Android Lollipop rolls out with sweet design focus – today's Open Thread

Have your say on Google’s latest mobile software, plus Ask.fm changes, Apple-1 auction, Candy Crush Soda Saga and more

Designing the perfect Lollipop? Strawberry and sherbert, and it should be the size of my face, please.

But no, Google’s latest post on its Official Android Blog is less about sweets-on-sticks and more about Android Lollipop, the latest version of its smartphone and tablet software.

It started rolling out to devices this week, and colleague Sam Gibbs has alreadyput the new software through its paces with a five-star review:

Lollipop is a complete visual overhaul of the standard Android look, making it a much smoother, more coherent and connected experience – a big step up compared to previous iterations of Google’s software.

It is also faster, lighter on battery and adds a lot of what third-party manufacturers have had to manually bolt on to their customised versions of Android.

Google’s blog post focuses on the design aspects of Lollipop, particularly the way its “material design” aims to be “one consistent design language flexible enough to span devices across mobile, desktop, and beyond”.

Is the company onto something? If you’re using Lollipop already on one or more devices, how are you finding it, and do you think material design will deliver on Google’s promises?

What new features are looking most useful, and what would you like to see added in future updates? How do you think Android Lollipop stacks up compared to Apple’s iOS 8? The comments are open for your views.

What else is on the technology radar today? A few links to chew over:

• Social service Ask.fm, which has faced scrutiny over cyberbullying, isappointing a law enforcement affairs officer and providing more information on how to block and report users and ‘problematic’ content.
• Christies is preparing to auction off the “only known surviving Apple-1 documented to have been sold directly by Steve Jobs to an individual from his parents’ garage”. Although you may need up to $600,000 to nab it.
• US startup Paracosm certainly sounds ambitious: it’s raised $3.3m of fundingto, in CEO Amir Rubin’s words, “take the digital world beyond screens and enable machines to understand the world as we do, turning your living room into a holodeck”.
• Veteran technology site CNET is launching... a print magazine? Yep. A print magazine. It’ll be quarterly with an initial print run of 200,000 copies and exclusive articles. “We’re trying to make a statement that we’re investing in print because we think it’s a viable way to reach this audience...”
• Finally, a snapshot of mobile gaming in 2014, as King reveals that the soundtrack for its soon-to-launch Candy Crush Soda Saga will be performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. No news on whether the musicians stopped playing halfway through and demanded that King pay more money, etc etc.

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Host other people's Twitch streams from your mobile device

he line between using Twitch on mobile and desktop is getting even more blurry. The live-streaming juggernaut recently announced that now, you can host another channel's broadcast from the mobile app. Twitch writes that all you need to do is tap the gear button in the app, hit "Host" and you should be good to go. It's available for everyone on iOS at the moment, and will be rolling out slowly for Android. Need to update? Hit the source link below if your iDevice hasn't updated yet.

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Pokémon Go' update kills battery-saving mode, footprint tracking

Pokémon Go's first substantial update adds tweaks for overpowered Pokemon (those consistently at the top of Pokemon gyms: cough,Vaporean, cough), where the critters can be found, and a raft of bug and text fixes. Niantic has decided to drop the footprint tracking system that didn't even work in the debut iteration of the game; you'll have to make do with the vague list of nearby Pokémon. And pray. The update also nixed the battery-saving feature (update: on iOS only), although this editor and others found that feature often made the app unresponsive. Your mileage may have varied, but regardless, battery-saving mode is no more. So turn that screen brightness down, and definitely bring your portable battery pack on your Pokémon hunts.

Smaller changes include the ability to customize your trainer again and relocated buttons for transferring Pokémon. Each time you load the app, it'll remind you to take care when playing, not to trespass, and other common sense nuggets. Because people can't have nice things.

Favoriting your strongest monsters will protect them from being accidentally sent to the glue factory professor, which is certainly useful. Since the update, some users are noticing that Pokémon have to be much closer to appear "nearby" on the map, although the refreshed app has arrived at the same time as many Pokémon map scanning services have been indefinitely terminated.

PokeVision, one of the more popular services, said it's respecting Niantic and Nintendo's wishes by taking its map down for the time being. Tracking just got trickier -- and the wearable is still delayed.

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Top 10 Best Free Video Editing Software

Video editing has become more and more popular due to the popularity of camcorders and convenience of online video sharing. To save money, you can use some video editing tools which are free of charge to edit videos. But it may be difficult to find such good program for Windows since nowadays there are too many free video editing programs available on the market. What’s the best choice among them? Let's have a look at the top 10 best free video editing software for Windows below:

1. Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a free video editing tool for Windows and users can make home movies by simple drag-and-drop. It contains features such as video effects, video transitions, adding titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. What's more, new effects and transitions can be added and existing ones can be modified using XML code.

2. VirtualDub

VirtualDub is a powerful free video editing software for Windows with many amazing features, such as compression, video splitting, and the addition of audio tracks. As a free movie editing software, it has batch-processing capabilities for dealing with large numbers of files and can be extended with third-party video filters.

3. Wax

Wax is a high performance and flexible video editing program which is good for both home users and professionals. It can be used as a stand-alone application, or as a plug-in to other video editors.

However, its video editing functions are quite limited. If you want more advanced video editing features like Mosaic, Jump Cut, Flashhold, or need more transitional effects, picture-in-picture, titles, sound effects, you can turn to Wondershare Filmora (originally Wondershare Video Editor) software, which make your video go to the next level.

Learn more about Wax >>

4. Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports various file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.

Learn more about Avidemux >>

5. FFMpeg

FFmpeg is a paid video editing tool for Windows, but a collection of free software that can record, convert and stream digital audio and video, including libavcodec (a leading audio/video codec library), and libavformat (a leading audio/video container mux and demux library).

Learn more about FFMpeg >>

6. Blender

Blender is the free open source 3D content creation which supports all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. Blender has many advanced features, such as modifier-based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node-based material, etc. and is one of the best video editors for both Windows and Mac.

Learn more about Blender >>

7. ZS4 Video Editor

ZS4 Video Editor is another great free video editing and compositing software that provides media experts with a facility to combine photos, videos and audio files into one or more output files.

Learn more about ZS4 Video Editor >>

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8. Cinefx Jahshaka

Jahshaka is the first OpenSource Realtime Editing and Effects System in the world. With the power of OpenGL and OpenML, it gives users exceptional levels of performance. It currently supports Linux, OS X, Irix and Windows and is considered one of the best free video editor for Windows.

Learn more about Cinefx Jahshaka >>

9. Lightworks

Lightworks is a great free video editor featured with many video effects. It can edit up to 256 video, audio, and still image clips. But the user interface is very technical so many people find it hard to use.

Learn more about Lightworks >>

10. Movica

Movica uses some fine programs to edit your movies and receives good reputation. The keyboard shortcuts make video editing easier than ever. It's one of the best free video editor for Windows and fully supports WMV, FLV and MPG files.

Learn more about Movica >>

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The Pokémon Go Trainer's Advanced Tactics Handboo

You’ve tossed a few PokéBalls, caught a few Caterpies, and spun your way to a few items at the PokéStop, but it’s time to take things to the next level. These tips and tricks will help you go from novice trainer to unbeatable gym leader faster than you can spit out the PokéRap.

Swipe the PokéBall Button for Quick Menu Access

The PokéBall icon at the bottom of your screen is used to access most of the in-game menus, like your Pokédex, Items, captured pokémon, and the Shop. You can tap the PokéBall icon and navigate to these menus, or you can look like a pro and get to them with a single swipe. Swipe the PokéBall left to instantly access the Pokémon menu, swipe right to go right into your items, and swipe up to access the shop.

See at a Glance Why a Wild Pokémon Appeared

When a wild pokémon pops up out of the bushes, look at the tiny rings surrounding it. If the rings are white, the pokémon was there naturally. If the rings are a purple-y pink color, it showed up because of a nearby lure module. If the rings are replaced by a pink cloud circling the pokémon, that means it was attracted to your Incense item and only you can see it.

Noticing the different rings will help you develop a feel for finding more pokémon in your area, and it’s nice for when you’re playing with friends. You’ll know not to shout “Squirtle!” when you see the incense ring and start an unnecessary stampede.

Increase Your Chances of Catching Pokémon, and Earn More XP

It might seem easy at first, but catching pokémon gets harder as you level up. You start running into stronger pokémon, and your once-massive stash of PokéBalls will start to dwindle if you don’t learn the ins and outs of the perfect throw. When you see a pokémon appear, tap it on your screen, then move to a spot where you’re safe and out of the way. Once you’ve started an encounter, the pokémon will stay on your screen until you either catch it or runs away because of too many failed attempts.

When the encounter starts, you’ll notice a white circle around it. That’s the target you have to hit for your PokéBall to work at all. Inside the white circle, however, is a constantly-shrinking, colored circle (more on that later) that tells you how difficult it will be to catch the pokémon. Your goal is to toss your PokéBall and hit the inside of the shrinking, colored circle. Doing so will grant you more experience points (XP) depending on the size of said circle:

• A “Nice!” toss happens when you get it inside the colored circle while it’s fairly large, and will grant you an additional 10 XP if you make the catch.
• A “Great!” toss happens when the colored circle is about half the size of the white circle, and will grant you an additional 50 XP.
• An “Excellent!” toss happens when the colored circle is very small, and will grant you an additional 100 XP.

Not only do good throws give you some extra XP, some resourceful redditors who have datamined the Pokémon Go app suggest good throws may alsoincrease the chances of catching the pokémon. They also suggest throwing a curveball increases your chances as well, in addition to the 10 XP bonus it provides. To throw a curveball, you just hold your finger on the PokéBall, spin it around, then toss. If you’re having a hard time hitting the pokémon, turn off the AR so it stays still in one place. This also helps you save a ton of battery.

Those XP bonuses may not seem like much on their own, but they make a huge difference over time, especially if you have an item like the Lucky Egg activated, which doubles XP gained for 30 minutes. A good toss and Lucky Egg can turn an encounter with a common pokémon like Pidgey—which would normally only net you 100 XP—into a much more profitable catch. Not only would you get 200 XP for the catch, but an “Excellent!” toss and curveball bonus would add another 220 XP, making that little Pidgey worth 420 XP. It’s almost as much as the bonus for catching it for the first time.

As mentioned earlier, though, some pokémon are much harder to catch, and it all depends on the color of their shrinking circle. Red means very hard, orange means hard, yellow means moderate, and green means easy. For red, orange, and yellow pokémon, a few items will help ensure you make your catch. Razzberrys will lower the difficulty of catching a pokémon by one color, but they are only good for one attempt. If the pokémon breaks free, you’ll need to use another. Using GreatBalls or UltraBalls will increase your chances as well, but you have a much more limited supply, so save them for the really tough pokémon.

Optimize Your Pokémon Training and Evolving

The value of an individual pokémon depends on a few things: your trainer level, its combat power (CP) when you found it, and its move set. Generally, you only want to keep the pokémon with the highest CP and transfer the rest to Professor Willow in exchange for candies you can use to evolve your bestpokémon (here’s a breakdown of how many candies each type of pokémon needs to evolve). Once they’re evolved, you can worry about powering them up with stardust. Here’s an example:

You find two Charmanders, one with a CP of 230, and another with a CP of 450. You keep the Charmander with 450 CP (maybe tag it with a favorite star so you know it’s your best), then transfer the other Charmander to the Professor to get a Charmander candy. You don’t power up the Charmander you kept, but wait until you have enough candies to evolve it into a Charmeleon. Again, you don’t power it up, but wait until you have enough candies to evolve it into its final form, Charizard. Only then do you begin to use the stardust you saved to power up your Charizard.

If you want to find pokémon with higher CPs, you need to increase your trainer level. Niantic, Pokémon Go’s developers, have been very quiet about how CP works, so here are a few more things you might want to know about it:

• All pokémon of a certain type have the same maximum CP, regardless of what their CP was when you caught them. Basically, a 100 CP Charmander and 450 CP Charmander have the same maximum potential, and that is determined by your trainer level. It’s still best to keep the higher CP one, though, because you’ll save yourself resources powering it up in the long run.
• Some species of pokémon have a higher maximum CP than others.
• If your trainer level increases, the maximum CP of all your pokémon increases. That means the pokémon that belong to a trainer at level 20 all have a higher CP cap than those that belong to a trainer at level 10.
• Evolving a pokémon will raise their current and maximum CP, but the percentage trained will remain the same. For example, a 20 CP Pidgey with a max of 100 might evolve into a 40 CP Pidgeotto with a max of 200—it stays at 20%.

A good rule of thumb to follow is don’t evolve a pokémon that didn’t have a red ring when you caught it. But say you have two Charmanders that both have high CPs. Which do you evolve? If you’re planning on battling with one of them, look at their move sets. It’s best to have a pokémon with two different types of attacks. In Charmander’s case, a version with Scratch (Normal type)and Flamethrower (Fire type) is more ideal than a Charmander that has two Fire type moves. That said, if you want to train some seriously strong pokémon, the best thing you can do is raise your trainer level as fast as possible. It’s better if you don’t waste your resources on powering up the pokémon you find early on in the game. This is especially important with stardust, as it becomes a much rarer resource the longer you play. Be stingy with your resources and focus on building your trainer level first.

Boost Your Trainer Level Quickly With the Lucky Egg Trick

You can level up a lot faster by saving a ton of weak pokémon to evolve when you have a Lucky Egg activated and doubling your XP gain. So, catch a bunch of Pidgeys, Rattatas, etc., and build up a stash of candies. Now activate a Lucky Egg, then start evolving them all. You’ll get 1000 XP for every evolution instead of the standard 500 XP.

Pro tip: don’t evolve Pidgeottos into Pidgeots while you do this! Evolving four Pidgeys into Pidgeottos will cost you 48 candies and net you 4000 XP with a Lucky Egg activated, but just one Pidgeot will cost you 50 candies and only get you 1000 XP with a Lucky Egg. Do the math before you undo all your hard work. Also, Nick Steinberg at Goliath points out that you can battle with pokémon and wear them out before you evolve them. Go fight at an enemy gym with some pokémon and they’ll be returned to full health once they’re evolved.

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PokéVision Shows You the Real-Time Locations of Pokémon In Pokémon G

f you’re having a tough time finding certain pokémon in Pokémon Go, PokéVision uses the Niantic API to show you their actual locations, and how long they’ll be there.

There are a lot of Pokémon Go maps out there, but most of them, like the popular app Poke Radar, rely on the Pokémon Go community to post pokémon locations. Because PokéVision uses the Niantic API, however, it can show youexactly where every pokémon is at the present moment, and for how long it’s going to be there before it disappears. I thought it sounded too good to be true, so I tried it out this morning. Sure enough, I was able to catch a Dratini in my area that had been evading me since launch. The downsides are you can’t filter by pokémon type (yet), and there’s no app available for iOS or Android. You can only run it in a browser (but mobile browser seems to work fine). It’s hard to imagine Niantic wanting a service like this to exist, though, so who knows how long it will last. And personally, relying on a tool like this takes a lot of the fun out of Pokémon Go, so use at your own risk. If you want to check it out for yourself, head to the link below.

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Pokemon Go: How to download it in the UK and everything you need to know

Pokémon Go is available to download in the UK, making the country the fifth place worldwide where the wildly popular augmented reality game is officially available.

The international release of the mobile game that lets users catch Pokémon in real life  had been delayed following an unexpectedly high volume of downloads in the US, Australia and New Zealand which caused it to crash.

Just over week after its release in Australia and New Zealand it finally launched in the UK last week. Germany was the first European country to get the game last week. 

Niantic, a Google startup that became independent in 2015 and createdPokémon Go with Nintendo, is attempting to bolster its server's capacity. At peak times, some users have received an error message saying "Our servers are experiencing issues. Please come back later", when they tried opening the game

Thousands of Pokémon Go users had reported problems accessing the game in Australia, according to Aussie Outages, which tracks digital service disruptions.

An update to the iOS version of the app, designed to help fix numerous issues including the server outages, apparently locked users registered with a Pokemon Trainer Club account out of the game. 

And a hacker group known as PoodleCorp has claimed responsibility for outages over the weekend, threatening to take the game offline on August 1.

In spite of numerous controversies, the game is making an estimated $1.6 million (£1.2 million) a day from iPhone users in the US alone, and Nintendo's shares have more than doubled since the game was launched. It now has more users than Tinder and searches on Google for Pokémon Go have outstripped those for "porn". 

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Pokémon GO

Travel between the real world and the virtual world of Pokémon with Pokémon GO for iPhone and Android devices. With Pokémon GO, you’ll discover Pokémon in a whole new world—your own! Pokémon GO is built on Niantic’s Real World Gaming Platform and will use real locations to encourage players to search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokémon. Pokémon GO allows you to find and catch more than a hundred species of Pokémon as you explore your surroundings.

The Pokémon video game series has used real-world locations such as the Hokkaido and Kanto regions of Japan, New York, and Paris as inspiration for the fantasy settings in which its games take place. In Pokémon GO, the real world will be the setting!

Get on your feet and step outside to find and catch wild Pokémon. Explore cities and towns around where you live and even around the globe to capture as many Pokémon as you can. As you move around, your smartphone will vibrate to let you know you're near a Pokémon. Once you've encountered a Pokémon, take aim on your smartphone's touch screen and throw a Poké Ball to catch it. Be careful when you try to catch it, or it might run away! Also look for PokéStops located at interesting places, such as public art installations, historical markers, and monuments, where you can collect more Poké Balls and other items.

Customize Your Trainer

When you first play Pokémon GO, you’ll get to customize the look of your Trainer, choosing apparel and accessories to give him or her a cool look. Your customized character will appear as you move around on the map, as well as on your profile page. Plus, other players will see your character when they visit a Gym you control.

Add to Your Pokédex

In Pokémon GO, you will gain levels as a Trainer, and at higher levels you will be able to catch more powerful Pokémon to complete your Pokédex. You'll also have access to more powerful items, such as Great Balls, to give you a better shot at catching Pokémon. Keep exploring and encountering Pokémon to raise your level!

There are other ways to add Pokémon to your Pokédex, too. If you catch the same species of Pokémon enough times, you’ll get the opportunity to evolve one of them! And as you explore, you may find Pokémon Eggs at PokéStops, which will hatch after you’ve walked a specific distance. When they hatch, you may find Pokémon you’ve never seen before!

Some wild Pokémon will appear only in certain places near where you live or around the world. For example, some Water-type Pokémon may appear only near lakes and oceans. If you're away from home, be sure to stay alert for Pokémon you wouldn't normally encounter!

If you catch the same species of Pokémon enough times, you can evolve one of them. This is useful for catching Pokémon you’re having a tough time finding in the wild. For example, if there are large numbers of Poliwag in your area, but no Poliwhirl nearby, catch a lot of Poliwag to eventually gain the ability to have one of them evolve into a Poliwhirl!

Join a Team and Battle

At a certain point in the game, you’ll be asked to join one of three teams. Once you join a team, you’ll gain the ability to assign Pokémon you’ve caught to open Gym locations or to a Gym where a team member has assigned a Pokémon. Like PokéStops, Gyms can be found at real locations in the world. Each player can place only one Pokémon at a particular Gym, so you’ll need to work together with other members of your team to build up a strong defense.

If a rival team has claimed a Gym, you can challenge it by using Pokémon you’ve caught to battle the defending Pokémon. Battles are challenging and fun. You choose which of your Pokémon will join in. Each Pokémon has two attacks, and can also dodge the defending Pokémon’s attacks if you swipe left or right. If your Pokémon win the battle, then the Gym’s Prestige is reduced. When the Gym’s Prestige drops to zero, the defending team loses control of the Gym, and you or another player can then take control of it by assigning a Pokémon to defend it.

Once your team has control of the Gym, team members can increase the Gym’s Prestige and level by battling the defending Pokémon. These training battles against your own team help your Pokémon level up as well. As the Gym gets to a higher level, your team can assign more Pokémon to defend it. You can also team up with your friends and battle at a rival Gym together to take down stronger Gyms faster.

You can tackle a wide variety of challenges in different categories, such as catching Pokémon and exploration. By completing these challenges, you’ll unlock achievement medals that will appear in your player profile. Try your best to unlock as many medals as you can!

Pokémon GO Plus

A portable device called the Pokémon GO Plus will enable Pokémon GO players to enjoy the game even while they’re not looking at their smartphones. The device connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth and notifies the player about events in the game—such as the appearance of a Pokémon nearby—using an LED and vibration. In addition, players can catch Pokémon or perform other simple actions by pressing the button on the device. Look forward to the launch of the Pokémon GO Plus accessory in late July 2016.

Free to Play

Pokémon GO is available for download at no charge on the App Store and Google Play. Pokémon GO is free to play, with loads of fun things to do and Pokémon to discover at every turn. For players who want to enhance their Pokémon GO experience even more, certain items and features can be accessed via in-app purchases. Players can spend real money on PokéCoins, the in-game currency of Pokémon GO. PokéCoins can then be exchanged for power-ups, extra items, and other enhancements.

Photo Fun

When you encounter a Pokémon in the wild, you can turn on the camera feature, putting the wild Pokémon into the live scene where your camera is facing. Then capture the moment with the in-game camera you can find in your Bag. Line up your shot and hit the shutter button to take the photo. The snapshot will then be saved to your smartphone’s photos for you to share however you’d like.

Music by Junichi Masuda

Pokémon GO will feature all-new music composed by GAME FREAK’s Junichi Masuda. Mr. Masuda has worked on Pokémon games since the very beginning and has composed many of the classic and memorable songs that have inspired fans for decades.

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Pokémon Go launches in Germany as hit smartphone game reaches Europe

Developer Niantic rolls out improved version of app to first non-English language country, as rest of Europe waits with bated breath

Smash-hit augmented reality game Pokémon Go has launched in Germany, making its first move into Europe and outside of the US, Australia and New Zealand.

The app is now available to download for users in Germany via Google Play and Apple App Store, but it is still not officially available to users in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Developer Niantic released an updated version of its iPhone app to correct a permissions error, while the Android version of Pokémon Go was updated with support for smartphones with Intel x86 processors such as the Asus ZenFone line of devices and appears to support Google’s latest version of Android 7.0 Nougat, which is still in beta.

The Android app update, which is again available via third-party file hosting services such as APK Mirror, is also considerably faster and appears more stable.

The smash-hit game’s popularity has left Niantic struggling to meet the server demands of existing players, which put brakes on its plans for worldwide expansion. The limited country-by-country access has seen players across the world resorting to sideloading the app on Android or downloading it with a US iTunes account on an iPhone.

Now that Pokémon Go has officially landed in Europe and in its first non-English language, players will be hoping for a prompt rollout in the rest of the continent, but Niantic has yet to announce a timescale for such wider availability.

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