Chumby

Our “alpha prototype” Chumby arrived yesterday. Plugged it in, turned it on, went through a brief configuration and now we’ve got both a souped-up wifi-enabled digital clock, and a physical object on which to do some interesting widget development using content from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The Chumby joins our Nabaztag rabbit in our stable of “smart networked objects,” a class of things that I’m finding particularly interesting of late: I like the idea of “using the Internet without a computer” and I like the idea of “ephemeral” or “accidental” information flow as opposed to “directed information gathering” (like “search Google for information about Keith Richards”).

Stay tuned. (Can a Plazes widget be too far in our future?) Meanwhile, here’s my favourite exchange from the Chumby Forums so far:

User: If we hack or Mod do we still get a warranty.and a repair if it brakes
Chumby: No. We obviously can’t finance an industry of folks mangling their chumbys, because, well, that would be insane.

Comments

henriette weber andersen's picture
henriette weber... on March 6, 2007 - 19:40 Permalink

im in love with the smart networked objects as well — and I want a prototype chumby also !

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous on August 20, 2009 - 14:11 Permalink

I know that your post on the Chumby is a bit dated (2007) but I’m wondering if you are aware of where I can purchase one in Canada.