Technologies

Pokemon Legends: Z-A Gives Us First Look at Mega Dragonite, Wild Mega Evolutions

Trainer customization and detective work are also returning to Lumiose City.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A is bringing back mega evolutions, the battle gimmick that first appeared in the X and Y games, but is also bringing us new twists, including brand-new mega evolutions.

A recent Pokemon Presents video walked us through a few different features of the game, including the new and returning mechanics from the series’ last romp through Lumiose City. Mega evolution, which allows you to temporarily evolve certain Pokemon if they’re equipped with a corresponding stone, is coming back in Legends: Z-A, alongside trainer customization. But we’re also getting a few updates to the battle mechanic from Gen 6.

Here’s what we’ve learned about the game so far.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A release date

Legends: Z-A will be available Thursday, Oct. 16 on Switch and Switch 2.

Z-A adds new mega evolutions and rogue mega evolutions

Mega evolutions were a focal point of the X and Y story, and a big part of the competitive scene until Gen 7 came out. X and Y introduced 28 mega evolutions, with another 20 coming in the Gen 3 remakes, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Mega evolution allows you to give even fully evolved Pokemon a temporary stat boost, a new ability and sometimes even a type change.

Legends: Z-A is adding to the list of megas, prominently featuring the new Mega Dragonite in the trailer. No details yet on whether Mega Dragonite has a change in type or what its new ability is, but I would guess it has something to do with the eight different wings all over its body.

The other big change with mega evolution is the addition of rogue mega evolutions — wild Pokemon that are able to mega evolve on their own. It’s an interesting change from the Gen 6 games, where mega evolutions were only encountered in battles against gym leaders and similarly powerful trainers.

Legends: Z-A brings back Lumiose City’s fashion scene, detective work

In Pokemon X and Y, trainers could shop at various cities to customize their attire, from hats and hoodies to socks, shoes and skirts. You could also change your hairstyle by visiting salons. That kind of customization is back in Legends: Z-A, as the trailer showed its trainer in a variety of styles ranging from sporty to chic.

Part of X and Y’s postgame content was the Looker Detective Agency, where players could help a Lumiose City detective investigate some mysteries. Players will get to work with Emma, «the best detective in Lumiose,» and seemingly the grown-up version of a child who featured prominently in the Looker Bureau missions in X and Y.

Detective work in Legends Z-A appears to be a system for accepting quests from people around the city who need help with their problems, like trash Pokemon hanging out on restaurant tables outside.

Other Pokemon staples return, like a Pokemon researcher, Mable, who needs you to catch Pokemon to help with her research, and a shady criminal organization — in this case, Corbeau and his Rust Syndicate.

Overall, Legends Z-A seems to be leaning into the city life of Lumiose, which could be a fun flavor for the game. But more than anything else, I hope we’ll see more new mega evolutions and other expansions to returning mechanics.

Bonus: New Pokemon Champions info

Today’s Pokemon Presents also gave us some new details on Pokemon Champions, the upcoming battle-focused game that will be available on both Switch and mobile devices. The game seems to be pretty exclusively a battle simulator, and we’ve now learned that it allows you to pull in your teams from Pokemon Home or recruit new Pokemon either temporarily for free or permanently by using in-game currency.

You can also train your Pokemon within Champions, allowing you to adjust competitive-focused stats like individual values and effort values, which affect stat numbers, and natures, which boost one stat and lower another. The Pokemon games have made a lot of changes to make training easier and less time-consuming, and this appears to be another step in that direction, though I have several questions about the in-game currency and how players can earn it.

Pokemon Champions will be available sometime next year, with no precise release date set. I wonder if this will be an attempt to split the competitive scene from the mainline games, making it easier for people to collect and train Pokemon for competition and removing the pressure of robust competitive systems from the mainline games. We’ll find out whenever we get info about Gen 10.

Technologies

How to Track Your Sun Exposure With This New App

Now in beta, the Sun Day app prompts you on how to prep for being out and about for your specific skin type and location.

Facing down a heat wave this summer? There’s a new beta app for iPhones from the founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, that helps you track your exposure to the sun. The Sun Day app is free to testers and contains information like sunrise, sunset and UV index in order to assess your potential burn-limit time and, as the app description says, «track your Vitamin D from the sun.»

Dorsey is currently testing UI updates and a solar noon notification, according to the app notes. In the app, you can describe the type of clothing you’re wearing, such as shorts and T-shirts or swimwear, and your Fitzpatrick skin type, which classifies how quickly you’ll burn.

The iOS app asks permission to connect to some Apple Health data when the app is installed.

Dorsey also recently released Bitchat, a private messaging client that uses Bluetooth as its communication platform. Although it’s meant to be a secure, private app, some users have flagged Bitchat for potential security flaws that are still being tested.

How to test the Sun Day app

If you’ve got an iOS device, download the Sun Day TestFlight app from the App Store and then follow the link to the app for Sun Day to join the beta test.

The effectiveness of an app such as Sun Day depends on giving it accurate information about your skin type and clothing, and while vitamin D levels are one way to gauge UV exposure, it’s not foolproof given that some people also take vitamin D supplements.

«Jack Dorsey’s new app Sun Day is exciting, not to detect vitamin D levels but really to help us understand our UV index which is so important in sun safety,» said Tanya Kormeili, an LA-based dermatologist. «The app does have an interesting promise as far as I am concerned, in that using the UV index can show you the risk for the level of UV exposure.»

The risks of too much sun exposure include sunburns, aging skin and skin cancer. Tracking UV levels is one way to help mitigate those risks.

People tend to think about sun exposure and protections like sunscreen most during the summer, when the sun is strongest and the days are long, and when you’re heading to the beach or out gardening, golfing or otherwise getting in quality sun time. But there is always a risk of sun damage to your skin while you’re outside — year round.

«Sometimes it is hard for patients to be convinced that there can be an excessive UV risk on a cloudy day,» Kormeili says. «The app would provide an objective measure of that UV index and guide you in safer sun practices.»

The dermatologist suggests that Dorsey putting the app out for public consumption without medical experts endorsing it might be a missed opportunity. «I am surprised that they have not involved actual dermatologists in pointing out the true value and limitations of this app,» she said.

Technologies

YouTube’s Age-Estimation Tech Will Spot Kids Pretending to Be Adults. Here’s How It Works

The streaming service will use various methods to make sure kids aren’t watching age-restricted content.

If kids are lying about their age, YouTube will know about it. Or at least will try its best to find out. The streaming service announced Tuesday it’s rolling out age-estimation technology that will use various data to determine if someone is under the age of 18, and then use that signal «to deliver our age-appropriate product experiences and protections.»

Basically — assuming it works as it should — kids will not be able to access what YouTube deems as age-restricted content.

Google, YouTube’s parent company, announced in February that it would begin deploying this type of technology, which relies on AI, to determine users’ ages.

YouTube said it will test the machine-learning tech on a small set of users in the US to estimate their age. Some of the signals it will look at include «the types of videos a user is searching for, the categories of videos they have watched or the longevity of the account.» After ensuring the age verification is working as intended, YouTube will then roll it out more widely.

Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of children’s online safety organization Enough is Enough, welcomed YouTube’s move toward age verification.

«It’s always encouraging to me as a veteran working in the internet safety space for over three decades to see big tech companies being proactive to better protect youth online,» Hughes told CNET. «Since the advent of social media, which began with age limits of 18 years and older then reduced to 13-plus with absolutely no age verification technologies in place, kids have learned to lie about their age to get on these platforms, including YouTube.»

Hughes said YouTube can take it a step further: «I also encourage YouTube to turn on safety defaults to block sexually explicit videos and advertising and other harmful content for all users under 18.»

YouTube’s age-verification move is another step in the growing age-verification push that is being hastened by the US and other governments trying to prevent children from accessing content deemed harmful, unhealthy and not appropriate for their age.

What happens when YouTube decides someone is under 18?

If its age-estimation system decides someone is under 18, YouTube will then:

Disable personalized advertising.
Turn on digital wellbeing tools.
Add safeguards to recommendations, including limiting repetitive views of some content.

People who are actually adults but who have been wrongly identified as children will be able to verify that they are 18 or older by using a credit card or a government ID.

Hughes of Enough is Enough said that strong measures are needed to protect kids when it comes to their online use of YouTube videos and more.

«At EIE, we have encouraged turning on safety defaults — including filtering, monitoring and time-limiting controls — on all internet-enabled devices and platforms,» Hughes told CNET. «This simple step by big tech companies would greatly empower parents, who now must do this themselves on every device and every social media platform, which is overwhelming.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 31, #311

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 31, No. 311.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is heavy on NFL clues, so football fans should do well. The purple category felt like an easy one for me today and it has nothing to do with the NFL. Keeping reading for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Starts with a break.

Green group hint: Part of one of two conferences.

Blue group hint: Special Philly.

Purple group hint: For the court.