Catching Pokemon in London

So I am in London for three days joining my parents and brother for a quick citytrip and finally got time to play around with Pokemon GO. Already installed it a week ago, but work had me occupied to fully experience the game. Well to be honest I did not really used it as a game, but more as my guide through London. Already visited London loads of times and seen all the usual tourist hotspots like the Tower, Buckingham Palace, the MI5/6 building, biggest IMAX in Europe and so on. I was interested where the app would take me and what I would discover. To be honest: loads of things. Normally you see the well known buildings and plaques that you have to visit, but this time I saw things as the house of The White Rabbit (codename for F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas whom was a agent during WWII), a lot of architecture, pubs with backstories and some sculptures.

"The White Rabbit"

In the four hours I wandered I catched around one hundred Pokemon. Most of them in parks or near known buildings, but I was never in the middle of the streets like most media outlets warn about. Maybe it is on purpose, but the best way to catch the Pokemons was in the parks themselves so I image that kids would want to go to the park to play the game. Get as many Pidgeons as you can get! While drinking some high tea, you have to do that in London and the best place to do that is at the Tea House Theatre and it is a fine stop between catching the little bastards, my eye caught an article in the Daily Mail about the dangers of fast food restaurants using the app to lure kids. Maybe something to keep an eye on.

Looking for some Pokemon at Buckingham Palace

The only thing I missed in the game was a direction function. I get the idea of not knowing where you end up as an adventure, but when you are visiting a city it would be handy to also use the app as a guide to my hotel. Switching between Google Maps and Pokemon Go was a pain in the ass and the game crashed sometimes while doing this. Probably closing the app for the rest of my stay and now grabbing a beer at The Pride Of Paddington Pub.

Cheers!

My thoughts (1): Innovation

Lately I have been thinking about the use of the word innovation. Everyone is throwing it around like it is something that makes their product or thoughts more worth than it should be. Most of the time “innovation” only means “we made it cost effective to market it to average consumers” when people talk about technology. When reading a paper it often means we slapped around some other ideas, ignoring counter ideas, and formed our own opinion that is a breakthrough in science. I am not talking about quality research here before you start crying on your PhD. True innovation almost never reaches the general public or gets picked up decades after its invention when the cost are reduced or there is a use for the product. Most of the time we do not even think about an invention as innovating. Simply because it not reaches the popular discourse. Do you remember that special spoon to scrape out the last custard from a glass bottle. I was mind blown when my mother used it for the first time. True innovation in my opinion.

To be honest it has become the most insignificant word of the decade, just like the word authentic, that is often misused. Businesses, academics and researches use it to highlight a positive change, but what they only do is glorifying their own work. What change? What innovation? More sales? More papers that are published? Does it help you to gain something for yourself or does it help society? "Innovation" has become a marketing term, but should be used for real and new ideas.

"My thoughts" posts are just a rambling of words and often written in a short period of time without any research.