
Show HN: Version 1.1 of our $99 hackable Bluetooth smartwatch - erohead
http://wwww.getinpulse.com/?
======
erohead
Eric from inPulse here. We're back in stock with a $50 discount today. Now
with a native compile option (<http://www.getinpulse.com/guide/local/>) and a
bunch of tweaks that improve on the first version. Check out what other
developers have written at <http://www.getinpulse.com/apps>

I'm also trying something new...hosting a Google Hangout at
<http://www.getinpulse.com/hangout>. Drop by, ask questions and get a live
demo of inPulse.

~~~
mike-cardwell
FWIW, the Google Hangout has got you at least one customer. I was weary of how
chunky it would be, but you just showed me it on your wrist and it looks ok.
I'll be putting in an order shortly.

EDIT: Hmm. I should have placed the order straight away. Looks like the site
is getting hammered now.

------
nathanb
Suggestion: what about a lite version?

I don't particularly want or need a watch that can display email alerts or
interface with my phone or even run a program I wrote (although that last one
_is_ really slick). I have a smartphone in my pocket which does all that.

And I definitely don't want a watch whose battery I have to charge every
night. Last year I changed the battery in my current watch for the first time
ever. I've had it since 2001.

What I would pay money for, though, is a slick watch with a brilliant and
skinnable display. One of the reasons why I've stuck with the same watch for
ten years is because it (Casio Databank Telememo 30) is one of the few watches
I've found with a screen at a high enough resolution to display day, date, and
time all at once at a size readable from 5 feet away without looking chunky or
ugly.

(No, I don't care about my watch's ability to store telephone numbers. It's a
curious example of an evolutionary dead-end; the ability to store 30 telephone
numbers in my watch was barely convenient, though gimmicky, when I was in high
school. This is true no longer. But the fact that Casio had to design a screen
capable of displaying a name and telephone number means that the screen is
also capable of fulfilling my requirements above.)

------
jdietrich
I've said it before, I'll say it again - build one with ANT+ and I'll buy a
dozen. I don't see any reason why I'd want an adjunct to my smartphone
strapped to my wrist, but I can think of countless uses for a tiny device that
can read and interpret sensor data via low-powered wireless. ANT+ is the
killer app for the "smartwatch".

~~~
kiloaper
Is ANT+ popular in the US? I see companies like Nike promoting it, but I've
never laid hands on a device supporting it (I'm in Europe).

~~~
jaxn
I see it in finiteness devices. It allows you to integrate things like heart
rate monitors and cadence sensors on bicycles or running shoes with watches
and smartphones.

Once a device has ANT+, it is the logical tool for data transfer as well, so
devices like Garmin watches come with an ANT+ USB dongle to integrate with
your computer.

~~~
jrockway
But to be fair, ANT+ data transfer is super fucking flaky. I would say that I
get my running data off my Forerunner about 50% of the time when the watch is
physically touching the USB dongle and 0% of the time when it's not.

And, nothing ANT+ seems to work under Linux. So let's skip this for a while
and stick to Bluetooth or USB; it works better and works everywhere. You have
to plug in your watch to charge it anyway.

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ThomPete
I love the watches but I would somehow love to take a stab at re-designing the
landing page.

Somehow your background colors are not supporting the watches well.

Edit: Just tried removing the background and the orange element. You really
should consider making the background darker. It will make your watches look
more digital and crisp. (You should also considder getting a proper
photographer or photoshop wizard to re-do the pictures of those watches)

Again love the watches, but can't stand seeing them not presented properly.

~~~
iandanforth
HN peeps help me out, there is a tool/service that lets you reskin a website
and then show that to the site owner. What the heck is it called?

~~~
beernutz
I think the service you want is <http://bo.lt/>

Lets you "remix" websites and share them.

~~~
iandanforth
It was like that (which is pretty cool btw, thanks) but more oriented to
designers. I think website owners were encouraged to put a button on their
site that invited designers to alter the css and submit a variation.

------
3dFlatLander
I've long been fascinated by the making of physical products. It seems to much
harder than software. I feel like I can make bits dance from my keyboard, but
assembling atoms is much harder. Any chance you could write a blog about how
you made this, the challenges, and the like? Also, possible to bootstrep your
way through it?

~~~
erohead
I gave a talk at the Hacker Dojo recently about starting up a hardware
company. They posted a section of the talk
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afH8KGv0W24> Happy to chat about this kind of
stuff eric AT getinpulse.com

------
thomasgerbe
Great idea but right now, I think far too much real estate on the face of the
watch is not a screen. The digital part should be flush with the border
instead of effectively having two strokes around the screen. That alone would
make me wait for another version.

Here are examples I would try doing

[http://www.timefy.com/en/design/420-watch-i-steel-by-
flemmin...](http://www.timefy.com/en/design/420-watch-i-steel-by-flemming-bo-
hansen.html)

[http://www.timefy.com/en/design/599-slip-watch-white-by-
non-...](http://www.timefy.com/en/design/599-slip-watch-white-by-non-linear-
studio.html)

------
fomojola
Really curious: why did you use l2cap over spp? With spp you'd at least have
full coverage of all Android devices since 2.0, independent of platform-
specific stacks. Is spp an option at all?

~~~
erohead
To be honest, it was a limitation due to our custom BT stack and limited
processing power on the micro. We tried implementing SPP, but quickly ran out
of space.

------
kokey
Very nice. What's in the way of letting it support the iPhone?

~~~
phaethonx
Bluetooth, except for a few profiles, is locked down on non-jailbroken iPhones
and requires the manufacturer to jump through Apple's 'Made for iPhone' hoops
and design in a authentication chip into the hardware.

~~~
technotony
Does anyone know if this is also true for developing bluetooth low energy
devices or are they going to be more open about that?

------
ck2
Besides the obvious advantages of open source and hackable, how else is this
better than the ipod-nano as a watch design?

Oh interesting that someone thought of comparing the sizes:

[http://www.sizeasy.com/page/size_comparison/31203-inPulse-
vs...](http://www.sizeasy.com/page/size_comparison/31203-inPulse-vs-iPod-Nano-
vs-SD-Card#view-panel)

------
tom_b
Might be fun to pair with a bluetooth heart rate monitor for highly customized
aerobic (running/cycling) workouts.

Particularly for allowing someone to easily get a customized interval workout.
More specifically, I would enjoy having a heart rate alarm that allowed me to
spend 10 mins at 70% max heart rate, then switch up to 4 minutes at 95%, 2
mins recovery to no less than 70%, repeat . . .

I could see how personal/high school/college coaches might like that.

Has anybody done any hacking with the garmins HRMs with GPS?

~~~
freehunter
Or to buzz every 30 seconds (or however long you're going) for HITT workouts.
I've tried using MP3s with beeps put in every 30 seconds, but the headphones
fall out/off/get knocked around when I'm sprinting full-bore. MP3s also have
the disadvantage of forcing you to start right on a beep, so if you get
interrupted for a second or two it throws off your workout. A HRM could start
whenever you started.

------
alexhawdon
Very cool :)

What's the battery life like?

I gather input is bluetooth and the side button, output is speaker (buzzer?),
display and vibration? If this is the case then I'm sure a few more buttons
would be useful, or possibly a basic touchscreen - something along the lines
of splitting the screen into four reactive areas, obv not pixel-precision
touchscreen as that would be silly.

Great product at a great price - best of luck with this!

~~~
erohead
24 hour battery life while connected by BT, 3 days while used just as a watch.

------
amackera
Nice job shipping your 1.1! I'm always interested to see new developments with
this project.

------
camtarn
Sweet :) I'm curious - what prevents the app from running on Android phones
apart from Nexus One, Nexus S, Motorola phones and CyanogenMod users?
Something to do with access to certain bits of Bluetooth functionality?

~~~
erohead
Each Android handset manufacturer can choose which Bluetooth stack they want
to use. Unfortunately the L2CAP API calls we use aren't available in the
Broadcom stack, which is notably used by HTC and Samsung.

~~~
camtarn
Ah, I see... that's a pity :( I'd assumed the Android platform was at least a
little more homogenous than that - surely people would have learned from the
horrors of J2ME development...

------
lowglow
I saw an old guy wearing this while driving and thought that is was brilliant
for accessibility with its oversized buttons and interface. Perhaps you should
market this exclusively to older people?

------
softbuilder
I got to look at one recently. They are a tiny bit bulky, but beautiful. Would
like to see an accelerometer in there though. And GPS. (Pretty soon this thing
would be an iPhone on your wrist.)

~~~
lachyg
Why would you want an accelerometer in your watch?

~~~
daeken
Presumably to act as a pedometer and sleep analysis tool; think Fitbit.

~~~
seltzered_
this. I would rather have a jawbone up to track health, there's very few times
I'm wishing i had a watch to give me caller-id info.

------
chortik
What's the hardware spec, can't seem to find anything about that.

~~~
JL2010
<http://www.getinpulse.com/developers/faq/>

Not much there but they mention an ARM7 microcontroller. I remember seeing one
of their job postings here and they were asking for ARM experience as well.

------
CosmicShadow
Seems like it could be cool for notification on signups or purchases for your
startup instead of rigging it to a bell, as you can bring this with you!

------
thurn
How do you check the time on an inPulse watch? I'd get one if you could do it
without needing to press a button.

~~~
tlrobinson
You write a C program to display the time.

I'm mostly joking, but it does depend on the program it's running. I think
most of them go to sleep to conserve battery so you have to push the button to
wake it up.

It might be cool to have an accelerometer so you could shake to display the
time (and do things like tracking your motion like Fitbit)

------
thechut
I just ordered one! Finally something to do with my Blackberry. Can't wait to
get started with the SDK

------
kiloaper
Who are you? Where are you based? And do you ship to the EU? :)

~~~
Ecio78
i think in EU you can buy imwatch.it (they're italian) but it's more
expensive. Dont know how it is compared to this one

------
KC8ZKF
Is this watch waterproof and shockproof?

------
simonw
Awesome, congratulations on shipping!

------
dpcan
Will iPhone support ever be possible?

------
toisanji
what are the actual improvements with this new version?

~~~
erohead
Android support (Nexus and Motorola phones), higher contrast screen (darker),
eliminated a few physical issues (strap, button) and tightened up the
aesthetic look

------
NHQ
Does it have a mic?

