The Daily Crunch 12/8/16

A smartwatch pioneer throws in the towel, Nintendo Switch guests on Fallon and Uber calls out bad behavior. It's The Daily Crunch for December 8, 2016. And if you want truth to survive, remember to trust the Canadians.

1. Pebble's passing

Hardware is... impossible? For startups, that might be true. Consider that the most successful hardware performer on Kickstarter has announced it will shut down after an acquisition by Fitbit, which was essentially a bailout. Pebble devices will continue to work, but the Pebble, 2, Time 2 and Core are all cancelled and backers will be refunded.

Some Pebble 2 units had already shipped, and those will be the last Pebbles ever, unless in some distant future the brand and company are resurrected when the world is ready for wristworn tech in earnest. Which it honestly probably never will be.

2. Nintendo Switch gets switched on for gameplay demo

Someone turned on a Nintendo Switch! And used it! And it was Jimmy Fallon! This is actually awesome because it means the next-gen console is real and likely on track for its scheduled release in March next year.

3. Speaking of Nintendo games...

Super Mario Run is coming December 15 which is only a week away for those keeping track. And that's good, because it looks like a lot of fun and I could use some good old fashioned mindless mobile gaming fun. Brian played it and spoke to Reggie Fils-Aime and it sounds promising.

4. Uber details bad rider etiquette

Uber wants riders to know what it is they're doing wrong, in cases where they're doing something wrong. The company updated its Community Guidelines with a new policy on rider behavior, adding to the published policy on driver etiquette. It's a good step towards balancing out expectations on both sides of its user base.

5. Did you hear? Secret's not shut down anymore... sort of

The secret's out that Secret's back though it was never really all that secret to begin with. The anonymous publishing platform returns as more Medium than Twitter, with a web-based publishing tool that lets you share your thoughts basically instantly, with optional anonymity included. It's actually pretty cool as a publishing tool, but I'm very curious as to how people might make use of it.

6. Canada will retain Internet facts in the post-fact era

There's some reasonable concern that Trump could destroy the internet, or at least render it unrecognizable. Now The Internet Archive is making a copy in Canada for safekeeping among the ice and caribou. Actually the project's been underway since long before Trump, but his election has added some urgency to the mission.

7. Bluetooth's next-generation gets greenlit

The next generation of Bluetooth, Bluetooth 5, is now cleared for inclusion in gadgets and gizmos. It promises double the speed, 4x the range and 8x the carrying capacity, and should be more battery friendly. It will probably still be annoying to use.