Following the news from earlier this month that fitness wearable firm Fitbit had acquired Pebble , fans of the innovative smartwatch have been fretting about the fate of their beloved devices.
The parent company is hoping to put some of those fears to rest. In a blog post , it noted that it will keep Pebble software and services running through 2017.
Jon Barlow, who was previously on Pebble’s Developer Evangelist team and is now part of Fitbit’s transition effort, wrote:
In addition, Fitbit will work to update Pebble’s mobile apps and reduce their dependence on scattered cloud services for things like authentication and analytics in the coming months. Following that update, Pebble Health will continue to work as normal, as it doesn’t rely on cloud services.
What’s uncertain is whether certain third-party services like dictation, messaging and weather will continue to be available after the transition update. Hopefully, Fitbit will find a way to streamline those and keep them running.
That should see Pebble owners breathe a short sigh of relief. It’d be great to see Fitbit keep its newly acquired brand alive well into the future, as it represents a unique approach to smartwatches and is a favorite among scores of passionate fans.
Moto Hint is a Bluetooth earbud that you can use to control your smartphone
Alongside the announcements of a few new gadgets this season, Motorola introduced the Moto Hint, a Bluetooth earbud that will allow you to speak voice commands to your phone and third-party apps and receive Google Now responses.
The earbud, which fits snugly and inconspicuously in your ear, features buttonless design and is optimized for the new Moto X (although it will pair with any Android devices running version 4.3 and up).
To activate the earbud, simply say the prompt, “Listen up Moto Hint” or tap the touch capacitive ear piece, then speak your query. You can ask the Moto Hint to send a text message, call a contact or provide search responses from Google Now (such as “What is the weather” or “What’s the score for last night’s Yankees game”) and your phone will relay the answer into the ear piece.
This feature is particularly helpful for navigation, so you can search for directions while driving without ever having to touch the phone or look at the screen. Moto Hint feeds the direction right into the your ear; however, in our demo with Motorola, Android will automatically default direction requests to driving instructions. To get biking or walking directions, the user still has to manually select their preferred mode of transportation.
When using the device with a Moto X, Moto Hint is also compatible with commands for third-party apps, such as “Post to Facebook.” The device comes with a carrying case that doubles as a charger.
The Moto Hint will be available in the US later this fall and retails for $149. It will come in a variety of textile and wood finishes and silver or black frames, which you can customize over on Motorolaom.
Pebble’s Android Wear support exits beta
After beta testing support for Android Wear since December , Pebble has now officially launched the feature for its line of smartwatches.
The update allows Android Wear-compatible apps to send notifications to and receive responses from Pebble watches. Here are a couple of demos showing how users can reply to Hangouts messages and approve money transfer requests from Square Cash .
In addition, Pebble lets users send custom preset replies to app notifications — a feature that Android Wear devices don’t support natively.
➤ Keep the Momentum Going: Android Wear compatibility is up and running (Release Notes) [Pebble Blog]