Pebble smartwatches to still work through 2017

If you thought your Pebble smartwatch will be bricked following the acquisition by Fitbit, that isn’t quite the case. Your wearable will still work through the end of next year. Everything from the SDK, APIs, mobile apps, and appstore will be up and running. And Pebble plans to keep these devices running as long as possible. According to a post on its blog, “Our first action to preserve the Pebble experience far into the future will be to update our mobile apps, loosening their dependency on a patchwork of cloud services (authentication, analytics, app locker, etc.). Expect this update in the coming months. The mobile app updates will ensure the operation of core Pebble functions, even with cloud services discontinued—they won't break functionality.”

This upcoming update won’t affect the functionality of Pebble Health. This feature feeds information directly to the Pebble mobile app, Apple HealthKit, and Google Fit. As for features that rely on third-party services (dictation, messaging, weather, etc.), Pebble is still evaluating these and will be making a decision of how long these features will continue to work.

Source: Android Central

‘Super Mario Run’ is now available for download

In case you missed the news, Super Mario Run is now up for download on iOS. When you download the game, you’re given access to three free levels and then you’d need to pay around US$10 to get all 24 levels. There are three game modes in Super Mario Run: World Tour, Toady Rally, and Mushroom Kingdom. World Tour has all the 24 levels in six worlds. Toad Rally is a speed run of sorts and lets you race friends for the best time through specific levels. And Mushroom Kingdom lets you create and customize your own courses. You have to remember though that you can’t play Super Mario Run offline.

Source: The Next Web

Apple takes out ‘time remaining’ battery life estimate to address MacBook Pro battery complaints

It seems like a weird fix to the battery life complaints the new MacBook Pro has been receiving but there is logic behind Apple’s decision to take out the “time remaining” battery life estimate from these machines. According to an internal investigation by Apple, the battery issue isn’t a hardware flaw but more of a prediction inaccuracy of the time the MacBook Pro remains usable. This unreliability issue is seen to be caused by the latest low-power processors and how it switches between tasks. The battery life status menu couldn’t keep up with the CPU when it switches between low-power and high-performance modes, thus causing the erratic predictions.

Another cause seen is the use of iCloud syncing, especially when first using the machine. Some users don’t realize that the process of syncing kicks into overdrive when the new Mac is first set up so it can sync all your data. This works in the background and it’ll greatly affect battery life. It would take a few days for battery life and its estimate to normalize. What Apple has decided to do is just put the percentage of the remaining battery life on the screen.

Source: 9to5Mac

Amazon Prime Video streaming now showing in Canada

It took a while but the Amazon Prime Video streaming service is available in Canada to Amazon Prime subscribers. This means they are able to watch such acclaimed shows as The Grand Tour (only the most pirated TV show in recent history), Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent as well as a wide variety of other programs. The range of movies and TV shows is limited right now, certainly looks very sparse compared to Netflix, here's hoping for more parity to the US version of Prime Video.

Exisiting Amazon Prime Canada subscribers get the video streaming with their $79 yearly subscription. And, just like with Netflix, subscribers can download episodes for offline viewing.

Source: The Toronto Star