We make no secret of the fact we are Pokémon trainers here at Goos3D, but it’s not for everyone. Respecting that everyone is entitled to their own opinions there is a way for you to hide Pokémon from your online life at least.
Pokémon NO Chrome extension
If you are a Google Chrome user and a Pokémon GO disliker, then this is a no brainer. Pokémon NO is a simple Chrome extension that seeks out any mention of Pokémon as your web pages load, eradicating it before you even see it. This includes social media too, ensuring that your opinions of those people in the office, that you were convinced were grown-ups, won’t change.
Unfortunately Pokémon NO won’t reduce the likelihood of these grown-ups bumping into you in the street, but at least you can give yourself some sort of break from the biggest tech phenomenon of 2016. Now, after that little bit of research, we’re off to uninstall that extension.
As you may have noticed, the Goos3D team are pretty caught up in Pokémon GO right now. We are working on a comprehensive guide but have happened upon a nice little easter egg online that will be of interest to all you budding trainers out there.
Niantic have not been afraid to include to cap tipping to earlier versions of the game and TV series. Eevee is one of the most unique Pokémon in the franchise as it has various possible evolution paths, with possible evolutions including Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon and Sylveon. One guy on Reddit has discovered how you can gain a little bit of control over the evolution of your Eevee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4tqvTDx2aQ
Does anyone remember the Eevee brothers? Rainer, Pyro and Sparky? Well each of these trainers has their own evolution of Eevee aligned to their character: Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon. Essentially the hack is this, nickname our Eevee with the correlating name of the evolution you are looking for and restart the game (granted the server may not like this) Boom. If you name your Eevee Sparky, you’ll get you a Jolteon, Rainer will get you a Vaporeon, and Pyro will get you a Flareon.
We haven’t come across our own Eevee yet, but there are widespread reports that this works. Did it work for you? Let us know on Facebook where you can also find out about our Pokémon GO lure drop in Dublin City Centre.
The Ada Lovelace Initiative has set out to connect women working in the STEM sector. Many large organisations, including Web Summit, have introduced schemes such as cheaper or free tickets for female attendees. In an effort to overcome gender inequality in the tech sector, offering females a completely different entry price to the event never made much sense to us, which is likely why we love the idea of the Ada Lovelace Initiative.
What does STEM mean?
First of all, just to answer a frequently asked question – what is STEM. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. You’ll regularly hear this terms bandied around at big conferences and the likes more now than ever before. Nearly all businesses will have some STEM aspect to them, adding to the importance of gender equality.
Who was Ada Lovelace?
Ada Lovelace was a nineteenth century English Countess and Mathematician. While you may initially think she looked like a typical female of the time, she was far from the generally accepted norm. Her brilliantly analytical mind and abilities led her to work on one of the first computers, with her often being referred to as the first computer programmer. It will become increasingly obvious why she was picked as the face of the campaign.
What is the Ada Lovelace Initiative?
We consider the Web Summit approach, while honourable, to be a bit of a band aid on the problem. It’s also not very sensitive to the deep rooted nature of the problems faced by women looking to join the STEM sector. Currently, less than 25% of the STEM sector is made of of female employees, with lack of access being one of the biggest contributors.
The Ada Lovelace Initiative, will see women from this 25% and from over 75 Irish STEM companies including TripAvisor, Udemy and Restored Hearing meet with Transition year students around Ireland. The initiative will address the deep rooted issues by connecting with young females early in their search for a career, enabling them to obtain the skills required to enter the STEM sector.
The initiative has already had an impact on 14 counties surpassing its 2000 secondary school student target by 1000 in it’s maiden year. There are already plans to expand the scheme for next year, with mentors only asked to volunteer one hour to a school in order to take part. The initiative will now target all schools in Ireland, so feel free to ask when and who will be visiting your children’s school.
Have you noticed all the people walking around playing Pokémon GO? It really is a rather big deal. We can’t remember the last phenomenon like this, though it’s possible the great Tamagotchi plague of the nineties comes close. But if you want to be the very best, perhaps even like no-one ever was, you’re going to need some kick-ass Pokémon GO accessories to make you a great trainer.
Ash Ketchum’s hat
There are two kinds of Pokémon GO trainer. First you have the ones who walk sheepishly around shopping centres, hoping they don’t make eye contact with anyone as they try to catch the Eevee floating on someone’s cleavage. Then we have the full on Pokémon Master. These are the trainers packing actual (replica) Pokéballs while somersaulting around the clothing rails of your local Elverys. If you feel like you are the latter, then priority one for you is to look the part.
You can pick up the very same (replica) hat that Ash Ketchum himself wears throughout the early days of Pokémon. It also comes with real turning action, meaning you can reverse the cap to become at least 57% cooler depending on the audience to are keeping – no other Pokémon GO accessories can boast that. The seller doesn’t deliver to Ireland, but fortunately you can use the ever so nifty Parcel Motel trick along with an Amazon Prime trial and get this cap pretty fast and pretty cheap!
Believe it or not, there have been widespread reports of “sore legs” accompanying gamers enjoying Pokémon GO. This is likely due to the fact you can easily forget how long you’ve been walking for. This means your phone is working over time, requiring the screen to be on for the majority of the time while also requiring GPS location. You’re going to be burning calories but also burning phone juice. To combat this, serious Pokémon GO trainers will have a fairly decent powerbank.
What you are looking for in your powerbank is a decent mAh rating: about 10,000 mAh should do it. This will give most phones at least and additional two charges and can be picked up relatively cheap. You can get this JETech model on Amazon.co.uk but again you’ll need to use Parcel Motel as they don’t technically deliver to Ireland. It’s all worthwhile to get your hands on one of the most important Pokémon GO accessories needed.
Pokésocks – The most discreet Pokémon GO accessories
Remember what we were saying about the whole “two types of Pokémon trainer?”. This is for the quieter trainer. Can you imagine anything better than pulling on this killer socks while you’re humming the Pokémon theme song to yourself in the morning. We didn’t think so.
This will also make the perfect gift for anyone you know who is trying to “catch ’em all”.
When your phone rings you don’t want people think you’re simply taking a call – no no. You want them to think Professor Oak has an important update while also giving you the chance to dive deeper into Pokémon GO accessories creating a full cosplay experience. While this guy has already made is own Pokédex designed to hold and power a smartphone, for the time being you’ll have to settle for one of these cool phone cases.
There is no date in sight for this just yet, but the team behind the Pokémon GO app are cleverly showing us how bad things can be without Pokémon GO Plus. So you’ve enjoyed the game so far even with the starting at your phone knowing that your battery is quickly depleting. Pokémon GO Plus is a wearable wristband that allows you to power off the screen and put your phone back into your pocket. The band will then vibrate when Pokémon are nearby – saving your battery, your life and, most importantly, your dignity.
When is Pokémon GO Plus being released?
As of yet, there is no confirmed date but end of July and August have been thrown around as possible dates. Keep an eye on out social channels for news as it breaks.
One of the best selling consoles of all time, the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES, is making a comeback as the NES Classic Edition.
Following the incredibly successful launch of Pokémon Go, Nintendo have seen a growth in their stock market value in the past week. You don’t need to be a Jordon Belfort to see where the money is.
Re-inventing Pokémon was such a success, why not re-release the NES too as the NEW Classic Edition. Pre-loaded with 30 classics including some of our favourites like Super Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man along with loads more games to read chapter 4. , Nintendo are taking a step back from futuristic gaming which remains the focus of rivals PlayStation and Xbox. Instead, Nintendo are letting us relive our childhood.
You may remember blowing in cartridges being the pinnacle of technical support in the house, but the relaunch promises some more mod-cons for the NES. HDMI connections, the ability to connect Wii controllers and of course the pre-installed games. You’ll even be able to pick up a second “old school” controller for just €10.
While it looks unlikely that there will be further titles added, nor will there be any internet connectivity. But considering the console will cost about €60 it’s a must have under your telly to show the younger generations where their gaming roots are based.
What are the 30 games that come with the NES Classic Edition
Back in the day it was trading cards, but Pokémon Go has revolutionised childhood memories. The past week has seen real grownups running around catching Pidgeys as some early adopters found ways to install the world’s fastest growing game on their smartphones. At the start of the year, we brought you news of a revolution coming this way and today marks the launch of Pokémon Go in Ireland – though the servers seem to be struggling.
What is Pokémon Go?
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game which uses your smartphone screen and camera to allow you entrance into the world made famous by Ash Ketchum and Pikachu. The goal is to catch all 150 Pokémon, which are kind of like wild pets, train them and win battles with them in gyms. Traditionally, this needed a little more imagination as it was mainly trading cards and Gameboy games, but thanks to Pokémon Go it’s creeping into a whole new reality.
How does Pokémon Go work?
Pokémon Go is an augmented reality app, which means you need to combine the power of your smartphone’s screen and camera. The camera absorbs the real world you can see, while the smartphone then places animations over the real world. The result is effectively immersing you into a world of Pokémon. The best part is that you must move around to local points of interest which seems to be aligned to Google Maps. When you reach these points, you spin a large circle to unlock items like Pokéballs, potions and eggs.
What’s the point of Pokémon Go?
This the question being asked primarily by non-Pokémon fans. The main goal is to catch all the Pokémon – that’s 150 of them. Once caught, you build your Pokémon up, even catching duplicates and trading them to get candies and build up your primary Pokémon more. While Pokémon Go has already gained a bit of a reputation for being a little bit nerdy, it deserves some credit for recreating the notion of gaming to involved fitness. There are a lot more people walking around the streets in the last week thanks to the game and here’s why.
Is Pokémon Go a fitness app?
It’s not being marketed as a fitness app, but to play the game in a stationary position is pointless. As we mentioned already, you must move around to different points on the map to receive items like potions and Pokéballs, so already there is a massive incentive to get off the couch. You’ll likely forget the distances you are walking or running because, well it’s fun! It’s a huge motivation to keep moving as there is always that wonder about what Pokémon you will find next. I myself found this week that rather than sitting in a car and watching SkyGo while waiting for someone, I’d get out and have a wander around for Pokémon.
The second section of the game that contributes to it being great for your fitness are the Pokémon eggs. You carry an incubator with you at all times which has to power to hatch the eggs you earn at various points on the map. Here’s the really smart bit – in order to hatch the eggs, you must cover a set amount of distance dictated by the egg. This will be either 2km, 5km or 10km. You must also stay below about 16kmph (to stop drivers taking advantage) although there are calls for the limit to be increased for cyclists.
When will Pokémon Go be out in Ireland?
It’s out now! Much to the dismay of many early adopters as the servers are seriously struggling to keep up with demand. With that said, creators Niantic will likely be investing in that as the game has been earning the company almost one million dollars per day since launch.
If you are in the Dublin on July 30th, be sure to partake in the Pokémon Go Pub Crawl which is sure to be a bit of craic! You can download the game for Android and iOS now, but bare with it as it stabilises under the huge demand. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where you’ll be getting the latest Pokémon tips and updates from our Pokéman – Jon.
Currently exhibiting in Dublin Castle’s Coach House is the Global Irish Design Challenge Exhibition. The Global Irish Design Challenge stems from a desire to seek out designers and innovators seeking out solutions to problems faced by humanity. The solutions are largely influenced by reinventing and remaking. We’d like to think this is fuelled in part by the worldwide Maker Movement we recently covered. We visited the exhibition to bring you our favourite three designs.
Float by Perch
For most who have ever worked in an office, you’re likely to have an opinion on the choice of chair. As if work isn’t torture enough, the powers that be often have you sitting in something similar to that of a medieval torture chamber. Fortunately, the team at Perch answered the call of the Global Irish Design Challenge.
Float is designed to improve your workplace interpersonal space. Float enables groups to come together in a naturally forming group with inter-connected seating allowing space and neutral work space. The exhibition doesn’t really do the product justice, as there is only one, but you can sit down and try it out.
Logitech G by Logitech and Design Partners
For years, the debate has raged between console and computer gamers as to who enjoys the better experience. Console gamers generally have a bigger playing pool as consoles remove a lot of barriers, but PC gamers have the power and ability to upgrade. PC gamers also have the Marmite decision of controller versus mouse.
All things considered, Logitech decided to cash in on the massive industry of PC gaming and the company benefited from 25% year-on-year growth in sales owing largely to gaming products such as mice, headsets and keyboards. This success is largely attributed to Design Partners work, described in the exhibition as a “seamless integration of advanced technology, game-specific ergonomics and visceral beauty”.
Not everyone still has a milkman these days. The system of having milk delivered to your house is largely inefficient and can lead to hairy babies.
MyMilkman.ie is a service like Hailo, Uber or JustEat for Milk. After years of losing milkmen around the country, many likely don’t even know who they should call now and just drive to the shops.
MyMilkman.ie allows you to enter your area and find local milkmen. You then enter your details, such as milk needs and address, browse your milkman’s options and create an order. Your order will then reoccur weekly with a bill coming into your email once a week – avoiding the need for cash on the doorstep (if you like). You can read more on how the system works over on the MyMilkman.ie website.
There are loads more of exhibitions on show, including this cool music instrument you can interact with on Twitter.
We’ve shot a 360 view of the exhibition which runs until 27th of August, but this is only a teaser of what is a great insight into design and understanding end-users. We urge you to pop along to see the exhibition, which is free after all.
FormBox is one of the latest success stories on Kickstarter. Kickstarter has never been shy of bringing innovation and creation to the masses, but FormBox could spark creativity in the home similar to that of 3D printing has within the Maker Community. FormBox’s Kickstarter campaign secured almost $600,000 in funding: 11 times the original goal.
The Maker Movement
The Maker Movement accompanied the advent of 3D printing. While expensive for most, 3D printing was a relatively cheap way of prototyping, empowering individuals and small businesses to create physical representations of what was once just a thought. 3D printing is capable of printing items as large as car parts or as small as trinkets created using your smartphone thanks to OLO – the latest 3D printer to disrupt the Marker Movement. Dublin has even got its first 3D printing shop in Rathmines: a trend which has become increasingly popular in the US.
While 3D printing has enabled some to join the Maker Movement, many consider it to be slow, still expensive and requiring far too much knowledge of computer programs such as CAD. This is where FormBox comes into its own
FormBox is Making for the masses
If you have ever peeled a spud, you can use the FormBox. While 3D printing depends on filaments and pipe to print your computer generated 3D model, layer by layer, FormBox only requires you have some sort of physical 3D model. The team at Mayku have demonstrated the use of carved potatoes combined with their machine to create various useful designs and moulds. The FormBox heats material and then, using your vacuum at home, moulds this material to the 3D model (potatoe). Here’s Ben from Mayku to explain it.
Yes, that’s cool personalised thinks at home as well as finding a use for your vacuum. You can literally create any shape from a banana to candle holder, flower pot to customised toys. Simply place the shape you want on the platform, turn on the vacuum, lay down the plastic and pull a lever, its just so simple.
Using the moulds you can then create personalised chocolates, candles or even a concrete clock. The only real cost after the initial setup would appear to be the $20 for 30 plastic sheets used in the initial moulding phase. The FormBox will cost around €350 to €400 when it officially launches in May 2017.
In an increasingly competitive market battling for the attention of broadband customers, eir are now offering customers free BT Sport. If you’re not a customer, take a moment to think what broadband your parents have and get excited.
eir maintain the largest market share of broadband in Ireland. According to ComReg, 33.9% of home broadband connections in Ireland are connected with eir, though they have been seeing a decline over the past few years. Still, according to the same report, eir boast almost half a million customers: that’s half a million people who can now access free BT Sport.
What’s included with eir Sport?
eir Sport is the other major sports viewing package along with Sky Sports. These are always sold separately, which is a massive frustration for many who can shell out over €100 a month and still miss key Premiership football matches, depending on rights. eir Sports includes eir Sport 1, eir Sport 2 (these are formerly Setanta Sports), BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and BT Sport: all of these coming in HD too. There are also six BT Extra channels for when there is simply too much sport on.
Who can get these channels?
While most people can get these channels, the real question is who can get them as part of their existing package. Existing eir broadband customers rejoice as all you have to do is simply log into the eir website to view these channels. There’s no extra cost at all, it’s that simple. With a few clicks through the eir website, you’ll be viewing free BT Sport in no time.
With a little creativity, should a close family member have eir broadband and no be interested in sports, you should be able to attach one of your devices to their account. In total, eir Sports can be viewed on two devices per account.
How can I view eir Sports?
This is where eir have outdone themselves. They are much more than a simple catchy song and a shiny new logo.
Sorry. We know it’s taken almost a year to get that song out of your head.
You can enjoy eir Sport direct from your browser, though Firefox is pretty much the only one you can use (along with Internet Explorer, but still), through the official app (with the iOS version coming soon) or by linking your broadband account to your Sky viewing card number. This last one is genius.
How do I link eir Sports to my Sky account?
It’s shocking, but the answer to this in short is “very easily indeed”. If you or a close family member intends on enjoying eir Sports through the app or your browser, then it would be an awful shame to not link the sports package to someone’s Sky account. (It’s ok, we all know this goes on in families: looking at you Netflix freeloaders).
Head on over to the dedicated space for Sky customers with eir broadband. Then simply log into the account with the bill payers permission, type in your Sky viewing card number and click continue. Within seconds, you’ll have full access to the eir Sports package (lets not forget that includes free BT Sport) on your Sky box. Magical stuff.
eir have come out all guns blazing in what looks to be a very competitive broadband market. This will only continue to get better for us all. If you needed any further evidence that eir mean business, they even have Riyad Mahrez and Ian Madigan heading up their new TV spot.
2015 saw UPC become Virgin Media and the Irish mobile market welcomed two new MVNO networks, owing to Three’s merger with O2: iD Mobile and Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile have now moved into advancing their operations in Ireland by offering mobile phones to customers.
What do Virgin Mobile offer?
“Piggy-backing” on the Three network, Virgin Mobile offers what should be great nationwide coverage in most areas. To coincide with the introduction of mobile phones to Virgin Mobile, they are also upgrading their network to 4G. Obviously, you will also be able to save further by bundling together your TV, mobile phone, home phone and broadband into one convenient bill. Finally, Virgin Mobile will also offer “Freestyle” billing: an interesting, but not new approach to how you pick your mobile plans.
What is Virgin Mobile Freestyle?
Virgin Mobile Freestyle is a similar concept to that launched by iD Mobile last year. Traditionally, when you signed up to a mobile network, you picked your monthly payments without knowing how much was dedicated to your phone and service cost. Freestyle allows you to split your phone cost and service usage cost into two separate selections, providing much greater transparency into your monthly spending. While it may be a little difficult to get your head around such honesty, it’s worth while.
The single greatest benefit here comes when you have completed the duration of your contract. When you got your new phone for €60 a month over two years, it was great value. But not it’s four years later, you still have the phone and are still paying €60 per month, if not more because that plan simply doesn’t suit your needs. With Freestyle, once you have finished paying off your phone, you only have to worry about your monthly service costs.
So how much will it cost to get a phone with Virgin Mobile
Virgin have announced some of their pricing already, with the very best being kept for Virgin Media customers (all pricing shown here is for Virgin customers). The Apple iPhone 6s 16GB and Samsung Galaxy S7 will start at €190 upfront and cost €50 per month after a €35 per month, 4 month introductory offer. For this monthly amount you will get Unlimited calls, texts and 4G data.
Virgin Mobile won’t offer the same flexibility as iD Mobile, who allow you to adjust your minutes, texts and data monthly, but they do appear to offer competitive pricing versus the other long standing networks. At the launch of their mobile offers, Virgin Mobile show saves of €250 versus Vodafone, €299 versus Meteor and €179 versus Three for the iPhone 6s.
If you are a non-Virgin Media customer you can still avail of the new network, but you will pay an extra fiver.
What phones can I get with Virgin Mobile?
For launch, Virgin will be offering the following phones:
• Apple iPhone 6s 16GB & 64GB
• Apple iPhone 6
• Apple iPhone 5s
• Apple iPhone SE
• Samsung Galaxy S7
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
• Samsung Galaxy S6
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016)
• Sony Xperia X
• Sony Xperia XA
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
• Microsoft Lumia 550
How and when can I get Virgin Mobile?
Virgin Mobile will be available through the Virgin Media website from July 7th. It is not yet clear if Virgin will be available in retail stores.