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Meizu M6 Note with 5.5″ FHD Display & Snapdragon 625 SoC Launched, Pricing Starts From 1099 Yuan http://ift.tt/2xIQtUc

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[all-things-tech]

This is (very likely) the new Samsung Gear VR

As Samsung prepares to launch its next-gen phablet extraordinaire, the Note 7, at its special event this upcoming Tuesday, the leaks are continuing to flow. Today, photos of the new Gear VR were leaked from leaker OnLeaks. The device is reportedly going to be sporting a USB Type-C connection which corroborates reports that the new Note 7 will be shifting to the new connection type.

This headset is reportedly a bit bigger (reportedly 207mm x 122mm x 98.5mm) if not just to accommodate the sheer size of Samsung’s ballooning devices. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is a pretty snug fit in the old Gear VR headset (198mm x 116mm x 90mm) so it’s no surprise that Samsung’s new hallmark phablet might need some new digs to get in on the VR game. The new headset reportedly gets a boost in field-of-view (110-degrees compared to the old model’s 96-degrees) that brings its FoV up to par with higher-end headsets from Oculus and HTC.

The color change from white to black is a very welcome change that goes beyond the aesthetic. The old white plastic Gear VR often fell victim to a slight amount of light leakage when played on sunny days which really just didn’t make any sense. That said, Samsung does lose a bit of its Gear VR brand power as a result of the color change since its a bit difficult to tell the difference between this and every other black mobile VR headset out there, but Samsung may very well continue selling a white version so ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

Other than that, there’s not really that much to see here that’s changed. There aren’t really any visual clues to what the other side of the device holds. The old headset sported a touchpad for rudimentary input controls and while this one is highly likely to maintain that setup there has been some talk of an external bluetooth controller being included for compatibility with Google’s Daydream headset reference design which Samsung has already signed on as a partner for.

TechCrunch will be on the floor at Samsung’s Unpacked event next week checking out what Samsung ends up showing off, though it seems there won’t be a ton of surprises given how many freaking leaks there have already been.

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[all-things-tech]

Genovation’s GXE breaks the land speed record for a street-legal all-electric car

You probably aren’t trying to set a land speed record for an all-electric, street legal car, but if you are, I have bad news: The goalposts just got moved further out. Genovation‘s Extreme Electric (GXE) car, which uses a Corvette Z06 chassis with a custom electric drive under the hood, broke its previous record of 186.8 mph by a margin of nearly 20 mph. The new record now stands at 205.6 mph.

Which is fast. How fast? Well, not quite as fast as the fastest gas guzzling legal production vehicle, which is the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport which maxed out at 258 mph. But the GX’s record-breaking run at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility is an important milestone for something that employs entirely electric power.

The GXE isn’t exactly a mass-market vehicle, of course. Even though it can technically drive on the streets, you’ll need at least $300,000 to pick one up. But the performance overall might surprise you – I was expecting little to no range, but the vehicle’s 44-kWh battery will provide around 120 miles of range, provided you’re driving normally and aren’t, say, trying to break a land speed record.

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[all-things-tech]

Facebook tries a new way to release open-source projects

Last week, Facebook launched Create React App, a new project that helps React developers get started with their new projects. Turns out, that was only part of the story. Create React App was also the first project to enter the Facebook Incubator on GitHub.

The Facebook Incubator is the company’s new process for releasing open-source projects and ensuring that they do well in the long run. The best way to think of it is as a beta stage or proving ground for new open source projects from Facebook.

As Facebook’s head of open source James Pearce told me, the idea here is to better manage the life cycle of these projects. He notes that Facebook has now open-sourced almost 400 projects and has hundreds of thousands of followers on GitHub. “We want to make sure we are managing this program at scale in the most effective way we can,” he said. To do that, Facebook decided that it would push most new projects through this program first to see how the community reacts to them and what the adoption is like.

Pearce stressed that all of the projects in the Incubator — just like in Facebook’s top-level repository — are projects the company also uses internally and that have teams actively working on them. You shouldn’t think of projects in the Incubator as a repository for weaker projects, he noted.

To graduate from the Incubator, projects will of course have to demonstrate traction in the community, but Pearce told me that the company will also look at other surrounding aspects. Is the project being used by others? Does it have good documentation? How hard is it to integrate the project with other tools? How engaged can Facebook be with the community?

“If we see there is resonance in the industry, it’s a good sign that it’ll graduate,” he said.

Pearce did stress documentation is an important factor at various times during our conversation, and that’s definitely an aspect of open source that is often neglected. He told me that Facebook has a dedicated team of tech writers who work on this for its projects (with engineers helping out as well) and that the company is also looking at the new Stack Overflow Documentation service for potentially hosting some of its documentation projects, as well.

While the Incubator is clearly meant to help get projects started on the right foot, Pearce argued that it’s not just about optimizing for the launch and growth phases but also about managing the life cycle of a project in the long run.

Not every project turns out to be a success, after all, and occasionally Facebook ends up sunsetting some of the tools it open-sourced. That will still happen now that the Incubator system is in place, but the team obviously hopes it will be able to correct some of the issues with a project before it moves to the main repository.

Pearce told me that Create React App is a good example for a project in the Incubator because Facebook wasn’t sure what the community would think about it, but he also noted that there will still be some projects that will skip the Incubator project.

“Had we launched React Native now, we probably would’ve skipped the Incubator,” he said. The same goes for projects that Facebook is donating to larger organizations like the Open Compute Project.

Pearce tells me that the Incubator isn’t going through its own incubation phase (“that’s too meta for me”), so we can probably expect this new system of releasing open-source software from Facebook to stay in place for the foreseeable future.

Featured Image: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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[all-things-tech]

Anker's Travel-Friendly PowerPort 2 Charger Is Just $8 Today

It’s no secret that Anker makes your favorite charging gear, and their popular and compact PowerPort 2 is on sale for just $8 right now with promo code bigdeal5. Note: Only available on the white model.

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Readers have purchased more than 10 million products through links on our network since 2012, and… Read more Read more

While it doesn’t have Quick Charge built in, its two ports can pump out 2.4A of power simultaneously, which is enough to charge two iPads at full speed, and since it can accept 100-240V, it’s perfect for international travel. I’ve owned one of these for awhile, and it’s been great.

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[all-things-tech]

Sketchy battery test shows Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge stretching 10 hours of continuous usage, but can they really? [VIDEO]

The interesting video from Samsung’s German arm hit YouTube yesterday. It’s a series of “battery tests” for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge up against the HTC 10, iPhone 6S, Huawei P9, Sony Xperia X, and LG G5.

If you don’t want to be spoiled, hit the video above. But you had to guess it — Samsung’s phones won in their own test video. They probably wouldn’t publish them otherwise. Their phones each exceed 10 hours with some nice room to spare, with no others being able to reach 9 hours.

But there are a couple of interesting things to note. For starters, the “test” consists of an ongoing video (or maybe even GIF) of a blue rabbit banging on a yellow drum. This is important to note because if it is a video, it’s likely running at a resolution so low that none of these phones are breaking a sweat. If it’s a GIF, CPU overhead is even lower.

Beyond that, the lack of any other action during this test makes it hard to judge how the phones perform based on “typical” usage. We’re not sure anyone’s going around watching a video for 10 hours a day. How do things change when the CPU has to ramp up to full? When the Bluetooth, WiFi, or GPS radios are active? When apps are being moved in and out of memory? When the GPU has to run graphic-intensive games for 10 minutes?

And do we know whether these phones have their battery saver options enabled or not? Oh, and how does Samsung explain that the Galaxy S7’s 3,000mAh battery can’t last as long as the Galaxy S7 Edge’s 3,600mAh pack?

See what we mean? Samsung could have skewed these results any which way they wanted (they claim all devices were tested on equal terms), and unless they’re willing to tell us their criteria (we’ll ask, but we reckon they won’t) we’d say to take these results with a pinch of salt. In either case, Samsung technically made their battery last 10 hours, even if the usage scenario isn’t at all realistic. What’s the best battery life you’ve gotten on your Samsung Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge?

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[all-things-tech]

Gillmor Gang LIVE 07.29.16

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[all-things-tech]

Disney Officially Lays Out Plans for Cessation of 'Disney Infinity' Services

After announcing the discontinuation of the Disney Infinity franchise in May, Avalanche Studios and Disney Interactive Studios – the game’s developer and publisher, respectively – remained relatively quiet on the specific timeline of the game’s imminent demise. After the announcement, Disney still launched three new characters from Alice: Through the Looking Glass, and introduced its first play set with non-bipedal characters, based on Finding Dory. Today, in an email sent out to fans subscribed to Disney Infinity-related news, the game’s team specifically laid out the upcoming timeline of when and what features will be turned off in the coming weeks and months. A few in-game purchase options for Disney Infinity 2.0 have been turned off beginning today, in both the iOS and Apple TV versions of the game, but most of the bigger changes hit on September 30. From that date onwards, users will no longer be able to log into their accounts and play the iOS, Google Android, Amazon Android, and PC editions of any entry in the series, as they “will no longer be available on the respective app stores.” This means the game will only be available to play on consoles and Steam, but even there “all online services and community features” will be down. The end of the timeline shared by Disney Infinity comes next year, on March 3, 2017, where Apple TV and Windows 8/10 versions of both Disney Infinity 2.0 and 3.0 “will no longer be available, supported or playable.” That’s the termination point for any straggling servers of the game still online as well, since Avalanche Studios will also pull the plug on “all Disney Infinity online services and community features for all versions.”

Since announcing that we will discontinue the production of Disney Infinity, we’ve been exploring timelines for the closure of the game’s online versions and community features. Our goal has been to offer extended access to these services, while also providing clear communication about what you can expect.

Although Disney Infinity 3.0 launched on the fourth-generation Apple TV last fall, offering a comparable gaming experience to the console versions, Disney eventually abandoned updating the game on Apple’s new set-top box, making fans wired into that version of Disney Infinity 3.0 miss important new features. Due to the termination of development on tvOS, fans lost the chance to play with new figures that released for the toys-to-life game and weren’t included as disc-locked content at launch (the basis of Infinity’s gameplay loop), including Baloo from The Jungle Book and a few new Marvel superheroes. Although the Apple TV has received a handful of other, notable gaming apps, Disney and Avalanche’s move made it hard to view the fourth-generation device as a true gaming platform, despite Apple’s attempts to promote it as such with heavy, App Store-focused messaging. Disney encourages fans to keep checking the game’s official website for updated information on the closures of Infinity’s various servers and features as the timeline progresses. There’s also a Closing FAQ page on the company’s website for any users who don’t see answers to their questions regarding the game’s discontinuation. The Disney Infinity team also made two important notes in today’s update: firstly, the console version of the game will “continue to operate as usual,” even beyond March 2017, with players able to gain full access to the figures and play sets they’ve amassed over the past three years. Only the social and community aspects of the game will be expectedly absent. Secondly, until September 30, 2016, the game’s Community Content will remain available, so players will be able to upload and download Toy Box levels until then.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10 Tag: Disney Infinity Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Neutral)

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[all-things-tech]

Best cases for ASUS Chromebook Flip

What are the best cases for the ASUS Chromebook Flip?

Cases for your ASUS Chromebook Flip come in many styles, from the briefcase to the minimalist sleeve. Take your pick from the cream of the crop.

Rogue Theory laptop case

iPearl mCover hard shell case

Evecase Neoprene slim briefcase

Navitech canvas laptop sleeve

Case Star Neoprene sleeve

AmazonBasics laptop and tablet bag

Rogue Theory laptop case

You can get laptop cases from Rogue Theory in a wide range of solid colors and patterns, but right now we’re loving the blue and white Chevron pattern pictured here. The leather straps add a nice detail to the gentle snap closures on the front that keep your ASUS Chromebook Flip covered and safe.

The fabric is stiffened and custom fit to your Chromebook so that it fits nice and snug. For a little extra storage space for things like cords or a USB you can add a color coordinating zippered pouch to your order.

Rogue Theory cases are manufactured in the U.S. and are a handmade, totally unique option for bringing your ASUS Chromebook Flip wherever you go.

See at Etsy

iPearl mCover hard shell case

This hard shell case from iPearl mCover is ideal for those who want a case for their ASUS Chromebook Flip but don’t want to deal with zippers, snaps, or sleeves. The translucent PC material comes in seven color options as well as a clear version.

This two-piece case is easy to snap on and off, and for a reasonable price, you can grab two covers and change up the look of your Chromebook on a regular basis.

iPearl mCover cases won’t add loads of bulk but do still act as great protection if you’re a little hard on your Chromebook or if your commute is a little less than smooth.

See at Amazon

Evecase Neoprene slim briefcase

Handles are pretty handy. The slim briefcase from Evecase lets you quickly grab your laptop case by the handles when you’re in a hurry or lets you tuck them away when the case needs to fit into a larger bag. The Neoprene material keeps your ASUS Chromebook Flip safe from incidental spills or the occasional rainy jaunt.

The secure zipper closure and soft, cushioned interior keep your Chromebook protected, even if your day is keeping you on the run. The front pocket is ideal for cords, paperwork, or even your phone; just keep everything all in one place and you won’t waste your day searching for odds and ends.

The Evecase Neoprene slim briefcase comes in six solid colors, or six kid-friendly patterns that are too cute to pass up.

See at Amazon

Navitech canvas laptop sleeve

Canvas is an excellent choice for laptop sleeve material; it’s durable and less flexible than other fabrics, so your ASUS Chromebook Flip will stay safe and sound. It comes in solid red, black, or the nautical blue and white stripe pattern pictured here.

It’s slim and lightweight enough to toss into another bag if you’re traveling or commuting. The secure snap closure won’t fly open and the interior pocket is a perfect storage spot for a cord and a USB. The soft fabric lining keeps the exterior of your Chromebook scratch-free, too.

Durable, simple in its design, and made just for the ASUS Chromebook Flip, the canvas laptop sleeve from Navitech is a solid choice.

See at Amazon

Case Star Neoprene sleeve

You want something simple, straightforward, and on the inexpensive side? Look no further than the Neoprene sleeve from Case Star. It comes in eight solid color options that fit like a glove on your ASUS Chromebook Flip.

The zippered closure is secure and the sleeve features just a little bit of extra interior space for bringing along a charging cord. The super slim design will let you tuck the sleeve easily into a backpack or your carry-on luggage and the Neoprene material adds a little barrier against accidental spills.

For a sleeve that’s easy on the wallet and an easy choice, Case Star’s Neoprene sleeve is it.

See at Amazon

AmazonBasics laptop and tablet bag

If you need your ASUS Chromebook Flip to travel well with other accessories and gear, go for the AmazonBasics laptop and tablet bag. It comes in basic black with a removable long shoulder strap that’s awfully convenient for travel.

For good measure, go for the slightly larger size featured here; an extra inch or so means it’s easier to slide your Chromebook in and out of the bag. The large zippered front pocket holds cords, your phone, your wallet, you name it; the narrower third pocket is perfect for documents.

The AmazonBasics bag is inexpensive and carries your ASUS Chromebook Flip along with all of your essential accessories in safety and go-with-everything-style.

See at Amazon

Best case scenario

Are you using one of our top picks for ASUS Chromebook Flip cases? Tell us all about it in the comments below, or shout out with your personal favorite.

Chromebooks

The best Chromebooks

Should you buy a Chromebook?

Google Play is coming to Chromebooks

Acer Chromebook 14 review

Join our Chromebook forums

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[all-things-tech]

Apple CEO Tim Cook Plans to Host Fundraiser for Hillary Clinton Next Month

Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to host a fundraiser that will benefit Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, reports BuzzFeed. Cook, along with Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives, will host the event as private citizens, not as representatives of Apple. Cook and Jackson plan to raise money for the Hillary Victory Fund, a committee that contributes to the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and 38 state parties. Invites for the event, which will take place on August 24, went out this morning. Apple CEO Tim Cook is eager to demonstrate support for Democrats and Republicans to strengthen Apple’s relationship with both parties. The Hillary fundraiser will follow a fundraiser Cook co-hosted for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan in June. Cook and Ryan teamed up to host a private breakfast in Menlo Park on June 28. Money raised benefited Ryan and a fundraising committee that helps elect other House Republicans. While Cook hosted a fundraiser for Ryan, Apple elected not to support the 2016 Republican Convention in Cleveland due to some of presidential nominee Donald Trump’s controversial statements on the subjects of minorities, women, and immigrants. Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: Tim Cook, Hillary Clinton

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[all-things-tech]

Vodafone wants you to dress smartly this summer

Vodafone has released a suite of connected smart clothes aimed at holidaymakers jetting off this summer. The range includes a swimsuit, child’s sunhat, and suitcase, all fitted with sensors.

The swimsuit has a built in UV exposure sensor that detects harmful rays and provides data on the UV level and how long you’ve spent in the sun. Vodafone shows all of this data on a companion smartphone app.

See Also: Vodafone and Philips to help cities cut lighting costs

Similar UV technology is baked into the sunhat. Vodafone will differentiate between devices on the app. The hat also comes with a location tracker, showing the location the child and sending alerts if they wander too far.

The last product, a smart suitcase, has tracking functionality that works with mobile base stations inside airports to provide more accurate positioning of the case.

Vodafone getting well into IoT

Vodafone has built all three devices using narrowband-IoT tech, a standard being developed by the 3GPP body. Narrowband is the perfect communications standard for low-power connected devices, according to Vodafone and others involved in the standardization.

The British mobile operator is one of the key networks involved in Narrowband IoT, pushing the standard for M2M and IoT developments.

“To date, Vodafone has been providing IoT solutions around 2G, 3G and 4G and, of course, 5G is just around the corner. But to understand how we are gearing up for IoT it is important to also look at new standards like narrowband-IoT,” said Vodafone chief of IoT, Cyril Deschanel to Siliconrepublic.

“It is a low-cost, low-energy technology and enables machines to last longer with greater autonomy. For example, it helps penetrate inside or under buildings and reach places that cellular cannot. You can have machines that are five metres under a house or building that can communicate where cellular just can’t.”

The post Vodafone wants you to dress smartly this summer appeared first on ReadWrite.

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[all-things-tech]

Weekly Roundup: Verizon buys Yahoo, WikiLeaks publishes DNC emails and Skully crashes

Yahoo finally found a buyer, Mobileye and Tesla broke up, and some of the largest tech companies reported quarterly earnings. These are the biggest tech stories of the week. You can now get the Weekly Roundup sent straight to your inbox, delivered Saturday mornings.

1. Verizon (which owns AOL, which owns TechCrunch) announced it is acquiring Yahoo’s core business for $4.83 billion in cash. This includes Yahoo’s advertising, content, search and mobile activities. It’s crazy to think that in 2000, Yahoo was worth a whopping $125 billion. If you won the last computing platform and are on the cusp of the next one you’re not built for, you might want to sell your company. It’s easier to pivot than make a comeback, after all.

2. Major tech companies reported earnings this week, and the highlights are as follows. Facebook smashed its Q2 earnings, hitting 1.7 billion users and a record share price. Apple’s stock jumped 7% after the company reported solid earnings. Verizon missed on declining sales of $30.5 billion. Twitter stock dove after a mixed report, and poor user growth continued. GoPro sales beat investor expectations but are still in steep decline. Alphabet beat expectations, boosting its shares by 5%. Amazon shattered expectations with $30.4 billion in revenue.

3. Once promising AR motorcycle helmet startup Skully is no longer. We discovered that the company’s shutdown will leave several vendors and Skully’s manufacturer Flextronics with unpaid bills and at least 50 full-time employees out of a job. It’s unclear if any of the vendors will be paid.

4. Oracle made a $9.3 billion acquisition of cloud services company NetSuite. It’s clear now that Oracle is serious about growing cloud computing revenue, but this wasn’t always the case.

5. WikiLeaks published a searchable database of 19,252 DNC-related emails packed with personal and financial information. Following the leak, Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she will be stepping down from her role as the head of the Democratic National Committee after the end of the event.

6. Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump participated in a Reddit AMA, managing to answer 13 questions on topics ranging from NASA to media bias.In a separate facepalm-inducing moment, Trump invited Russia (yes, the entire country of Russia) to hack into Hillary Clinton’s inbox and release “the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.” Yikes.

7. During their earnings call, MobileEye announced that it will no longer provide Tesla with its self-driving automotive tech beyond EyeQ3, the processor currently used in Tesla vehicles. It is unclear whether Tesla or Mobileye ended the relationship, but Mobileye investors aren’t happy about the split.

8.Upthere, a new company from Apple and Oracle vets, came out of beta with $77 million in funding. The company believes that cloud storage should be your primary storage and not just a place for keeping backups. It’s now generally available for OS X/MacOS, Android and iOS.

9. Xiaomi announced its first laptop, and it sure does look familiar. The Mi Notebook Air comes in two sizes — 13.3-inch and 12.5-inch — running Windows with a full-HD display, full-metal body and type-C USB charging and two USB slots. The Macbook Air rival will come as cheap as $540.

10. Amazon debuted a dedicated shop for Kickstarter projects. Amazon is now hosting 300 successful Kickstarter products across a variety of categories, now all available for purchase.

11. Uber cofounder and CEO of Expa Studios Garrett Camp unveiled Expa’s latest project, Haus. Haus is a real estate play that focuses on digitizing the discovery, buying and selling of residential property.

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[all-things-tech]

Microsoft is laying off another 2,850 employees, mostly from its mobile division

Google’s parent company Alphabet added 9,427 employees in the last quarter according to its earnings report, but Microsoft is doing the opposite — again. The Redmond company’s 10-K filing says it is planning on laying off 2,850 employees within the next 12 months.

Microsoft has been laying off thousands of employees since 2015 — it first announced 7,800 job cuts last July, most of which were tied to its mobile division. Then it sold off Nokia’s feature phone business to HMD Group for $350 million, and transferred 4,500 employees to FIH Mobile — a subsidiary of Foxconn and HMD. In the same month it announced 1,850 job cuts — 1,350 of which were from its mobile division in Finland. Finally, it hardly mentioned Windows Phone at its Build 2016, its annual developer conference. Notice a trend?

Related: Skype drops support for older Windows Phone, Android devices

The new job cuts are an “extension” of a restructuring plan, and they still primarily affect Microsoft’s phone hardware and sales divisions.

“In the fourth quarter of 2016, management approved restructuring plans that would result in job eliminations, primarily across our smartphone hardware business and global sales,” the company says in the 10-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. “In addition to the elimination of 1,850 positions that were announced in May 2016, approximately 2,850 roles globally will be reduced during the year as an extension of the earlier plan, and these actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2017.”

Is it safe to say that Microsoft’s mobile interests are dead? Probably not, as rumors of a Surface Phone continue to bubble. Still, these job cuts are certainly not a good sign for anyone hoping for a Windows Mobile come back. Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Related: Microsoft Surface Phone rumors and news leaks

Microsoft announced its fourth quarter earnings last week, and the company reported $5.5 billion in net income. In the SEC filing, the company also mentions exactly how many Lumia and other phones it sold in the 2016 fiscal year.

“Phone revenue decreased $4.2 billion or 56 percent, as we sold 13.8 million Microsoft Lumia phones and 75.5 million other phones in fiscal year 2016, compared with 36.8 million and 126.8 million sold, respectively, in fiscal year 2015.”

Microsoft’s Windows Phone market share sank below 1 percent in May, according to Gartner’s sales report. The company recently had to scale back its estimates of having Windows 10 on 1 billion devices by 2018 — in part due to poor Windows 10 Mobile sales.

Still, the company is doing well with its cloud business, and revenue from its Surface lineup increased 13 percent, thanks to the release of the Surface Pro 4, the Surface Book, and the Surface Pro 3.

Keurig discontinues expensive Kold soda maker, offers refunds to consumers

Is Microsoft finished making Windows phones?

Faced with more retailer defections, CurrentC shelves its plans and lays off staff

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[all-things-tech]

This Week's Most Popular Posts: July 22nd to 29th

This week we discussed what happens at Comic-Con and why it’s awesome, matched Pokémon Go with our running routine, learned about alternate investments, compared sous vide cookers, and more. Here’s a look back at this week’s most popular posts as July comes to an end.

What Happens at Comic-Con and Why It’s Awesome

San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing this weekend. Amidst the flood of trailers, posters, action figures, and panels, it’s worth taking a step back to appreciate just what SDCC is and why it’s so impressive that it exists at all.

How to Hatch Pokémon Eggs and Have a Great Run at the Same Time

While Pokémon Go is great for interval workouts, it’s not always easy to play while you’re on a nice long run: the app under-counts the distance you travel, and sometimes turns off unexpectedly. Don’t let that stop you, though: you can still good workout in while you hatch some eggs—it just takes a few tweaks.

All the Best Movies Coming to and Leaving Netflix in August 2016

Summer’s already nearing its end, and Netflix is trying to prevent you from going outside with a new series about the rise of hip-hop and disco, a handful of original movies, and perhaps most importantly, the first and third The Fast and the Furious movies.

What It Actually Takes to Get a Flat Stomach

There are all kinds of trainers, videos, and products that say they can get you a flat stomach in no time, but there are no shortcuts to six pack city. It takes a lot of work, discipline, and time.

The Normal Person’s Guide to Alternative Investments

It’s pretty easy to get started investing. Once you dig into it, though, a lot of questions come up that complicate the process. You might have come across the phrase alternative investments, and if you’re new to investing, you probably have no idea what it means. Here’s a quick breakdown for the average personal investor.

Five Fun Science Experiments You Can Do at Home With Your Kids

You’ve already taken your summer trip, it’s too hot to do anything outside, and the kids are tired of the library. It’s the perfect time for at-home science experiments. These five experiments are fun even if you don’t have kids, but if you do, there’s even more reason to spend an afternoon exploring science.

How I Found the Perfect Running Shoes

I have a favorite model of running shoe. I buy it whenever it’s on sale, and no matter what is on the shelves, I won’t even think of trying on anything else. But the shoe that’s right for me isn’t the shoe that’s right for everyone. Here’s what my quest looked like—and what you need to know to find yours, too.

Sous Vide Showdown: The Anova vs. The Joule

Sous Vide cooking is appealing because it promises restaurant level results in the comfort of your own home. By maintaining a constant, precisely-controlled temperature, you don’t have to worry about overcooking expensive steaks or delicate seafood. The previously esoteric cooking method is gaining popularity, and circulators are being designed with the home cook in mind. Picking (and paying for) such a fancy kitchen toy can be a little daunting, but we’re here to help.

See If a Pokémon Is Worth Evolving In Pokémon Go With This CP Calculator

It takes a lot of candies to evolve a pokémon in Pokémon Go, so you need to make sure you’re not wasting them. If you’re not sure if a pokémon you caught is worth evolving, this calculator can give you a fairly accurate estimate how strong they can get.

How to Find Out If Your Private Data Was Just Revealed by WikiLeaks

Earlier today, WikiLeaks published over 19,000 emails from top U.S. Democratic National Committee members, then announced it in a tweet. Those emails contained the personal information of many donors, including credit card numbers, social security numbers, and even passport information. Here’s how to see if your personal information was leaked.

Top 10 YouTube Channels to Inspire You to Get Outside

The sun is high, the days are long, and the weather is hot—which means it’s a great time to get outdoors and see some beautiful natural spaces. Whether it’s a huge national park or just a green space closer to home, here are some channels that’ll inspire you to get out and explore.

Five Ways to Optimize Your Workspace for Productivity

Few things affect our productivity as much as what we surround ourselves with. Yet most of us rarely take the time to step back and really analyze our working environment. Instead, we take a ‘set it and forget it’ approach to where we work.

What Is Whole-Body Cryotherapy, and Why Is the FDA Warning People About It?

Put simply, cryotherapy is the process of using cold temperatures for medicinal purposes, usually to treat pain. In recent years, it’s become a popular in spas and sports centers to soothe aching muscles, improve arthritic symptoms, “slow aging,” and even help you lose weight. Your bullshit meter might be going off by now, and rightfully so. Here’s the bottom line.

This Netflix Recommendation Bot Is Surprisingly Accurate, When You’re Specific

Chatbots are all the rage, and run the gamut from useless to truly interesting. “And Chill” falls into the interesting category. Simply send it a note via Facebook Messenger and ask it what to watch on Netflix. It churns for a bit, and can turn out surprisingly good results—as long as you’re clear about what you want.

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[all-things-tech]

How’d You Do During the July Money Challenge?

Money challenges are a great way to learn about your financial habits and save some cash at the same time. We’ve been throwing out a new money challenge every month, and this month, we asked you to Upgrade and Save. How’d you do?

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Last month we challenged you to haggle everything, and some of you saved hundreds. We’re impressed. … Read more Read more

Upgrading sounds indulgent, but sometimes it actually saves you money. For example, maybe you buy your own fancy router to avoid paying your Internet Service Provider $10 a month, which saves you cash in the long run. Personal finance writer Jim Wang calls it the Upgrade and Save Strategy, and he joined us in challenging you this month.

A couple of readers have already taken the challenge. One reader upgraded to an unlimited cellphone plan that was almost $20 cheaper. Another reader subscribed to a meal kit service to curb restaurant spending. If you joined this month’s challenge, tell us how it went down. What did you upgrade, and what will you save?

Photo by Dolgachov via Canva.com

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[all-things-tech]

Dating apps attach themselves to the Pokémon craze

Pokémon may be the perfect dating app: you’re out in the real world, have an immediate way to start a conversation with an attractive stranger and, clearly, the two of you already share a common interest. These facts have not been lost on the makers of actual dating applications, however. A good handful of matchmaking services have now tied themselves to the Pokémon craze in an effort to better connect people and boost their respective user bases.

But can the viral phenomenon actually help them find success?

Project Fixup

One of the first companies out of the gate to offer “Pokédates” (yes, I agree – it sounds dirty!) was Project Fixup.

The Chicago-based startup arrived on the scene a couple of years ago with the idea to use real people – “fixup specialists” – as matchmakers. These helpers look at your online profile, pictures and preferences, then set you up on a real blind date with someone they believed would be a good fit. The cost for the fixup is a one-time fee of $20.

The company has only had limited traction in the years since, however, claiming to have arranged “thousands” of fixups across the U.S. It hasn’t taken in any significant outside funding – only $100,000 according to CrunchBase – nor has it invested in a native mobile application.

That hasn’t stopped it from latching on to Pokémon as a means of getting its name back out there, and potentially growing its user base.

The company announced its Pokédates concept earlier this month, which now not only matches singles based on their profile, but also on their mutual desire to play Pokémon Go together. (Dates will cost $20, as before, but the promo code POKEDATES2016 gives you one free date to get started.)

“Project Fixup is known for creating tailored dates that enable people with similar interests to do something fun together in the real world”, explained Sarah Press, co-founder and CEO of Project Fixup, in an announcement. “As soon as Pokémon Go launched, we knew it was a perfect fit for our users; Pokémon Go enthusiasts and new members alike.”

PokeMatch

Of course, it wasn’t long before Project Fixup had competition in the quickly-emerging Pokédates market.

Another startup, PokeMatch, rushed out a Tinder-like mobile application in a matter of three days, where users swipe right on those people you want to “catch.” You can then message each other, as in most other dating apps. The only difference between this low-rent Tinder clone and PokeMatch, in fact, is that the only people who join the app are those who have a desire to play Pokémon Go together.

Co-founders Pim de Witte, Rene Roosen and Troy Osinof said they came up with the idea when Rene needed a date, but also wanted to go Pokémon hunting. 

The company claims its app served up over 10,000 matches across 15 countries in its first four days.

“We’re seeing insane growth. Something I’ve never seen before is happening to us, and it is feeling kind of surreal,” said de Witte.

But PokeMatch’s App Store numbers prove it still has a way to go to become anywhere near as popular as Tinder, much less Pokémon Go. It’s languishing so far down in the charts, users won’t happen upon it just by browsing the store.

Dine

The most recent dating startup to join the fray is Dine, the makers of an app that focuses on getting people to go on dinner dates, not just chat. Founded by DeNA veterans (a company that, coincidentally, works with Nintendo on its own mobile efforts), Dine publicly launched in the U.S. and Canada this spring.

The company, which is headquartered in Japan and has a team of just seven, declined to share its user numbers, saying they are “still very early stage.” The company says its app has under 100,000 users.

Naturally, it too, jumped on the Pokémon bandwagon by launching a new “Let’s catch Pokémon” feature this week. This lets Dine’s users notify their potential matches that they’re interested in a Pokémon hunt as their first date.

“Many of our users are currently playing Pokémon Go so we felt like giving our users a new and fun way to make character connections with potential matches,” says Dine CEO Keisuke Kamijo. “Plus, doesn’t going on a Poké Date sound fun?”

The fact that switching to Poké Dates dilutes Dine’s original concept which focused on culinary-infused meetups seems to be no matter to the young startup.

No Instant Hits

All the services are new to trying to ride Pokémon’s tailwind, so it’s too soon to say their efforts will be fruitless. However, none have immediately become break-out hits thanks to attaching themselves to the viral game.

PokeMatch, for example, currently sits as #251 on the iTunes App Store’s “Lifestyle” chart. It has been pulled from Google Play, and is now only on Amazon’s Android app store where it has zero reviews. Dine’s app is so lowly ranked, meanwhile (#957 in Social Networking), it’s not likely to be found by any casual user clicking through the App Store.

Project Fixup has no app and won’t speak to its Pokédate numbers.

For all the companies, the problem they don’t grasp is that launching into the dating app market requires more than finding a way to glom onto another’s fame.

Tinder, the #1 Lifestyle app, is still the App Store behemoth to beat. Its next nearest rivals are Bumble (#7), then happn (#17). And they are competitors not because they’ve embraced Pokémon, but because they introduced a new concept in dating – whether that’s the “girl talks first,” in Bumble’s case, or happn’s “missed connections.”

Plus, at the end of the day, if you want to meet someone new who also likes to play the popular “catch ’em all” mobile game, there’s already an app for that: it’s called Pokémon Go.

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