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Pokewalk

pokewalk.com

168 pointsobilgic49 comments

I totally believed this until the $4MM of funding line.

Yeah, sadly the bit just before that about them putting their heads together "to create something that could have a real impact on the lives of millions" doesn't really give it away. It's too believable that a real startup offering this product would use that language these days.

If "Yo" can raise $1.5m of funding at a $10m valuation...

https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/18/yo-raises-1-5m-in-funding-...

Whatever happened with that? Was that like some VCs just playing a prank on the plebs, a purposefully absurd stunt?

They pivoted to an app which lets you say more than just Yo. Yes, really.

https://www.justyo.co

Exactly. If it were real they could have done at least $10M.

#neverforget Color once raised $40MM pre-launch... anything can happen in SV.

Non-satire versions: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/lbs/5678169186.html & http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/pas/5676674461.html

This does, of course, violate Niantic's ToS.

And if you are going to violate the ToS, might as well skip the half-measure and spoof the GPS.

I think Niantic's going to have a harder time figuring out if you handed your phone off to another person vs. are using a GPS spoofer.

This raises a fun question: is it possible to spoof accelerometer/gyroscope data such that it convincingly matches the corresponding movement of a spoofed GPS?

Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incid...

I temporarily defeated a GPS-based AR game about 5 years ago by writing a transparent proxy that could automate repetitive tasks and spoof location data. I'm sure it's possible with Pokemon Go although it probably has pretty sophisticated protections against that sort of shenanigans.

Put your phone on a turntable. If they start checking for that, a really long conveyor belt.

In Australia too: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/perth/taxi-chauffeur-airport-...

Now if only they made some claim about how they were using ML the parody would be 110% complete.

Does taskrabbit have an API? If so, I bet I could implement this company in a couple of days.

https://www.taskrabbit.com/platform

>TECHNOLOGY Our technology stack is a unique use of complicated algroithms...

Sold

Relatedly: "Entrepreneurs Are Offering Uber-Style Rides For Pokémon Go Players"

http://gizmodo.com/entrepreneurs-are-offering-uber-style-rid...

I like how the map shows the walking route as down 6th street.

Why isn't this a real thing? It may be a joke, but services that play a game for you are a real thing. WoW players have for years been able to hire firms to level-up their characters. Having someone walk your phone seems far more honest than sharing your login creds.

(I don't really understand the necessity of walking. Does this game reward distance travelled?)

You can get eggs at Pokestops that will hatch into Pokemon after putting them in an incubator and walking a specific amount of distance.

Or without the jargon, yes, some parts of the game reward you for distance travelled.

This is great. It's like the professional line waiters. Great stuff here. A+ Would recommend to all my trainers. /s

Definitely shipped too late; no one would be embarrassed by this.

(fully aware it's a parody)

Honestly, I would have to believed it was real if I hadn't seen the point about funding. Remember, some people actually pay money to have their new Pokemon games hacked in advance so they don't need to spend the time filling out the Pokedex. Or so they have a 'tournament level' team from the minute they start the game.

If people are willing to pay for that stuff in regards to the main series, they'd probably find an audience for this 'service' too.

I wouldn't pay for this ... on iOS it's very simple to spoof your location with Xcode. Xcode even has a feature where you can upload a list of GPS points and it will "walk" your device along the path over a period of time.

Here's a video showing how it's done https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vqOWCNuZD4

I'm sure something similar exists for Android.

That's like claiming artificial diamonds are as good as natural ones.

The distribution of the kinds of pokemons you'd collect using such a method won't be same as real walking would give you. Any expert would be able to see the difference, and you'd be a laughing stock at all the country club parties.

> That's like claiming artificial diamonds are as good as natural ones.

Really? In my comment I never claimed anything of the sort. There's only one claim in my comment, which is that a similar feature does exist on Android. I found one after a 2 second Google search.

http://www.jesusamieiro.com/android-studio-simulate-multiple...

> The distribution of the kinds of pokemons you'd collect using such a method won't be same as real walking would give you.

That's a very bold claim. Care to source this?

> Any expert would be able to see the difference, and you'd be a laughing stock at all the country club parties.

And now I think you're just being facetious.

Sorry, it was kind of a dumb joke

Aw, this begs for a FitBit tie in.

I was shaking my head in disbelief till I came to the $4M funding line.

Then I was totally amused. That is one elaborate hoax. Wonder what email they send when we sign up.

They don't seem to send any email when you sign up. Just tested it on a disposable email address just now.

Wonder what they'd actually do with the data from this though. Or heck, whether the form actually does anything at all.

Should I feel bad if I initially believed it?

I did believe it till I read through half the page. Also, their description of the tech stack is humorous.

> TECHNOLOGY

> Our technology stack is a unique use of complicated algroithms meant to optimize Pokewalker efficiency which leads to lower costs for you. We optimize for both the distance the walker will cover and how they will get back to drop off your device. Our backpack technology is derived from the same battery technology as The Tesla Powerwall.

Probably the best part.

Their startup parody skills are on point.

Can I be a walker? You should crowdsource your service, sharing economy is the future! :)

On-premises version : https://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=treadmill

Note: Parody

There needs to be a corollary to Poe's law for startups.

Yeah, but if this isn't real, someone will probably make it real by the end of the week.

But why use humans? Phones are tiny. They should be dispatching their fleet of drones to your front door and flying directly to all the best Pokemon catching spots.

I get a blank white page.

Hi. I'm one of the competitors to Pokewalk and I can assure you our servers are up and running, waiting to capture your Pokemon and money.

Mimicking the stability of the game itself, I see.

(Seriously, Pokémon Go has to be the buggiest launch of its scale that I've seen.)

There hasn't been a launch of its scale

When people want your game so bad that non-gamers are sideloading it illegally in countries where you haven't launched, there's going to be bugs.

HTTPS Everywhere? Disable the Wix static.com ruleset.

Sorry, but no.

You need to enable JavaScript.

Take my phone and take my money!!!

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