1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,240 Speaker 1: how Stuff Works and I love all things tech and 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: long time listeners of tech Stuff have heard me and 6 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: probably some of my co hosts of tech Stuff's past 7 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: talk about the Pebble smart watch. That's a device I 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: ultimately chose to purchase for myself, though I did so 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: after the famous first Kickstarter campaign. I did it as 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: a pre order. But that being said, the cherry red 11 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: edition I have does say Kickstarter Edition on the back 12 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: of it, you know. So that's what's up. But the 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: company Pebble no longer exists. In fact, it hasn't existed 14 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: since the end of the first watches shipped in twenty 15 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: three teen, and then three years later the company had disappeared, 16 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,679 Speaker 1: most of it getting gobbled up by Fitbit. So today 17 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: I want to talk about the story behind Pebble and 18 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: the technology that made the watches work, as well as 19 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: what went wrong, and that'll be our next episode is 20 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: sort of the death of Pebble. What caused the company 21 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: to collapse because in the beginning at least once the 22 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: actual Pebble smart watch entered into the scene, it looked 23 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: like everything was gonna be rosy for the company. But 24 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: I get ahead of myself. Let's start at the very beginning, 25 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: and that is a story that begins with its founder, 26 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: which was a guy named Eric Midjyakovsky, and Midchakovsky grew 27 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: up in Canada. He attended the University of Waterloo. I'm sorry, 28 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to sing, Abba Tari tells me, it's 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: against our protocol. But he studied engineering at the University 30 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: of Waterloo, including stuff like robe botics and system engineering, 31 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: so really, you know, light subject matter. He spent a 32 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: one semester in the Netherlands on a special industrial design 33 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: engineering program in two thousand eight as part of the studies, 34 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: and it was while he was there that apparently he 35 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: started to get the idea for a wearable computer. And 36 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,679 Speaker 1: when you think about the history of computers, seems to 37 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: point us toward a wearable device in our future if 38 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: you think about it, because let's let's just take a 39 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: moment here. The very first computers were enormous, right, these 40 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: gigantic machines that some of them were electro mechanical computers 41 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: in the early early days. They would take up an 42 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: entire room or sometimes an entire floor of a building, 43 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: and they were limited in purpose. They couldn't do just anything. 44 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: They had a pretty strict set of limitations of what 45 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: they could and could not do. His early computers could 46 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: be first stuff like you know, computing ballists six, information 47 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: for the war. Over time, you started to see mainframe computers, 48 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: where you would have a centralized mainframe computer and a 49 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: bunch of dumb terminals attached to it, which would allow 50 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: multiple people to access the computing power of a mainframe, 51 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: and you saw more general purpose computing in this era. 52 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: Programming was not easy during the main frame era. Computing 53 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: in general was not easy during the main frame era, 54 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: but it did open up access to more people. At 55 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: that point, that era gave way to the mini computer, which, 56 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: despite what the name suggests, was still a pretty big 57 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: honkin style of computer. It was, however, more versatile, and 58 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: it took up less space, like instead of the size 59 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: of a room, it was sort of the size of 60 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: a filing cabinet or a desk, but still pretty darn big. 61 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: The development of the transistor allowed for maturization, so we 62 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: started to see smaller and smaller components for these, which 63 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: allowed us to shrink the size of a computer down, 64 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: and Gordon Moore observed that the technological and economic push 65 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: for more transistors per square inch of silicon would result 66 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: in progressively smaller and more powerful machines. And then by 67 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies we saw the micro computer, which we 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 1: would now think of as your your standard desktop. And 69 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: then the laptop came along in the nineteen eighties, and 70 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 1: the smartphone would really pop up in the two thousands. 71 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: So the general trend was to move from large special 72 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: purpose devices too smaller general purpose devices capable of doing 73 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: lots of little things. So if you keep following that line, 74 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: you could easily come to the conclusion that Midchaikovski had reached, 75 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: which was that wearable computers are the future. He started 76 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: to think about this while he was in the Netherlands, 77 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: and according to the story uh he was riding a 78 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: bicycle pretty much everywhere, and like a lot of folks, 79 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: he had become very much attached to his phone. He 80 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: stayed in contact with friends and family back over in Canada. 81 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: With his phone. He would get messages all the time, 82 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: but he said, You know, checking your phone means that 83 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: you have to pull it out of a pocket repeatedly, 84 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: and if you're riding a bicycle everywhere, that's not really 85 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: convenient all the time. You know, you come to a 86 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: stop and then you have to shuffle around to try 87 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: and reach into your pocket, pull out your phone, look 88 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: to see if there's anything notable there, and then either 89 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: act on it or put your phone away. It's a hassle, 90 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:27,920 Speaker 1: So wouldn't it be nice, he thought, if you could 91 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: just wear a device on your wrist or or something 92 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: like that, and just take a quick glance to see 93 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: if you have any notifications that you should respond to. 94 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: Maybe you get an alert if there's an incoming message 95 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: or an incoming phone call, and maybe you even see 96 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: who it is that's reaching out to you, or perhaps 97 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: you can even read the full incoming message and then 98 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: decide what to do from that point. And maybe it's 99 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: worth it to stop someplace and pull out your phone 100 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,159 Speaker 1: and return a message or return a call. This thought 101 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: inspired Eric to get to work on a design for 102 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: such a device, and he started off with a very 103 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: broad proof of concept, and this was not even remotely 104 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: going to resemble something that would become a consumer product. 105 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 1: He just wanted to figure out, can I make this work? 106 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: Can I make something that can do what I'm thinking 107 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: it should be able to do? And I'll worry about 108 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: refining that design later. So is what I want to 109 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: do possible? He gets to work, He goes back to 110 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: his room in the Netherlands, and he starts to build 111 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: a device. And he uses essentially an electronic breadboard, some 112 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: guts from a Nokia thirty three cell phone, and an 113 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: Arduino micro controller as his um as his collection of 114 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: materials to build this proof of concept. And just in 115 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: case you're wondering what all that is, a breadboard is 116 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: the foundation for building circuits. It's frequently used in the 117 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,599 Speaker 1: design and prototype stage of building a device. Typically we 118 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: use the term to talk about a specific subset of 119 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: bread boards. Uh. These are platforms that allow for solderless connections. 120 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: Mean you don't have to solder wires together and make 121 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: permanent connections. You can it's sort of plug and play. 122 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: So you plug elements into this bread board that connect 123 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: to each other and form a circuit, and you test 124 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: it and if it works great, and if it doesn't work, 125 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: you can easily swap stuff out and replace it with 126 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: other stuff to build a circuit that works better, or 127 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: maybe just plane works. Sometimes you build a circuit and 128 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: nothing happens, and you have to go through the whole 129 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: thing and say, well, where did I mess up? But 130 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: this allows you to rapidly test different designs and debug 131 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: those designs very quickly before you move from a sort 132 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,119 Speaker 1: of proof of concept into a prototype model or a 133 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: a an early production model. The Nokia thirty three ten 134 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: stuff is pretty easy to understand. He needed some sort 135 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: of cell phone components to create a device that could 136 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: receive messages and send notifications of things like incoming calls, 137 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. The Arduino micro controller's kind of 138 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: like the brains of this device. Micro Controllers are essentially 139 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: computers that are on a single integrated circuit, and they 140 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: typically have a CPU which has also access to some 141 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: random access memory, so some memories also on the micro 142 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: controller chip and it can accept data from inputs, it 143 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: can perform operations on that data and then send the 144 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: resulting now transformed information through outputs. And the reason being 145 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: very vague about this is because they can be put 146 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: to all sorts of different uses. They tend to be 147 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:45,559 Speaker 1: great special purpose computers. They're different from desktops and laptops. 148 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: Those are general purpose computers. You can do lots of 149 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: different stuff on those, like you can run productivity software, 150 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: you can play video games, you can check social media networks, 151 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Um, micro controllers are meant to 152 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: be much more focused. And the flip side of that 153 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: is while they are more focused and can do fewer things, 154 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: they tend to be able to do those few things 155 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: really really well. Now, the Arduino is a programmable micro controller, 156 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: so you can actually reprogram in our dwin know to 157 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: be really good at different tasks, not simultaneously necessarily, but 158 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: you could use in our dw know in one set 159 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: up and then say, well that was fun, but now 160 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: I'm gonna break it all down. I'm gonna retrieve the Arduino. 161 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna completely rewrite it the programming too, that our dwino, 162 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:32,319 Speaker 1: and now I'm going to put it into a totally 163 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: different implementation. And you can do that. Some micro controllers 164 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: are more geared toward a very specific purpose and you 165 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: can't You can't easily reprogram them to do something different. 166 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: They're just meant to do whatever it was they were 167 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: designed to do whatever system they were designed to work within. Now, 168 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: this was back in two thousand and eight when he 169 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: starts working on this, when he's in the Netherlands, and 170 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: keep in mind, two thousand eight was a very different 171 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: technological landscape from what we see today. In in two 172 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: thousand eight, when Midchakovsky began to work out this idea, 173 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,680 Speaker 1: the iPhone wasn't yet a year old. It had debuted 174 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, and the app store for the 175 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: iPhone would not launch until June two thousand eight, and 176 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: a commercial release for Google Android wouldn't appear until the 177 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: fall of two thousand eight. There was a version of 178 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: Android that had been out in Badeau since two thousand seven, 179 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,079 Speaker 1: but the general public really didn't have access to Google 180 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: Android until the fall of two thousand eight. So Korski 181 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: wasn't really looking at iOS or Android as the foundation 182 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: for his project when he first got started. He was 183 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: instead looking at BlackBerry from Research in Motion. He was 184 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: looking at that because it was a smartphone that was 185 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: really the most popular in the United States at that time. 186 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: In North America at that time, it was most frequently 187 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,319 Speaker 1: associated with corporate executives. Everyone thought of BlackBerrys as being 188 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,559 Speaker 1: sort of the white collar smartphone, but this was an 189 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: arrow in the smartphone and not really started to filter 190 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: into the general population beyond early adopters with Apple's iPhone, 191 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: and even then, like I said, there was no app store. 192 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: So Midschakovski would move forward with developing a smart watch 193 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: that could connect to a BlackBerry phone via Bluetooth, and 194 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: he formed a company for this purpose. That company was 195 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: called Alert to a L L E R T A, which, 196 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: as I understand it now, is also the name for 197 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,559 Speaker 1: an allergy medication. But his focus was to build a 198 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: working consumer smart watch product, and the product's name would 199 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: ultimately be known as Impulse. I in Pulse and Mischakovsky 200 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: would participate in a program called Velocity or Vella City 201 00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: if you wanted to say it the way that some 202 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 1: people spell it, because it's V E L O big 203 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: C I T y um. But I've also seen it 204 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: spelled just like Velocity. Anyway, he was attending this. This 205 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: is a program that actually is overseen by the University 206 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,360 Speaker 1: of Waterloo, and Velocity is a startup incubator, so that 207 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 1: means it's a space where students can actually work on 208 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,960 Speaker 1: ideas for startup businesses. They can get a bit of 209 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: a boost invisibility to potential investors. They can learn lessons 210 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: about how to form good business plans, what sort of 211 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: strategies you need to follow follow, what sort of things 212 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: do you need to look out for as potential pitfalls, 213 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: as well as perhaps get a chance to meet some people, 214 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,200 Speaker 1: influential people who might be able to pour some money 215 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: into your idea if they think it's a really good one. 216 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: Midchakovsky learned how to create a pitch for his ideas 217 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: to potential investors at this program, and he would later 218 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:55,560 Speaker 1: come back and give guest lectures for students who were 219 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:59,839 Speaker 1: in the Velocity program at the University of Waterloo. Minschakovsky 220 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: be and to lay foundations for some of the features 221 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 1: he would later incorporate into Pebble. He built a smart 222 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,679 Speaker 1: watch that could display not just the time, but notifications 223 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: from a BlackBerry phone, including BlackBerry messages UH and complete 224 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: messages of that, not just a notification that you got one, 225 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: but you could actually read the message on the phone 226 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: on the watch rather And by two thousand nine, Alerta 227 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: was taking pre orders for the Impulse smart watch. The 228 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: Invulse was compatible with BlackBerry devices and was pitched as 229 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,439 Speaker 1: a companion device, not a smartphone on your wrist, nothing 230 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: like that, non official research in motion gadget, uh And 231 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: it boasted a one point three inch oh Lad color display, 232 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: had Bluetooth connectivity at a micro USB port for charging, 233 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: had a little vibrating motor for alerts and notifications, and 234 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: the battery life, according to Alerta, was approximately four days 235 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: of normal use. It was priced at about one fifty 236 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: dollars at pre order, which is not bad for a 237 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: smart watch. So this was kind of setting the ground 238 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:09,239 Speaker 1: for the next phase in Eric's quest to create wearable computers, 239 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: which of course would be the Pebble. I'll talk about 240 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: that more in just a second, but first let's take 241 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsor. By the beginning 242 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: of two thousand eleven, Alerta had created app support for 243 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: the Impulse which would allow developers to build their own 244 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: apps for the hardware, and developers did that. You could 245 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: do exciting stuff with your Impulse smart watch, like control 246 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 1: of PowerPoint presentation, all from the convenience of your watch, 247 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: but sales were still not going crazy. It was a 248 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: neat proof of concept. It was a neat project for 249 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: developers to work on, but they weren't really reaching very 250 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: many actual customers. Later, in two thousand eleven, Alerta got 251 00:14:55,640 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 1: to participate in a Y Combinator session. And why Combinator 252 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: calls itself an accelerator, it's similar to Velocity in many ways. 253 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: So it's a similar organization where startups are invited to participate. 254 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: They can work with experts for three months to develop 255 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: business plans, they can meet with potential investors, they can 256 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: pitch their ideas, and so forth. In two thousand eleven, 257 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: Midyakovsky's Alerta was part of this group, and at one 258 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: point investors Uri Milner and Ron Conway promised every startup 259 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: participating in that round of the Y Combinator a one 260 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: hundred fifty thousand dollar investment. Midyakovsky was able to secure 261 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: another hundred fifty thousand on top of that, and while 262 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars is a princely sum, it's actually 263 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,560 Speaker 1: not all that much when you remember that Midyakovsky's business 264 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: included producing hardware, not just software, not a service. It 265 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,960 Speaker 1: meant that you had to build something. According to Midyakovski, 266 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: it was this hardware focus that actually discouraged a lot 267 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: of investors from supporting him because hardware was seen as 268 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: a pretty big risk on investment, and there's no surprise there. 269 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: Keep in mind hardware is really tricky to pull off. 270 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: You can prototype quickly with stuff like three D printers, 271 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: right like, you can print off design after design after 272 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: design and figure out which one you like. But when 273 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: it comes to making actual production models the stuff that 274 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: you're going to sell in stores or online, you need 275 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: a facility capable of producing quality stuff in large quantities. 276 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: And you also have to figure out where you're going 277 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: to buy the various components that go into your product, 278 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: like the CPUs and the Bluetooth adapters and screens and 279 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 1: batteries and all this kind of stuff. So in many cases, 280 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: the most cost effective approach is to look to China. 281 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: China's manufacturing facilities are efficient, they're modernized. Wages in China 282 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: are lower than many other nations, although there are several 283 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: Asian countries near China to have even lower wages. And 284 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: someday I'm going to have to do a full episode 285 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: about China's manufacturing industry because so many of the products 286 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: that we enjoy and depend upon are either made in China, 287 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: or they have components that are made in China. And 288 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: this is a pretty complicated issue, not just logistically but 289 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: also ethically, but that's a discussion for another time. We're 290 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,880 Speaker 1: not going to get into it here. So Midchakovsky's team 291 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: was actually working on a much smaller scale. So while 292 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: they could have looked to China to produce stuff, the 293 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: numbers that they were producing, the number of units they 294 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: were producing were small enough where that really didn't need 295 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: to be a huge concern. So instead they opted to 296 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: use a local factory and a garage as the assembly 297 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: points for the Impulse Watch. They would actually physically put 298 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,680 Speaker 1: stuff together in a garage themselves, and at the scale 299 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,120 Speaker 1: they were working at, this made the most sense. They 300 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: didn't need to move up another level. So once you've 301 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 1: determined where stuff is going to come from, you have 302 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: to make agreements with all the different parties and set 303 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: up as a supply chains that you know you you 304 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,880 Speaker 1: can get the different components on a regular basis when 305 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:13,719 Speaker 1: you need them. Components need to go from one end 306 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: to ty to the next in order to put it 307 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: together into a final product. All of that eventually has 308 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,919 Speaker 1: to be shipped to some sort of distribution center. Usually 309 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: on a very small operation like the original Alert to Impulse, 310 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: you could probably do this all out of a home, 311 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: and in fact they did. But if you grow, then 312 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: you need to kind of delegate that to like a 313 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 1: distribution center, because it will be much more efficient. But 314 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,919 Speaker 1: lots of stuff can go wrong in this model. Right 315 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: when you're working with hardware, there's so many different points 316 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 1: of failure. If some company along the supply chain has 317 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: a shortage that holds everything up. If the manufacturing facility 318 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: breaks down, that holds everything up. If they're shipping delays 319 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: that holds everything up. There's so many different stential fail 320 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: points that a lot of investors shy away from putting 321 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,680 Speaker 1: money into hardware based businesses because the risk is seen 322 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: as being too great, Like, yeah, you might make your 323 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,479 Speaker 1: money back, but there are a lot of different ways 324 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: you could lose your money. And so that's what they 325 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: were discovering with this y combinator. They were able to get, 326 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: you know, three dollars in funding, and that's nothing to 327 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: sneeze at, but it was a small amount when you 328 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: think how much goes into just producing a product. So 329 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,359 Speaker 1: the Impulse did not exactly set the world by Storm, 330 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,640 Speaker 1: which didn't help things, right, Uh, it would add support 331 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: for the Android operating system by the time it came out, 332 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:44,680 Speaker 1: so it wasn't just a BlackBerry device by the time 333 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: it debuted, but it wasn't getting a lot of buzz 334 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: or notice outside of like BlackBerry forums. You can do 335 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: a search today on alerta Impulse, and a lot of 336 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:59,680 Speaker 1: those hits you're going to see are from forums like Crackberry, 337 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: which are that's a BlackBerry like, not an advocacy group, 338 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: but like a fan group or enthusiast group if you 339 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: prefer its enthusiasts of Blackberries. So there are a lot 340 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: of articles and forum posts over there, but in your 341 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: general text space, there wasn't as much talk going on. 342 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: The company only sold around one units, and that's no 343 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: way to run a business. You're not going to be 344 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: able to sustain a business that way. So Midchakovsky went 345 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,120 Speaker 1: back to the drawing board and he and his team 346 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: decided that they should try again with a new approach 347 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: on smart watches. They're gonna get rid of the color screen, 348 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:40,120 Speaker 1: they're gonna go monochromatic. They go within a battery friendly 349 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: e paper technology, which would greatly extend the lifespan of 350 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: the watch. Between charges, you could go a week without 351 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 1: having to charge the thing. They wanted to ensure interoperability 352 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 1: with iOS and Android, to make sure they built out 353 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: an app that would work on both of those platforms, 354 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,680 Speaker 1: because they were both gaining huge amounts of market share 355 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: in those early days. They wanted to make sure that 356 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: the platform was developer friendly, that they gave tools for 357 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:10,439 Speaker 1: people to make apps for these watches and encouraged it, 358 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,880 Speaker 1: and that that would help support the sales. They wanted 359 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,679 Speaker 1: to make it water resistant, uh, and they didn't want 360 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: to go to bonkers with features. They didn't want to 361 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:23,439 Speaker 1: throw in so many features that navigation would become difficult 362 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: or it would end up obscuring some of the more 363 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: important things that this watch could do. And the new 364 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: product needed a new name. Midchakovski's team decided to call 365 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: their new project Pebble, and eventually the company would be 366 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: called that too. But how are they going to get 367 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: the money needed to go through the whole process of design, prototyping, refining, 368 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: and manufacturing such a smart watch. And the answer turned 369 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: out to be a fairly young emerging platform for raising 370 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 1: cash that would be Kickstarter. Now the original Pebble Kickstarter 371 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: campaign because there were other ones that we'll talk about 372 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: in the next episode. Launched in the spring of twelve, 373 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: the kick started campaign showed off the new smart watch design, 374 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,440 Speaker 1: complete with different watch faces, and a discussion about developers 375 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: and future features for the smart watch. Early backers could 376 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: contribute ars, and in return they would get a black 377 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,719 Speaker 1: Pebble watch, which retailed for or was going to retail 378 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: for one fifty dollars. Only two hundred backers would be 379 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:32,440 Speaker 1: allowed to get a watch at that price. Once those 380 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: ran out, then you could pledge for an amount of 381 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: a hundred fifteen dollars and get a black watch. You're 382 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,199 Speaker 1: still getting a significant discount. If you wanted one an 383 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:46,159 Speaker 1: arctic white or cherry red, then it would cost a 384 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: hundred dollars. They also said that they would hold a 385 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 1: vote and backers could vote on what other color would 386 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: be offered on top of Arctic white or cherry red. 387 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: The campaign's goal was set at one thousand dollars. They 388 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: reached it in the first two hours of the campaign 389 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: going live. By the end of the campaign, the fundraiser 390 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: had hit more than ten million, two hundred sixty six 391 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. All told, backers ordered nearly sixty nine thousand watches. 392 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,879 Speaker 1: Midchakovsky actually chose to conclude the campaign more than a 393 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 1: week early to make sure he and his team would 394 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: be able to meet the commitment they had made with 395 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,200 Speaker 1: this campaign, and it looked like Midchakovsky had found the 396 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: solution to his funding problem. But as it turns out, 397 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: it would ultimately just be like a a peak, but 398 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: not an indication of how the company was going to 399 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,239 Speaker 1: perform from that point forward. I'll explain more in just 400 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: a second, but first let's take another quick break to 401 00:23:52,920 --> 00:24:03,280 Speaker 1: thank our sponsors. One of the things Pebble did well 402 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: in that early phase was that it kept backers updated 403 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: on how things were going through the Kickstarter platform. So 404 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: on Kickstarter, if you've never backed to anything on Kickstarter, 405 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: one thing that you can do is you can get 406 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: updates through the actual Kickstarter service. They get posted to 407 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,360 Speaker 1: the website and they can be emailed out to backers. 408 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: And Eric Midjakovski found it really important that his backers, 409 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 1: who were after all, investors in his company, were informed 410 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,479 Speaker 1: of progress and also knew about any challenges that the 411 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: team was running into. So originally the plan was to 412 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,080 Speaker 1: produce watches and send them out to backers beginning in 413 00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: the fall of two thousand twelve. September two thousand twelve, 414 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: delays would end up pushing that back to early two 415 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,400 Speaker 1: thousand thirteen and early two thousand third team was when 416 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: I got a chance to see the Pebble. I was 417 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: actually at c E S and Eric and a couple 418 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: of his team members were there at the show to 419 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: demonstrate the watch. They had a conference room that they 420 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: were able to use for an hour and they gave 421 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: a presentation and allowed press to come up and take 422 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: photos and to get a closer look at the devices. 423 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,199 Speaker 1: So I did. I got an up close look at it. 424 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: I really liked what I saw, and that weekend I 425 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: put in a pre order. As the watches had not 426 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 1: yet started shipping. The kickstarting campaign and closed, but pre 427 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: orders were still open and the watches had not yet 428 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: shipped out to people. By the end of January, Pebble 429 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: was sending out watches to backers. So January two thousand thirteen, 430 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: people started getting their Kickstarter watches. And here's another spot 431 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: where I think the team really got it right, and 432 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,640 Speaker 1: it seems like a no brainer, right that that you 433 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,160 Speaker 1: send out the thing that you told people you would 434 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: give them when they pledged their money to you. But 435 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: I've seen other companies mess this up. Pebble sent out 436 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,720 Speaker 1: watches to Kickstarter backers. First, you had the Kickstarter backers, 437 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: you had the pre orders, and Pebble said, we are 438 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,959 Speaker 1: going to make sure we make good on those pledges first. 439 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: Because you guys were there from the very beginning. You 440 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,880 Speaker 1: were the reason why we were able to move forward. 441 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: But if you listen to my episode about Kickstarter failures, 442 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: you might remember I talked about the Coolest Cooler, which 443 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: was the first kickstarted campaign to actually pass Pebble in 444 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: the amount of funds raised, because Pebble had set a 445 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,199 Speaker 1: record when it hit that ten million plus mark in 446 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: dollars raised on a campaign, and it wasn't until the 447 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: Coolest Cooler came around more than two years later for 448 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: someone to break that record. But the creator of Coolest 449 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 1: Cooler misjudged how expensive it was going to be to 450 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: produce the actual cooler, and to make matters worse, they 451 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 1: decided to sell the coolers on Amazon before they had 452 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: made good on all the backer pledgers. So in pledges 453 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 1: rather so in other words, you might have pledged a 454 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: certain amount to support coolest cooler. You know, you put 455 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: forward your a couple hundred bucks and you're waiting anxiously 456 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: to get this phenomenal cooler with like a speaker built 457 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: into it and stuff. And meanwhile you then here that 458 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,480 Speaker 1: they've put the cooler up for sale on Amazon, but 459 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: you have yet to receive your your unit, and you 460 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: might think, well, what's the deal here? I paid the money, 461 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: I supported the company, Why aren't they sending one to 462 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,200 Speaker 1: me before they put it in a store. And it 463 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:39,679 Speaker 1: can really turn supporters against you. For good reason, Pebble 464 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 1: did not make that mistake. I suspect Midchakovski even pulled 465 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: that plug a little early on the campaign, specifically so 466 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: that he and his company would be able to build 467 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: out the Kickstarter editions of the Pebble and send them 468 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,280 Speaker 1: out without incurring a huge loss that would necessitate finding 469 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: some other revenue or investment stream to keep the is going. 470 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 1: It doesn't do you any good to have an incredibly 471 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:08,440 Speaker 1: successful Kickstarter campaign if it turns out that the production 472 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: costs are going to be such that you'll never recapture them. Right, So, 473 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,119 Speaker 1: if you're if you're offering a huge discount on what 474 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: is going to be the retail price for your proposed 475 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: hardware product, and enough people support it, well, that eats 476 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 1: into your margins, right, you know, you usually want to 477 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: sell something for more than what it cost you to 478 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: make it. If you're offering this huge discount in order 479 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,439 Speaker 1: for you to get some startup capital so that you 480 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 1: can actually get things moving, but that discount is too steep, 481 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: then you're really shooting yourself in the foot. You're you're 482 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: starting off like that's a recipe for a creating debt, 483 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: and I think the Jakovski was being cognizant of that 484 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: and being careful, and that's one of the reasons why 485 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: he ended the Kickstarter campaign before it would have timed out, 486 00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:58,720 Speaker 1: because it was getting to the point where they were 487 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: worrying about being able to meet that demand, and so 488 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: I think it was a responsible move. After the Kickstarter watches, 489 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: Pebble started to send out the preorder watches and that's 490 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: when I got mine, and again mine even though it 491 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:16,239 Speaker 1: was not I didn't back the Kickstarter project, I got 492 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 1: a Kickstarter edition. If you look at the back of 493 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: my cherry red Pebble watch, it says Kickstarter addition on it, 494 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: and I kind of like that because I'm a geek, 495 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: although it makes me feel a little like a poser 496 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: because I did not back it on Kickstarter. I just 497 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 1: got the watch. So let's talk about the technology that's 498 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 1: actually inside this original Pebble watch. The CPU in the 499 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: original Pebble was an arm Cortex M three. This is 500 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: a type of thirty two bit processor, and it's most 501 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: commonly found in things like automotive systems or industrial control systems, 502 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: so it's not the sort of thing you would typically 503 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: find in a watch. On the circuit board of the watch, 504 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 1: there was also an accelerometer chick up that would detect 505 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,080 Speaker 1: changes in speed or direction. This could tell the watch 506 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: that you were looking at it. For example, so when 507 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: you lift your your wrist up so that you could 508 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: take a look at the watch face, it could detect 509 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,720 Speaker 1: the change in acceleration or that there is an acceleration happening. 510 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: I keep saying change in acceleration. It could detect that 511 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 1: there is an acceleration and then activate the screen so 512 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: that you can see what time it is. Uh. The 513 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: watch also had a Bluetooth adapter. I'm sure you are 514 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 1: all familiar with Bluetooth, so you know, it's just a 515 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: wireless communications protocol that allows for low energy data transfers, 516 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: typically small data packets. And the watch really just had 517 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: to display short notifications or alert you to income and calls, 518 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: so that was the perfect protocol for it. The screen 519 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: also was a sharp l C D. It was monochromatic 520 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 1: and used E paper display technology, which requires less power 521 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: than typical backlit screens. Any paper is really cool stuff. 522 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:01,200 Speaker 1: Inside a monochromatic E paper display, typically it works like this. 523 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: You have capsules, and those capsules there, you know, they 524 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,400 Speaker 1: look like little plastic balls, just they're very very very tiny, 525 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: and they typically are in one of two colors. Again 526 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: we're talking monochromatic here, so black or white. All the 527 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: black capsules when they are pulled up onto the back 528 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: side of the screen would show up as text or 529 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: illustrations or whatever it may be. Uh, And they all 530 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,280 Speaker 1: carry the same electrical charge all the black capsules. The 531 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: white capsules carry the opposite electrical charge. Then when you 532 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: pass a you apply a charge across a transparent electrode 533 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 1: which is on the underside of the screen of the display. 534 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:49,080 Speaker 1: So if you were to remove the display from the 535 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: watch and you were to look at the underside, that's 536 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: where you would see this transparent electrode. It would create 537 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: this electric charge that was opposite that of the UH 538 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: apsules it wants to attract. So let's say that the 539 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: black capsules have a positive electrical charge on it, you 540 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 1: would put a negative electrical charge across this electrode. That 541 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: would pull those positively charged black capsules up to the 542 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 1: surface and it would that's what allowed the watch to 543 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: actually display stuff like fonts, you know, letters, numbers, pictures, 544 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. And UH, all you have to 545 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 1: do is change that charge to change the shape of 546 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: what you're looking at on the display. The capsules stick 547 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: to the opposite charged areas and the patterns that were 548 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: designated by the CPU, and they stay that way until 549 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: a new signal is sent. So the watch really only 550 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 1: needs to expend energy whenever the messaging on the display 551 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: has to change. So if you look at your watch 552 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: and it's three, and then you look at your watch 553 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,200 Speaker 1: twenty seconds later, it's still well, the watch hasn't had 554 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:01,040 Speaker 1: to send any extra energy to display that three twenty five. 555 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: It just had to form the number of three twenty five. 556 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: The first time you looked at it, and until it's 557 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 1: three twenty six, it doesn't have to spend any energy 558 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,240 Speaker 1: at all, at least not for the display. The displays 559 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: are reflective and they rely upon outside lighting for view 560 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: and they work great in bright lights like outdoors, which 561 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: is sometimes a thing that makes it difficult to see 562 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: traditional backlit displays. Right. So if you are looking at 563 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,400 Speaker 1: something like a typical L C D or L E 564 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:31,480 Speaker 1: D screen, usually you have light coming from behind the 565 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: screen that highlights what you're looking at well in a 566 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: brightly lit area, that can be canceled out and you 567 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: can't really see very well. I'm sure you've had this experience. 568 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: But the e paper displays are more reflective, so you're 569 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: actually dependent upon that external light to be able to 570 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,240 Speaker 1: see the stuff. The pebble had physical buttons for navigation 571 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: rather than a touch screen interface, and it ditched the 572 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 1: USB port of the impulse for a magnetic charging strip 573 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: on the side of the watch, so the watches charging 574 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:08,040 Speaker 1: cable had a magnetic section that was of course an 575 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:12,320 Speaker 1: opposite charge, so that they would or they would attract 576 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: each other, so you have like a north pole in 577 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,080 Speaker 1: the south pole attracting each other. And that would allow 578 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,279 Speaker 1: the charging cable to snap into place properly against the 579 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,280 Speaker 1: pebble and allow it to charge. The nice thing about 580 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 1: this is because there was no port for you to 581 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:29,080 Speaker 1: plug a cord into, the team was able to make 582 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: the case water resistant. It wasn't totally water proof, but 583 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,840 Speaker 1: it was water resistant to a depth of thirty seven 584 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 1: meters or a hundred twenty feet, so pretty significant. Inside 585 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,040 Speaker 1: the watch was also a motor with an offset weight. 586 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,120 Speaker 1: So when the motor would spin, uh, whenever you get 587 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,520 Speaker 1: incoming notification, it would create a vibration in the watching 588 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:52,799 Speaker 1: you would feel and let you know, hey, I just 589 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: got a notification, just like the vibrating motor in a 590 00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,839 Speaker 1: cell phone or a video game controller. Now, when you 591 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,880 Speaker 1: paired this watch, you did so using the Pebble app. 592 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,560 Speaker 1: There's an app that would run on top of Android 593 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:08,919 Speaker 1: or iOS that kind of thing, and that would allow 594 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,879 Speaker 1: users to customize their watch faces. They could choose from 595 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: several different watch faces right out of the gate. But 596 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 1: it also allowed access to a growing developer community, and 597 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: developers were creating their own watch faces. Sometimes they're developing 598 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: other types of apps that could take advantage of the 599 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 1: fact that your Watch would become essentially a little Bluetooth 600 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:31,480 Speaker 1: remote control for all sorts of different stuff. So this 601 00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:36,879 Speaker 1: was again Pebble deciding to create a platform that would 602 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: support a community not just of customers, but of developers, 603 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: and really anyone could become a developer if they really 604 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: wanted to. So this was the beginning for Pebble, and 605 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,600 Speaker 1: the reaction to the crowdfunding campaign seemed to validate Michaikovsky's 606 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: belief that wearable computing was ready for prime time. But 607 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,719 Speaker 1: the following years would put that to the test. So 608 00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: in our next episode, I'll talk about how Pebble followed 609 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: up their first watch, the obstacles the company faced, and 610 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 1: it's ultimate and sad fate. Spoiler alert, but that wraps 611 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,960 Speaker 1: up this episode. If you have suggestions for future topics 612 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: for tech Stuff, send me a message. You can email me. 613 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:20,279 Speaker 1: The address is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 614 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,920 Speaker 1: or you can drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter. 615 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,239 Speaker 1: The handle of both of those is tech Stuff hs W. 616 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: Maybe you've got a technology or a company I should 617 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,799 Speaker 1: talk about. Maybe it's a person in tech. 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