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'Pokémon Go' might soon add Ditto and generation 2 monsters
If catch and daily bonuses aren't enough to lure you back into playing Pokémon Go, maybe new monsters are. The SilphRoad has dissected newly added codes in the game's files and found references to shapeshifting Ditto and 100 Generation 2 monsters, from #152 Chikorita to #251 Celebi. Ditto has been in the game's codes for a while, but the team discovered a new "Transform" move meant for the critter with its own animation sequence. As you might know, Ditto is known for turning into the Pokémon it's battling in addition to its ability to breed with any monster.
A company will scan your Tumblr pictures to work out what brands you love
When Yahoo bought Tumblr for more than a billion dollars, a lot of us wondered how it would ever turn a profit. After all, people sharing cat GIFs and monochrome erotica didn't seem like a very effective business model. According to Mashable, however, the social network is going to earn its keep by helping big brands like Coca Cola and Nike understand how they're perceived. That's because Tumblr is hooking up with analytics firm Ditto, which will scour your pictures looking for sneakers and soft drinks in the frame. It'll then pass this data on to the companies involved for a fee, helping them to ensure the teenagers are all praising the right sort of soda at the next box social, or something. Update: Tumblr's reached out to confirm the deal, a "firehose partnership" with the agency, will go ahead this week.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: fluorescent bulb moon, fuel-efficient supersonic jet and a toxin-eating oyster park
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Man-made technology is great, but Mother Nature is the greatest inventor of them all -- and scientists are discovering new ways to take advantage of the tools found in nature. Take, for example, a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University who developed a solar cell using the photosynthetic protein found in spinach. In New York, Scape Studio has proposed to use the oyster's natural cleaning ability to help clean up the contaminated waters of the Gowanus Canal. The firm has received funding to create Oyster-tecture, an oyster park at the mouth of the canal where millions of mollusks will "eat" toxins. Meanwhile, the US Forest Service has been deriving cellulose nanocrystals from wood pulp extract to create a material that's stronger than Kevlar and carbon fiber.
15 Minutes of Fame: Kara to Illidan in six weeks
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.Are server firsts worth pushing for – really pushing for, as in four hours a night, five times a week, for a month and a half? For Havoc-A of Cairne, time had no bearing as they raced from Karazhan to Illidan a mere six weeks after forming their guild. They pushed through the content so quickly that some members were still sporting blues when they first met Illidan. The team racked up a list of server firsts during its ascent: first Illidan kill, first off-hand Warglaive (maybe a server first Legendary), first Zul'Aman bear mount, and Alliance firsts for Azgalor, Archimonde and last half of Black Temple bosses.Now that the guild has had time to come down from the high, we wondered, do they think it was all worth it? Signs point to yes: the guild's GM, Meliadoul, is still waxing rhapsodic over the team's accomplishments, the bonds formed and the pride that carried them forward as a group. 15 Minutes of Fame visited with Meliadoul to find out the root of Havoc's need for speed.
