If you thought Chumby would stop at digital photo frames, you were wrong. Dead wrong. Today, the widget-loving company has announced a tie-up with Broadcom that will integrate its rich media internet platform onto system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions that will eventually find their way into HDTVs, set-top-boxes and Blu-ray players. Essentially, Chumby is making sure it doesn't miss out on the quickly filling insert-your-connected-device-here bandwagon, and quite frankly, we'll be shocked if any of those other guys can rival what Chumby's bringing. After all, widgets are this company's forte, and we're downright giddy at the thought of having over 1,000 internet-connected snippets of information at our fingertips while intently watching future episodes of Lie To Me. Hey, TV / STB makers -- jump on this. Now. Video demonstration is after the break.

Apparently Sara Antoinette Martin is quite the artist, and either her or Chumby (or both) are mighty, mighty proud of her handiwork. Available now for those unaffected by things like global recession and public opinion, the Designer Chumby pictured in the gallery below can be had for $599.95. Functionally, it's exactly the same as the vanilla Chumby -- which, by the way, sells for "just" $199.95 -- but we dare you to convince us the bragging rights attached aren't worth the extra four bills. Okay, we're convinced.

We've seen the elusive Chumby hidden behind all sorts of facades before, but this one is probably the most heartwarming yet. The brilliant minds at MAKE have figured out a way to retrofit the highly tweakable gizmo into an old school telephone, putting all sorts of web-connected widgets at your fingertips while keeping that blast-from-the-past flair in tact. Sadly, it cannot yet make or receive calls, but what's stopping you from taking this same project on and making sure that functionality remains in tact? Nothing, that's what.

[Thanks, Gerry]

The Samsung / Chumby digiframe was on hand at CES in a very, very early prototype form. In fact, the demo units didn't even have a back plate covering up the innards. We were told that Samsung's contribution is the processor within, and plans are to release it to market before the end of '09. Our early impressions? The widgets were liquid smooth and lookin' good; the video playback, however, was less than acceptable. Have a glance below for an early look.

Looking for candidness? We never thought we'd see the day when Chumby and Samsung were collaborating, but we can't help but dole out a round of golf claps for the effort here. As the digiframe market declines from monotonous to completely boring, these two are hoping to put some spunk back into the sector via the power of the world wide web. Here at CES, the pair is showcasing a reference design built on Sammy's S3C6410 application processor for internet-connected digital photo frames. Essentially, it'll enable frames to not only play back media, but to access social networks, messaging services, games, internet radio, video clips, streaming news, weather information, RSS feeds and all sorts of other web-based content. Strangely, the release (hosted after the break) notes that the design is "available now from Chumby," though it doesn't seem that commercialization is yet within sight.

As with Pleo, many may argue that Chumby is simply too cute to tweak. But if you can manage to shuffle your emotional attachments to the side for a tick, we're confident there's quite a few things you'd like to see changed. Sure, this totally unique hodgepodge of glanceable information and bedroom mainstays can handle quite a broad variety of tasks right out of the box, but considering that it's built on an open, hackable architecture, it's just begging for someone to come along and do things better than its creator. So, now that you've had ample time to roll this critter around your domicile, enjoy its abilities and install that hefty firmware update, what's left to be done? Tell the world below, we're all listening.

Following a so-called "insider's release" last year that targeted early adopters with beta software running on final-spec hardware, Chumby has finally completed and rolled out a somewhat massive firmware update for the plush lil' buggers that adds significant functionality -- significant enough, in fact, that they're now being sold disclaimer-free to all comers. Besides a long, what's-what list of bug fixes, the real draw in the new firmware is fairly comprehensive support for a variety of internet radio services, a feature that previous builds technically supported but had no user interface for (they are Linux-based, after all, and totally hackable). So yeah, if a cute touchscreen with an open-source platform, Flash player, and integrated speakers is just what the doctor ordered, you can pick one up now without the worry of pre-release software getting in your way for $179.95 in black, white, or "latte."

[Thanks, Kurt]

How well we know how distorted the world becomes when you're only alive courtesy of (insert energy drink here). Thankfully, we've no idea how twisted your mind must be to create a conglomerate with so much going on, it's truly hard to describe in merely a single breath. Nevertheless, bunnie somehow managed to scrounge up enough hardware to hack together a Chumby-based, drivable RC car with the ability to beam back its surroundings so that it could be controlled from afar. Of course, we can't help but pass along kudos for making this thing work, but seriously, it's high, high up on the list of most unsightly concoctions we've ever seen. Hit up the read link for ugly (and duct tape) aplenty.

[Via MAKE]

So just what is a Chumby? Well, it's a Chumby, of course: a plush ball with a touchscreen, WiFi, accelerometer, squeeze sensor, and USB ports. Any attempt to shoehorn this device into an existing category of consumer electronics will be met with at least some amount of resistance. The basic idea is to combine some of the best ideas in glanceable information and entertainment -- an alarm clock, digital picture frame, bite-sized web clippings, and an iPod dock, for example -- with an utterly unique design (when's the last time you wanted to hug your alarm clock?) and an open, hackable architecture. Like other projects of recent memory, the success of the Chumby will depend as much on the participation of the user community in creating, rating, and discussing widgets as it will depend on Chumby Industries' own efforts -- not to downplay the importance of the hardware, naturally. Read on for some quick impressions.

Update: We're happy to report that Chumby Industries contacted us regarding the white specks along the Chumby's side, and like many of our commenters have reported, they've never seen this issue before; they're expressing a new unit our way, so we expect a pristine bezel next time around. Chumby would also like to remind everyone that the units currently being sold are being coined an "Insider's Release" for a reason -- the software isn't complete and won't be until early '08 -- so just make sure you're cool with possible bugs, incomplete features, and frequent updates if you pop for an order in the meantime (though for what it's worth, we've seen zero issues so far with the software build we're running)!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment.

For nearly as long as the Internet has had value to average consumers, companies have sought ways to deliver its infotainment more conveniently. Early efforts such as WebTV, the hackable Netpliance i-Opener, and the MSN Internet Companion suffered from slow dial-up access and unsavory subscription plans. Portable wireless efforts using inexpensive distribution networks such as the paging network (Ambient Dashbard) or FM radio (MSN Direct watches) have struggled with information presentation interfaces and breadth of content.

While most of these devices have been marketplace failures, the quest clearly continues. Much of the attention yesterday around Android and the unveiling of the Open Handset Alliance revolves around getting a better Internet experience into the mobile phone, the clear payoff for Google.

Chumby, the open source, Wi-Fi-savvy, touch screen-enabled, accelerometer-equipped bit bag represented by what appears to be a mutant octopus, has been tossed onto this treacherous trail of Internet appliances. Chumby resembles a portable GPS device such as the TomTom Go or Garmin StreetPilot C330, but with a rear that hasn't been to the gym in a couple of years. Instead of displaying directions, Chumby can display Flash Lite widgets from scores of content providers. These include, for example, movies from FimCritic.com, weather updates from The Weather Channel, "news" from MTV, and even SAT vocabulary words from fear profiteer Kaplan.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment.

Continued from last week's Switched On.

The Chumby control panel is activated by pressing a subcutaneous button and provides options for manually browsing widgets and keeping one on the screen or switching among channels. Most widgets have limited configuration options but you can add multiple widgets to a channel to compensate for this. For example, one horoscope widget can be set to Libra while another is set to Aries. Currently, only one channel can be active at a time. However, it can be time-consuming to get to a particular widget, particularly if it's not in the active channel.

The control panel also includes a "Night" button" which puts Chumby on its lower brightness setting and turns the screen black except for a very faint clock. Chumby has a built-in dual alarm clock application and can play iPod playlists if the digital music player is connected to one of its two rear-mounted USB ports. This charges the iPod, unlike the line-in jacks of many "MP3-compatible" alarm clocks. Chumby would benefit from a way to specify certain widgets as favorites. Holding down its top-mounted button could bring up a thumbnail grid that would streamline the process.

Clearly, the value of Chumby is dependent on its content. The company offers the versatile widget player for $179; probably the closest comparable product is a midrange iPod dock with which it compares favorably in terms of value. Chumby also costs $120 less than Nabaztag, the Wi-Fi-enabled digital rabbit that features light patterns and moving ears..However, there's little on the network today that would be considered critical information and even the Chumby Web site concedes that there's nothing on the network that isn't accessible via a PC. Chumby Industries notes that it is still selling mostly to opt-in "insiders" and will expand its content offerings next year beyond today's slide shows while beefing up the content offerings.

At this point the only surprise left with the Chumby always-on widget box was when it was going to finally go on sale -- we've seen the specs, gone hands-on, seen the retail unit, and generally gone gaga for widgets with this thing -- so we're pleased to report that the Chumby store is now taking orders for the box, in your choice of white, latte (pictured) and black. $179 gets you the box, but it's how developers and users use this thing that'll really be the story. No concrete word on a ship date, but since "insiders" have been playing with these since last month, we're betting it'll be soon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Just about two short months after learning the official specifications and pricing details of the forthcoming Chumby, it looks like one of those lucky "insiders" were able to get their paws around a retail production unit and show us what this thing's all about. Aside from blessing us with an unboxing video, initial impressions of the device explained that overall performance was "very snappy, the screen was crystal clear, and sound performance was excellent." Additionally, it was noted that the Chumby just seems like a gizmo that will enable all sorts of fun, so while we the general public wait our turns, be sure and take a peek at the preview vid residing after the break.