Fitbit has taken over Pebble

[Guest]

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38241273

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13867158/fitbit-buys-pebble-smartwatch-acquisition-deal

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/12/07/report-fitbit-closing-pebble-deal/95082716/

https://9to5mac.com/2016/12/07/pebble-acquired-by-fitbit/

http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Fitbit+(FIT)+Announces+Acquisition+of+Certain+Pebble+Assets/12319899.html

Pebble

FitBit

Quote

Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky said in a statement Wednesday the company will shut down and no longer make smartwatches, selling its tech, software and other assets to Fitbit , as the fitness band maker pushes deeper into the ailing smartwatch market

Quote

Fitbit, Inc. (NYSE: FIT) announced that it has acquired specific assets of Pebble, including key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development. The acquisition excludes the company’s hardware products.

Quote

Neither company has confirmed details of the arrangement, reported to land at approximately $40 million, but the official announcement does clear up what Fitbit will get out of the deal and what will lie in the future for Pebble’s hardware.

Quote

From Pebble’s side of things, this acquisition spells the end of the company. In a blog post this morning, Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky explained that, “due to various factors,” Pebble could no longer operate as an independent operation. Pebble’s developers will move to Fitbit while development and manufacturing on Pebble’s hardware products will be ceased.

Yup. Pebble is dead.

This means that FitBit is rising and could make a good competition to Samsung Gear and Apple expensive...  Watch

[Guest]

FYI, here is Samsung Gear S2

And Apple Watch

[Litargirio]

RIP

Pebble

2011 - 2016

[Guest]

Is it just me, or are them watches ugly... (or am I just an old fart)

[vorticalbox]

4 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Is it just me, or are them watches ugly... (or am I just an old fart)

agreed. I would have thought it would be pebble buying Fitbit but hey what ever really. As Linus said in the last wan show smart watches are just a fancy notification. Maybe this will bring the price of fit bit down because they are hella expensive.

[Daniel644]

4 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Is it just me, or are them watches ugly... (or am I just an old fart)

Watches are ugly in general and leave a tan line, haven't worn a watch (still carry one around in my pocket for some reason) since I got my first cell phone some 14-16 years ago, why anyone would pay to have to look at these tiny screens is beyond me, how lazy do you have to be to not pull your phone out?

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

Watches are ugly in general and leave a tan line, haven't worn a watch (still carry one around in my pocket for some reason) since I got my first cell phone some 14-16 years ago, why anyone would pay to have to look at these tiny screens is beyond me, how lazy do you have to be to not pull your phone out?

it's actually really nice to be able to see and respond to texts from your wrist. It's also really nice not having to pull out your phone constantly because you get a new email every 90 seconds and only some require immediate awareness/action.

[Mira Yurizaki]

The thing I have against smart watches is their battery life. Fully fledged ones often require recharging after a day. Fitbits can go a week without needing to recharge. And Fitbit's "smartwatch", the Blaze, can go for five days (which I can say actually happened and then some). It can receive notifications, but it can't send anything back, which is fine by me because trying to input anything on a tiny screen or a spotty microphone seems like an exercise in  frustration.

 

3 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

it's actually really nice to be able to see and respond to texts from your wrist. It's also really nice not having to pull out your phone constantly because you get a new email every 90 seconds and only some require immediate awareness.

If you get an email every 90 seconds, you probably have a problem :3

 

 

[zMeul]

4 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

it's actually really nice to be able to see and respond to texts from your wrist. It's also really nice not having to pull out your phone constantly because you get a new email every 90 seconds and only some require immediate awareness/action.

if you get a main every 90sec you should not leave your desk

[Daniel644]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

it's actually really nice to be able to see and respond to texts from your wrist. It's also really nice not having to pull out your phone constantly because you get a new email every 90 seconds and only some require immediate awareness.

see I don't get email notifications on my phone, I randomly check my email on the computer and during the work day (and frankly anywhere else, provided i'm not walking around a store), my phone is sitting on a table or desk right beside me. I also get texts straight to my PC using the Verizon Messages app, so I can actually respond with a KEYBOARD to text messages, which I find far easier then tapping a screen to try to type things, but maybe as Roger Murtaugh would say "i'm to old for this shit"

[79wjd]

7 minutes ago, zMeul said:

if you get a main every 90sec you should not leave your desk

 

9 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If you get an email every 90 seconds, you probably have a problem :3

I get about 30 emails a day between 8am-6pm, and they tend to get clustered around a 1-3 hour period. So it's not uncommon for me to get 10 emails in a 15 minutes period. And even if it's one email, I've gotten emails/texts while walking somewhere that said I didn't need to go to where I was walking. It being freezing outside, there is a good chance I wouldn't have pulled out my phone to see that notification. Having it show up on my watch prevents that case and has saved me a few trips.

 

2 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

see I don't get email notifications on my phone, I randomly check my email on the computer and during the work day (and frankly anywhere else, provided i'm not walking around a store), my phone is sitting on a table or desk right beside me. I also get texts straight to my PC using the Verizon Messages app, so I can actually respond with a KEYBOARD to text messages, which I find far easier then tapping a screen to try to type things, but maybe as Roger Murtaugh would say "i'm to old for this shit"

You can use your voice to respond. But it's more than that. I have my texts on my laptop as well, but I mainly use the notifictions on my watch when I'm walking/out and about. 

 

And/or if I'm working on something it will tell me whether or not I have to go check an email or if it can wait without ever interrupting my workflow.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

I get about 30 emails a day between 8am-6pm, and they tend to get clustered around a 1-3 hour period. So it's not uncommon for me to get 10 emails in a 15 minutes period. And even if it's one email, I've gotten emails/texts while walking somewhere that said I didn't need to go to where I was walking. It being freezing outside, there is a good chance I wouldn't have pulled out my phone to see that notification. Having it show up on my watch prevents that case and has saved me a few trips.

Your phone doesn't vibrate when it gets something?

 

Also what the heck do you do that warrants getting that many emails that need your immediate attention that fast?

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Your phone doesn't vibrate when it gets something?

 

Also what the heck do you do that warrants getting that many emails that need your immediate attention that fast?

It does vibrate. But I don't want to have to pull it out constantly to see what the vibration was about. 

 

Most of the emails aren't that critical, but there are a lot of emails that are. I get an email when a package gets delivered. If I'm walking home and its freezing outside, there's a good chance I won't pull out my phone and check. Then by the time I get home I'll go up to my apartment, check my email, and then realize I need to go back down to get a package. If I can see the email on my watch, then I'll know to stop and pick it up before I go up to my apartment. Or if I'm walking somewhere and something changes -- something is cancelled, the location is moved, the time gets updated, etc... I can plan accordingly. 

 

Then there are times when I'm working on something and don't want to interrupt myself to switch spaces and then tabs to pull up my email/texts to see if its important or not. I can continue doing my work and just glance at my wrist. I've considered not using my Pebble and replacing it with a nice looking watch, but I just can't give up the notifications or the ability to respond to them via voice. It's just too convenient. 

[Bouzoo]

8 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Also what the heck do you do that warrants getting that many emails that need your immediate attention that fast?

Not sure about him, but some people have their job emails forwarded to their phones (or personal emails) which can result in ridicilous number of emails. And it's imperative that you have it. 

 

[Misanthrope]

10 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

It does vibrate. But I don't want to have to pull it out constantly to see what the vibration was about. 

 

Most of the emails aren't that critical, but there are a lot of emails that are. I get an email when a package gets delivered. If I'm walking home and its freezing outside, there's a good chance I won't pull out my phone and check. Then by the time I get home I'll go up to my apartment, check my email, and then realize I need to go back down to get a package. If I can see the email on my watch, then I'll know to stop and pick it up before I go up to my apartment. Or if I'm walking somewhere and something changes -- something is cancelled, the location is moved, the time gets updated, etc... I can plan accordingly. 

 

Then there are times when I'm working on something and don't want to interrupt myself to switch spaces and then tabs to pull up my email/texts to see if its important or not. I can continue doing my work and just glance at my wrist. I've considered not using my Pebble and replacing it with a nice looking watch, but I just can't give up the notifications or the ability to respond to them via voice. It's just too convenient. 

Seems to me like you're coming up with extremely specific scenarios that are not all that practical. Take it from someone who grew up without any cellphones at all and had to use public phones to call anyone, arrange meetings and transportations in advance and manage your life without a PC on your pocket (and a window to it in your wrist) at all times.

 

We managed just fine, augmenting your life is nice but it's not a tremendous imposition not being able to either.

[Daniel644]

1 minute ago, Misanthrope said:

Seems to me like you're coming up with extremely specific scenarios that are not all that practical. Take it from someone who grew up without any cellphones at all and had to use public phones to call anyone, arrange meetings and transportations in advance and manage your life without a PC on your pocket (and a window to it in your wrist) at all times.

 

We managed just fine, augmenting your life is nice but it's not a tremendous imposition not being able to either.

personally I so hate even getting texts, there is no way I would want emails coming in, gotta set limits somewhere so you can separate the job from your personal time or you'll just get burned out, my bosses secretary won't give him her home phone, so the only way he has to contact her is via email that is only checked like once a day on her off days for this exact reason.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Bouzoo said:

Not sure about him, but some people have their job emails forwarded to their phones (or personal emails) which can result in ridicilous number of emails. And it's imperative that you have it. 

 

 

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

It does vibrate. But I don't want to have to pull it out constantly to see what the vibration was about. 

 

Most of the emails aren't that critical, but there are a lot of emails that are. I get an email when a package gets delivered. If I'm walking home and its freezing outside, there's a good chance I won't pull out my phone and check. Then by the time I get home I'll go up to my apartment, check my email, and then realize I need to go back down to get a package. If I can see the email on my watch, then I'll know to stop and pick it up before I go up to my apartment. Or if I'm walking somewhere and something changes -- something is cancelled, the location is moved, the time gets updated, etc... I can plan accordingly. 

 

Then there are times when I'm working on something and don't want to interrupt myself to switch spaces and then tabs to pull up my email/texts to see if its important or not. I can continue doing my work and just glance at my wrist. I've considered not using my Pebble and replacing it with a nice looking watch, but I just can't give up the notifications or the ability to respond to them via voice. It's just too convenient. 

I'm just going to lump these two together because the question I ask is your life really that much more improved or are you just shuffling the workflow to another device and your net improvement is essentially zero?

 

In the case of checking mails to see if a package arrived: check your phone before you walk in the door. If you need to check if whatever it is you're going to outside has changed, check beforehand. Sure, it is quicker to simply flick your wrist and see the notification and possibly read the contents, but how is this a significant improvement over taking the phone out and dealing with the thing?

 

If you're subbing your smartwatch as your smartphone, I don't see a net improvement in productivity. The reason is you now added another device to maintain.

 

But you might go "hey, I saw you said you had a Fitbit Blaze! Aren't you being hypocritical?" No, because I bought the Blaze primarily as a fitness tracker, something my phone doesn't do. It just so happens it has the ability to send me notifications from my phone.

[Misanthrope]

4 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

personally I so hate even getting texts, there is no way I would want emails coming in, gotta set limits somewhere so you can separate the job from your personal time or you'll just get burned out, my bosses secretary won't give him her home phone, so the only way he has to contact her is via email that is only checked like once a day on her off days for this exact reason.

Yep. I made the mistake of giving a co-worker my personal numbers and since he's a workaholic he took it upon himself to call me on my day off cause there was some sort of issue. When I declined to get on my work laptop and solve it he even asked "is there a reason why you can't do it?" and I had to tell him "yeah, this is my day off and my personal time, I'm busy I don't work today" and finally he got the message.

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

it's actually really nice to be able to see and respond to texts from your wrist. It's also really nice not having to pull out your phone constantly because you get a new email every 90 seconds and only some require immediate awareness/action.

Should have said 1 and a half minute because 90 seconds feel so precise

[Bouzoo]

13 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

snip

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't talking about how I think that a smart watch is good for lots of emails (but just for that reason a colleague of mine has an Apple Watch, since some of our emails at work need immediate attention and I do understand him to a degree), I was talking how there are jobs that have those kind of emails. For me, smart watches are useless, but for someone else they might do the trick.

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't talking about how I think that a smart watch is good for lots of emails (but just for that reason a colleague of mine has an Apple Watch, since some of our emails at work need immediate attention and I do understand him to a degree), I was talking how there are jobs that have those kind of emails. For me, smart watches are useless, but for someone else they might do the trick.

And those people were doing just fine without a smart watch. They just shifted their workflow to another device so they're not really gaining anything. And if they're pulling out their phone anyway to respond to whatever it is, then the smart watch becomes a notification device.

[Bleedingyamato]

1 hour ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If you get an email every 90 seconds, you probably have a problem :3

 

Only if it's spam.  ?

 

Otherwise woot popularity!  (I wish I was..)

[Bleedingyamato]

57 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Your phone doesn't vibrate when it gets something?

Not all phones vibrate strongly enough to notice and for people (girls in particular) that don't carry their phone in a pocket they likely wouldn't notice if their phone vibrated.  

 

When my iphone is on silent I often don't notice that it vibrated in my pocket on the rare occasions where I get a text.  

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Not all phones vibrate strongly enough to notice and for people (girls in particular) that don't carry their phone in a pocket they likely wouldn't notice if their phone vibrated.  

 

When my iphone is on silent I often don't notice that it vibrated in my pocket on the rare occasions where I get a text.  

That's a valid argument.

 

But still, if you feel your life needs to be tied down to responding everything that comes your way the moment it does, I think you should rethink your life.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

 

Only if it's spam.  ?

 

Otherwise woot popularity!  (I wish I was..)