Early Chumby Impressions: This Thing Is Awesome
I’ve been playing with the Chumby Internode sent me to review for about an hour now and despite some early reservations, I’m now completely head over heels in love with the plush Wi-Fi widget.
It’s like some kind of high-tech cake, with layer upon layer of fantastic widgets and clever implementations of simple Web 2.0 things like RSS feeds and social networking. After working through the simple setup process and waiting for a relatively quick firmware update, it was a process of discovering just what the Chumby can do. And while I’ve only scratched the surface in the short time I’ve been playing with it, my Chumby (affectionately named Chunk) has already become my new alarm clock, internet radio device and de facto Twitter feed reader.
There is a lack of local widgets at the moment – Internode’s own offering is a bit disappointing, showcasing only Internode-specific news and their internet radio channels (but you can use Pandora, which is much more comprehensive in its versatility). I’m desperately hoping we can get a Giz AU widget available soon, although at the moment I’m just using the Chumby feed reader to do the job for me.
I’ll have a more comprehensive review next week, but as it stands, I’m loving every inch of the Chumby so far…
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Comments
This looks really interesting, I’ve been looking for a new alarm clock, and this seems like the ticket, as I’m also looking to replace my laptop next to the bed setup for watching video over the network… have you checked out this “ORB Streamer”? It seems pretty cool.
I am pretty interested in one of these too…
I need a new alarm clock and something like this seems more interesting than a normal one.
Also – I want to get my computers away from my bedroom. This looks like a good step in the right direction.
I’ve been interested in these but one thing I can’t seem to find and answer to that you mightlike to include in your review, is whether it’s capable of streaming ABC radio (i.e. DRM protected Real or Windows Media Audio streams).
I have too much electrical noise where I live to hear AM radio clearly so I figured streaming it over the Internet would be a good alternative, but I’ve not found much in the way of gadgets that will stream these DRM protected streams.
I like the fact its way more open source than my Iphone. I was going to import one from the states a while back,thru a freight forwarding company. However the price was too high as with this local offering…
Our chumby has been resident for less than a week & it’s proving brilliant as a streaming clock radio. With the added benefit of all the widgety goodness.
The ‘Chumbyland’ widget is proving a hit in this house as our chumby is tracked around the world interacting with other chumbies & having a grand time. More info here: http://www.chumby.com/guide/widget/Chumbyland
I have wanted on one of these Chumbys for quite awhile but the lack of both Realmedia streaming(manufacturers say it is too expensive to licence from them tho there is a workaround that requires use of a computer) and battery backup(Chumbo may be tough on batteries tho). Also, I have heard that the Chumby emits too much light to be of use as an alarm clock in a dark room such as a bedroom. Oh and a built-in AM/FM radio tuner would be nice too(any true internet only streaming device would benefit from this addition). Still…nice to have such a fun little device. :)