Hands-on with the Chumby

So in a not very well lit room we got our meat hooks on a cuddly wuddly Chumby. You can probably tell we're trying hard not to use the phrase "got chummy with Chumby." Anywho, Chumby: lumpy and squishy and oh-so adorable, we couldn't help but want one planted right on our night stand. If the concept of Chumby still eludes you, just imagine an almost entirely open-source device (hardware included) designed to run widgets assigned via a web interface, intended to sit somewhere useful and give glanceable information -- probably by your bed. Click on to check out this early Chumby build!

The "shell" this Chumby had was that standard nylon / rubber-foam looking one the other prototypes had -- but Chumby's intended to be used in any kind of shell you can come up with.

Bootin' up.

That right eye turned into an A when it wasn't booting properly. Hey, it's a beta!

Ah, PandaCam! Sorry, no panda in there right at the moment.

So this is Chumby's dashboard. The left and right arrows scrolled through the Flash Lite 2 widgets in thecenter. Obviously this one was the gCal widget.

The time! Love that faux greenochrome LCD.

We just couldn't help squeezing Chumby, like, constantly!

Did we mention Chumby has a squeeze sensor?

... squeezing a little harder.

Date / time setup.

Unfortunately the music function wasn't yet working.

Naturally we had to figure out every which way you can customize the little bugger.

WiFi support was good!

Not bad on the reception.

It even supports WPA2! Hot damn! Thanks to Niall for the QT spent with the little bugger!

[steve @ Sep 5th 2006 2:26PM]

Oh Chumby, how I desire thee.

[Henry K @ Sep 5th 2006 2:28PM]

Anyone know when this thing is going to be launched?

[Brendan @ Sep 5th 2006 2:28PM]

I predict Engadgets next story will be this http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2018

[MJB @ Sep 5th 2006 2:30PM]

Could this also be used for home automation purposes like flipping on and off the lights, raising curtains, and changing the house temperature? A feature like that would make this device killer.

MJB

[Alex @ Sep 5th 2006 2:30PM]

Well, I'd be happy to get chummy with Chumby. I hope this sees full production soon!

[Lee Stanford @ Sep 5th 2006 2:43PM]

Do the pandas live in the spaceship from "Alien"? Creepy.

[gascar888 @ Sep 5th 2006 2:47PM]

Chumby looks like a squidbilly.

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/squidbillies/

[Daking @ Sep 5th 2006 2:51PM]

This looks really cool. Is it compatable with a Zen or iPod? That would be cool.

[kevin @ Sep 5th 2006 3:08PM]

haha this actually looks pretty cool!!! I want a chumby!!!

[BT Hathaway @ Sep 5th 2006 3:13PM]

Any guesses on the final purchase price? I can think of a DOZEN different places I would like to have something like this. Get that final retail price in the right zone and would buy a dozen of them.

Media outlets could give them away as a promotional item preprogrammed to grab content from a website! NASCAR has Nextel phones, why not something like this for the home office to post newsflashes from the world of stock car racing.

Seriously, where do I invest in this company? They have TREMENDOUS idea at work here.

[Enzo @ Sep 5th 2006 3:19PM]

If it's $300 or less (it better be!), I'll be getting one

[Niall Kennedy @ Sep 5th 2006 3:33PM]

Supposed to be out in about 6 months for about $150.

The version I have is a prototype, with software likely to change and improve over time.

[mmr @ Sep 5th 2006 3:39PM]

I would like to use this SOLELY as an alarmclock assuming you could use it full screen (none of those border buttons, yuck), customize the color/size/font and then have it play MP3s from the device (ie, not streamed from a wireless server, etc).

$150 sounds like a sweet price.

[dov @ Sep 5th 2006 3:44PM]

this is soooo funny.. (and smart)
Furby overloaded :D

[arther @ Sep 5th 2006 7:18PM]

Another Squeezebox. Lovely idea until you get to the integration side.

[bruce brendon @ Sep 6th 2006 3:50AM]

so in theory, could i get one and hack it to run a http://www.humanclock.com/clock.php widget?

does anyone have a http://www.humanclock.com/clock.php widget, cause i'd really love/need one :o)

[bruce brendon @ Sep 6th 2006 3:51AM]

re: http://www.humanclock.com/clock.php widget

...i just found one, LOVE IT!

www.bluesalamand.de/widgets/hcwidget.htm

[Jamie @ Sep 6th 2006 4:35AM]

What I want to know is, can I dim the brightness, otherwise that little chap will keep me awake all night.

[Neil @ Sep 6th 2006 5:29AM]

I want one of these so badly! The possiblities could be limitless. Wake up to streamed radio/video, with that mornings RSS feeds + you're own widget clock interface. Love the idea.

[starpause @ Sep 6th 2006 9:20AM]

won't be out in time for the holiday season of 2006, but these are going to cause a shit storm in 2007 if they're priced @ 150$ ... the interface looks amazing!

if this thing can be set up to suck rss/podcasts and play them in the morning when i wake up ...

to have anything that cute sitting on my desk at work ...

to float in the toilet. ... . .

[Delicate Genius @ Sep 6th 2006 10:00AM]

Gotta love a device that can be controlled by squeeze!

[rocky @ Sep 6th 2006 12:08PM]

it has a light sensor for dimming the display in low light situations, or anything else someone wants to program.

[Timerider @ Sep 6th 2006 12:16PM]

If this thing had voice recognition for Google searches and stuff it would be really awesome.

[The Steven @ Sep 6th 2006 4:20PM]

Well I was interested until I found out that the only "free" widget is the clock... all others cost for a subscription....

Oh well, back to hacking my Audry.

[Derek Erb @ Sep 7th 2006 6:36AM]

I like the functionality possibilities of a full-blown tiny computer. But it definitely looks still too clunky and geeky for my personal taste. It needs some sort of an outside "skin" or something.

I still prefer my Nabaztag (http://www.nabaztag.com)

[MojoTheMysteryMonkey @ Sep 7th 2006 2:48PM]

sounds like the subscription is only required if you want to get other widgets made by the company. you should be able to write your own plugins (flash is stupid-easy, but i think a chumby 2.0 that runs java/script/css would be quite nice) fairly easily, and unless i'm mistaken, the EULA allows you to hack chumbies and resell them...

i don't know why this is marketed as an alarm clock. how many people are going to be willing to cough up $150 for an alarm clock, without getting confused by talk of subscriptions? i paid $20 for my alarm clock, and it works fine.

throw an IR LED in the package, market it as a universal remote, and add a free built-in widget that browses TV listings (wirelessly!), and now we're talking...

[TheZeusJuice @ Sep 21st 2006 9:30PM]

This hacked to work off car voltage + gps + some audio inputs (headphone jack, a2dp bluetooth) and the appropriate widgets of course Would make a perfect car navigation/radio system.

[June @ May 12th 2007 3:50PM]

I really need the chumby. I bet it is cuddly.

[Kim Wald @ May 22nd 2007 4:37AM]

Chumby is just a kind of Nabaztag with no creativity ! Why do they want to invent PC, when some people are making the Internet of Things ?

[terhani625 @ Jun 7th 2007 6:33PM]

Having looked at there site chumby is fully hackable in all ways so you can make it do anything if you read the article. I would want mine to have a built in batery so i could use it anywhere.

[rekkered @ Jun 18th 2007 8:29PM]

there is one for sale on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290130537557&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:CA:2

[shar @ Aug 13th 2007 5:20PM]

taken from the ebay listing:

Q: Hi, I'm Steve Tomlin, the CEO of Chumby Industries. I don't really want to rain on the parade and am actually quite interested myself to know what a chumby proto would sell for :^) However, I"m legally obliged to point out that the alpha- prototype chumbys are not for resale because they are not FCC approved. We had to put a sticker on the inside of each prototype that states that. Hopefully the non-saleability of your chumby was communicated to you when you won it at FITC? Anyway, if you really don't want your chumby and if you'd prefer, I'd be happy to offer you the option of trading your chumby prototype in for a full-blown commercial chumby with all the trimmings when we launch this summer. Just let me know. 19-Jun-07
A: Hi Steve... Obviously I was unaware of that! Sorry..I'll end the auction as soon as I figure out how to. I noticed a lot of buzz around people wanting the get a hold of one so I thought I might profit from their excitement. I love my Chumby and have had fun showing to friends and students. If you are serious about the upgrade offer I will certainly take you up on that. I teach in a Web Design program and I am sort of the go to guy for gadgets. If I had a newer one it might impress more people...Again, my sincere apologies for the listing.

[Damon @ Aug 4th 2007 11:56PM]

Chumby is a BRILLIANT idea, one I have been percolating on for years: a cell phone, internet interface, voice recorder, etc all wrapped into one! I cannot wait to get one....D

[James @ Jun 24th 2008 9:46PM]

I just got my Chumby and it rocks. I like the "memory" widget.

Also, since my iPod plugs into the back, my Chumby is now my speakers for my iPhone.

I use http://sadsteve.com to download music for the Chumby and let me tell you, this site rocks. Free downloads and awesome music reviews. Sad Steve.com.