Facebook map: Many Check-Ins disappeared!

Once again, after adding locations to the Facebook map, another issue emerged.

After adding locations earlier this year the whole Facebook map stopped working. 

However, after reporting it, in August the map with its connected locations returned. The issue was fixed as I could check various places I went.

At the beginning of December I added another album and connected the pictures with location tags, but after that, many locations of my map disappeared, but not all.

And I discovered a pattern: Mostly locations like airports or cities remained, but places like mountains, accommodations or other private spots remained not marked on the map.

Maybe another issue. Did one of the locations I added triggered the it? Or was it rather just a coincidence with a bigger problem? I couldn't find other postings of similar issues so far, but apparently general issues with the Check-Ins happen from time to time.

Let's see when this one is fixed!

Pokémon GO 0.129.2.: Lots of Pokémon in Japan!

Now in Japan, I feel like I find more Pokémon than ever before. And Generation 4 is coming!

Now leveled up to level 23 and many more Pokémon on my belt I'm currently running through Japan and I noticed that I can catch many more than before. Most likely because I'm mostly in a city and the chances are therefore higher.

And through this high amount of Pokémon I was able to level up easier and could now finally evolve my pocket monsters. For example all three first Generation Eevee evolutions which seem to be really competitive - especially Jolteon (サンダース) with CP 2032.

According to my Pokédex I have seen 255 different Pokémon and caught 178 of them. With Generation 4 now being added I've got to catch monsters I've never seen before. And since I'm playing it in Japanese since I haven't played games including G4 Pokémon. Especially モウカザル already been one of my favorites.

I also got some more experiences with Gym battles. But it can be really annoying on bigger public places like train stations. Playing with Team Red after trying a few times I defeated the opponents Pokémon, but as I needed a few seconds to recharge my own defeated monsters, I couldn't place my own Pokémon there as another team already took over the gym. No chance, some areas are just to busy.

But even if I could keep the gym at another place - it's not like some at a village where you can keep the gym for a while to receive some coins. I think my record of keeping a Pokémon at gym here in Japan was maybe a bit more than an hour. But still, that was outside Tokyo.

Generally, I have a better feeling for the game now. Using the friends option to exchange presents I also quite interesting. Let's see where I can go from here!

Until my next "Pokémon GO diary" entry!

Why I cannot download Japanese apps?

If you go to Japan and open the Google PlayStore you'll find out that you are unable to install some local apps. But is there a solution to work around that problem?

Let's take the example of 'Dragon Ball Legends' which was released this summer. And in the Google Play Store there is a 'western' version and a Japanese version.

However, if you search for the Japanese version using katakana the game doesn't appear in result list. Just English suggestions.
But why?

The reason is that your Google Play Store account needs to be associated to the country Japan instead of your local one.

If you currently live in Japan it makes to be able to see all the apps.

Therefore, what's the next step?

Change to the country! I would suggest the following way (via browser):

• Login in Google PlayStore website 
• Go to "Google Account" in the upper right
• Select "Payments and Subscriptions"
• "Manage Payment methods"
• Go to setting to see your "payments profile"
• Change it to the "Japan" and add necessary information
• Confirm and wait (can take maybe a few days)

Once it's completed, check on your phone if your are connect to the correct payment profile associated with the country you are living. Now go to PlayStore and see if you can find local apps.

And that's an example an how it should look.

Clearing up old Windows versions

If your space is getting less and less there are many ways to clear up some free disk space...

On way is definitely clearing up temporary browser data or the Windows-TEMP folder (C:\Windows\Temp).

Another way is using a tool like TreeSizeFree to narrow down the areas where some big files are hidden. Sometimes there are big video files or downloads you are not aware of anymore.

But, also important is checking if your computer was reinstalled in a way to keep the old version active. You see that, by checking the C drive, if there's a Windows.old folder. If so, you can proceed as it follows:

For Windows 10, go to Settings/Storage and check for Change how we free up space automatically. Scroll down and you can check for cleaning up old Windows versions. It takes a while, but once that's done you can make up a lot of space. In my case more than 30 GB.

Tokyo Game Show 2018 - Jump Force, One Piece World Seeker...

This weekend I went for the Tokyo Game Show for the first time and I got the chance to test a few of the new games which caught my interest.

Knowing there would be a long queue I still arrived a bit late which made me wait for almost 2 hours to get in.

But the wait was worth it. Many big halls and so many different stands. After running around for getting a general impression of the event I stopped at Bandai Namco, because one game got me really interested:

It's Jump Force. A game which puts several characters from JUMP magazine together, including Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto and more! The trailer itself gave me this "I wanna play" feeling with showing great stages like Namek, Himeji Castle or New York's Times Square. After a wait for around 30-40 minutes in the queue I got to play a 3 vs 3 battle. I selected Frieza, Luffy and Vegeta to fight on Namek. The demo was for two rounds until the first fighter was knocked out. The game is fun to play and the graphics are running stunning to see. I couldn't get deep into special moves or combos - at the end I just found out how to switch characters during the fight. It generally left a great impression and as there seems to be a story with a few from Akira Toriyama exclusively created characters makes the entire game even more interesting...

Following that I stopped by at the racing game area and some nostalgia put me into the line to test another game: V-Rally 4! Back in PS1 and PS2 days I liked the series. Especially I spent many years in the career of V-Rally 3 in the mid-2000s. I wasn't aware that finally a sequel is coming! The demo was one stage with a GoPro-sponsored car with a big rear wing. I clearly underestimated the cars reaction in the corners causing me a few crashes at the beginning. Plus: Manual shifting was activated! However at the end of the stage everything went more smoothly and I slowly got ready for more. It certainly brought back some nostalgia!

So... Since I was in the area - time for the next racing game: MotoGP 18! To be honest: I haven't played a lot of MotoGP games in the last decade, but there were times of the old MotoGP3 and 4 which I got to play a lot. Therefore, as expected it didn't take me long to get into the flow. Unfortunately the riding helps were activated and the difficulty quite easy. Meaning that despite a crash in lap 1 out of 3 and some general starting difficulties I was able to reach P10 at the end with Valentino Rossi! Was really fun to play again!

As it was getting afternoon, there was one more game I had to try out! Back to the Bandai Namco area and this time in the One Piece World Seeker queue! The game trailers were already promising showing an game-exclusive storyline with many major characters like Aokiji, Fujitora or Lucci involved. Ahead of the demo you get a manual to memorize the important controls. Once you get started you are playing Luffy running up a hill punching some marines. You get used to the attacks, especially the Red Hawk is quite powerful. The whole graphic of the landscape is quite impressive! After a fight with Kuma you are confronted with Sakazuki alias Aka Inu. The fight is a bit more difficult than the previous one, but still no problem. But Sabo comes to help Luffy as the demo ends. At the end you also get some stickers from the characters of the game, nice!

As the time was running out I soon left the place. It was quite interesting how much is offered there to see and play! A fun and inspiring day came to an end. Of course there was so much more to see like many other franchises I'm not that involved in, but I'm sure everyone would have found something interesting! Until another time!

Is my phone listening to me?

I was aware that such situations exists that even your voice while having your phone in your pocket could be used to get information for personalized ads, but recently I was surprised by how far it went...

Annoyed by odd volume numbers...
It happened recently at work and (interestingly) with switched off WiFi and no mobile coverage at the place I was working. I was having the phone in the pocket while I talked to a colleague and he was telling me that he always gets annoyed by the volume settings on the radio if an uneven number is used. Either 12 or 14 is fine, but neither 13 nor 11! He claimed that many people where having this issue forcing them to correct the volume every time.

Although the conversation was in German, the following day Facebook suggested me a video about the exact thing in English where people discussed that in a car! Coincidence?

Talking about a certain software?
Or: Recently I had a job interview when I was asked about having experience with a certain software. A few days later Facebook suggested ads showing exactly that software and other products of that company. And I wasn't using any WiFi, I only had connection with via mobile data.

Apparently companies like Google and Facebook are denying such things. But secretly the situation could be different and it's definitely interesting.

What are your experiences? Let me if you had similar situations in the comments!

Lenovo G70 touchpad reacting slow and on its own

From time to time the touchpad mouse can have some weird issues, recently it was reacting automatically and slow at the same time making it difficult to use at all.

It came all of the sudden: After booting my Lenovo G70 one day the above described things happened. The touchpad mouse reacted weird and unfortunately I did not have another external mouse to test.

The settings in control panel still seemed normal.

I know this laptop had some mouse issues sometimes such as that the mouse suddenly froze and needed to be reactivated again.

This time it was something else, so I rebooted and it didn't change at all. So I got to use an old trick:

• turning off
• removing the battery for a few minutes
• pressing the power button for 30 seconds
• waiting little bit
• putting back the battery
• turning on again

And then the issue was gone. Easy and efficient!