Press Releases

Niantic announced today that Pokémon Go will soon be getting two big features: Pokémon trading and a friends list. These have been requests from the community since the AR title app launched in July 2016. The features will roll out later this week, according to a studio blog post. Pokémon Go is a huge mobile hit that earned over $1.2 billion in revenue in its first year. While it’s not the giant phenomena it was during that first summer, it still has millions of players and is one of the most popular mobile games in the world. New content still keeps its players engaged and can bring back lapsed fans. With friends lists, you can trade Trainer Codes to add someone to Pokémon Go’s in-game social feature. Once you have a friend, you can fight in gyms together, trade items, and (most important) swap Pokémon. Trading has been a staple of the main Pokémon series since its launch — both in the role-playing games and the … [Read more...] about Pokémon Go finally gets trading and a friends list, rolls out this week

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is changing the world of gaming with more than 100 million players. But creator Brendan Greene and PUBG executive producer Chang-han Kim are trying to stay focused on improving their battle royale game across the PC, consoles, and mobile devices. I sat down with Greene and Kim at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big game trade show last week in Los Angeles. In the interview, Greene said the 300 developers at PUBG Corp. and its owner Bluehole in South Korea are focusing on making the game more stable, building up the systems to enable easier game modding, and adding new maps to keep the players coming back. The creators say they’re less concerned with the rising popularity of rival game Fortnite from Epic Games as they are with making sure that they make their players happy. Ultimately, Greene wants PUBG and the whole battle royale genre to become a lasting esport over the next decade. “This year, … [Read more...] about PUBG creator Brendan Greene spells out the year ahead in battle royale

YouTube today expanded YouTube Music and YouTube Premium to the services’ first new markets since they officially debuted last month. The Google-owned video-streaming platform announced the two services in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Mexico on May 16, and revealed at the time that they would be landing in a bunch of new markets “in the coming weeks.” From today, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium are also available in Canada and 11 European markets: the U.K., Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, and Sweden. YouTube Music takes the form of a more traditional music-streaming service — such as Spotify or Google’s other music-focused service, Google Play Music — offering official audio tracks, albums, artist radio channels, pre-built playlists, remixes, covers, and personalized playlists. But given that this is built upon YouTube, the service also includes music videos and live shows. It … [Read more...] about YouTube Music and YouTube Premium expand to Canada and 11 European markets

(Reuters) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up Apple Inc.’s bid to escape a lawsuit accusing it of breaking federal antitrust laws by monopolizing the market for iPhone software applications and causing consumers to pay more than they should. The justices said they would hear Apple’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that revived the proposed class-action lawsuit by iPhone buyers over commissions that the Cupertino, California-based technology company receives through its App Store. The case could expand the threat of antitrust damages against companies in the rapidly growing field of electronic commerce, which generates hundreds of billions of dollars annually in U.S. retail sales. President Donald Trump’s administration backed Apple and urged the justices to take the case. Businesses that potentially could be threatened by such consumer litigation are electronic marketplaces like the App Store, ticket site StubHub, Amazon’s … [Read more...] about U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Apple App Store antitrust appeal

Crypto currency platform Bancor announced today that it will launch a new blockchain service in Kenya to create a financial system designed to alleviate poverty. The service will facilitate the creation of so-called “community currencies” that are designed to boost local commerce and peer-to-peer collaboration. A community currency is a kind of alternative financial system that a group can use to encourage the creation and purchase of goods and services within a certain geographic region. While some communities actually create physical money for such systems, the Bancor system will let Kenyan communities use tokens on a blockchain. “We have seen the crypto world generate roughly $400 billion for new currencies, and we believe the same mechanics can be applied to help communities create wealth on a local level through the use of blockchain-based community currencies that fill regional trade gaps, enable basic income and food security, and promote thriving … [Read more...] about Bancor launches blockchain platform in Kenya to enable community currencies

Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Flipgrid (formerly Vidku), a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based video sharing platform for education, for an undisclosed amount. “We’re thrilled to see the impact Flipgrid has had in social learning thus far and look forward to helping them continue to thrive as part of the Microsoft family,” Eran Megiddo, corporate vice president at Microsoft, said in a statement. “We’re diligently committed to making sure their platform and products continue to work across the Microsoft, Google and partner ecosystems to benefit students and teachers everywhere.” As part of the deal, the Redmond company will make Flipgrid, which is used by more than 20 million teachers and students around the world in 180 countries, free for schools — previously, subscriptions started at $40 per year for educators, $800 per year for school districts, and $1,000 per year for schools. Customers who’ve paid for a … [Read more...] about Microsoft acquires education-focused video platform Flipgrid

Virtual reality devices have succeeded in replicating sights, sounds, and occasionally even the sense of touch — next on the list is the sensation of smell. Chinese VR headset developer Pimax today announced a partnership with Japan’s Vaqso to bring a scent emitter module to the upcoming Pimax 8K headset, enabling users to experience multiple smells during VR experiences. As it’s been shown off since last year, Vaqso’s scent module mounts multiple plastic cartridges under your eyes and just above your nostrils, using a fan to waft scented oils as they’re triggered by the game you’re playing. A two-hour rechargeable battery powers the unit, and can be recharged using micro-USB. The current generation shows five modules such as “fish,” “ramen,” “burnt,” “lady,” and “grassland” installed. However, modules are interchangeable based on a specific game’s needs, and apparently each … [Read more...] about Pimax 8K headset will use Vaqso VR to emulate smells

Blockchain and — specifically — cryptocurrencies have been tarred with the same brush since the dawn of the industry: Scams. Figuring out how to spot a real crypto site and project from those that are phishing or attempting to collect your personal information is hard. Today, BrandShield — an AI-powered cyber intelligence company focused on online brand abuse — has announced a collaboration with two new partners, Cool Cousin and Zeex, to launch MyShield, an anti-scam platform. MyShield is designed to protect both its partners and its partners’ users. It combines AI with community feedback to provide crypto users with confidence. Interestingly, the platform offers incentives for marking suspicious activities, in addition to a money-back-guarantee for premium users, providing insurance for online purchases. So how much of the solution is AI driven, and how much relies on humans reporting issues? “Users of MyShield will get an initial … [Read more...] about BrandShield launches MyShield to protect users from cryptocurrency scams

Sensible Object today announced it has raised $3.2 million to expand its operation to make experiences that combine Alexa with board games. The company’s first game, When in Rome, will go on sale in Australia, Canada, United States, and United Kingdom. When in Rome launches exclusively for Alexa but will be made available in Q1 2019 for Google Assistant, CEO Alex Fleetwood told VentureBeat in a phone interview. When in Rome is a multiplayer game that uses Alexa as your guide and provider of a multimedia experience. The game introduces players to locals from cities around the world with trivia questions, and was created with the help of a team of creatives that includes writers, composers, and theater directors to manage the dialogue of local voice actors. A new package of characters and content will be available for download later this year geared towards adults that takes people into the nightlife of the cities featured in the game. “When you think about having an amazing … [Read more...] about Sensible Object raises $3.2 million for board games you play with Alexa and Google Assistant

Most high-end DSLRs and smartphones can shoot in slow motion, but not all. That’s because it’s data-intensive: Super Slow Motion mode on Sony’s Xperia XZ2 smartphone, for example, shoots 960 frames a second (fps), which is 32 times the amount of frame data it captures at the default 30 fps. That requires a lot of storage, not to mention a processor that’s speedy enough to process every frame. Nvidia’s novel algorithm, which will be presented at the 2018 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition in Salt Lake City this week, can slow down footage after the fact. But unlike the jittery slow motion filters that fill gaps in footage with time-stretched frames, the research team’s solution uses machine learning to hallucinate new frames. Scientists from Nvidia, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of California, Merced engineered an unsupervised, end-to-end neural network that can generate an arbitrary number of … [Read more...] about This Nvidia neural network can apply slow motion to any video