Fitbit is now officially part of Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#381

Post by dkersten » Fri, Jan 15, 2021, 5:49 PM UTC

rattray wrote: post #373

dkersten wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not knowingly, in that I don't remember ever clicking on such an advert and then purchasing something. But its impossible to tell if they've primed me to buy something later. But just because I try to be vigilant and also try to block adverts, doesn't mean that I should be ok with them having my data. Just because they haven't figured out a way to trick me yet doesn't mean they won't later or that they won't become e…

Got it. Yeah, I find highly-targeted ads to be creepy as well, and started using ffx with adblock for all browsing. I use Chrome for logged-in web use (gmail, fb, etc). I don't get relevant ads anymore, but instead I get lowest-common-denominator ads. It's... worse! I don't like the idea of targeted ads, but the consequence feels pretty minimal I have to say. The worst thing that happens is I buy a product that I tur…

It’s not really about regretted purchases for me than it is about giving some corporation that power over us. Additionally, the internet has become a cesspool if advertising and google is a huge part of causing that. It’s also that google is serving adverts for scams, malware or just exploitative garbage.

I also feel that while you and I may be doing ok avoiding this stuff, many people don’t including old people and children. That’s not ok. I know that’s off topic here, but the more data google and about us, the less likely it will be that we can protect ourselves or others from this.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#382

Post by 1123581321 » Fri, Jan 15, 2021, 10:57 PM UTC

Closi wrote: post #167

schoolornot wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it you’ve never dealt with conflicting cultures post-acquisition. I have and it was extremely frustrating fighting with people to follow and respect the parent company’s conventions. At some point you realize that someone is so set in their ways they are affecting the team’s deliverables.

> It was extremely frustrating fighting with people to follow and respect the parent company’s conventions This post is a tutorial on how not to handle an acquisition! It's generally a bad sign for an acquisition if staff from the parent company say words like that they are "fighting to impose the parent companies culture and conventions"! It's an acquisition, but companies are made of people, and just because a pare…

More common is the situation where neither company has that perceptive of leadership or a culture worth fighting for. Just disagreements and conflicts.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#383

Post by chaostheory » Sat, Jan 16, 2021, 7:49 AM UTC

csours wrote: post #336

chaostheory wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not 'asinine' if you're worried about cost, size, and weight. An all in one device is going to be larger, heavier, and cost more than device that relies on a smart phone.

Each device should be as capable as possible. There are features not implemented on the wearable, and there are features not implemented on the phone, as someone else pointed out, they could not change a basic setting from the phone or the wearable. I understand there's a feature set trade off, I don't necessarily want a wearable that connects to the internet itself.

Ok, then it already exists. Buy Apple. The main trade off is price.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#384

Post by throw14082020 » Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

HDMI_Cable wrote: post #221

hajile wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say someone steal a billion dollars through fraud and hide it. What should be done? Should they just walk free? There's a difference between non-violent crimes (white collar crimes usually) and victimless crimes (possessing a small amount of controlled substances).

First things first, they could pay back the $1 billion?

I also expected the money is hidden away, such that the the legal system cannot get it back. Money can be laundered away. These are smarter criminals, not ones that just robbed a bank for cash and have it under their beds.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#385

Post by chaostheory » Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 7:57 PM UTC

KMag wrote: post #297

chaostheory wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not 'asinine' if you're worried about cost, size, and weight. An all in one device is going to be larger, heavier, and cost more than device that relies on a smart phone.

The GP is complaining about the phone -> server -> phone data path of the wearable -> phone -> server -> phone workflow for generating a nice graph. Presumably they think uploading the data to the server should be optional for backup/social purposes and not a part of just viewing the collected data.

Yes, I understand that and I've given some of the reasons why.

Another reason is that the alternative of syncing your device with a computer doesn't work with most of the population. They either aren't familiar with tech enough or they don't own a computer. The rest get annoyed with the lack of convenience vs automatically uploading everything via your phone's bluetooth

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#386

Post by msla » Tue, Jan 26, 2021, 6:52 PM UTC

xsmasher wrote: post #272

cratermoon wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/citizen-coup... "Imagine there was no such thing as a library, and that members of the current neoliberal policy consensus were to sit down today and invent it. They might create complicated tax expenditures to subsidize the poor purchasing and reselling books, like the wage support of the earned income tax credit. They might require people to rent books from approved p…

If someone invented the concept of a library today wouldn't it sound, you know, kinda socialist?

More like Liberal Capitalism.

Re: Fitbit is now officially part of Google

#387

Post by brlewis » Thu, Jan 28, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

sorenjan wrote: post #320

brlewis wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am super happy with my Fitbit but given Google I assume it will be "sunset" within a year or two I work for Fitbit. I don't speak for Fitbit, but now that the deal is closed I can share my own opinions and ask my own questions. What makes you think Google wants Apple to have the only good smart watch? That would be the main effect of sunsetting Fitbit. Nest still exists after their 2014 acquisition by Google, and…

> What makes you think Google wants Apple to have the only good smart watch? Wear OS shows how little Google care about good smart watches. It's six years old and still bad, if they wanted it to be good they would've fixed it years ago.

FTR making a good smart watch is a hard problem. Acquiring a company that's already put in the hard work is more resource efficient than scaling that mountain yourself.