All because of this. Earlier I was using the built-in VPN that came with Opera, but since I sometimes use browsers for other things, I wanted a VPN to cover all web browsing activity (and I am a bit leery of free VPNs). So I bit the bullet and got a year of Private Internet Access. So far so good, though I’m noticing some problems…
Windows 10 only:
On startup, after Windows fully boots, it takes a REALLY long time for it to load and start. The first 5 times or so I tried to get it running manually (even though it’s supposed to start automatically), it would take a while to connect, then disconnect. And other times, the software/launcher thing just wouldn’t start. I eventually got it running and connected.
Android (not sure about iOS):
Pokemon Go does not work with a VPN. :/ Each time I tried to get it running, it would say “Cannot login”, and the retry button would loop back to the “Cannot login” error message. Turning off the VPN lets me in the game. (Ingress, PoGo’s predecessor has no problems with a VPN, but it also runs on older code.)
There is a setting in the PIA app where you can exclude certain apps like PoGo from the VPN. I tried it, and it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Not sure if it’s a VPN issue or what.
Windows 10 Mobile:
There is no PIA app for W10M, so I had to enter the settings in manually under Settings > Network & Wireless > VPN. One of the biggest problems is that after a few minutes, the VPN disconnects. I found that the VPN can stay connected much longer if I turn off wi-fi (and leave it running on data), and then turn it back on. But it only stays connected for less than 8 hours. It seems to me to be more of a W10M thing than a PIA thing. I don’t think people should have to do these workarounds for something so simple as keeping their VPN connected, so hopefully MS will fix this soon.
iOS only:
Just after I put PIA on my iPad Mini, and let it go into sleep mode, I woke it up and saw that the VPN had disconnected. Lolwut. I turned it back on, and haven’t had problems with it disconnecting since.
(FYI, I didn’t link to PIA’s site, since I didn’t want it to seem like I was endorsing them, though you can find them by Googling them. They seem to work the best for me, but might not be the case for everyone else–ex. they don’t have a trial version available, and only a 7 day window where you can get a refund if you don’t like it. So you only have 7 days to decide if it’s what you really want. If you’re looking for a VPN, check out this chart that someone made, with a detailed breakdown of each VPN’s strengths and weaknesses. Also you can check out r/VPN for more info on VPNs.)
This entire dream had some form of time travel as a theme, broken up into a couple smaller dreams.
Dream #1
I found an article online that supposedly came from the far future, claiming that there was a conspiracy that the US president (in the future) had somehow manipulated asteroids into hitting Earth to test our planetary defenses. I then wondered if a super mystical warrior type (like a Jedi, one of the guys from Dragonball Z or someone like an Earthbender from Avatar) could reflect the rocks back into space or at least destroy them to keep them from hitting the ground and causing damage (and imagined an action sequence where the scenes involving the Jedi/Z Warrior/Earthbender using super reflexes to catch the rocks, sped up and when it got to the more suspenseful parts, slowed down like a lot of action movies).
I feel like Obama actually did send for some Z Warrior-type guys to deflect the rocks.
Dream #2
(This was a very animeish-looking dream, in art style, music, pacing, story, etc.)
There was a secret order dedicated to maintaining the balance of the Earth. The ones who had the power to maintain it were called the Guardians (a group of girls, which I was a part of). Everyone else protected the Guardians and were basically people like scientists, engineers, boss people, guards or assistants. Despite their status, the Guardians were actually subordinates of the boss people and had strict rules laid down for them.
There was one moment where the scientists were trying out time travel and managed to open a portal into the very far future. We only saw a giant redwood tree in a forest, and realized that there was an apocalypse, which had wiped out most of mankind. While one of the scientists tried climbing the tree to leave a marker there (so when our time caught up with this future, we would be able to find the marker on the tree to tell if this really was the future we were seeing). He ended up falling and was greeted by a post-apocalyptic survivor, a plucky 12 year old girl. Upon finding out that they were from the past, she explained that after the apocalypse, the surviving humans wound up living in trees, since all the buildings had been destroyed. When the scientist tried climbing the tree again, I noticed the girl staring into the stream, with an almost sad look on her face.
Later on, one of the Guardians (who looked a little like Tieve in her oracle outfit) noticed her cat wasn’t feeling well. The head guard, a young 20ish to early 30s sighed and ordered two of his guards to follow him, so they could escort the Guardian to the vet. When they got back, the other Guardians could tell that the cat was feeling a little better, but his owner was looking a little depressed.
I think I might be one of 20 or so Asians outside of Japan who is ok with the Major’s casting. (Then again, I also never saw the anime or read the manga, so not sure if my opinion would change.)
[EDIT] I was reading comments on this on Kotaku (sorry, I don’t remember the actual article). People were saying things like, well you probably should be Japanese American for your opinion to count. But I am Japanese American (4th generation). 🤔 I guess my opinion still doesn’t count.
I got a sexay (prepaid) Moto G4 Play on Cyber Monday ($35!!!!!!!!!!!!* Out of $85). Since I have a Windows Phone1, playing Pokemon Go basically meant:
Using my iPod Touch 5G which crashes a lot on (these days, I can’t walk two feet without it crashing. Spinning a Pokestop? CRASH. Capturing a Pokemon? CRASH, etc)
Taking out my much faster iPad Mini, but walking around outside with an iPad is like wearing a sign around your neck that reads PLEASE MUG ME, soo…..
*The “Play” version is the low budget phone of the Moto G4 series, but it’s a pretty decent phone and runs PoGo quite well. And seriously, how often do you find a decent smartphone for $35?
The device before I made it “mine”
Giving It A Whirl
This is the first Android phone I’ve ever used. So while I was able to figure out where some basic stuff was (adding new accounts, notification center and toggles like wi-fi, location services, etc), I was kind of lost when it came to trying to figure out more complicated things, like…
I added my Google email when I first set it up. Instead of using the usual @gmail.com addresses, I use Google Apps (now called G Suite). So I could use a custom domain name for my email address (like @[firstname][lastname].com for instance). And immediately:
I ran into problems with the sign-in settings needing updating (which normally happens when you change your password but forget to update it on your other devices, but I didn’t change my password until I had that problem).
Also a thing about the account settings and data not being able to sync. (And I would get an error message about how it was experiencing problems and will be back shortly.)
And a persistent error message that kept popping up whenever I tried doing anything with my account (logging into other apps with the account, trying to access account info, etc) “Unfortunately Google Play Services has stopped”.
And when I launched PoGo, I attempted to login through my Google account (the one I had logged into while setting up the phone). Thanks to the “Smart Lock” feature of Android, it lets me log into apps automatically that use my Google login. But once again, “Unfortunately Google Play Services has stopped”. I couldn’t just disable it. Because of the syncing troubles, it couldn’t save my settings I had set up for the account.
I checked for software updates. (It needed software updates the first time I set it up and only once, even after the 10 factory resets I did.)
Apparently Google Play Services needed to be updated for the error message to go away, but wait, isn’t that the thing that keeps stopping bringing about the error message…? I compared my Google Play Services version number to Mr. Giantpaper’s (who also got the same phone when I showed him the Cyber Monday deal), and his version number was higher, so mine definitely did not update.
Eventually I added my non-G Suite Google account (the one ending in @gmail) and got no errors with it. So it was definitely some setting in my G Suite admin control center that I didn’t check. But no matter how much I searched and prodded, I couldn’t find anything about it! D:
I searched online for some answers, but looking for “google apps google play services” didn’t get me what I was looking for (this was before I learned Google Apps was renamed GSuite). Neither did “gapps google play services”. This is like one of those situations where you think you’re the only one having the problem. D:
A Revelation!
Eventually, I figured it out. But it was a multiple step process.
Everyone including this Google CSR says to uninstall Google Play Services updates, which you can find by going to Settings > Apps > All > Google Play Services > Uninstall Updates. Well…ok, there was no “all” selection, Google Play Services was already on the list when I went to Apps (later found out it was already set to “All Apps” at the top of the screen). I went to Google Play Services and….THERE WAS NO UNINSTALL UPDATES. Just Disable and Force Stop. There was a Storage setting and going to that only gave you Manage Space and Clear Cache buttons. (Tapping both didn’t solve the problem). Turns out Uninstall Updates was hidden in the ellipsis menu in the top right of the screen under Google Play Services. D: (And then, you’ll get a notification saying Google Play Services needs to be updated, which is done in the Play Store)
I MIIIIGHT have had to delete Google Play Services storage before adding the account again.
I MIIIIGHT have had to do some of these steps over again since I think they needed to be done in a certain order? (Maybe needed to remove the Gsuite account, delete update, delete Google Play Services storage, then re-add the account).
(Gsuite users only) Make sure Android Sync is enabled through the G Suite admin panel–It’s under Device Management > left side of the screen > Mobile > Setup > Mobile Management. Looks like for me, iOS was already checked, I think from when I first setup Gsuite, BUT ANDROID WASN’T. 😁 So checking that fixed the whole problem and I was finally able to login into PoGo without having to create a new account!
Personalized Moto G4, customized with Nova Launcher (replacing the default Google Now Launcher, after I kept hearing how awesome and amazing and customizable it is)
So far it is pretty awesome. The GPS didn’t work for a while (unless if connected to my phone’s hotspot), but that seems to have resolved itself after using it for a while. Sometimes it just gives out, and says GPS Signal Could Not Be Found. The only thing is that the Moto G4 Play (not sure about the regular G4 and G4 Plus) doesn’t have a gyroscope, so the game’s Battery Saver thing doesn’t work on this device. Though between a crashy iPod Touch and an iPad Mini that makes you muggable, I’m not really complaining about a $35 smartphone that works decently otherwise.
Early on my adventure, I remember reading someone’s post who said “I now know why people get iPhones.” And now, so do I.
(Ideally, I would be able to play PoGo on my actual phone, a Lumia 735. 😀 But Niantic is unwilling to release it for Windows 10 Mobile. And while there is/was an unofficial build going around on Github, installing it is kinda hacky, since it has to be sideloaded. Also Niantic is unwilling to play along and will ban anyone they find using the app. 😕)
– THE END –
Edit (3/25/17): If your Android phone doesn’t have a gyroscope/digital compass thing and you want to be able to use the battery saver feature in PoGo, download the GO Extender from the Play Store. It’s free (with unlockable features for $1.49 USD). I think it works better than the regular battery saver and will also kick in if the light sensor at the top of the device is covered up (so you can just stick it in your pocket and not worry about whether it’s upside-down or not). Obviously, it won’t emulate a digital compass, so the in-game compass remains static and you won’t be able to use AR mode when capturing Pokemon.
1That I love and cherish and would need to be pried from my cold dead hands. So instead of the G4 replacing my current phone, I plan on leaving it not activated and tethering it to my phone’s mobile hotspot.
