A few weeks ago I walked up to my local park and saw a mob of kids crowded around. There must have been close to 50 of them ranging in ages 10 to 18. They filled up the park, mesmerized by their cellphones. I said to my friend who I was walking with, "Did I miss something? Is there some kind of event happening here tonight?" She looked at me and said, "They are playing Pokémon Go."
Apparently I was a little late getting that memo -- Pokémon is now cool again but now it's an app win which users can run around catching Pokémon and collecting supplies.
There was a lot I missed when I took a slight break from technology. Despite what it seems like with the popularity of Pokémon Go, there are other technology and games that have garnered attention and are worth checking out, such as the following.
Anki OVERDRIVE
Photo provided by Anki.
Anki OVERDRIVE is an intelligent battle racing game that puts players on a mobile device in control of self-aware supercars driven by powerful artificial intelligence. The company's communication manager Andrew Cha told me, "Whatever track players build, their supercars will learn it. Wherever they drive, they'll hunt their opponents down. Players can also customize weapons, swap out cars, and build new tracks."
To date, players have logged in 3.2M hours of game play, driven more than 2M miles in the game, and built nearly 55,000 different track configurations. According to NPD Group, it was the No. 2 best-selling toy in Germany during Dec. 2015 by revenue, and No 4 best-selling toy in U.S. during Dec. 2015 by revenue.
FTL: Faster Than Light
Macworld named Faster Than Light the No. 1 best iPhone and iPad game of all time. This spaceship stimulation game gives players the feel of the atmosphere running a spaceship and saving the galaxy, according to iTunes. In real-time, players manage power systems and select the enemy systems they'd like to target.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
I went to New York Comic Con two years ago and there were so many people dressed up as characters from Star Trek -- people are obsessed! Satisfy your inner Treky with Star Trek: Bridge Crew. In the game's trailer, Levar Burton from Star Trek: The Next Generation describes it as "Your own Star Trek experience in a virtual world where you can hang out with whoever you want."
Imagine Sports: Diamond Mind Online
Photo provided by Imagine Sports
Ever wanted to own a sports team? There's a popular sports game in town -- Imagine Sports' Diamond Mind Online -- that lets players do exactly that (without having to be a millionaire). Developed by Boston Red Sox Senior Baseball Analyst and baseball statistics expert Tom Tippett, Dimond Mind players choose a league to join with players of the past and present, choose a park and players for their team, and watch games on unfold. As the owner of a team (in the digital sense) users can participate in a variety of tournaments and continuing leagues.
Shelfie
Recently featured as No. 1 in the App Store's New Apps We Love section, Shelfie, a free app in which users take a picture of their bookshelf and the computer identifies the books for them is like Shazam for books. This is an app all bookworms will want to check out.
Sioeye Iris4G LTE Live Streaming 4K Action Camera
When I first saw a photo of the Sioeye Iris4G LTE I thought GoPro but the Sioeye team told me: The Sioeye Iris4G 4K is the only 4G-enabled action camera that gives sports enthusiasts the ability to capture and broadcast adventures in real-time. It's different than GoPro because it includes built-in LTE cell service, so you can live stream directly from the device, wherever you are.
The camera is meant to be worn or mounted to provide that first person perspective of extreme sports, said Product Marketing Manager David Abramowski in the product's introduction video.
Detour
If you like the appeal that Pokémon Go has of getting out and about, you might like Detour. Current user Len Kendall of Carrot Creative brought it to my attention, noting, "It's a geo-location tour guide app that gets users out and active."
Detour gives new meaning to "audio tour," enabling users to connect to places by taking to the streets. It uses GPS to guide users as they walk and encourages them to keep their eyes on their sites and phone in their pocket. In addition, it's equipped to adapt to various paths and variables such as weather and operating hours of businesses.
Photos provided by Detour
Detour's Head of Content, Heather Schuster says the app was inspired by wanting to have a better way to explore and connect with places [the founder] visited.
"Detour lets you walk in the shoes of the people who know places best and get a kind of access that's impossible any other way. There's really no better way to understand what makes a place tick than taking a Detour."
What other tech have you seen recently that made you look twice? Let me know on Twitter.