The founders of Chumby wanted to create a new device that begs to be hacked. Yesterday, they introduced a prototype of their new gadget to 100 or so attendees of Foo Camp in Sebastopol, California. I was lucky enough to get one.
Chumby is a small, wifi enabled, touch screen information device. When you take it out of the box and plug it in it is essentially a glorified alarm clock. But when you take a moment and register your particular Chumby at their website, it can become just about anything you like. A number of widgets are available now and can be enabled on Chumby with a click. And Since Chumby is completely open source and has made a HDK and SDK available for developers, expect modifications to come quickly.
I enabled a few of the available widgets, and my Chumby now shows pictures from my flickr account as well as Google News headlines. Other Foo attendees have new Digg front page stories, Google Calendar and Slashdot stories on their Chumby.
The device has a 266MHz ARM controller, 32MB SDRAM, a 320×240 3.5 inch touch LCD screen, two speakers, audio output, microphone input functionality and a USB port. Chumby also has a squeeze sensor. All of this is housed within a soft, sqeezable shell about the size of a coconut.
Don’t like somthing about your Chumby? Hack it. The founders not only allow it but are actively encouraging modifications, even leading a number of hack sessions here at Foo. The hardware can easily be ripped out of the shell and put inside something else. The hardware itself can be hacked, or developers can use the tools available on the Chumby site to simply create new widgets.
The examples are limitless. Use the USB port to take a thumb drive with MP3s and build a music player widget, for example. Or a divx player. Or use Chumby to control the air conditioning in your house. Or as a remote control for your television. Etc.
Chumby will not be generally available for purchase until March 2007, but developers can request one now on the Chumby home page. Tell them why you want it, and they may send you one. When it does eventually go on sale, the target price point is $150. The basic service is free, and Chumby may add paid premium services over time.
Most of the Chumby team, including Ken Steele, Bunnie Huang Joe Grand, and Duane Maxwell, is here at Foo demo’ing the product. They are pictured below leading a Chumby hack session.
More on the Chumby site and at CrunchGear.
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Blackberry is better anytime!
um. weird. battery life? how will they keep their edge if sony or apple or MS or Google decides they want to make a similar device? are they going to rely on the community built to create hacks? weird name. weird shape. weird logo. weird tag cloud like email submission form on their front page.
was it once a little green slab of clay?
Now if only there was a way to display information on a device that already exists so I wouldn’t have to carry around something new. It would be cool if that device worked with existing infrastructure and all… oh.. there is… they call it a (get this, you’ll like the name) “cell phone”. Crazy!
Extremely interesting idea….
It has the potential to be an amazing device
I’m just wondering.. are there dimensions and does it have a battery or do you plug it in?
“even leading a number of hack sessions here at Foo.”
really? Michael working at Poo Too?
Yeah I’m pretty sure they’re not trying to replace the blackberry or cell phone or become the nest iPod…but even though the community they’re trying to target isn’t relatively large, it is very passionate.
I think independent devlopers will appreciate seeing things like this come out and promote hacking of their products…and companies will soon find that these people are the best, most cost-effective form of research, development, testing, marketing, and sales.
Foo dingleberries. Ughh.
Anyone remember 3Com’s Audrey or Salton’s Icebox? Yeah, me neither. I think PDAs and phones have this space covered, and if they don’t the Nokia 770 or Sony PSP do. Nabaztag or bust!
I think its more a bedside device - i.e. an alarm clock with benefits. Would be great to feed in custom slide.com sliderolls on it. Very entertaining.
It appears some of you just don’t quite GET it. This isn’t a Blackberry, iPod, PSP, or PDA replacement. I hate to simplify it as such but if anything this is an alarm clock replacement. You don’t tke this with you folks. It stays by your bedside. It runs on an AC power adapter and you put a backup battery in it. To me, this is a fantastic idea. I am actually looking it ats features and thinking about all the things IT does and all the things my trusty Slabang alarm clock from IKEA doesn’t…Let’s see…practically everything. This is an open ended, for the most part statuonary device. I’ve read many comments all day that basically state “Uh, get a PSP, duh.” Wrong. These devices can’t be compared. We all need to face one fact…There ARE markets for functional devices that have a new purpose. Not everything needs a comparison.
This is very similar to IP radio devices being created by Cambridge, UK based Receiver, which stream internet radio to the home via radio devices made for the home environment. This is exactly in that class of digital lifestyle device, don’t get it confused with anything else.
Correction, above should be Reciva.com , which makes IP radios.
Not sure about this one. Will have to wait to see what kind the open source developers create to make it truly useful.
Anyone want to connect up a wifi watch-sized EEG / micro-movement recording device so this thing can wake you up refreshed? Maybe this should have software that automatically lets me sleep in when morning appointments are cancelled or earlier if construction/accidents are going to add 15 minutes to commute time.
Medical monitoring device? A way to page a nurse?
PSP? Bah humbug. I want a bedside computer to do weird new things.
I seriously considered doing this exact startup. I didn’t pull the trigger because I was worried about Asian competition if the product is successful. They are targeting $150 for a 3.5in screen. You can buy 7in DVD players for $90. There’s not that much difference between the DVD player and the Chumby.
From my informal concept testing I concluded that a 7in screen and $100 retail price tag were necessary for success. Back out the markup needed to achieve $100 retail and you can see the wholesale cost needed. Partner with a portable DVD manufacturer and use their retail channel presence to make this product work.
#10 hit on the head. You don’t need to compare every new device with something already in the market. I think this is a great device, and a great idea.
They should have a bit of a marketing revamp before they launch but this thing has the potential to go places.
The close up photo posted appears to be a press release photo. If so, would it hurt for them to choose a better news story to show on it?
The device looks really cool though, and if I had the chance I would buy one. One thing I still wonder, though, is how does the news update? Does it have built-in wi-fi? Their site is down, so I will have to wait to find out.
So it’s a Nabaztag with a screen and not so cute?
I hope this little smart internet enabled device coupled with web service hackability trend continues. There’s some real fun ideas coming out from the little guys and devices like these are great for when you don’t want to leave a computer on wasting power.
As a user: that sounds awesome!
As a developer: I’m so disappointed they chose Flash for their widgets rather than Javascript/DHTML. Sure, you can do more nice looking stuff with Flash, and implement a Flash player is probably easier than a web browser supporting Javascript. But Javascript is so much more powerful, and more standard. Forget the easy conversion from Dashboard, Opera or Google widgets to Chumby…
And, by the way, Skip Trace: don’t expect Open Source developers to spend too much time developing widgets for the Chumby because Flash is not really popular among them.
Erwan: Flash uses JavaScript (in fact, it supports some JavaScript 2.0 features that even SpiderMonkey/Rhino don’t), so comparing Flash to JavaScript is kind of silly. Now, if you’re trying to say that html/css is more powerful than Flash, that’s another story. For any kind of graphics, it definitely isn’t.
I think Flash is a good choice.
This is rad!
The site is still down, but I have mirrored their FAQ in case there are any other interested developers:
http://www.devtb.net/chumby/faq.html
Cool device but doubt that there would be any mass market adoption since users are already overloaded with cellphones and ipods.
I’ve wanted a device like this for a while. I want to use it in my master bathroom to give me weather and other traffic updates in the morning. Really what I’d like is a nice small flat screen device with the same capabilities.
And hey … what’s with that name??
I want one!!!
Joseph - you are flat-out wrong, and clearly don’t know or understand consumers. But if you need more, the line for the kool-aid starts to the left. Enjoy.
Yeah yeah, you all comment that you *want* one, and I’ll tell you the reality here - none of you will *BUY* one. Because when it’s ACTUALLY time to make that decision, you’re going to back out. Unless you have enough cash you truly don’t care what you do with $150 (or the $199 they are likely to launch at).
For this thing to win, it’s gotta be SUB-$50, or forget it.
There is a crowd of people that will absolutely buy this. If they had 1,000 of these at the Palo Alto Fry’s for $500 they’d sell out in a half day. easy. But it is not a mass consumer gadget yet. It needs physical design improvements, a more responsive OS, and better widgets. But the ease of adding new widgets is brilliant.
this is clone of ambient orb built on wifi.
Agree with Skeptic. You can try to claim this isn’t competing with the cell phone, but at the end of the day IT IS competing against cell phones. Just as there’s only so much room for video sharing sites, social networks, AJAX office suites, etc. there are only so many devices people are going to lug around.
And let’s get real Michael. Being able to sell 1,000 of these in Palo Alto (the heart of Geek Valley) in half a day is not a true test . For one, these types of device businesses need to have massive volume to be successful. This is not an Internet startup. And you need to look at the dynamic of the electronics device market. If something like this, by miracle, did take off, you’d have to compete with the Chinese and Taiwanese, who will manufacture it quicker and cheaper. Device manufacturing is not a pretty business. It’s highly complex. I would be interested in learning the background of the Chumby management team as this will be critical in seeing if they have even a remote shot at success.
yeah I agree with everything you said above BS101, except that this is competing with cell phones (you’ll understand when you see it first hand). But I still think its a cool device. I believe they are building these in China already. The fact that it is completely based on open source (and and Niall said, Flash) means that it won’t be that hard to duplicate if it takes off. So cool, we’ll have 20 different versions of it to choose from. Will this company be successful? Dunno. Is the device cool and a good idea? Absolutely.
The key to the success of any idiot-proof consumer information appliance is the fact that it doesn’t seem like a computer. Those widgets had better be so simple my grandma could pick ‘em out.
This is a phenomenal idea. I can’t wait to get my hands on one of them. Gimme Gimme PLEASE!!!
Ps. How long before these guys get bought out by MSFT or AAPL?
“I believe they are building these in China already. ”
Strike one.
“cool device” - yup, but as someone said above, so was the Audrey, Microsoft SPOT watches, and the Sony eMarker. Heck, TiVo is a cool device AND they have a brand AND a huge consumer base yet even THEY are struggling to move units!
so, i return to - a device that inherently competes with CELL PHONES and costs more than an impulse buy ($50) is not going to make it. the very segment they target owns blackberrys, treos, and q-phones, and are all going to say “hmm.. neat, but i dont know what a widget is, and i think my phone does this already”. if you want to see any opportunity out of this, the company better have a web play that “chumbies your phone”.
zoomy - great question, how about… never? first of all, neither company ever buys gadget-makers. second of all, why buy them when you can compete in six months? you wouldnt buy their brand (since its totally unestablished) and they will need to be very lucky to establish any first-mover advantage.
geez, i’m sorry with all this business-speak… that’s not appropriate now, is it? strike all of the above, replace it with “this is really cool, i hope it works with my podcasts and all my opml!”
I’ll have to agree with the $50 price point a few people have pointed out for it to be successful with the mainstream. I think what has people excited about this is that it is open source and very hackable. That said, just like any other thing tech, it will probably start at a higher price point.
Two widgets (can we call them something else?) I would like to see added is one for Pandora and one for Skype. I think they should add a camera to this as well.
I think this could be compared, in many ways, to the PSP. It is a fully functional off-the-shelf consumer electronic product that has a great official feature set (video, audio, web, RSS, podcasts, etc. over wifi), has great battery life, it’s is easy to use by the average moron, and does not cost an arm and a leg.
Then there’s the homebrew community who have whipped the PSP into an incredible swiss-army-knife-like electronic gadget. It streams a/v over wifi so there’s no need to convert/transfer, it emulates pretty much every cartridge-based console/handheld system, it’s a great wifi finder, plays internet radio, can do GPS, soon will do VOIP. Pretty much everything I would want in a handheld device can be done with the PSP. And this is with the resistance of a proprietary manufacturer trying to lock out this side of the machine.
With a device that is open and feature-rich, and has the support of the manufacturer to tweak, tinker, hack and so-forth, the sky really is the limit with this thing. If it’s simple and easy to add new software/widgets, the average consumer will see the value in this and hop on board. The PSP doesn’t have the greatest sales, but there are plenty of people out there working to make it a better unit, I guarantee if the Chumby is marketed and handled correctly, it will do just fine.
It looks massive considering the pitiful specifications. Ugh, stupid hype over a piece of junk.
Hackable? You could build a better mini itx system for barely more than $150. And comparing it to an alarm clock when it’s supposed to cost around $150? Has no one realised this is pretty retarded?
This is the stupidest idea I’ve seen in a long time. My alarm clock needs to do only one thing: wake me up. I don’t want to stay in bed squinting at news headlines on a mickey-mouse 3″ screen. I can just as easily wake up, and log into my actual computer with a HUGE screen to do the same thing.
Heck, with HTPCs, hacked xboxes, and high def TVs, you can even surf news/internet stuff from your bed using a nice huge TV screen.
When you factor in the $150 price point, this is just laughable. Talk about a huge swing and a miss. Expect to see these things posted on fatwallet or woot in a few months time at blowout prices. This product/company is going to sink fast. Chumby has concrete shoes.
1. This is not a device that is meant to be carried all over the place like a cell phone or a PDA. The battery is only to keep it going while you unplug it to move it from, say, your nightstand to the bathroom or the kitchen. (Of course, it can be hacked to add a serious battery if you like. Someone has already submitted schematics for that.)
2. Is your alarm clock smart enough to let you sleep an extra 20 minutes if the traffic report on your commute is favorable, or wake you up 20 minutes early if the weather has turned lousy? Will your Alarm clock wake you up if your overseas stock is tanking or let you know when your e-bay bid gets beaten? Let you glance at your baby monitor webcam or your security webacams? Tell you when that massive download you started has completed? Alert you when your network is under attack? These examples only begin to scratch the surface of what one of these can enable.
3. I know “I” want one…