Chumby, now with less adorable softness: meet the One
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Sep 30th 2009 1:52AM
posted Sep 30th 2009 1:52AM
Wrapping one's brain around Chumby's original concept -- drop some Flash-based widgets inside a plush vinyl sphere with WiFi and a touchscreen -- has never been an easy task, but after a couple years of low-key retail action, it looks like the company's finally ready to bring a new version into the mix that might be a little more mainstream. The simply-named One dispenses of the old model's squeezable shell, earning a more businesslike appearance and trading up to a slightly speedier 454MHz core (not to say you need a lot of horsepower when you're lackadaisically cruising feeds, weather forecasts, and clock faces on a QVGA screen, but we're not complaining). Otherwise, specs seem to be about the same -- and at a rumored $100 or so when it hits next month, it might finally be cheap enough to get some traction even though it's not as thin, slick, or normal-looking as those concept Sammy frames from earlier in the year. And hey, Chumby's got an Engadget widget available for download, so it must be worth the cost of admission, right?[Via thegadgetsite, thanks KC Kim]
Hopefully this one has a battery. I came close to getting the original one but I don't see the point if it's not portable enough to make use of the unique widgets off the night stand.
yes, it does
It may be a sad comment on my life to admit that my Chumby (imported surreptitiously into Canada) is one of my favourite pieces of technology in my home and easily one of my most worthwhile purchases. I would not go back to my old alarm clock if you paid me (well, that is never really true is it...). My pre-sleep widget wandering is nightime oasis.
I was just thinking about getting a chumby today... I don't care for the design but $100 would be nice. Am I the only one who would like to see it have a built in webcam or driver support for pc webcams.
It runs Linux, so... it has/could easily have such support? It's almost entirely built on OS software, and they encourage people to tinker with the software and hardware. If you have an intended use for it with a camera, you could probably get it working using open source drivers almost out of the box.
so they turned it into an audrey?
+1 for perspective
Hope they put more memory into it, either that or have larger cache buffers for Pandora, as it gets quite a bit of frame drops.
Can... It
Play...
I can't do it.
Pac-Man?
Doom? Possibly.
Crysis? Well, I think we all know the answer to that one.
doom? yes!
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/10/quake-ported-to-chumby-makes-for-an-adorable-first-person-shoote/
make that Quake...
I always kinda wanted a Chumby, just because it looked like it made a cool geeky alarm clock. But for what it does, it always seemed waaaaay overpriced to me. But this looks like just the ticket. Now, I hope they have added battery support.
Last.fm support please. People are still stuck inside Pandora's box these days....
Well, some of us never limited ourselves with just Pandora (OR Last.Fm) and went straight to unrestricted "internet radio" without the hand-holding.
Is this Chumby One a true internet radio like the Vtech IS9181, etc...? If so, it could be compelling for how compact it is on ones bedside table.
One question: iPhone dock? :-( [You know it's only a matter of time, so why not do it now?]
Were these alway thought of as a Clock radio? I have seen Leo Laporte play with his and never understood what it was intended for.
Does it have a snooze button?
and equally as important, does it have a SLEEP TIMER? Does it dim to minuscule light-levels at night (preferably automatically)?
In answer to the two comments above, the current chumby has a sleep timer. You also can either dim the screen or turn it entirely off via the night clock. There's also an option to dim and brighten the screen as an alarm option (and I do this daily. It works really well!)
Since it's all in the device's firmware, I would assume the new models would be able to do all of the above too.
Are the original Chumbys being phased out? Their site it sold out of all of them but a freaky purple. If the new one is 100 - I'll bite.
Sure engadget. You have a chumby widget, but no iPhone app?
Engadget only concerns themselves with superior technologies.
YAY! Bedside pr0n browser!
This one will surely hurt when i inadvertently lay on it.
The makezine.com web store will sell this as a kit in Nov.
https://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKCH1
Keith
Is it still unavailable in Canada? Just get an iPhone dock.
Oh ho!
I'm so so on the design. It's minimalist vs. cute, and cute wins out for me personally. My Dad never liked the look of my chumby, but he may actually go for this, since he's way too macho for cute.
I adore my chumby to pieces. The widgets are great, and it's always getting upgraded. Since I've gotten it, it can now play sleep sounds, has a sleep timer for music, and the staff at chumby is great at helping techies alter their chumbies in fabulous ways.
Price was always an issue (200 is just too much for this), however, 100 is totally a fair price for it. It's all but replaced my alarm clock, beside radio, ipod charger (usb built in!), and sleep sound generator. It's GREAT.
I do wonder how hackable this new version will be, though.
Looks like a knob on the side, likely a volume knob? That would make sense for an alarm-clock device (which is what I, and it sounds like most people, use my current Chumby for the most). The "squeeze sensor" (switch) isn't mentioned, I'm guessing it's going to be a button on top (a la a snoozebar). Looks to be a great little device at $100, seems like a sweetspot for the pricepoint.