this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2025
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132
Pebble maker announces Index 01, a smart-ish ring for under $100 (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
33 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A gadget you throw away when the battery runs out is a very dumb idea if you ask me.

all 35 comments
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[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 96 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

What the hell? They are delaying their new watches left and right, cancel pre-orders because they ran out of parts, and now they're doing this, just out of the blue?

A gadget you throw away when the battery runs out is a very dumb idea

It should be outlawed if you ask me. "Battery Life: Years of average use" What if it dies after a month? The warranty they offer is 30 days, meaning that this is pretty much meant to be junk.

Just get an old Sony MP3 recorder....

Oh wait, here's the best thing. They acknowledge this in their FAQ and that's one of their reasons:

You’d probably lose the charger before the battery runs out!

Idiots.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

So, classic Eric Migicovsky. There was a reason I was staying away from this RePebble shit entirely.

This is the same guy who offered integration between Beeper and iMessage and had it broken by Apple in under a week, and then... just stopped trying after promising it to customers.

Then when he got bored with Beeper he sold it to Automattic.

It's so much like his original run with Pebble as well, where he fucked over the devs on their way out who were promised jobs with the sale of the company, to find out late in the game that wasn't actually happening.

I think Migicovsky being allowed to startup companies and then throw them in the bin when he gets bored while pocketing the profit should be outlawed.

[–] Carnelian@lemmy.world 60 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Genuinely, is this rage bait?

$100, non replaceable battery, does absolutely nothing besides stream audio recordings to an llm on your phone that is 100% guaranteed to produce a worthless error ridden transcript,

and my personal favorite,

Unlike recording notes with a phone or smartwatch, you don’t need both hands to create voice notes with the Index.

Is this a joke? Why do I need both hands to record a voice note with a phone?

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 14 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Hey chatgpt, I accidentally made a product to solve a nonexistent problem. What should I say?

[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 14 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Honestly this feels like a product that Chat GPT probably came up with in the first place.

Edit:

So I asked Chat GPT "Whats a product that doesn't exist yet that would make me rich if I sold it?"

This is number 2:

“Digital Memory Prosthetic” – A Wearable That Records Everything You Hear and Summarizes Your Day
What it solves:
People forget names, conversations, tasks, and ideas.

Capabilities:
Auto-transcribes your day (meetings, errands, conversations you permit).
Summarizes the day into a personalized journal.
Finds moments later (“When did I promise to follow up with Sarah?”).

Why it’s huge:
If it’s private, secure, and optional, it becomes the next evolution of personal productivity—basically “external memory.”

[–] socsa@piefed.social 8 points 19 hours ago

Are you not jerking off when making notes?

[–] EvilBit@lemmy.world 7 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Is this a joke? Why do I need both hands to record a voice note with a phone?

Why, obviously you need one hand to hold the earpiece to your ear, the other to tap the cradle and get the operator, whom you can ask to write something down for you. What a maroon.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

One wonders why young people are so slow on the uptake these days, doesn't one?

[–] gkaklas@lemmy.zip 26 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

TL;DR:

Price:

"Under $100":

After [the preorder], it will go up to $99.

Battery is not rechargeable:

And what happens when the battery runs out? You just send the ring back to be recycled.

Runtime:

The integrated battery will power the device for 12–14 total hours of recording. The designers estimate that to be roughly two years of usage if you record 10 to 20 short voice notes per day.

  • "Roughly two years" = lets say that's 20 months
  • 12 hours = 43.200 seconds = 72 seconds/day
  • "10-20 short voice notes" = 3.6-7.2 seconds per note

Features:

  • Records only while pressing the button

  • The recording is converted to text and fed into a large language model (LLM) that runs locally on your device to take actions. The speech-to-text process and LLM operate in the open source Pebble app, and no data from your notes is sent to the Internet. However, there is an optional online backup service for your recordings.

  • A model small enough to run on your phone has to focus on specific functionality rather than doing everything like a big cloud-based AI

    • Create or add to notes
    • Set reminder
    • Create alarm
    • Create timer
    • Play/pause/skip music track (via button press)

  • also designed to be hacking-friendly. The audio and transcribed text is yours [...] You can route it to a different app via a webhook, and the LLM supports model context protocol (MCP), so you can add new functionality that also runs locally. The AI model will also be released as an open source project.

[–] SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

  • text

  • text

  • text

Trying to figure out what is up with that formatting.

collapsed inline media

I got nothin'.

[–] gkaklas@lemmy.zip 5 points 15 hours ago

Do you mean that you're trying to reproduce it? 🤔 If so:

  • hello
    • one
    • two
    • three

  • world

is

* hello
* > * one
  > * two
  > * three
* > world

(Btw also, you can check if your client has the option to show the source of a comment 😉)

[–] Codilingus@sh.itjust.works 21 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I get the upset over the battery, but it seems everyone missed this:

No charging: The battery lasts for up to years of average use. After the end of its life, send your ring back to us for recycling.

I'd hope they offer a discount on a new one if you send in your old.

[–] uniquethrowagay@feddit.org 20 points 18 hours ago

Nobody knows if this company will be around in a year. The watches will continue to be usable and versatile. The ring won't.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 11 points 13 hours ago

There's no guarantee they will even be around to recycle the rings in two years time. The way tech companies are going these days it's probably not very likely.

[–] FireWire400@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I’d hope they offer a discount on a new one if you send in your old.

Eh. If they did, they'd probably mention it somewhere.

The problem isn't the battery life, the problem is how wasteful this whole design is. Best case scenario, the battery lasts 2-3 years. After that it's pretty much junk. Sure you can send it in to get it (some of its parts) recycled but 1. I doubt many people would actually do that and 2. no one knows if Core Devices will be even around by then.

And what if the battery runs out before then? There's only a 30 day warranty and if it happens after 31 days you're screwed.

[–] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 14 hours ago

I like Pebble, but I've been on the gadget rollercoaster too many times and until it's proven and quantified 'years of average use' means nothing.

[–] etherphon@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

OR I can use a pen and paper for pennies.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 6 points 20 hours ago

Here is a one handed service that does all of the things this ring does except it also can charge itself. Oh and it coats $18

https://a.co/d/9O8bgub

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

What are you, some kind of Luddite?

[–] etherphon@lemmy.world 5 points 23 hours ago

I'm practical I suppose. I have a tool that does this already cheaply, why do I need a product likely made by slaves in a sweat shop, with materials people are going to wars over, that will end up in a landfill because it broke or is deprecated in less than a few years?

[–] CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Damn, I saw the headline, thought "Did someone finally..." But no, it's not a YubiKey (or similar) in the form of a signet ring.

It's a finger mounted microphone with a non are chargeable non-replaceable battery.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The non rechargeable battery is a bummer but I can see this as an accessibility tool for people with ADHD. Even if it only works half as well as they promise as long as it creates reminders and alarms with 80% accuracy it could be a game changer. My son can't remember his head half the time and refuses to create notes and reminders. If he can somehow get it down to just quickly speak to his ring he might be ok. But I think he would totally use it more than 10-20 times a day so that 2 year battery life is not gonna fly.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago

Yup, there's definitely use cases but the battery is a no-no. It has to be replaceable even if it compromises the design a bit.

[–] miked@piefed.social 4 points 14 hours ago

Is diagnosed and seeing a doctor regularly? That will likely help more than another gadget.

[–] ih8ppl@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The article says that you can send it in to be recycled. Idk, but if you get a voucher for sending it in to use for buying the next one (or another product) people might actually do it and it is not as bad as throwing it away. A rechargable battery would also degrade over time and since it can only be a tiny one... Also there is a chance people might use it to tinker.

However, I agree that this design choice (resulting in the low price) is very questionable to say the least.

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The expensive ones also have batteries that can't be replaced.

I saw news about a Samsung one swelling up and catching fire. Not great for fingers

[–] unphazed@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I have always wanted to be a fire mage, but yeah, not worth the consequence.

[–] harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 23 hours ago

You can buy a flamethrower drone for removing wasp nests. You can say it's an amalgamation of Mage Hand and Fireball.

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 1 points 12 hours ago

I cast burning hands

[–] tau@infosec.pub 6 points 23 hours ago

If only we could replace the battery, then I'd be on board. Supporting MCP is actually really cool, it could interface with home assistant or anything else.

[–] E_coli42@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

No IoT is a win for me! I might buy it just for the fact that I can save notes and reminders locally on my phone. Just waiting to see if the app or a compatible one will be on F-droid...

[–] mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Yet another product for the “yeah this would be interesting if smartphones didn’t exist” pile (and funnily enough this one even requires one to even do anything)