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jmcphers commented on Pebble Round 2   repebble.com/blog/pebble-... · Posted by u/jackwilsdon
laweijfmvo · 2 months ago
What kind of “sleep tracking” can you really offer with no heart rate monitor?
jmcphers · 2 months ago
I own the Pebble 2 Duo and the answer is "almost none". It basically just tells you how long you were still/not moving much in the evening, as you'd expect. It's a pretty good proxy for what time you went to bed and got up, and that's about it. It can't actually tell if you're asleep.

There are also (currently) no sleep metrics on app itself; you can only see them on the watch, which doesn't show much besides the sleep duration and an abstract representation showing where you might have woken up in the night.

jmcphers commented on Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices   office365itpros.com/2025/... · Posted by u/taubek
insane_dreamer · 3 months ago
The only reason people still need office -- other than a niche of advanced Excel users -- is because no one, despite the last several decades, has managed to make a 100% compatible DOCX editor (not LibreOffice, not Apple Pages, not Google Docs). I'm guessing it's because there are aspects of it that MSFT keeps secret?

The only reason I still use Word is because I don't want to have to deal with random layout incompatibility issues when sharing docs with colleagues.

In general, I find Apple Pages much more pleasant to work with and by far my favorite word processor (and I have used them all extensively on Win/Mac/nix).

jmcphers · 3 months ago
Microsoft was successfully sued by the EU for creating vendor lockin with their proprietary file formats. It is for this reason that the "X" formats (docx, pptx, etc.) are "open" and thoroughly "documented", e.g.:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/office_standards...

However, the formats are incredibly complicated, because they evolved from earlier formats that represented nearly the entire in-memory state of the editing software. To a first order of approximation, the .doc format _was_ Microsoft Word.

Source: I worked at Microsoft during this time period and helped document the XLSX format.

jmcphers commented on Pebble Watch software is now open source   ericmigi.com/blog/pebble-... · Posted by u/Larrikin
t0bia_s · 4 months ago
That's really disappointing! I want BW eink screen, I'm not interested in colour version at all.
jmcphers · 4 months ago
It really is, I wish there were a version of the Time 2 that had a BW screen. I did manage to snag one of the Pebble 2 Duos before they sold out and I love it. The contrast and reflectivity is unbeatable.
jmcphers commented on Pebble Watch software is now open source   ericmigi.com/blog/pebble-... · Posted by u/Larrikin
njovin · 4 months ago
Sorry to hijack, but are there plans to re-manufacture the Pebble 2 Duo in black?

I was one of the pre-orderers that was offered either a refund or a white version and chose the refund because I really had my heart set on the black and don't want a color screen.

I'm also an OG Pebble enthusiast, although sadly my old one is long gone.

jmcphers · 4 months ago
Eric has made it clear that the Pebble 2 Duo was always going to be a limited run because it was made mostly of leftover components and there's no reasonable path towards making new copies of those components.

> Pebble 2 Duo is sold out! We are not making more.

https://ericmigi.com/blog/how-to-build-a-smartwatch-software...

jmcphers commented on How To Build A Smartwatch: Software   ericmigi.com/blog/how-to-... · Posted by u/teekert
desireco42 · 4 months ago
Yeah, I got burned once, I don't want to be burned again. You will sell out at first opportune moment. Which is why I am passing on this. (I don't blame you for that, just don't want to be part of it)

BTW, Amazfit, rules.

jmcphers · 4 months ago
I was bummed to see recently that Amazfit has stopped making watches with reflective displays! They're all OLED now just like everyone else's.
jmcphers commented on How To Build A Smartwatch: Software   ericmigi.com/blog/how-to-... · Posted by u/teekert
NewUser76312 · 4 months ago
I loved Pebble back in the day, and Eric is a great guy and friend to entrepreneurs trying to build cool things.

I do wonder how a modern revival of Pebble will compete from a product perspective within the current landscape. Obviously there's the high-end Apple Watches, but there's also incredibly cheap and long battery life products from China that you can see on Aliexpress and similar. Fitness tracking is another related niche that seems oversaturated, unless you do something really unique in biometrics sensing.

So it seems like a hard market to get back into, curious where they take things.

jmcphers · 4 months ago
I used a super-cheap Chinese smartwatch (Amazfit Bip S) for years and recently switched to the Pebble. The Bip's battery lasted forever and it did check a lot of feature boxes, but overall it was clunky to use and not in any way hackable.

I switched to a Pebble 2 Duo recently and while the features are comparable on paper (multi-week battery life, reflective display, basic health tracking, etc.), everything is just nicer on the Pebble. The software is thoughtful and fun and there are tons of third-party apps, so it can do all kinds of things the Bip could never do.

There really isn't a huge market for this kind of thing; most people, including nerds, want a watch with a brightly colored screen and tons of health metrics and service integrations. I imagine Pebble will stay a boutique brand this time around.

jmcphers commented on Nano Banana image examples   github.com/PicoTrex/Aweso... · Posted by u/SweetSoftPillow
yoz-y · 6 months ago
I always thought I had a vivid imagination. But then the aphantasia was mentioned in Hello Internet once, I looked it up, see comments like these and honestly…

I’ve no idea how to even check. According to various tests I believe I have aphantasia. But mostly I’ve got not even a slightest idea on how not having it is supposed to work. I guess this is one of those mysteries when a missing sense cannot be described in any manner.

jmcphers · 6 months ago
A simple test for aphantasia that I gave my kids when they asked about it is to picture an apple with three blue dots on it. Once you have it, describe where the dots are on the apple.

Without aphantasia, it should be easy to "see" where the dots are since your mind has placed them on the apple somewhere already. Maybe they're in a line, or arranged in a triangle, across the middle or at the top.

jmcphers commented on E-paper display reaches the realm of LCD screens   spectrum.ieee.org/e-paper... · Posted by u/rbanffy
ffitch · 6 months ago
does anyone know how would e-ink compare to oldschool reflective TN LCD displays (those in Casios from the nineties)? I have a Playdate device with this type of screen and it seems pretty cool, I wonder why so few devices today are taking advantage of it.
jmcphers · 6 months ago
I also have a Playdate! I think it's a Sharp MIP rather than TN LCD. MIP is actually pretty popular in some places -- particularly smartwatches where battery life matters more than bright colors; Garmin, Coros, Pebble etc. all use MIP displays for the lower end models.

The thing about MIP is that the viewing angles are just not that amazing. I have had a Kindle and a Kobo, and they look like paper no matter how I hold them. My Playdate however needs to be positioned at a pretty specific angle with respec to the light to get the best contrast.

jmcphers commented on Microserfs ordered back to the office, given 10 days to appeal   theregister.com/2025/09/0... · Posted by u/rntn
blakesterz · 6 months ago
The headline writer is a Coupland fan?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microserfs

I haven't read that since it came out, I wonder if it still holds up. I read Generation X recently and I didn't like it as much as my first read when that came out.

jmcphers · 6 months ago
I don't have a source for this, but I believe the term Microserfs was not minted by Coupland and predates his work.

(I worked at Microsoft from 2004 - 2013)

jmcphers commented on I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf   jeffgeerling.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/calcifer
loeg · 6 months ago
Admittedly I don't use public chargers often, but I have yet to experience any kind of line.
jmcphers · 6 months ago
I had to use public chargers for a while when my house was being worked on and it was pretty miserable. They were frequently broken, and lines were common.

The real problem with public charger lines is that there is no social protocol for them yet. At a gas station, it is fine to pull up behind a car currently fueling to indicate that you would like to fuel at the pump next. Charging stations, however, are not built with pull-through spots. There's no place to form a queue at all, so people park nearby, circle, and sometimes snipe a spot when it isn't their turn (because who can tell whose turn it is?).

u/jmcphers

KarmaCake day1638August 5, 2013
About
Software architect at Posit (ex Microsoft, Lockheed). I like plain text, long books, and riding bicycles.

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/jmcphers; my proof: https://keybase.io/jmcphers/sigs/INiu-84qInldp1Jp-B0-Mu7pIdog5wJ7hhGPz9uUTAQ ]

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