Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google open-sources the Pebble OS

opensource.googleblog.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 216 posts

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#61

Post by dtquad »

_2d30 wrote: post #52
skort wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Pebble went bankrupt because no one bought their products. Their assets were acquired by Fitbit. Fitbit did not continue to produce the Pebble products for which there was very limited demand. Google then later acquired Fitbit.

Big Tech companies acquired and acqu-hired many unsustainable small and medium sized businesses in the past 16 years. Most people don't know that because seller doesn't want to admit they were a bad unsustainable business and buyer doesn't want to admit they are buying a bad unsustainable business.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#62

Post by AgentMatrixAI »

cmdtab wrote: post #25
erohead wrote: post #14

Thank you, Google. You didn't have to, but you did. We are all are extraordinarily grateful. I wrote a blog post about our plans to bring Pebble back, sustainably. https://ericmigi.com/blog/why-were-bringing-pebble-back We got our original start on HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3827868 ), it's a pleasure to be back. If you're interested in getting a new Pebble, check out https://rePebble.com

This is pretty cool. Have you ever thought about designing pebble to look more like a traditional watch but e-ink based?

forgot the name of the watch but it had an lcd display to save battery and a full touchscreen around 2017? i ended up using the lcd display mostly for HB and walk distance. it would be great if we had a completely e-ink based pebble watch with backlighting (lcd display was great but couldn't be viewed in the dark :/)

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#63

Post by scarface_74 »

elaus wrote: post #42
skort wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I prefer to shit on companies that don't even do "the bare minimum" and never publish source code of their dead products. Today, this is not Google.

I’m the first to criticize Google and say they have the attention span of a crack addled flea.

But I have to commend them for this.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#64

Post by scarface_74 »

skort wrote: post #15

Hopefully this will accelerate the production of new hardware at some point. I misplaced my old Pebble Time and was excited for the Pebble Time 2 but those hopes were dashed when they closed up and fitbit had no interest in continuing to produce the watches that made Pebble what it was.

Hardware is hard to almost impossible as a sustainable business as a small company unless there is a thriving ODM market and you can just use your own software.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#65

Post by erohead »

coldpie wrote: post #23
erohead wrote: post #14

Thank you, Google. You didn't have to, but you did. We are all are extraordinarily grateful. I wrote a blog post about our plans to bring Pebble back, sustainably. https://ericmigi.com/blog/why-were-bringing-pebble-back We got our original start on HN ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3827868 ), it's a pleasure to be back. If you're interested in getting a new Pebble, check out https://rePebble.com

Is the Small Android Phone project dead? :)

No, but...not moving fast

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#66

Post by Zigurd »

coldpie wrote: post #51
rpmisms wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be a great hardware duo. Neo-pebble and Mini-nexus.

Hmm, maybe we can come at this from the other angle. We can't have small phones because bigger is always better, right? So how about a HUGE 5" screen smartwatch that just happens to be a perfectly functional standalone phone if you discard the wristband?? Instant best seller!

A better use of flexible screens than folding devices. Fitting under the cuffs of men's shirts is a constraint. I dictate most text entered on my phone, so a squishy typing surface wouldn't be so bad. Camera position could be tricky.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#67

Post by dtquad »

skort wrote: post #29
spencerflem wrote: post #5

Don't say it often, but this is very nice of Google and they really didn't have to. Credit where it's due

[flagged]

>We should be more upset that projects get acquired, shut down, and never see the light of day again because these massive companies must continue to expand at all costs.

>Stop treating mega corporations like they've done you a favor when they've done the bare minimum.

Most of the projects that got acquired and acqu-hired by mega-corporations were bad unsustainable businesses.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#68

Post by devrand »

mavamaarten wrote: post #32
spencerflem wrote: post #5

Don't say it often, but this is very nice of Google and they really didn't have to. Credit where it's due

Yes and no. They did buy it and just let it die. They were so far ahead of the competition at the time.

It was dead long before Google was involved. Pebble filed for insolvency back in 2016 with Fitbit acquiring much of the assets. It was dead at this point. 5 years later Google bought Fitbit.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#69

Post by andybak »

This, Google Wave, Tilt Brush (and more recently Blocks). And probably others I've forgotten.

This really does help mitigate the damage done by "Killed by Google" and people are genuinely grateful (personally in my case).

But even better would be to fix the dysfunctional internal dynamics that cause this syndrome in what appears to be disproportionally more frequently compared to other corporations.

Re: Google open-sources the Pebble OS

#70

Post by bombcar »

dtquad wrote: post #67
skort wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

>We should be more upset that projects get acquired, shut down, and never see the light of day again because these massive companies must continue to expand at all costs. >Stop treating mega corporations like they've done you a favor when they've done the bare minimum. Most of the projects that got acquired and acqu-hired by mega-corporations were bad unsustainable businesses.

Many, MANY acquihires are just someone at a large company being nice.

Google should get credit for this, especially if you think it's the bare minimum - to encourage others to do similar things.

Post reply on HN