At first take, the Chumby looks like a giant hackey sack. Remember those things? Okay, well I do and it looks like a giant one with a touchscreen on it. I don’t love the look of these things, but it seems a lot of people do. It connects to the Chumby network via a wireless internet connection for tons of personalized content. Oh, and the source code is open.

Ok, first the specs:

• 3.5″ LCD color touchscreen
• iPod support
• Two external USB 2.0 full-speed ports
• 350MHz ARM processor
• 64MB SDRAM
• 64MB NAND flash ROM
• Stereo 2W speakers
• Headphone output
• Squeeze sensor
• Accelerometer (motion sensor)
• Leather casing
• AC adapter included
• Wi-fi connectivity
• Access to the free Chumby Network
• Over-the-air software updates

The Chumby has to be plugged in – which is a major drawback. But it has tons of widgets you can install – into channels. They have widgets involving stocks, animals, weather, sports, lifestyle, humor, email, auctions, etc. It can act as an alarm clock – waking you up to a music stream or podcast. You can also connect your iPod to it and play tunes. I’m sure future iterations will provide a better touchscreen, a rechargeable battery, and even more great widgets. And it will be interesting to see what hacks people come up since they are encouraging this. Heck, here’s a list of the Chumby’s source code. Gotta love that. And for around $179, these things will do okay in this iteration. I’m sure future ones will be better, cheaper, and faster.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts