Introduction

I am prone to becoming captivated with devices that are ahead of their time. The Apple Newton (although I arrived well after the start of that party), Nokia’s 770, and MetaWatch’s first smartwatch are some notable examples. They all pioneered a product space and struggled to achieve meaningful success.

MetaWatch caught my eye as a new entry into wearable tech that brought the smartwatch concept to reality with a fashionable, capable device. The hacking opportunities their open source device firmware offered made the device yet more interesting, especially as I am prone to using mobile device platforms that do not receive a lot of official support.

I’d like to discuss some of my experiences with MetaWatch and their devices, and the various missteps and issues that’ve ultimately led to my losing most of the interest I first had in their product line.

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Introduction

I worked in a large new and used family-owned bookstore for more than 10 years, starting in high school. During my time there we learned how to deal with crazy people and belligerent transients, and developed procedures for dealing with shoplifters that helped us reduce shrinkage and keep staff and customers safe. We did this organically over a period of years, primarily as a collaboration between myself and one of the store owners.

I learned a lot about loss prevention, handling difficult---and sometimes dangerous---people, and how you can make your store procedures and guidelines safer and more effective. This post contains a variety of observations I've gathered from my experiences.

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