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Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

kickstarter.com

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Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#61

Post by johnmw »

phlyingpenguin wrote: post #60
motti_s wrote: post #27

As a gadget freak and a hacker, I love this product. But I wonder how many people use a watch these days. Of course this is no ordinary watch, but when you have a supercomputer (in the shape of a phone) in your pocket, is it really needed? I suppose it's great for sports, but I'm not sure whether it has mass market potential (selling ~10K in a few hours is amazing, but isn't mass market yet). I'm actually on the fenc…

I find the use of cell phones as pocket watches tacky. As a grad student, I've seen many speakers come in and open a cell phone in the middle of a talk to check their time usage, which I find utterly unacceptable. Depending on your situation, look around a bit and see who's wearing a watch. It may not be the norm anymore, but it's still not an unusual thing to do at all. If nothing else, they are a good fashion acces…

Don't you think 'utterly unacceptable' is a just little harsh, remembering that technology, fashion, and language are not fixed things and are always changing. I think it is quite acceptable that mobile phones have replaced wrist watches. Or maybe we should go back to giving lectures in a top hat and monocle, and checking our time usage with a fob watch? ;)

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#62

Post by phlyingpenguin »

johnmw wrote: post #61
phlyingpenguin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the use of cell phones as pocket watches tacky. As a grad student, I've seen many speakers come in and open a cell phone in the middle of a talk to check their time usage, which I find utterly unacceptable. Depending on your situation, look around a bit and see who's wearing a watch. It may not be the norm anymore, but it's still not an unusual thing to do at all. If nothing else, they are a good fashion acces…

Don't you think 'utterly unacceptable' is a just little harsh, remembering that technology, fashion, and language are not fixed things and are always changing. I think it is quite acceptable that mobile phones have replaced wrist watches. Or maybe we should go back to giving lectures in a top hat and monocle, and checking our time usage with a fob watch? ;)

It's not the change in fashion that I'm taking issue with. Standing in front of a group of people with your attention fixed on a communication device is not good presentation. If it were glancing down at a clock sitting on a podium or table, that would be fine. This is not how it happens in practice. The biggest difference between a cell phone and a watch or other timepiece on a surface is that a cell phone requires interaction to extract the time. The extent of that interaction really doesn't matter. It goes from a momentary action of pulling a phone out and pressing a wake button to a nervous speaker confounded by a single button press and a screen too dim to see without making a spectacle of the action. This is the more common of the cell phone users I witness. The trouble is that every minute thing a speaker does is on display and just as a speaker expects (or hopes for) respect from the audience, I as an audience member expect the speaker to be attentive and professional.

So can it be done gracefully without my ire? Probably. I have yet to be pleasantly surprised.

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#63

Post by thetron »

qq66 wrote: post #59

What's the general-case solution to technical failure of a Kickstarter project? For example, what happens if the organizers spend the money they raised to build the product, but it turns out that they underestimated the costs, and now can't deliver what they promised to give you if you pledge $x? I ask because usually when you buy a product, it's already been made -- if a Kickstarter investment is purely a donation t…

I had contributed to a Kickstarter project (a piece of software) that failed to finish. Recently, the author wrote an update offering refunds (plus 5% interest) to all backers.

Personally, I consider all Kickstarter donations to be be just that, even if the reward includes some sort of 'preorder' - although saying that, I would be super disappointed if I invested $100+ in a project that then fell on its face.

I guess that the risk of investment, right?

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#64

Post by thetron »

motti_s wrote: post #27

As a gadget freak and a hacker, I love this product. But I wonder how many people use a watch these days. Of course this is no ordinary watch, but when you have a supercomputer (in the shape of a phone) in your pocket, is it really needed? I suppose it's great for sports, but I'm not sure whether it has mass market potential (selling ~10K in a few hours is amazing, but isn't mass market yet). I'm actually on the fenc…

For me, the big win is the vibration motor - I never feel my phone when it vibrates in my pocket.

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#65

Post by adiM »

phlyingpenguin wrote: post #62
johnmw wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you think 'utterly unacceptable' is a just little harsh, remembering that technology, fashion, and language are not fixed things and are always changing. I think it is quite acceptable that mobile phones have replaced wrist watches. Or maybe we should go back to giving lectures in a top hat and monocle, and checking our time usage with a fob watch? ;)

It's not the change in fashion that I'm taking issue with. Standing in front of a group of people with your attention fixed on a communication device is not good presentation. If it were glancing down at a clock sitting on a podium or table, that would be fine. This is not how it happens in practice. The biggest difference between a cell phone and a watch or other timepiece on a surface is that a cell phone requires…

I normally wear a watch, but still use my phone's stopwatch to keep time during a talk. I find that looking at a stopwatch during a presentation requires less mental distraction than: (i) keeping track of the time at which my talk started (I am talking about conference talks where the talks usually start a few minutes later than the scheduled time), (ii) looking at the current time and calculating how much time is remaining (it usually takes less than a second, but it is more time consuming that a tap on my phone).

The trick is to disable your phone's auto lock, open the stop watch and run it. That way, you can just tap the screen (I am assuming iphone like smart phone) to see the current time. I think this can be done as discreetly as checking my watch.

The biggest advantage of using a stopwatch is that it provides evidence of how long you have been speaking for. I have had cases where the previous speaker overshot his/her time and a session chair tried to get back on time by cutting time from my talk. In such cases, I have had to point to my stopwatch to say that I still have more than five minutes left. (Usually the talks are twenty minutes, so having five less minutes is a big deal). This (a session chair punishing me for the previous speaker's tardiness) has happened twice to me in the last year.

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#66

Post by mstefanko »

ljd wrote: post #57
mstefanko wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its true that this part seems like not a big deal. But I think with the growing number of devices in everyones arsenal, it's becoming more of a burden. I charge 2 laptops, a cell phone, and a tablet every night. A kindle every once in awhile. I'm on the fence on this one too. The product looks awesome, just wish that number(7 days) was bigger. Part of this may be just getting used to the whole concept. I'd imagine yo…

It sounds like someone should create a device to centralize power. Charge one unit, and all the other units can pull energy from it. Maybe there is a need for a micro-form factor rechargeable battery that can be put in electronic devices as a standard.

That would be incredible... Even if the concept of inductive chargers were taken further.

But a central power unit that worked across all devices has some major issues. If you look at something like the "Duracell Instant USB Charger", there's a few batteries like it with usb now. Looking at something like that though, I question if it's possible to make a central, charge-one-unit, device that is actually convenient/functional and makes life easier. Even though the size is down, their annoying to use. Plugging devices into it during the day on a regular basis would be suck. Unless you make some sort of inductive pants lol.

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#67

Post by donohoe »

phlyingpenguin wrote: post #62
johnmw wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you think 'utterly unacceptable' is a just little harsh, remembering that technology, fashion, and language are not fixed things and are always changing. I think it is quite acceptable that mobile phones have replaced wrist watches. Or maybe we should go back to giving lectures in a top hat and monocle, and checking our time usage with a fob watch? ;)

It's not the change in fashion that I'm taking issue with. Standing in front of a group of people with your attention fixed on a communication device is not good presentation. If it were glancing down at a clock sitting on a podium or table, that would be fine. This is not how it happens in practice. The biggest difference between a cell phone and a watch or other timepiece on a surface is that a cell phone requires…

It can be a communication device.

But when you look down at it to check time it is just a time-piece (like the old days).

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#68

Post by tobtoh »

phlyingpenguin wrote: post #60
motti_s wrote: post #27

As a gadget freak and a hacker, I love this product. But I wonder how many people use a watch these days. Of course this is no ordinary watch, but when you have a supercomputer (in the shape of a phone) in your pocket, is it really needed? I suppose it's great for sports, but I'm not sure whether it has mass market potential (selling ~10K in a few hours is amazing, but isn't mass market yet). I'm actually on the fenc…

I find the use of cell phones as pocket watches tacky. As a grad student, I've seen many speakers come in and open a cell phone in the middle of a talk to check their time usage, which I find utterly unacceptable. Depending on your situation, look around a bit and see who's wearing a watch. It may not be the norm anymore, but it's still not an unusual thing to do at all. If nothing else, they are a good fashion acces…

Slight off topic, but I am always puzzled how most conference rooms fail to have a large clock at the back of the room such that a speaker can easily see how they are tracking for time.

If not at the back of the room, a large display at the foot of the stage facing the speaker - the way TED talks display the time to the speaker.

If meeting rooms can remember to embed projectors and speakers in a room, putting a clock on the back wall can't be that difficult.

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#69

Post by FaceKicker »

thetron wrote: post #63
qq66 wrote: post #59

What's the general-case solution to technical failure of a Kickstarter project? For example, what happens if the organizers spend the money they raised to build the product, but it turns out that they underestimated the costs, and now can't deliver what they promised to give you if you pledge $x? I ask because usually when you buy a product, it's already been made -- if a Kickstarter investment is purely a donation t…

I had contributed to a Kickstarter project (a piece of software) that failed to finish. Recently, the author wrote an update offering refunds (plus 5% interest) to all backers. Personally, I consider all Kickstarter donations to be be just that, even if the reward includes some sort of 'preorder' - although saying that, I would be super disappointed if I invested $100+ in a project that then fell on its face. I guess…

So if this team just decided to run off with the $1.6M right now for essentially writing a page worth of text and making a couple concept videos, would there be any legal recourse for the donors? Not that I have any suspicion at all that that's what this team is doing, but Kickstarter projects in general seem like a relatively easy way for someone to make a good chunk of money for the cost of a couple hours' worth of work.

Is there really nothing more to it - donors just have to cross their fingers that the team is legit and isn't just going to run away with the money?

Re: Pebble E-Paper Watch Raises $1M In 28 Hours

#70

Post by ekianjo »

aeeeee wrote: post #6
Ralith wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to recharge my watch like a cell phone Isn't that (part of) why it's got an eink display?

It does, the video says ~7 days on one charge. Not bad but not great either.

That's going to be a major hurdle for adoption among a wider audience. Not that they need it to be successful, by the way. But most people already end up charging their mobile phones everyday, then they'll have to keep remembering to charge the watch as well every week... that's not very user friendly.

If the battery lasted one month, that would probably be a good spot to be at.

I wonder if they could make an e-ink display with a layer acting as a solar panel charger at the same time. Maybe they could recharge the watch this way, continuously.

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