Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit • Hacker News Board

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#381

Post by chii » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:05 PM UTC

mdorazio wrote: post #373

Datenstrom wrote: post #343

I deleted everything Google and switched to iOS a few years ago so Google would have less of my data. Now they are going to get detailed location, activity, and sleep history for all of those years anyway. You really can't win can you. I bet there is no option to download my data and nuke what they have before this happens either.

The only winning move anymore is to not play. Don’t sign up for any service that collects and stores detailed information like that. If that’s even possible these days. Unfortunately the “people who actually care about their data” market is too small to justify making something like a privacy-oriented Fitbit.

> The only winning move anymore is to not play.

that's like not having a bank account/credit card in the modern day. Doable, but extremely inconvenient and difficult to remain so.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#382

Post by criddell » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:05 PM UTC

zamalek wrote: post #141

not2b wrote: post #91

Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem, too much for comfort, then they remove features, then they get bored and neglect it, then you have a brick.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

I gave up on Fitbit after they made it clear that they won't let users put their data into Apple Health.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#383

Post by lostgame » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:09 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #212

lostgame wrote: post #154

I keep seeing new Apple Watches being released, and I keep seeing them add new features I haven’t seen people asking for instead of focusing on the obvious issue - the atrocious battery life. Putting a 3G modem in my watch is the antithesis to what I see most people asking for - a watch that can actually last more than 24 hours without having to charge it. When my phone lasts longer than my watch, there is something…

If you are outside running or even in a gym, having a cellular Apple Watch + Bluetooth speakers is a godsend. You don't have to lug your phone around. Many women have clothes without pockets or a convenient place to hold a phone.

I’m a woman XD

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#384

Post by andromeduck » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:09 PM UTC

leevlad wrote: post #371

cordite wrote: post #329

Hmm, I don't suppose they will revive pebble. https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/22/14703108/fitbit-bought-pe...

One can only dream. It was so far ahead of its time, and I still consider it superior to any smartwatch out on the market. I have mine from 5 years ago that still works great. We need more products like this.

Apple watch is better for most people IMO. The health features, notifications, apps and other integration at least. Max battery life isn't as great but charging once a day isn't so bad for the much better data.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#385

Post by cwkoss » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:14 PM UTC

lrem wrote: post #310

Oblouk wrote: post #295

It will be interesting to see how Google uses the fitbit data. I could see them synchronizing a user's searches with their heartbeat information to try to gauge emotional response to topics.

As someone who's taken the internal trainings a few times by now: NOPE. Health data is scary-scary and no team wants to taint itself with it, unless it's the core of the product.

Is heartbeat data inherently 'health data'?

Could opting into an app that uses heartbeat for non-health purposes (ex. music game with biofeedback) open the door legally for them to use the data for other non-health purposes?

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#386

Post by peterwwillis » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:15 PM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #351

Bonooru wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Health data is scary because of HIPAA (and the equivalent in non-US jurisdictions) not because it's inherently special or hard to make sense of.

Is Fitbit location history covered by HIPAA?

Basically, any given health record is covered by HIPAA if it 1) includes personal health information, 2) includes personally identifiable information, and 3) is used by a Covered Entity or Business Associate for some health care purpose. Just being "data with health-related information in it" doesn't make it covered by HIPAA; it has to actually be used by a specific set of organizations for a purpose related to health care.

If Fitbit just stored your personal fitbit data in a data lake in the cloud, that's not covered by HIPAA. But if it then shared that data with a service that made suggestions about your health, now it's covered by HIPAA. But if Fitbit allowed your smartphone to download your data, and gave you an app that allowed you personally to see health-related information about that data, that is (afaik) not covered by HIPAA, because you and your phone alone are not a Covered Entity or Business Associate.

Fitbit has a "health solutions" department which seems dedicated to healthcare solutions based on Fitbit data: https://healthsolutions.fitbit.com/ My guess is anything HIPAA-related is solely done through that arm of the company. Example: https://healthsolutions.fitbit.com/healthsystems/ I take this as them saying, "Hey Covered Entities, sign a Business Associate contract with us, and you can hoover up Fitbit data directly from us". By writing some glue code and doing the HIPAA hokey-pokey, they make a tidy profit.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#387

Post by mcv » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:18 PM UTC

Nooo! My wife has a Fitbit and she's really happy with it. I don't want Google to kill it the way they killed Nest.

That's honestly my first thought reading this. I lost my faith in Google about these sort of things.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#388

Post by bduerst » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:21 PM UTC

mattigames wrote: post #345

lrem wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's taken the internal trainings a few times by now: NOPE. Health data is scary-scary and no team wants to taint itself with it, unless it's the core of the product.

It seems if they buy fitbit is because they are no longer really "scared" of it, they aren't going to buy it just to keep fitbit a completely separate product.

They also acquired Fossil.

It's just as likely they want to use fitbit brand to set the bar for android wearable portfolio, like they do with the Pixel for phones, than harvesting your daily steps for targeted advertising.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#389

Post by all_blue_chucks » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:23 PM UTC

Fitbit bought and killed cool wearables like Pebble and Vector. If this deal goes through they will probably kill WearOS as well.

Fitbit: the grim reaper of wearables.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#390

Post by mcv » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 11:23 PM UTC

harikb wrote: post #344

fragmede wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with nicer battery life Don't discount this feature on a fitness tracker. The most recent Apple Watches are better in this respect compared to the first one, but the battery life is still measured in hours, rather than days. The UX for a Fitbit as a smartwatch is honestly horrible. The Pebble acquihire prioritized watch apps, in (what I see as) a belief that watch apps are necessary to compete with Apple. Resources…

A watch that needs to be charged once in a few days is actually worse than one that could use a charge every night. Charge at night is a habit that can easily be adjusted to our daily schedule. btw Apple watch does last a full day (I meant 16+ hrs) with decent use, unless you are playing music out of it all the time or obsessively checking time/calendar. Only advantage of fitbit is that some models are easier to wear…

No, charge every night would be way worse. My wife uses her Fitbit to track her sleep, and it does this very well (much better than her previous smartwatch). She also tracks how much she walks during the day. A smartwatch that has to be charged every day would be useless to her.

I have no idea about the UI that some people complain about, but my wife seems to have managed to get access quite a bit of functionality in her Fitbit, so I'd say it's good enough for its purpose.