Remember when "internet terminals" were going to be everywhere? Visions of the future embedded weather displays in bathroom mirrors (hmm, rain today. I had better use that extra fixative in my hair....). They would sit on kitchen counters scrolling through a recipe from epicurious.com. Screens embedded in your refrigerator door would allow you access to Yahoo Answers while also inventorying your supply of Fage yoghurt.
Hands off My Chumby
Well, I just hooked up my Chumby and I now have the future and the Interwebs in a puffy little, always-on, 3.5" display that I choose to call "Puff Vladdy." (think of a cute Vlad the Impaler).
My Chumby displays a series of Flash widgets that run the gamut of the way-cool tube clock to BBC news to, yes - it's true, my Twitter account. I am a huge fan of this device and here's why:
The Chumby is packaged and delivered with a ton of tactile personality. From the burlap bag to the squishy, leather form factor to the hokey intro video - this thing reeks of friendliness. It feels special like a pet. Notice I am already quite possesive and using the term "my chumby" as in "keep your dirty fingers off my Chumby" or "yes I prefer to get Chuck Norris facts on my Chumby, you can get your own..."
The user experience seems just the right mix of flexible and simple. You manage your content lineup via your PC. Simply select widgets which you can organize around "channels." The device features a crisp, touch-screen display and you can access the menu system by giving the leather casing a little Vulcan death-pinch in just the right place (more of a gentle "squeeze" actually). It has a simple setting for "night" which leaves a dim, low-contrast clock up. You can cause the display to remain on a single widget like your Facebook status via a simple pushpin icon. Oh, and it has Internet radio. (I just wish it had a Pandora widget - hint, hint....)
The content-experience platform is based upon a common widget concept. I am guessing that the exact Flash widget specs are particular to the device, still, the widget concept and Flash platform make it easy for developers to create versions for the device. I love getting BBC News on it, am thrilled that I can Tweet, and dig seeing the live Webcam from the Tokyo Diner in the UK.
By merging the communications and content capabilities of a simple Internet device with the personalizable and super friendly form-factor, Chumby Industries is creating something with an emotional allure not making any claims about the practical, 'must-have' nature of the product. It is a simple device. It will replace the Michael Graves/Target clock that keeps rolling off my bedstand. Now I can wake up and check the time on the Death Star clock, see today's top virals from YouTube and watch my Twitter feed scroll on by.
But what sends me over the top is now I have my very own Dradis display. (It's a Battlestar kinda thing....)
omigosh, John, i'd get that Chumby just for my own Dradis display! Maybe with a good dose of Starbuck as well.. -p
Posted by: brian | September 01, 2008 at 07:28 AM
I like the deathstar clock. :) whats with the concentric circles? Planets?
Is there GPS in this device?
Posted by: Harro! | September 01, 2008 at 09:35 PM