from the when-you-can-snatch-this-watch-from-my-hand-grasshopper dept.
Pebble smartwatches could be kept alive by an unofficial developer group called Rebble
Pebble's online services will officially die at the end of this month, but some could live on through Rebble, an unofficial group of Pebble users who are trying to keep their watches alive.
Rebble initially popped up after Pebble said in 2016 that it would cease operations and be acquired by Fitbit. Now that Fitbit is weeks away from shutting down Pebble's remaining services, Rebble is promoting an unofficial replacement system that's meant to keep the majority of Pebble's internet-connected functions alive. Former Pebble employee Katharine Berry is spearheading the effort, and it's received an endorsement from Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky.
Also at Engadget.
Previously: Pebble Dead, Assets Sold to Fitbit
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Pebble has announced that the company will shut down and cease the production of its smartwatches. Many of the developers will join Fitbit, and Fitbit has acquired Pebble's "technology, software, and other intellectual property".
Pebble previously rejected offers of $740 million and later $70 million for the company. Fitbit is paying around $40 million for parts of Pebble without assuming its debts (which are around the same amount).
"A Look Back at Pebble's Rise and Fall" at PC Magazine.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @05:31PM (2 children)
Still pisses me off they were bought and destroyed. Just before i got my 'steel' upgraded to color.
Still say they were the best. They did what you needed, no extra fluff. And worked well.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday June 16 2018, @07:07PM (1 child)
Are these replacement services going to be sufficient for you?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by everdred on Monday June 18 2018, @07:39PM
I own one as well. (Well, four actually.)
I'm feeling positive about the future. Rebble services sound good, as long as you're not an iOS user.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 16 2018, @10:42PM (1 child)
You paid your money, you got fleeced. Suckers.
(Score: 3, Informative) by SanityCheck on Sunday June 17 2018, @12:42AM
I bought it long after crowdfunding was done.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday June 17 2018, @09:46AM
I bought several Timex "Data Link" watches.
At the time I bought them, I did not have much experience or exposure to the business tactic of forced obsolescence.
Older but wiser, I look more into stuff like this before I open my wallet... see if the protocols are public. Had they released the protocol where I could have kept my watch going through communicating through a blinking LED instead of holding it up to a monitor which was flashing what appeared to be a four bit code, using rasterization/scanning for timing, I would have probably been using my watches to this day, instead of throwing them away and considering my investment in them as a sunk cost.
Well, today, I know a helluva lot more and I probably would have cracked the code and built a LED flasher equivalent, but now is now and then was then.
I was used to being encouraged to use things I had bought, like I could easily get info on how to use a UART. The people who sold me the UART knew I did not buy it just to look at it... they knew I wanted to do something with it. I had the same feelings toward TIMEX once. Well, burned once, I now seem to think down the lines of "what am I getting myself into" when it comes into buying proprietary technology.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]