Skip to main content

So this is what it looks like when a car driver plays ‘Pokémon Go’

2016 08 09 DRIVER OUT CATCHING POKEMON DRAWS ATTENTION FROM POLICE HELICOPTER
So this is what it looks like when a driver plays Pokémon Go at three in the morning.

Toronto cops recently posted a video on YouTube showing an incident where one of its helicopters spent 10 minutes tracking a guy “driving suspiciously” around a neighborhood in the small hours. Judging by the footage, “suspiciously” means tootling along at a snail’s pace, and stopping and starting the vehicle for no apparent reason.

While cops probably initially thought they were dealing with a driver who’d sunk one too many beers that evening, the truth was revealed when an officer on the ground pulled the driver over to find out exactly what was going on.

After an exchange that lasted about 40 seconds, the start of which may well have involved the driver telling the cop, “Just hang on a minute, I really need to catch this Pokémon,” the officer radioed in that, yes, the man behind the wheel of the erratically driven car had indeed been playing the globally successful augmented-reality smartphone game that is Pokémon Go.

The police department that stopped the driver said on YouTube it wanted to “remind members of the public and players that any distraction while driving or walking on or near roadways can be hazardous.” The game, if you didn’t already know, involves exploring the real world to catch virtual monsters, among other activities.

The distracted driver in this particular case was pretty lucky, receiving nothing more than a “stern warning” from the authorities.

The outcome may have been different if he was in Japan. There, the police have so far handed out hundreds of tickets to people playing the game while driving. Cops in Taiwan have also been busy pulling over drivers for the same reason.

Aware of the issue, Pokémon Go‘s creator recently incorporated a warning into the game that it hopes will encourage drivers to look at the road ahead instead of at their smartphone screen.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Pokémon Sleep: expected release date, trailer, news, and more
An illustration of a Snorlax and other Pokémon napping from the Pokémon Sleep trailer.

Just when you thought you had all the Pokémon you needed in your life, here comes a way to interact with the world of Pokémon while you sleep. First announced in 2019 and quietly in development since, the mobile app Pokémon Sleep is set to launch in 2023, the Pokémon Company recently announced.

You may have caught all the Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet or Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but have you studied their sleeping habits? Here's everything you need to know about this new Pokémon experience.
What is Pokémon Sleep?
Rest your very best! | Pokémon Sleep

Read more
You can now video chat with a ChatGPT AI — here’s what it looks like
Call Annie ChatGPT app on an iPhone.

Showing up to a videoconference as your digital avatar can be quite fun. Apple lets you do just that with Memojis during FaceTime. If you want something more ambitious on a different platform, Avatarify will turn into Albert Einstien or Mona Lisa for Zoom calls. But what if you could bring an AI conversation to life? Say, by talking to ChatGPT as if OpenAI’s AI was a CGI person talking to you on a video call?
Well, that’s now possible. Call Annie is an app that turns ChatGPT into Annie, a talking female avatar that doesn’t look like a glitchy visual mess. Developed by Animato.Ai, the app is currently exclusive to iOS 16, but you can also use it on macOS 13 machines with an M-series processor inside.

A ChatGPT-powered video call in action
https://twitter.com/frantzfries/status/1651316031762071553?s=20
Another limitation is that you need at least the iPhone 12 or a later model to start a video call with Annie because the real-time conversion of linguistic prompts into visual cues draws power from Apple’s Neural Engine.
The app’s makers claim that talking to Annie “face-to-face in real time time feels more natural and faster than typing and reading text.” So far, the sample videos we have seen on social media, like the one above, show a fairly convincing video call interface.
Right now, Annie appears to be pretty good at holding a fluent conversation, even though the voice sounds robotic, and the phrase pausing could also use some work. The answers, however, are typical of the answers you would get while texting back-and-forth with ChatGPT. And given enough time and improved voice training, Call Annie interactions can become a lot more natural-sounding.
It all brings back memories of the sci-fi flick Her, in which Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with one such AI. One user asked on Reddit whether Annie can have a “memory” system that will turn it into a smarter “friend,” to which the app developers replied with “soon.”
https://twitter.com/jakedahn/status/1651285054591750144
This is only the beginning for Annie
Users who have tried the app note that it occasionally flubs the pronunciation of words, but once corrected, it also learns right away. One user described this experience as “scary stuff.”Another issue it has is with pronouncing words in languages other than English, something that the developers are trying to fix.
Thanks to its ChatGPT smarts, the app’s developers say it can help you with everything from learning and web searches to serving as a tour guide or even a virtual companion. We don’t know if it’s as smart as other virtual partner apps like Replika, but considering the fact that Annie is based on ChatGPT (and its vast data training model), you can have a significantly deeper and fact-driven conversation with Annie.
Animato’s App Store description notes that the AI keeps all conversations “confidential” but hasn’t specified what kind of security measures have been put in place and whether it uses the user conversations for training and refining Annie’s systems.

Read more
Pokémon Presents February 2023: how to watch and what to expect
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet protagonist holding glowing Poke Ball

Pokémon Day 2023 is nearly upon us, and it will bring another Pokémon Presents showcase full of exciting announcements regarding the long-running series. As Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were quite successful despite technical problems, a lot of fans are curious to learn what's next, both for those individual titles and the franchise as a whole.
Pokémon fans who want to learn about the series' future should certainly tune into this presentation. If you're wondering how to watch it and what kinds of announcements to expect for the first Pokémon Presents of 2023, we've rounded up all of that information here for you.
When is the February 2023 Pokémon Presents?
This Pokémon Presents showcase will start at 6 a.m. PT on February 27, which is Pokémon Day, as well as the 27th anniversary of the series. The Pokémon Company says the presentation will last "around 20 minutes." 
How to watch
The February 27 Pokémon Presents will be officially live-streamed on the main Pokémon YouTube Channel. We'll embed the live stream below ahead of the presentation. Other sites and Pokémon-themed content creators will likely be co-streaming the event as well. 
https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/1628032454295531522
What to expect
Unfortunately, The Pokémon Company was light on giving any real hints as to what we'll see during this Nintendo Direct-like presentation. But if this showcase falls in line with previous Pokémon Presents live streams, then we can expect it to give us an overview of all the big Pokémon titles coming out this year. Currently, we don't know if any brand-new Pokémon games are launching in 2023; if there aren't, then hopefully we'll see some DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. 
Some leaks may have also spoiled some of the Pokémon Presents' surprises. Leakers have found data for more new Pokémon forms that could potentially come to Scarlet and Violet via updates. Meanwhile, fans found mention of Spike Chunsoft in the new Pokémon Together website's source code, so it seems likely that a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon from that developer is coming soon. Regardless of what's actually announced, February 27 is shaping up to be a really exciting day for Pokémon fans. 

Read more