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Thursday, Jan 24, 2013 9:42 PM UTC

This may be the last watch you ever buy

Thanks to a $10 million+ Kickstarter campaign, Pebble's e-paper smartwatch is coming soon

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Topics: Pebble, Watches, E-Paper, iPhone, Mac, Apps, ,

This may be the last watch you ever buy

Already feeling tired of that watch you got from your kooky aunt for Christmas? Thanks to the highest funded project in Kickstarter’s history, there’s now an app for that.

After shipping out several hundred units to early benefactors on Wednesday, Pebble has released the companion application for its e-paper smartwatch, a timepiece that allows you to customize its face — or that of your iPhone — according to your “mood, activity or outfit.” The novelty of Pebble’s watch extends beyond its swappable graphics. Vibrating notifications alert you to incoming calls, emails, SMS messages and even tweets, all of which are dismissible with a shake of the wrist. (Of course, if the prospect of having your hand tremble like a withdrawal victim sounds unappealing, you can easily disable these functions).

More compelling still is how the Pebble smartwatch came to be. After failing to attract traditional investors, the company (then called inPulse) took to crowd funding and managed to net a staggering $10,266,845. The second highest funded design project from Kickstarter, an elevation doc for the iPhone, raised just over $1.4 million.

According to the Pebble website, the smartwatch ($150) will be available to the general public in early 2013.

Jacob Sugarman is Salon's cover editor and the editor of Open Salon. You can follow him on twitter @jakesugarman. More Jacob Sugarman.

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