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

Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

repebble.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 615 posts

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#301

Post by eichin »

kwanbix wrote: post #107
lopis wrote: post #96

Instead of a stand-alone piece of e-waste, how about this: a device with the same format (a ring and an button) but the only thing it does is trigger the pebble watch to start recording a message. This way the microphone isn't needed, just the radio (and much weaker radio at that), and the battery will last exponentially longer. Then just expose the charging terminals so that we can at least hack the device with cust…

Or better yet. Use your cellphone wich most of us carry 90% of the time?

If I could press one button (and not unlock the phone) I would; my samsung even has an extra wasted button (the "bixby" button) but it isn't reconfigurable. (Still fails for the "while driving" case but I'd be using it the rest of the time)

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#302

Post by GolfPopper »

lemming wrote: post #292
kstrauser wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I sympathize with the intent of the law, this is a great example of why it's dumb. There's no possible way you could make that ring, in a reasonably ring-sized form factor, with today's manufacturing processes in such a way that an end user could replace it.

If this law pushes back against the idea that it's ok to make endless tech products which are essentially future rubbish as soon as you buy them, then I think that's a good thing. Perhaps products like this just shouldn't exist until we have better ways of dealing with the remains.

Yep. There's some strong "How dare they interfere with Thneed production!" energy.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#304

Post by kstrauser »

lemming wrote: post #292
kstrauser wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I sympathize with the intent of the law, this is a great example of why it's dumb. There's no possible way you could make that ring, in a reasonably ring-sized form factor, with today's manufacturing processes in such a way that an end user could replace it.

If this law pushes back against the idea that it's ok to make endless tech products which are essentially future rubbish as soon as you buy them, then I think that's a good thing. Perhaps products like this just shouldn't exist until we have better ways of dealing with the remains.

The problem is that it makes it impossible to have a version 0 to iterate on until a whole lot of other industries have advanced. Imagine the situation of in-ear hearing aids: they shouldn't be allowed to exist until they're perfect, unless we're happy telling deaf people they have to wear much larger than necessary devices and advertise their disability.

I'm glad we're reducing e-waste. I'm not thrilled about the idea of saying you can't make a thing until 100% of the bugs are worked out, meaning you can't have a beta version for research and fundraising, meaning, you can't conjure the perfect version into existence.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#305

Post by Ninjaneered »

I'd love to have a ring that incorporates Yubikey like NFC functionality, I was worried it could allow login when I didn't intend it, but the idea of a switch might work. Having a USD dongle for hardware that doesn't support NFC but can negotiate the handshake between my ring and the device could work.

I'd buy a ring with just authentication, if it was rechargeable and did a few other things (pulse, sleep monitoring, etc.) even better, but the bare bones would be amazing so I could have something I wear for my authentication.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#306

Post by sippeangelo »

giamma wrote: post #148

I think the design is bad: my girlfriend would never wear it. Maybe they know already and that's why the webpage contains only picture of male hands. Given the many smartwatches on the market which can do so much more, are lightweight and some of them with acceptable battery life (Garmin, Suunto, Amazfit), a smartring is of very little interest to me. But I often struggle to understand why certain products fascinate…

The overmoulding is seriously ugly. Gold and navy blue?! Silver and medical grey? Only the black is passable.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#307

Post by clueless »

erohead wrote: post #65

(Pebble founder) Happy to answer any questions you have!

could this be a used a bluetooth microphone, so I could use it with a laptop as a quick voice dictation/input for various uses? I'm thinking like a simple microphone for an localy hosted app like Hex: https://github.com/kitlangton/Hex

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#308

Post by kentiko »

kstrauser wrote: post #287
rendx wrote: post #269

Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 concerning batteries and waste batteries Article 11 Removability and replaceability of portable batteries and LMT batteries 1. Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those batteries are readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during th…

While I sympathize with the intent of the law, this is a great example of why it's dumb. There's no possible way you could make that ring, in a reasonably ring-sized form factor, with today's manufacturing processes in such a way that an end user could replace it.

Maybe it's the ring that is dumb?

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#309

Post by dramm »

agloe_dreams wrote: post #290
dramm wrote: post #265

Oh look it's a Humane AI Pin without the AI, or rechargeable battery, or ... It's an app. It's an app that will run on somebody else's platform. Putting that in a ring has so marginal benefits (you can't find a phone or computer or notepad or... to record ideas and do it better) and has so many limitations. It's a non-starter.

I mean, this is a textbook over-simplifaction to devalue an idea. Hell, with that logic, you could call all kinds of things a non-starter. "Why buy a watch, it just shows the time on my phone" "Why buy a car, I can just use uber" "Why buy headphones? My phone has speakers." The context of where something is changes the idea of what it is. Just become something tells the time, for example, doesn't mean it is the same…

No it's text-book pointing out the bloody obvious. It's a voice memo app sitting in an ring with limited functionality/usefulness. You can tart that idea up however you want but it's an obvious limited value idea itself at it's core and it is exactly the type of thing that will do better as an app on somebody else' platform.

Re: Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain

#310

Post by lopis »

skeledrew wrote: post #224
lopis wrote: post #96

Instead of a stand-alone piece of e-waste, how about this: a device with the same format (a ring and an button) but the only thing it does is trigger the pebble watch to start recording a message. This way the microphone isn't needed, just the radio (and much weaker radio at that), and the battery will last exponentially longer. Then just expose the charging terminals so that we can at least hack the device with cust…

Might as well bundle the ring with the watch at that point, and increase the price accordingly, as it's then become an accessory particular to the pebble watch. And including a charging circuit means more complexity and bulk, also leading to an increase in price. And cost is a factor they're optimizing for.

That's my point exactly. This should have been a pebble accessory, not a standalone device that sends voice notes to your phone. If this device actually has a 2 year battery, if you'd remove the microphone and turn it into a "smart button" to trigger a watch action, the battery should easily last 4+ years.
Post reply on HN