Pokemon GO is a huge opportunity for small businesses right now

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 9, 2016 11:05 PM CDT

Pokemon GO has taken the world by storm, with people exploring the physical world around them - inside of their house, outside of their house, at the park, local businesses, and so much more.

Pokemon GO is a huge opportunity for small businesses right now

The game uses the real-world as the game map, with specific locations tagged as locations in the game that you need to visit. This might be your local KFC, gym, police station, or Target. Pokemon GO actively encourages you to explore the real-world while playing the game, as you can catch Pokemon anywhere. Many small businesses are finding that Pokemon GO players are coming into their store, and some are taking advantage of it.

There are some small businesses that have caught on quick, embracing Pokemon GO, with UploadVR reporting that a Dairy Queen fast food restaurant saw an increase in customers after the release of Pokemon GO. They posted a sign outside of their door, saying: "Pokestop Inside! Come get your Pokeballs and previously rocked threads. Gotta catch 'em all in style". Other businesses aren't so friendly, saying: "Pokemon are for paying customers only".

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Xiaomi prepares to take on GoPro with its Xiaomi Yi 4K action camera

Anthony Garreffa | Cameras, Printers & Scanners | Jul 9, 2016 10:22 PM CDT

GoPro might have the action camera market right now, but we all know how quickly things can change with a capable competitor with a product that's cheaper, and possibly just as capable.

Chinese giant Xiaomi has announced that it's upcoming Yi 4K action camera will cost just $249.99 while its competitor in the GoPro HERO4 Black Edition costs $499.99 - double the asking price from Xiaomi and its Yi 4K action camera. Xiaomi provides an LCD screen on its Yi 4K action camera, something the HERO4 Black Edition lacks, but is included on the Silver Edition.

Xiaomi's new Yi 4K action camera has a 1300mAh battery that's good for 2 hours of 4K 30FPS recording, which is pretty damn good considering the HERO4 Black Edition isn't capable of recording more than an hour at the same 4K30 standard. Xiaomi is offering a bundle package with a selfie stick and Bluetooth remote, which will cost $30 more at $279 total.

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Unreal Engine 4 is now used by over 2 million developers

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 9, 2016 9:09 PM CDT

There are countless games powered by Unreal Engine 4, but just how many developers are using Epic Games' latest UE4 engine?

According to the official Unreal Engine website, over 2 million developers are using Unreal Engine 4 - up from the 1.5 million developers that were using UE4 in March, announced at the Game Developers Conference. Last month, Unreal Engine 4 was being shown in force at E3, with over 80 games powered by UE4 being displayed at the show.

Microsoft and Sony held their E3 press conferences, with plenty of UE4-powered games like Gears of War 4, Batman: Arkham VR, TEKKEN 7, Sea of Thieves, Day's Gone, We Happy Few, Scalebound, EVE: Valkyrie, and many more. On the floor itself, Unreal Engine 4 was powering games like Absolver, ABZU, Injustice 2, LawBreakers, Ghostbusters, ARK: Primal Survival, Killing Floor 2 and Vampyr.

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Samsung unveils Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition smartphone

Don't worry about the Zika virus everyone, Samsung has released its official Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition, which is surely to be a cash-in.

Samsung is pricing the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition at $970 or so, with Samsung to sell the new Olympic Games themed Galaxy S7 edge in Brazil, China, Germany, Korea and the United States. It will feature a customized UI, and a theme that will match the dark chassis, which looks pretty damn good I must say.

The new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition comes in two variants; one with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and the other with Samsung's own Exynos 8890 processor. Both smartphones feature a microSD card slot, with up to 200GB of storage mixing the on-board and microSD card storage together.

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Battlefield 1 will feature FOV slider on consoles

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 9, 2016 1:20 AM CDT

Many gamers are enjoying the closed alpha of Battlefield 1, where many new details are being discovered on EA DICE's next-gen first-person shooter.

One of the big surprises is that Battlefield 1 has an FOV slider on the PS4 and Xbox One, which comes as a surprise. Why? Because increasing the field of view means the game is rendering more graphics than the lower FOV, which can reduce performance - especially on underpowered consoles. But with DICE implementing the FOV slider in the closed alpha, it means the performance is there to keep it.

Yesterday we reported on another video which saw Battlefield 1 being compared on the PC with Ultra graphics settings, and on the PS4 and Xbox One where the Xbox One version of the game was a blurry mess.

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Miyazaki wants to top Dark Souls, will take more risks with new games

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 8, 2016 5:15 PM CDT

Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator of the beloved grim fantasy Dark Souls series and now president of From Software, plans on one-upping the Souls franchise. In fact, From Software is working on a "few new projects" and promises to continue taking risks with all of them.

Miyazaki wants to top Dark Souls, will take more risks with new games

The Souls series might technically be "dead", but From Software isn't about to lose steam any time soon. In a recent interview with Kotaku, Hidetaka Miyazaki provided some rather interesting answers that assure hardcore fans they shouldn't give up faith. The cult of Miyazaki's Sun Bros. will live on even as the studio focuses towards a new direction--a direction that the creator hopes will ultimately surpass Dark Souls by taking brave new risks.

Kotaku's Patrick Klepek asked Miyazaki if the studio plans to "play it safe" to earn more money, the kind of route we see with stale AAA games as late. Miyazaki isn't about to sell out and play it safe, though: "No. It's actually the opposite. If we avoided risks, we wouldn't have positioned this game to be a turning point in the series and an end to the current storyline. I believe the new projects we will be announcing will show our stance and direction we're headed to," Miyazaki replied.

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Facebook rolls out 'Secret Conversations' feature

Sean Ridgeley | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Jul 8, 2016 4:33 PM CDT

Privacy is a perpetual concern with Facebook and Facebook Messenger, but it gets a little less so today as the company rolls out its 'Secret Conversations' feature.

Secret Conversations means you can create a conversation with someone that can only be seen by you and on the device of the person you're talking to, as opposed to Facebook or any potential hackers. As well, you can set your messages to disappear within a set amount of time.

As for downsides, you have to take extra action to start such a conversation, you can't view the conversation on multiple devices like you can currently, and fancy features like GIFs, videos, payments aren't supported.

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Pokemon GO's massive popularity triggers Nintendo stock surge

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 8, 2016 3:09 PM CDT

Nintendo's new smartphone game Pokemon GO is so popular that it's caused Nintendo's stock to rise by 10%.

Pokemon GO's massive popularity triggers Nintendo stock surge

Pokemon GO, Nintendo's new mobile game that lets players capture Pokemon in the real-world, is a smash hit. Although the game only launched last Wednesday in the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia, it's had a tremendously positive affect on Nintendo's shares, which rose by 10.5% to a new two-month high of 20.77 JPY. Nintendo's stock has been climbing since Pokemon GO's release, and will likely skyrocket once Pokemon GO is released in Japan.

The free smartphone game is now the No. 1 top free iTunes app in the U.S. storefront. Although the game is free, Nintendo monetizes in-game items like Pokeballs, special powerups to lure Pokemon, eggs to hatch Pokemon, etc. Like other "freemium" mobile games, Pokemon GO has its own in-game currency that players can buy with real money and spend on powerups and items.

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Comcast rolls out 1TB cap, calls it 'Terabyte Internet Experience'

Sean Ridgeley | Internet & Websites | Jul 8, 2016 1:53 PM CDT

Comcast user reports from residents all over Illinois, USA indicate the company has introduced a 1TB data cap on its internet services in the region, which it refers to as a "Terabyte Internet Experience."

The e-mail sent out to customers reads: "We're writing to let you know that we will be trialing a new XFINITY internet data usage plan in your area. Starting August 1, 2016, your monthly XFINITY internet service will include a terabyte data usage plan."

It later goes on to say that if you need more data, there's always the Unlimited Data option, but that it's only relevant to less than 1% of its customers. As well, that less than 1% will remain unlimited for two "courtesy months."

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Tekken 7 will run at 1080p 60FPS on PS4

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Jul 8, 2016 10:11 AM CDT

Tekken game designer Katsuhiro Harada has confirmed that Tekken 7 will run at 1080p 60FPS on PlayStation 4.

Tekken 7 will run at 1080p 60FPS on PS4

Harada is known for being very open and vocal to his fans on Twitter, so when the renowned dev was asked if the anticipated new fighter Tekken 7 would hit the standard 1080p 60FPS on Sony's PS4 console, he answered with a very simple "yes". It's unclear if Tekken 7 will hit native 1080p 60FPS on PS4 or use console's usual dynamic resolution scaling, but given what we've seen from the game so far, the frame rates are very smooth.

Consistent, high frame-rates are very important for fighting games like Tekken where split-second reactions are key to victory. But some fans are worried that since Tekken 7 is being developed by Bandai Namco, the game might suffer from the same PS4 input lag found in Street Fighter 5. Street Fighter 5 also runs at 1080p 60FPS on PS4, with the input lag possibly caused by dynamic resolution. Harada recently countered this argument, saying that no one that's played Tekken 7--from EVO pro players and everyday gamers--has complained about input lag.

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