Fitbit’s Pebble acquisition risks alienating loyal users

After days of rumors and speculation, Pebble finally confirmed yesterday that it’s getting acquired by Fitbit. At first, this sounded like it might be a good thing, as Pebble was struggling to gain market share in the wearables industry and may have gone under without an exit plan. Unfortunately, however, it appears that the deal doesn’t include Pebble’s hardware. According to Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky, the only assets carrying over are key talent, software and intellectual property, leaving existing and future products to be discontinued. Considering Pebble’s hardware is what helped the company build a following in the first place, killing its run strikes me as a mistake. Fitbit risks not only disappointing the thousands of loyal fans that believed in Pebble despite the odds but also punishing them. It’s not a good look for Pebble or Fitbit.

That list of discontinued hardware includes all of the devices that were listed in the company’s latest Kickstarter campaign. The Time 2 and the Core — a GPS-enabled accessory for runners — both promised for next year, will never ship. If you ordered a Pebble 2 or a special Kickstarter Edition of the Time Round and haven’t received it yet, you won’t get one. Pebble has said all Kickstarter pre-orders will be refunded, but that could take months. In fact, it might not happen until March 2017.

What’s more, while existing watches will continue to work for now, one-to-one support is no longer available and Migicovsky said that even future functionality could be reduced. It seems like a matter of time before support for all Pebble devices comes to an end. And if your Pebble dies on you? Good luck: It’ll no longer be covered under warranty.

One of the reasons Pebble was successful in the first place was its crowdsourcing roots. In 2012, Pebble broke records as the most funded Kickstarter project at the time, raising over $10 million from 68,929 backers. This resulted in the first-ever Pebble smartwatch and led to the creation of the company, the brand and a passionate group of developers and users.

Pebble returned to Kickstarter in 2015 with the Time, its new color smartwatch, and that also smashed Kickstarter records, with over $20 million (and 78,471 backers), making it the most-funded Kickstarter campaign to date. This is particularly impressive when you consider that all the while, the company was facing fierce competition from the likes of the Apple Watch and various Android Wear devices.

Earlier this year, Pebble proved its clout once again with the introduction of the Pebble 2, the Time 2 and the Core. This campaign raised a blockbuster amount on Kickstarter as well: over $12 million from 66,673 backers. It’s evident that what kept Pebble going were its loyal users.

Of course, one of the reasons the company had been struggling is that the Pebble devices faced too much competition. Despite their cross-platform compatibility and long battery life, Pebble’s e-ink smartwatches couldn’t match flashier, more sophisticated rivals. Yet, the company’s pivot toward fitness-focused hardware this year showed that it could carve out a niche as a smart activity tracker, which is likely why Fitbit was attracted to it in the first place.

That’s why it’s so frustrating that with this acquisition, Fitbit has essentially chucked all of Pebble’s hard work. Though the Pebble 2 was just an entry-level smartwatch, the Time 2 looked like a promising improvement on last year’s version, and the Core sounded like a great fitness add-on for existing Pebble owners. The fact that Fitbit was willing to not only disregard the wishes of thousands of Kickstarter backers but also discontinue Pebble’s entire repertoire does not bode well for the company’s willingness to listen to its users.

Fitbit is already competing against cheaper options like Meizu’s H1 Band, and, as recent numbers show, it’s not pulling in great sales there either. Acquiring Pebble could’ve been a good thing; integrating Fitbit’s activity-tracking tech in a smarter, more attractive device would have made for a compelling product. But instead, Pebble loses years of hard work and Fitbit gets the remnants of a company without the hardware — and the fanbase — that made it a cult favorite in the first place.

Pokémon Go to Get New Pokémon as Starbucks and Sprint Stores Become Pokéstops and Gyms

Pokémon Go recently announced that Sprint and Starbucks locations have officially been added into the game as Pokéstops and Gyms. The Sprint collaboration began yesterday with over 10,500 Sprint locations around the United States supporting the GPS-based game, including Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint at Radioshack stores. In-store charging stations are also being offered to players so they can keep playing the game longer.

Today, another U.S.-based collaboration will begin at 11 a.m. PST, where 7,800 Starbucks stores around the country will turn into Pokéstops and Gyms to entice players to visit the popular coffee shop more often. In celebration of the partnership, the company has also created a new Pokémon Go Frappuccino for customers to try out while they hunt Pokémon in the game.

By locating a Starbucks® store within Pokémon GO, players will discover the Pokémon GO Frappuccino® blended beverage. The Pokémon GO Frappuccino® starts with a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino® blended beverage and raspberry syrup blended with freeze dried whole blackberries and topped with whipped cream. It’s the perfect treat for any Pokémon Trainer on the go.

The Pokémon GO Frappuccino® blended beverage will be available at participating Starbucks® stores for a limited time while supplies last.

The partnership news this week precedes a new generation of Pokémon coming to the game sometime soon. In the Sprint press release, Niantic CEO John Hanke teased fans and said to “keep an eye out on our social media channels on December 12th for details about the first addition of more Pokémon into Pokémon Go.” The specific amount and generation of Pokémon that will be added to the game was not given, so fans will have to wait until next Monday to find out.

Pokémon Go can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Pokémon GO
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LG G6 may ditch the modules, but hold on to the headphone jack

LG did something daring with G5. It introduced modules to a smartphone, a design we weren’t familiar with and ultimately, we didn’t think they’d catch on, no matter how useful they may have been.

• LG G6: What’s the story so far?

And now there’s more evidence to suggest LG will in fact be scrapping the idea of interchangeable modules for the G6 smartphone.

Source: LG G6 will not have a removable battery, LG will move to an all-glass design language similar to Samsung. Headphone jack is a go.

— David Ruddock (@RDR0b11) 7 December 2016

David Ruddock, a journalist at Android Police, has recently tweeted that the G6 will not feature a removeable battery and initially thought it would sport an all-glass design, similar to what Samsung is expected to do for the Galaxy S8.

Ruddock then sent a follow up tweet to say the all-glass design was wrong, but the G6 will instead have a highly reflective metal material on the rear of the device.

Correction: G6 is not all glass body, but has a highly reflective metallic material on the rear.

— David Ruddock (@RDR0b11) 7 December 2016

While none of this confirms there won’t be modules, the fact there’s no removeable battery suggests it will be a unibody design, which could make it tricky for modules to be interchanged.

It would also link in with an earlier report from Korea that LG will indeed be ditching modules for the G6.

David Ruddock also says the “headphone jack is a go”, implying LG will indeed keep the sacred 3.5mm port for connecting your current headphones. Apple has already removed it on the iPhone 7 and Samsung is expected to ditch it in favour of audio via USB Type-C.

• LG G5 review: Modular misfire?

The LG G6 is expected to be announced either at Mobile World Congress in February 2017, or a day before the show officially begins at a separate launch event. For now, we have to take all rumours with a pinch of salt until we see any concrete evidence.

Indiegogo will use collection agencies to go after fraudsters

Indiegogo has updated its Terms of Use in an effort to protect itself and backers from crowdfund-and-run fraudsters. In a recent blog post, the website has revealed that it will start using third-party collections agencies to go after campaign owners who don’t deliver on their promises and those who run off with their backers’ money. Further, it has begun imposing stricter requirements on people who want to set up shop. The campaign owners’ legal residence should now match their projects’ address upon ID verification to prove that they’re not impostors. Owners are now also required to provide frequent updates about their project’s development and are not allowed to put up another if their previous campaign is still active.

Unfortunately, the crowdfunding website remains a bit too lax when it comes to the kind of projects it welcomes. Whereas Kickstarter campaigns are required to be able to show their backers a prototype, Indiegogo ones could get by with photo renders. “We often get asked about the feasibility of projects and, while we may not review every project, we will work with the campaign owner directly if we receive questions or concerns,” the website’s Head of Trust & Safety wrote in the post.

While crowdfunding gave rise to some very interesting tech projects such as Oculus and the now-Fitbit-owned Pebble, it also led to a load of scams, enough for the FTC to step in. Even Kickstarter, which makes sure its campaigns can show existing prototypes, has its own share of crowdfunding failures. One recent example is BioRing, which raised $750,000 on Indiegogo before being suspended due to a violation of the website’s terms. According to Vocativ, the campaign owner only left $300,000 behind for refunds and hid the rest of the money in offshore accounts.

Via: Vocativ, CNET

Source: Indiegogo (1), (2)

‘Bully: Anniversary Edition’ Launches on iOS App Store for $6.99

Rockstar Games has officially released Bully: Anniversary Edition on mobile devices for $6.99, including iOS [Direct Link] and Android. The launch of the mobile app for the game comes ten years after Bully originally launched in the fall of 2006 for the PlayStation 2.

Images via TouchArcade
The new “Anniversary Edition” includes all of the content from the game’s “Scholarship Edition” — which was a graphical enhancement that added a few more features onto the game two years after its original release — as well as including a few new mobile-focused updates of its own. Bully: Anniversary Edition has gained support for high-resolution displays, enhanced graphics, improved lighting and textures, and controls redesigned for touch gameplay.

On top of all of its new graphic overhauls, a new multiplayer component has also been added, called “Friend Challenges.” The turn-based mode lets players compete in head-to-head “arcade style mini-games,” using Bully’s prep school classroom theme to see who can dissect frogs the fastest, solve word problems, and more. The full list of features for Bully: Anniversary Edition are listed below:

Features:
• Includes the complete Bully story with extra missions, characters, classroom mini-games, and unlockable items from Bully: Scholarship Edition
• Gorgeous graphics: high resolution textures, dynamic lighting, shadows and particle effects
• Native support for high resolution displays
• Challenge your friends anywhere with turn based multiplayer Friend Challenges. Play on the go and get notified when it’s your turn
• Intelligent touch controls with contextual buttons only when you need them
• Seamlessly continue your game across all your devices with cloud saves via the Rockstar Games Social Club
• Physical controller support
• Taptic Engine Feedback for all buttons on iPhone 7 class devices
• Capture your gameplay with Replay Kit support on iPhone 6S and greater class devices

Previously, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and more, on the iOS App Store.

Rockstar Games noted that Bully: Anniversary Edition requires 2.4 GB of space and is supported on the iPhone 5 and newer, iPod Touch 6th Gen, iPad 4th Gen and newer, iPad Mini 2 and newer, and iPad Pro.

For a deeper dive into the mechanics of the game, check out TouchArcade’s review of Bully: Anniversary Edition right here.

Tags: App Store, Rockstar Games
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YouTube starts highlighting local content in India

Get ready to see more content in regional languages on YouTube.

In a bid to localise further, YouTube will start showing more local content to users in India. The service will automatically determine your preferred language based on your watch history, user interface language, and location. Once it does so, it will start highlighting recommendations in that language on your home page as well as the trending page.

YouTube will pull local content from Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. You also have the option of manually changing your language should you wish to receive recommendations in a particular language.

The update is now live, so if you want to see tailored recommendations in your language, just head to YouTube’s trending page.

Best VR videos you should watch right now

What are the best videos to watch in VR?

Virtual reality isn’t just all about gaming — it’s also about emotional and exhilarating experiences in the form of 360-degree videos. Apps like Within and Littlestar make it easy to download and digest these videos across multiple platforms, but there are also videos that stand out on their own. Here are the best apps and the best VR videos to watch right now.

Read more at VR Heads!

Rockstar brings Bully to Android to celebrate game’s 10th anniversary

It’s time to revisit Bullworth Academy.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the game, Rockstar is releasing Bully on Android and iOS. Bully: Anniversary Edition costs $6.99, and includes the full-fledged story from the original game along with extra missions, classroom mini-games, and unlockable items. The title is optimized for high-res screens (it looks great on the Pixel), and also has a turn-based multiplayer component.

From the Play Store description:

Bully: Anniversary Edition includes everything from the critically acclaimed Bully: Scholarship Edition plus support for high-resolution displays, enhanced graphics, improved lighting and textures, and controls redesigned for touch gameplay, all while adding multiplayer with new Friend Challenges.

Friend Challenges are head-to-head classroom and arcade style mini-games: see who can dissect the frog fastest in Biology, solve word problems in English, help a flying squirrel destroy his enemies with acorns in Nut Shots, and much more.

The mobile version of the game is developed by War Drum Studios, the same studio that ported Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Max Payne to phones. If you’re interested in taking a look, the game is now available on the Play Store.