Google Has Open-Sourced the Pebble Smartwatch OS – Slashdot

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It’s worthless (i.e. dead)Yup.Basically Google is more interested in bigger / more complex watches that can “gather more health tracking”, i.e. steal more privacy to monetize, and thus concentrate on stuff like Android Wear, etc.And the fun little gadget category has been obliterated by lots of small opensource projects such as, e.g., InfiniTime (opensource RTOS-based software that can run on devices whose spec is roughly in the same category as the venerable C64 – more seriously, you can run this on dead cheap hardware like Pine64′ It’s worthless (i.e. dead)Yup.Basically Google is more interested in bigger / more complex watches that can “gather more health tracking”, i.e. steal more privacy to monetize, and thus concentrate on stuff like Android Wear, etc.And the fun little gadget category has been obliterated by lots of small opensource projects such as, e.g., InfiniTime (opensource RTOS-based software that can run on devices whose spec is roughly in the same category as the venerable C64 – more seriously, you can run this on dead cheap hardware like Pine64′ Ripple (appears to be taken)Skipper?Portal?Why not go all the way back to Greek:Schist “–on your wrist”Nugget!I am shocked at this development. Shocked, I tell you, but in a good way.I was a Kickstarter backer for the Time release. I bought a Time Steel after that. I backed the Time 2 as well, though that never shipped. I subscribed to Rebble.io for years after 2016. I used both watches until the batteries gave out and popped the face plates off. I’ve still got the hardware somewhere in a drawer. I for one would love to see new Pebble hardware and a new OS.As it is, I’m currently using an Amazefit GTR-4 (Zepp OS), controlled through GadgetBridge. I’d dearly love to get back some of the functionality that I had with my Pebbles but no one else offers, like the Timeline, voice replies, and an always-on screen (The GTR4 has “always on” but that is nerfed compared to the Pebble e-ink screen), a working calendar (Gadgetbridge tries with Zepp, but there’s some major issues that keep plaguing me), and minus all the bloat that they shovel into these things.I’m an original Pebble backer, and am also now using an Amazfit (the Bip). I’d also pay for a Pebble successor. Really, I just want all the functionality of the latest smartwatches, with the months-long battery life of the Pebble. I think e-ink is the only way to do that, although advances in battery tech or maybe some algorithm for turning the display on only when it knows you’re looking at it (not just when it moves a certain way) could do the trick. My Bip does last about a month on a charge (but it Always wanted one but don’t wear a watch now.. Still it is interesting and kind of would like to see this OS maybe just not in a watch format but a similar small reflective or e-ink display. I’ve gotten used to them with my daily use of a Kindle signature edition, and also really like the display on my Daylight Computer DC-1. I’d like to be able to carry some thin, small, networked e-ink tableticles in my pocket like the display in the pebble. Let them update from my phone, wifi or computer in the backgroun Do they even own the rights anymore?I was an avid Pebble user back in the day, and still think about it and WeatherGraph fondly. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, did it well, and because it wasn’t bloated with a bunch of stuff no one asked for it had a ~week battery life.Looking forward to hopefully more devices coming out.There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.Dangerous Temperatures Could Kill 50% More Europeans By 2100, Study FindsMicrosoft Takes on MongoDB with PostgreSQL-Based Document DatabaseModeling paged and segmented memories is tricky business.
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Source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/27/2059213/google-has-open-sourced-the-pebble-smartwatch-os