Tech Trend 247

Nintendo is switching things up with its newly revealed transformative gaming console: Nintendo Switch.

Though the hardware's Thursday reveal left many unanswered questions relating to price, battery life and more, it did do one thing extremely well. The first look gave us a sneak peak at some of the many different ways the versatile gaming system can be used from the comfort of your living room and on-the-go.

The trailer was packed with a whole lot of information, so we assembled this collection of GIFs to highlight some of the Switch's sweetest features thus far.

It's a handheld device

It's a free-standing console

It's a living room console

It's a portable party machine

It uses cartridges

Is has a headphone jack (sup Apple?!)

It's sharable 

It's made for collaboration

Feel free to watch these GIFs on repeat while you get pumped for the Switch's March 2017 arrival.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

Just how popular is virtual reality? It's hard to tell, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "1 million people use VR every month" at the Oculus Connect 3 developer conference.

Zuckerberg didn't specify what VR specifically referred to. Does that include Google Cardboard? Samsung Gear VR and all of the mobile VR headset clones? He did name-check the competition, and didn't specify Oculus/Facebook in the stat, so it stands to reason he's including all VR experiences in that million.

Still, we wonder just how many of those 1 million monthly people are using the Oculus Rift. And what about the HTC Vive? And just how many people were using Oculus Rift developer kits before the consumer version of the headset launched this past spring?

Again, it's hard to tell how successful that is when VR, as a category, is so broad and spread across multiple different devices and platforms.

A million VR users does sound promising. Even though the Rift and Vive are available, it's still very, very early days for the "next computing platform."

Google's Daydream VR platform is set to launch in the next few months and PlayStation VR launches next week.

SAN JOSE, California — For as far VR has come and as good as the experiences have gotten, there still aren't many options for those who don't have a high end PC.

But during the keynote at Oculus Connect Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg briefly teased an all-new headset: a standalone viewer that doesn't rely on a mobile phone or a PC.  Right now the device, known at the Santa Cruz Prototype, is just that: a prototype. But it offers a tantalizing look at an untethered VR future.

Though the video demo of the Santa Cruz Prototype was more remarkable for how its brevity more than what it actually showed, Oculus was offering short demos of the device at Oculus Connect and Mashable got a chance to take the headset for a spin.

The demo took place in a windowless room that was set up to look like a living room, with a couch, a desk and other furniture set up around the perimeter. The middle of the room was empty — we were encourage to move around as much as we liked during the demo.

Photos and video weren't allowed inside the demo room but the headset looked just like what appeared in the very short video shown during the keynote. The headset itself resembled the Rift, but had four cameras attached to the front of the headset and the words "Santa Cruz Prototype" emblazoned on the front cover. On the back of the headset was a fan for cooling and a processor.

The three-minute demo consisted of two different animated scenes. One was a suburban neighborhood and the other a rooftop whee you could look down on the buildings around you. The overall image quality lay somewhere between the Gear VR and the Rift. The graphics were cartoon-like and pretty cheesy but the experience was meant to demonstrate the untethered concept of the prototype more than anything else.

There was nothing to actually do once in the scene other than walk around and explore the surroundings, which was sort of the whole point. You could comfortably explore the virtual world around you without worrying about bumping into something. 

That's because as soon as you got within a foot or so of a wall or piece of furniture a series of blue lines appeared in VR to let you know you were too close (you can see them faintly in the GIF above.) Take a step back and the lines disappeared. Move forward and there they were again.

It's difficult to overstate just how freeing this is. If you know anything about VR you know that there are really only two kinds of experiences right now: mobile VR, like the Gear VR and Google's Daydream VR, which use smartphones and wired experiences that rely on a PC connection like Oculus or the HTC Vive. Neither of these give you the freedom to comfortably move around while you're in VR.

The Santa Cruz Prototype does. During my demo, I moved side to side, spun around and walked to all sides of the space — I was never the least bit worried about bumping into anything. The blue lines always appeared as I approached the wall.

This is due to the combination of cameras on the headset, which are able to track your movements in relation to the objects in the room, Max Cohen, Oculus' head of mobile, explained. "What it's basically doing is that it's sampling the environment and so it's looking around at objects that it can then recognize," Cohen told Mashable. 

"You don't have to set up anything. You just put it on your head and in the environment it should, theoretically, work."

There are some caveats. Cohen cautioned that it won't work everywhere. Wide open outdoor spaces, for example, wouldn't work as there are no boundaries for the camera to detect. Some surfaces and lighting conditions may also limit it (my demo was in a brightly lit room with no windows).

So while it does offer the promise of an untethered mobile experience, don't expect to use it outdoors very much.

"We expect this standalone product to still be used in the home but also in the home of your friends because you take it with you. Or maybe you take it to your workplace," Cohen said. "We think it's very flexible but it's not like this one thing that magically works every single place you are."

It may not be magic, but it does feel like the future.

Virtual reality may soon be less of a lonely experience for Oculus hardware owners, as the company outlined how people can see each other and play together inside of virtual reality.

Oculus announced a new party system during its Oculus Connect developers conference in San Jose, California, Thursday. The party system will allow friends to enter a chat system when they're inside Oculus Gear VR and Rift headsets.

But it's more than just a way to make voice calls. There's a platform-wide social experience joining the mix as well, called Oculus Rooms, which will allow people to chat and hang out in the same "room" in VR. These rooms will have mini games, and people can play music and watch videos, and join social games right from Rooms.

To make your VR persona feel more like you, Oculus also announced Oculus Avatars, which are customizable heads and hands that will persist across the platform. You'll be able to create version of yourself, then customize its clothing and colors. 

The Avatar system will be powered by Oculus Touch, the Rift's upcoming hand controllers, and will be available the same day Touch ships, Dec. 6.

Party chat and Oculus Rooms will come to Gear VR later this year, and to the Oculus Rift at the start of 2017.

If you've spent any time in virtual reality then "cozy" is definitely not the first word that comes to mind. Google thinks its new Daydream View headset can change that.

The $79 headset is Google's first true virtual reality device and it's soft and fuzzy — literally. 

Instead of the plastic and foam of most headsets, Daydream is made out of soft cloth that feels more like felt or a blanket. It's difficult to overstate how much of a difference this makes. I've spent quite a bit of time with virtual reality headsets and I always walk away thinking how uncomfortable they are — regardless of how good the content inside was. 

For Google, whose previous entry into the space was the cheap but not-at-all comfortable Cardboard, Daydream is a welcome departure from what we've come to expect from VR.

Of course, fabric does come with a few tradeoffs; mainly that it gets dirty, particularly the part that touches your face when you wear it. While Google representatives emphasized repeatedly that they didn't think staining would be a significant issue for most, the inside fabric panel is removable so you can wash it from time to time. 

Setting up the viewer, which for now only works with Google's Pixel phones, is also far simpler than the Gear VR or even Cardboard. The phone slips into the front lid easily and the front panel attaches to the top of the headset with an elastic loop. The front panel can also come out a bit so larger phones and phones with cases can fit inside.

When you want to begin a VR session you don't need to connect your phone to the headset in any way unless you want to use headphones. Instead, Google has employed NFC to allow the phone to transition to VR. When you're not using the headset, the controller clips in for easy storage.

The controller itself is small and looks similar to a Roku remote. It has a touchpad on top (used for navigation), two menu buttons and volume controls. The remote is a bit different than other VR controllers in that you don't need to actually move your hand that much to use it. This could take some getting used to if you're accustomed to other controllers, but it worked pretty well in my initial demo.

I had some trouble during a demo of the upcoming Harry Potter-themed game based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (which was awesome, by the way) that required you to move the controller (a wand in VR) in specific patterns. But I suspect it would get a bit easier with more practice.

Though my demo with Daydream View was short, I came away impressed with the experience and not just because it's more comfortable than any VR demo I've ever done. Google has also managed to make a really good — if basic — virtual reality headset at an attractive price.

Of course, the one caveat to all this is that for now the only Daydream-compatible phones are Google's new Pixel devices. But most Android manufacturers have already committed to making Daydream-ready devices of their own, so expect to have a lot more options in the coming weeks and months.

Searching for a way to help children with autism, researcher Gail Alvares came up with a fairly simple equation.

"We like games, we know that kids like games, so why don't we develop something that could become an additional part of therapy," she told Mashable Australia.

As part of her work at the University of Western Australia and the Telethons Kids Institute, a medical research organisation based in Perth, Alvares is working on a video game project aimed at teaching kids with autism vital social skills.

The game, currently dubbed Frankie and Friends, is intended to help such children begin to process social information — an idea Alvares described in an article for ABC News.

"One of the difficulties that some children with autism may experience is paying attention to social information with people," she explained to Mashable Australia. "They may not make eye contact with people or they might pay more attention to objects than people or faces."

If parents, teachers or therapists had learning tools that could start to shift that attention, to help children with autism prioritise people and particularly their faces in social interactions, it could have a significant impact.

Made for children ages 5 to 12, Alvares' three games focus on a sausage dog named Frankie who needs help finding his friends. 

"All three [games] target particular social skills that we think at least some kids with autism would find challenging," she said. "There are things like understanding emotions, or being able to pay attention to faces over objects, and also a skill called joint attention, which is being able to follow somebody else's gaze."

The games are intended to be fun, so kids don't actually realise they're training. There's also no language component and no written instructions. 

"This is specifically designed with children with autism in mind, because we know that in amongst the spectrum of kids with autism, there is a wide variety of cognitive abilities and language abilities," she added.

While the game is very promising, Alvares said the research team wants to ensure it's truly effective through extensive trials before making it available to the public. 

The idea of serious gaming (i.e. gaming with a purpose other than entertainment) is an emerging field within autism intervention and therapy. However, few games have proven to be effective in her opinion. 

Worse, many of them are not engaging nor fun, and aren't designed with children's enjoyment as a priority.

"We're giving these games to children to test at home and measuring using eye tracking where they're actually looking in a real social environment," she said.

Alvares is conscious that parents of children with autism are already asked to do so much. "We hope to make it commercially available if we can show some evidence. Parents of kids with autism are already being charged enormous amounts of money for so many things — therapy or anything that might have the hint of having some effect."

Once Frankie and Friends is up and running, the team hopes it can become a platform to start developing a range of other games targeting issues that children with autism might have difficulty with. That could even be going to the dentist or the hairdresser. 

"Things that we might take for granted children may do, children with autism might find really challenging," she explained.

Far from wasting time, these video games could provide kids with autism help with some of their toughest problems.

While the first official Pokémon Go wearable is still several weeks away, that hasn't stopped at least one enterprising developer from hacking together a wearable version of Nintendo's hit mobile game.

Patrick Cho, a developer at Intel, has succeeded in putting a very basic version of Pokémon Go onto his company's augmented reality glasses. Though still experimental, the app is one of a handful of unofficial AR and VR-ready demos that promise to untether Nintendo's app from our smartphones.

Intel was showing off Pokémon Go on its Recon Jet smart glasses at its Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco this week. The glasses, which right now are targeted at cyclists and runners, are powered by a modified version of Android. This allowed Cho to cobble together an unofficial port of the app onto the glasses.

He had to change the orientation of the app in order to make it run in landscape mode on the Jet's display. Once he did, the app's map, which you can see below, loaded on the glasses' display. There, you can see the locations of PokéStops, gyms, Pokémon and just about everything else you'd expect  to see in the normal version of the map.

While the fact that Cho was able to get a version of the app up and running is an impressive feat — particularly considering Niantic has been cracking down on unsanctioned use of its API — there are several caveats to this experience. 

First, it's important to note that this was intended as more of a proof of concept than anything else (although Intel says it is open to working with Niantic should the company decide to make an official version available for its glasses.) 

Second, Recon's glasses aren't equipped with LTE — only Wi-Fi, which is pretty limiting for an app like Pokémon Go that requires a mobile connection. One way around this potential obstacle though, which Intel used for the demo I saw, was to use a smartphone to create a mobile hotspot and connect the glasses to Wi-Fi that way. 

Lastly (and most importantly), even the demo version I saw was extremely limited in its current form. Although you could see a detailed map view, you can't actually visit PokéStops, catch Pokémon or participate in any other game play other than walking around which, to be fair, is useful for hatching eggs. Also, being an unofficial version, the app was prone to crashing. 

Still, despite being very much an experiment, the augmented reality version of Pokémon Go serves as an intriguing look at how Niantic and Nintendo could roll the game out to other platforms. Prior to Pokémon Go, the Niantic team made Google Glass apps and the company has previously hinted that it would at least consider making a version for Microsoft's HoloLens, so don't give up hope on a more official wearable version just yet.

Until then, we'll just hope Nintendo's official wristband doesn't get delayed any longer. 

Obsessed with Pokémon Go? Then consider a case that will share your love of the game with the world. 

While none of these covers will up your Pokémon-catching skillz, they will definitely give your iPhone some real prestige. Once you've picked one, check out these other Pokémon-themed tech accessories to keep satisfying your Pokémania. 

1. Hand-painted Pokémon cases

Starting off with something a little special, Etsy seller MintCorner offers a range of hand-painted Pokémon character cases. They are all adorable, but this Eevee option is particularly kawaii. 

Available for: iPhone 5 and up

Cost: From $11.50 

2.   Pikachu Dots Phone Case

This funky geometric design brings some Pokémon fun to your phone in a subtle way. Pika Pika! 

Available for: iPhone 5/5S, iPhone SE

Cost: $19.95 

3.  Pokémon Go team cases

Display your allegiance to Mystic, Valor or Instinct with a case in team colors. 

Available for: All iPhones

Cost: $13.99 each 

4.  First generation Pokémon badges case 

Show off your back-in-the-day Pokémon credentials with this snap-on cover that features Gym Badges from the first generation. 

Available for: All iPhones

Cost: $22.91 

5.  Chibi Pokémon pattern case 

Starring 24 Pokémon from the first generation, we’re keeping it old skool with this sweet “chibi” style design. 

Available for: All iPhones

Cost: $28.70 

6.  Fall Fennekin phone case 

Who doesn’t love a Fennekin in fall? Or indeed at any time of the year. This official case captures the fox-like critter nicely. 

Available for: iPhone 5/5S, iPhone SE

Cost: $19.95 

7.  Adorable Pokémon Pikachu iPhone case

If Pikachu is your fave Pokémon, you should find this cute case electrifying. 

Available for: iPhone 6/6S, iPhone 6/6S Plus

Cost: $13.99 

8. Pokémon Poké Ball case

Keep it classic with this colorful Poké Ball case. 

Available for: All iPhones

Cost: $27.08 

9. Haunter phone case

If you prefer the darker side of the Pokemon universe, this Haunter design kills the cute in favor of a Gengar grin. 

Available for: iPhone 6/6s, iPhone 6/6s Plus

Cost: $20 

10.  Personalized Pokémon phone case 

Made from real wood and engraved with a frickin’ laser, this is the ultimate personalized option for serious trainers out there. 

Available for: iPhone 6/6S

Cost: $19.99 

Pokémon Go's only been in Singapore for half a day, but cheaters are already ruining the experience for everyone.

The record-breaking mobile game finally hit the city state on Saturday after players waited a month since the game's debut in North America and Australia.

But tap on any of the gyms and you'll see them occupied by powerful Pokémon of around 2000 CP, and trainers at level 30 or more.

Given that the game's only been here since early morning, it's a pretty safe bet that many of these players have been levelling up over the past month by employing a number of workarounds. One of those is GPS spoofing, which feeds a different GPS location to the software, so it thinks you're in another country.

This has allowed players to move around catching Pokémon in the game without needing to physically travel — and cheat in countries where the game's map has been empty, by viewing the map belonging to another location.

The workaround isn't uncommon, but risks a ban from the game since it's cheating and against Niantic's usage policy.

People have been expressing their unhappiness online:

Still, with so many waiting for the game, you can expect this weekend to be overrun by Pokémon catching zombies.

The police have released an advisory on Facebook, too.

Pokémon Go players in Sydney, Australia, may have three less PokéStops from which to get their Poké Balls, Razz Berries and potions.

The western suburb of Rhodes had been inundated with avid Pokémon Go fans since the game launched in July, leading residents to complain about crowds, rubbish and noise. In response, the local Canada Bay council began a campaign to have its PokéStops removed, and it appears to have emerged victorious from this particular battle.

According to Fairfax Media, three intersecting Poké Stops placed in Peg Paterson Park — which reportedly had been responsible for attracting hordes of Pokémon Go players — simply vanished sometime on Monday. 

Whether this is thanks to the recent game update or a separate change by the game developer Niantic is unclear. 

Mashable reached out to Niantic for comment but the company did not immediately respond. 

The council had submitted requests to Niantic to have the PokéStops removed, and encouraged residents to do the same. "The recent phenomenon of Pokémon Go has seen unprecedented numbers of people flocking to Rhodes," Deputy Mayor Helen McCaffrey said in an August newsletter. 

"I would like to thank residents, building managers and businesses for their support and patience as we all try to find an appropriate solution to the ongoing issues of noise, traffic and rubbish, as a result of the game's popularity."

Irate residents had posted pictures of trampled grass and rubbish on the council's Facebook page, ostensibly left behind by gamers. Others shared videos of crowds of people spilling off the footpath and cars circling the neighbourhood as they hunted Pokémon.

"Walking the dog at night suddenly feels like I'm in an ep of Dr Who or Torchwood or the walking dead or some post apocalyptic zombie phone reality where ‪#‎pokémongoaddicts‬ have taken over the kids park and cross roads without looking for cars," another posted.

The PokéStops and Gyms in Pokémon Go were chosen from a data set created by the players of Niantic's previous augmented reality game, Ingress. For the most part, public artworks, historical sites, and unique buildings and local businesses were chosen, Niantic CEO John Hanke told Mashable Australia when the game launched.

Hanke also said the game aimed to keep people safe while getting them out of the house and interacting with the real world. "We're trying to strike a good balance," he said.

Hopefully Niantic will reveal how it decides which PokéStops to remove. There may be some cemeteries and memorials that would like to know.

When it comes to Pokémon Go, not all locations are created equal.

If you don't live in a heavily populated area, then everything from catching Pokémon to locating Gyms can be much more challenging. Luckily, if you live in the suburbs, there are a few steps you can take to maximize your success and minimize your frustration. (If you live in a very remote area, then these tips may be of limited use to you — but they should be a good place to start for people who live in suburbs or smaller towns and cities.)

Know where to look

Unlike densely populated cities like Manhattan or San Francisco, where there are PokéStops and Gyms seemingly on every corner, suburban areas force you to look a little harder.

Keep in mind that while PokéStops and Gyms are often located at local landmarks, including parks, churches and statues, they are also found near local businesses. There's no foolproof way to find them, but the Yelp app can be an extremely helpful tool. 

Of course, you'll need help locating actual Pokémon, not just the PokéStops. Finding the right places to catch new Pokémon can definitely be an exercise in frustration in less populated areas. While it may sometimes be a matter of pure dumb luck, there may be a few things you can do to maximize your chances.

Some users on Reddit have noted that truck stops and rest stops near highways often make for good spots for Pokémon hunting. The theory is that areas where there is increased cellular activity tend to have a higher concentration of Pokémon spawning. 

Pokémon trackers are your friend

If you still need a little extra help, Pokévision, a website that tracks the locations of Pokémon near you, is another excellent resource. The website uses data from Pokémon Go's own servers, making it one of the more accurate Pokémon-tracking services out there. Use the website to scan your location and it will show you all the Pokémon in your area. You can only scan a new location every 30 seconds, however, and the site's Twitter account indicates that, like Pokémon Go, it sometimes has server troubles of its own.

Similarly, there are a handful of third-party apps, like Poké Radar, that aim to help players scout out the locations of nearby Pokémon. 

Don't forget eggs

If you simply aren't having any luck finding new Pokémon nearby, there is another way to get new characters: eggs. 

You can find eggs at PokéStops (see above) and hatching eggs is a great way to get new Pokémon that you may not otherwise be able to find in your area. Of course, as with all of this advice, there is a little luck involved — but with some patience (and a lot of walking) you can use eggs to grow your Pokémon collection on your own.

Uh-oh, Nintendo. The Pokémon Go Plus accessory — a wristband that will alert you to the presence of the little pesky creatures, among other things — will be out two months later than originally announced, the company said in a tweet. 

While Nintendo pointed out that the original launch was planned for the "end of July," it did not specify what time in September the device will be launched. 

This is probably why Nintendo recently made clear that the financial impact of Pokémon Go's stellar success will be limited: It doesn't make the game, it only partially owns the intellectual property rights for the Pokémon franchise, and the only real Pokémon Go-related product it's making will come significantly later than expected. Nintendo's stock price plummeted after Monday's announcement. And it's stayed at roughly the same value since then. 

Pokémon Go has been dominating the top apps charts since its release in early July, but interest in the game has slightly waned from the first (admittedly crazy) couple of days. The ideal time for the launch of Pokémon Go Plus would have been three weeks ago. Nintendo now has no choice but to hope a September launch doesn't prove to be too late. 

Pokémon Go Plus is a bracelet that connects with your phone via Bluetooth and alerts you to nearby Pokémon and PokéStops, hopefully saving your phone's battery. Even better, if you've caught a Pokémon before, you'll be able to catch it again by simply pressing the button on the bracelet instead of throwing a virtual Pokéball at it on your phone every time.