Pebble is back and what that means for makers and Techheads.

I’m not even going to ask, of course you remember the Pebble, the first mass-produced smart watch. It was a thing before the tech Goliaths decided that smart watches were a thing. But it didn’t take them long and the pebble company was acquired by Fitbit which was then acquired by Google in a classic chain of bigger fish eats smaller fish until there’s nothing left.

I have given up on my Pebble long ago, ever since their app store and web services went down essentially turning the device into to a wrist brick (some functionality` left but not enough). Little did I know that a dedicated group on Pebble fans continued to breathe life into the devices, finding ways to instruct the watches to go look on another address (theirs!) for the web services so much of the functionality depends on. They even have their own app store. This group is known as the “Rebble” project - do you see what they did there? They tried but they never managed to replace the firmware from the original to their own RebbleOS that has not seen much development for a few years.

All this takes a turn with an announcement from Google stating that they will open-source the original OS. That came, apparently, from lobbying by the original Pebble founder and others and it comes at a good time because Eric Migicovsky (this is the Pebble company’s founder) is bored and looking for something to do.

So, Eric is going to pick that up from here. Rebble is going to pick it up from here too. I’m not sure if they will work together or not but one thing is certain, Pebble will breathe new life!

To answer the question on the post title: “what it means for makers and techheads?”, it means a lot, but you really must be gifted to make good use of this one. The code, as released, cannot be compiled as it’s missing some core sections that had to be removed as they are the property of other providers and, therefore, cannot be made open without their consent. So, whoever picks this up needs to first compensate for the absence of these sections, specifically replacing them with new ones and that is not an easy feat.

I’m not sure if Eric and/ or Rebble have any plans to make whatever they develop on top of the released OS open source too but I’m guessing at least Rebble has some high probability of doing that and, if so, there’s where your maker/ nerd/ geek self may be lucky (I’m assuming you’re not a coding wizard that can replace the missing elements in an afternoon): it might be easier to customize a “RebbleOS” to add new features. But I’m very much complicating because the other advantage for us is that new Pebble devices allow for the development of apps that run on top of the OS (so, not so complicated to develop) which open new ways of displaying data or controlling items on your projects. More control is always a good thing, right?

Let’s see where all this goes in the next few months and let us know if you build anything that uses a “new” Pebble. Good luck.

*Not sponsored - The neat little GPD pocket 4, for nerds on the go

Some nerds need mobility to maybe troubleshoot the weather station on the roof (that cannot be reached through the network, of course) or to go to the park to get some air while doing exactly what they were doing at home albeit on a smaller screen.

For those important cases, there are small computers that can pack a punch with plenty of connectivity options too that can be used to make our life more comfortable. Why not a conventional laptop I don’t hear you ask? Too big, too heavy. Uncool. These are much better.

These beasts come with an 8.8-inch screen, 144Hz refresh rate, 64GB high-speed memory with an AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 HX 370 to coordinate all of that computing power. They also have an expandable port that can take any of the following modules.

I can see myself talking to my HC11 microcontroller with the RS232 module (haven’t seen one of those in a while. Apparently, IT professionals still need them sometimes).

As is often the case, I first fall in love with the tech and, only after, do I find uses for it. This is one of those cases. And you, why must you have one of these?

We comment on the quote.

The following quote is from the treasure trove of deep knowledge that is Reddit, specifically it was one of the comments on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/tkm0yr/what_are_some_really_fun_facts_about_space/

The International Space Station is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon.

u/TransientSignal

Our comments: The ISS is highly reflective due to its large solar panels, making it visible to the naked eye when it's sunlit and passes overhead during dawn or dusk. In fact, during those times, it is indeed the third brightest object or body in the sky, after the sun and the moon.

Nobody asked but I will still answer: The fourth brightest object in the sky is usually considered to be Venus. Venus is often referred to as the "Evening Star" or "Morning Star" because it is very bright and visible shortly after sunset or just before sunrise.

Verdict: This quote is correct! Thank you u/TransientSignal.

What is this device used for?

Do you also go around the web, looking at measuring equipment? You and I, we are the same. A lot of times you will find me in awe at the prices of some of the Chinese test tools you can find online like the one in the picture. From what I can gather by some reviews online, this cheap little thing is quite accurate.

It is used to inject signal types that very common in industrial applications and I will not say more as the title of this section is aptly named “what is this device used for?”. I already told you the general use case but what specifically does it do? Now you can: 1) read all about it on the next TTYM issue (recommended!) or you can do a reverse image search on Google and take the easy way out. GAQQQQEEEEEEEEE tools and test equipment forever!

That’s all folks!

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