your time to attempt this method.

Are you experiencing issues with Ingress Prime?

Let us know what problems you’re having, and if you’ve have any solutions!

Amazon’s Black Friday pricing for Echo, Fire TV, and more begins Nov. 16

Here. We. Go!

November is already underway, and that means that before you know it all the Black Friday sales will be in full swing. We’ve already seen ads from Costco, Kohls, Target, and others surface, and now Amazon’s getting in on the fun. The company rebranded its daily deals section at the beginning of the month to “Early Black Friday Deals”, and now we are getting our first look at some of the upcoming deals that start as early as November 16.

We’ve already posted a number of deals that Amazon has released as part of its early promotions, and it’s great to see that we are just at the tip of this year’s iceberg. Amazon just recently revamped nearly all of its own hardware, including the Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K, and more, and the company is already planning to offer some massive discounts on most of it. In celebration of Alexa’s 4th birthday we saw some pretty nice discounts, but those appear like they’ll be topped in the coming weeks.

Some of these prices are a bit surprising given how new the hardware is.

It’s not surprising to see Amazon’s hardware on sale during large shopping events like Black Friday, but some of these prices are a bit surprising given how new it is. We already knew that the 3rd-gen Echo Dot would drop down to just $24, which is 50% less than it’s selling for right now. It won’t drop down to that price at Amazon until November 22, meaning that it will likely only run a few days at that price.

On November 16, you’ll be able to pick up Amazon’s Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet for $70, the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition for $90, the Fire HD 10 Kids Edition for $150, and the regular Fire HD 10 for just $100. These discounts range from $30 to $50 off the original prices, and make these some of the best deals we’ve seen on the hardware since Prime Day.

The next set of discounts kicks off on November 18, and that will bring some nice drops to the Amazon Fire TV lineup. You’ll be able to get the original Fire TV Stick for $25, the new 4K version for $34.99, or the Fire TV Cube for $60. This is up to 50% off, and at these prices you’ll want one of these on every TV in your home.

For those who want some extra security at home, the Blink XT 1-cam system will be $51 off on November 21, which means it will be down to just $79. You can jump up to the 3-camera system for $90 off, pricing it at $230 for this event.

It should be no real surprise that the best discounts arrive on Thursday, November 22. Nearly all of the new Echo devices are included, with prices starting at just $20, and Amazon will offer anyone buying an Echo device the option to add its new Smart Plug for just $5.

The extremely popular 2nd-gen Echo Dot will be $20, and the newer, vastly improved 3rd-gen model will come in at just $24. You can’t go wrong with either model, but given how close they are in price, you’re much better off paying the extra $4 for the newer one. The 2nd-gen Echo will drop to $69, the Echo Spot will be $90, the Echo Plus can be yours for $110, and the new Echo Show will be $180. Not sure which Echo device is right for you? Be sure to check out this guide for a rundown of the full lineup.

The entry-level Fire 7 tablet is going to drop down to just $30, and the 8-inch version will be down to just $50. You can bundle the new Show Mode Dock with a Fire HD 8 tablet for $80, and the largest tablet, the Fire HD 10 with a Show Mode Dock will be priced at just $145. For the readers out there, you’ll be able to pick up the 7th-gen Kindle Paperwhite for $80.

Smartphones, knives, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

There’s never a shortage of deals available, but sorting through all of them can be difficult at times. We’ve handpicked all the best tech, and everyday essentials discounts that you can take advantage of right now and brought them to one central location. From smartphones to knives, these are today’s best deals.

Tech Deals

Everyday Essentials

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Get your car’s lights ready for bad weather with the $9 3M restoration kit

I can seeeeee.

The 3M 39084 Headlight Restoration Kit is down to $8.91 on Amazon if you choose the Subscribe & Save option. This is a feature that will send you the product on a regular interval unless you cancel it (and there’s no penalty for doing so). Even as a one-time purchase it’s only $10.48, which is still a great price considering it normally sells around $15 or more.

Have a hard time piercing the darkness with your old headlights? Maybe you don’t need to replace the lights themselves. Maybe the cover just needs some polishing and cleaning to get rid of the built-up dirt, haze, and yellowing. This kit has sanding discs and polishing pads along with a compound to help them look like new again. You can use it on headlights, taillights, fog lights, and directional lights. If it doesn’t make a huge improvement, maybe you replace the lights, but if it does work you’ve spent $10 and saved yourself a ton of money. Users give it 4.5 stars based on 7,229 reviews.

See on Amazon

Expand storage on the Galaxy S7 with these microSD cards

Although the option to add a microSD card to the Galaxy S6 was absent, Samsung brought it back with the Galaxy S7. This means more room to save photos, record HD video, and upload your extensive library of music. There are many sizes and speeds to sort through when it comes to choosing a microSD card for the Galaxy S7, and these are a few of our favorites.

Save everything

SanDisk Ultra 200GB

Perfect for the Galaxy S7 owner after serious storage space, this 200GB microSDXC card from SanDisk provides transfer speeds of up to 90MB per second and can record full HD video.

$50 at Amazon

Tons of space

PNY Elite 128GB

If you want a nice high storage capacity without breaking the bank, PNY’s UHS-I 128GB card is a good option. You get plenty of extra space for photos, apps, and more and have speedy read speeds up to 85MB/s.

$38 at Amazon

Perfect for most people

Samsung EVO Plus 64GB

Samsung’s EVO+ line of microSD cards is one of the best around, and this model with 64GB of storage gives your phone a solid storage boost while also spending well under $20. It’s also fast with read speeds up to 100MB/s!

$15 at Amazon

Insanely affordable

Samsung EVO Select 32GB

If you’d like to spend as little as possible while still upgrading your storage space, Samsung’s EVO Select is a great choice. 32GB isn’t a huge amount, but it should be enough for quite a few extra photos and documents.

$7 at Amazon

This is getting ridiculous

SanDisk Ultra 400GB

Need a lot of space? Like, a lot of space? If so, SanDisk’s 400GB card is just what you’ve been looking for. You’ll have a hard time even getting close to filling this puppy up, and with 100MB/s transfer speeds, it’s a speed demon, too.

$112 at Amazon

Built to last

Samsung PRO Endurance 64GB

This PRO Endurance card from Samsung isn’t the best value GB-to-price wise, but it’s built to last for years and years. It offers 25 times longer recording than competing cards and is magnetic-, temperature-, shock-, and water-proof.

$29 at Amazon

If you’re still holding on to a Galaxy S7 in 2018, chances are you’re starting to hit the limits of its internal storage. The Samsung EVO Plus 64GB is probably the best choice for most people since it offers a lot of extra room for a really low price, but if you want even more space, the SanDisk Ultra 200GB and 400GB are great options, too.

The new iOttie iTap 2 magnetic mounts are designed for larger smartphones

Secure your phone and drive safe.

The new iTap Magnetic 2 car mount series from iOttie includes stronger magnets, larger models, and a variety of ways to secure your smartphone to your car. For a while there, smartphones were getting smaller. Now we’re seeing a lot of Plus sizes and larger screens. The iTap Magnetic 2 appeals to these larger phones while still giving you the flexibility to use something smaller.

Each version of the iTap will start at $24.95, so the only real difference is how you want to attach them to your car. The mounts will work with both Apple and Android smartphones. Each model comes with a Metal Plate Kit that you’ll attach to your smartphone so it can connect with the magnets of the mount. The kit has protective film to keep your phone in good shape, and the magnets allow you some flexibility to move and arrange your phone.

The dashboard and windshield iTap 2 includes two magnets to ensure your smartphone stays connected even while in its case. The suction cup is strong, reusable, and designed to cling well wherever you place it on the windshield. If you prefer a dashboard install, the pad will work on smooth and textured surfaces. It works on a ball joint to pivot and rotate for the best possible angle.

The iTap 2 air vent mount can secure itself to any air vent in your car using a strong Twist Lock mechanism. This is one of the easiest ones to install since it easily grabs hold of the air vent.

The final model from iOttie attaches the iTap 2 mount through your CD player slot. If you don’t bother to use that part of your car’s stereo anymore, it might as well find some use now.

You can also find these mounts on iOttie, although they seem to be $5 cheaper on Amazon.

See on Amazon

Ingress Prime is now available as a free update

Ingress Prime is here, so the time is right to get back into the augmented reality game that started it all.

Before Niantic struck mobile gaming gold with Pokémon Go, there was Ingress — one of the most ambitious games ever created.

Ingress was the first mobile game to revolutionize the use of location data to create the first game set in augmented reality. In the game, you learn that exotic matter of unknown origin is seeping into our world — all around us at all times, but only those with the right tools can see and harness its power.

It’s a game that millions of gamers have downloaded and played over the span of six with a global community of active agents keeping the game alive six years on after it’s initial release around the world.

With a major update expected for 2018 that’s expected to upgrade the visuals, add new AR features that tap into Google’s ARCore and hopefully breathe some new life into the game for active players and those of us who might be coming in fresh or checking back in after years of inactivity.

Download: Ingress (Free)

What’s new with Ingress Prime?

November 5, 2018 — Ingress Prime is now available for download

Niantic has released the big Ingress Prime update that looks to build on the original game with refined mechanics, new abilities, and a redesigned user interface. Available as a free update to the original Ingress game, Ingress Prime is free for all to download and play.

For those who preferred the original Ingress, Niantic is looking to bring out an “Ingress Classic” client. Niantic’s focus is sure to be on Ingress Prime and Pokemon Go at this point, though, so don’t expect much in the way of updates. We’ll share more details on that once we have them. In the meantime, grab the update and go capture some portals!

Free at Google Play

What is Ingress?

What is Ingress? Perhaps the better question is, how have you not seen it? Ingress is all around you, not so much being “played” as it is being “lived” day in and day out by millions of people. Chances are you know some of them, and chances are you’ve seen it in action. Felt it, even.

Ingress at its most basic is an alternate reality game (aka AR) that pits two factions against each other for control of Mind Units the world over. You’re either among the Enlightened, or you’re part of the Resistance. Portals are the key to the entire game, disguised as everyday objects all over the world. Portals can be linked together until a field is established, thus capturing the Mind Units within.

Initially, the story of Ingress was cryptic and ever-evolving, but at this point, the nuances between the two factions have faded to the point where it’s less about picking a side on the basis of philosophy and more pertinent to pick a side with friends you can play with.

Along with the major Ingress Prime update that released in 2018, there are also real-world Ingress events planned around the world throughout the year. This can be a great way to connect with other Ingress agents in your area so you can strategize together.

Complete list of real-world Ingress events for 2018

Glossary of important terms

Ingress isn’t your typical game, and it’s admittedly really complex to get started. If you’re coming in fresh, here are the essential concepts you need to understand to get started.

Factions: Choosing a faction is the first decision you will make after selecting your username and it’s pretty important. Back when the game initially launched, there were significant narrative differences between the two factions, but over the years things have sort of devolved to the point where choosing between team green (the Enlightened) and team blue (the Resistance). If you’re joining to play with friends, be sure you’re all on the same faction so you can play and attack portals together.

Portals: Portals are located at various public points of interest around your town. These are real-life locations that are marked on the Intel Map in the Ingress map and you’re required to physically go to the location to hack or capture the Portals. Once you’ve captured a portal for your faction by deploying items called resonators, you can link the portal to other captured portals. An enclosed triangle of three portals will create a “Control Field” which secures the territory for your faction.

Action Points: Action Points (AP) are essentially your XP for leveling up your account. There are many ways to collect AP — by capturing or hacking a portal, placing a resonator, linking two portals, or destroying the other faction’s setups. The trickiest part about starting out now will be finding portals that a Level 1 can gain AP at, and is a large part why it’s so hard to jump into Ingress so late into the game.

Exotic Matter: In the lore of Ingress, Exotic Matter (XM) is at the heart of the whole game. XM leaks into our world through Portals and each faction is trying to control the Portals to control the Exotic Matter. You collect XM simply by traveling through areas containing XM (ie: walking around with the Ingress app open), which replenish your XM count. So get out there and start walking around.

How to start playing Ingress Prime again in 2018

Whether it’s been some time since you logged into your Ingress account or you’re coming to the game fresh in 2018, it’s easy to get set up to play Ingress Prime, but unlike other casual games, Ingress requires a certain level of commitment from its agents — to properly play Ingress you’ll need to be prepared to walk around and explore your town to hack and attack different Portals.

If you’ve played Pokémon Go at all, you’ll be somewhat familiar with the concept of walking around and checking in with different stops — in fact, Niantic used many of the previously established Portals from Ingress to create the framework for Pokémon Go’s PokéStops and Gyms.

The easiest part of jumping into Ingress is creating an account — Once you’ve downloaded the game and load it up for the first time you’ll be able to instantly create an Ingress account using your Google Account.

This is a game that’s all about teamwork and strategizing as a team, so if you’re just starting out or rejoining the cause, you’ll want to connect with other players. The Ingress subreddit is a great place to start, which also has a fantastic wiki for beginners that will help you get going.

Alternatively, there’s this great post from the AC Forum that has proven to be extremely valuable for new players over the years.

If you’re just starting out or are reconnecting an account that’s perhaps been dormant for years, chances are your level is going to pale in comparison to the agents controlling the portals in your area. You may need to travel significantly out of the way to places where you can earn that AP.

Are you an active agent?

While Niantic won’t release firm numbers on active Ingress users, the fact it continues to support the Ingress community speaks to their commitment to those who keep the Ingress project alive.

The fact is that it’s pretty rare these days for a developer to continue to support a game like Ingress for six years, especially while concurrently launching a massive game like Pokémon Go and the upcoming Harry Potter: Wizard’s Unite game.

We’ll be sure to check out Ingress Prime once it’s live to see if it breathes new life into such a unique concept for a game.

Download Ingress Prime

Updated November 2018: Ingress Prime has launched! Download the update for free today.

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