Is a Chumby oin your future?

[huggy59]

For those of you with Internet addiction issues, there's a new product that gives you Inet content of all types 24/7 - called the Chumby.

It's kinda hard to describe. It's basically a little display unit with no keyboard or mouse, runs on a 350MHz ARM processor, has a 3.5" LCD touchscreen, is always on, plugs into AC power but uses WiFi to network, and uses "widgets" to determine what content you want to display. It has a squeeze sensor and an accelerometer. Maybe so that it can tell when you pick it up and throw it when its alarm goes off to wake you up?

Check it out, at $180 it might be worth looking into for HA status displays, maybe even control! Supposedly the Chumby people are open to widget developers. Of course, they will control what's available on the Chumby network!

www.chumby.com

 

[Ranger Digital]

hmmm, interesting. more toys! dont like that it MUST be plugged into ac power, but since its always connected and on, would drain too much they say.

here is a "what is a chumby":

http://www.chumby.com/story

 

[Squintz]

I was looking into them last night when I got the E-mail. I was thinking I could possibly use one in the kitchen and maybe even develope a widget to control CQC. But then I got to thinking and I realised that I don't know anything about flash and I'm not a linux developer so the chances of me making something useful are slim. I guess I could create a CML webpage and control devices from that but thats about all I would do with it.

So in a nutshell I don't think I will be getting one anytime soon.

 

[SnyperBob]

Looks like it's designed for those not really into electronics (dumbed down). For the same price you could just pick up a Lilliput 7" touchscreen, connect it to a PC and do a smackload more on it than widgets

I love the demo on their website. Everything looks so crisp, you can read the text really well. Great advertising scam

If anyone is bored, check out the 'Showoff your Chumby' pics:
http://www.chumby.com/community/showoff

The best are the pics of ppl with them right next to their computer monitors. Or better yet, the $200 alarm clock mode, rofl?

Spend $200 then try to read this on a daily basis:

 

[damage]

continuing to do my part to help you guys stimulate the economy, chumby has a store on ebay http://myworld.ebay.com/chumbyindustriesinc

25% off live.com cashback gives you $45 back for each chumby...

 

[123]

I discovered the 3COM Audrey while using Misterhouse. It is also known to Homeseer users. I have several Audreys and they've been re-flashed with Pete's MrAudrey image.

Audreys run QNX and have an 8" touchscreen (only 640x480 and a limited viewing angle). They are silent and use very little power. For HA purposes, it allows you to display messages, play audio, flash LED lights, and provide input via its touchscreen. You control an Audrey by executing scripts via Server Side Includes (SSI). I wrote a driver for my HA software (Premise) and now the Audreys wake-up when my M1 is disarmed, sleep when the system is armed, display the time using oversized numbers, play the song of a Hermit Thrush to wake me up, speak the current weather and daily reminders, and soon they'll flash their lights if there's voicemail.

You can purchase a used Audrey on eBay for under $50.

In the other corner we have the Chumby ...

 

[damage]

I discovered the 3COM Audrey while using Misterhouse. It is also known to Homeseer users. I have several Audreys and they've been re-flashed with Pete's MrAudrey image.

Audreys run QNX and have an 8" touchscreen (only 640x480 and a limited viewing angle). They are silent and use very little power. For HA purposes, it allows you to display messages, play audio, flash LED lights, and provide input via its touchscreen. You control an Audrey by executing scripts via Server Side Includes (SSI). I wrote a driver for my HA software (Premise) and now the Audreys wake-up when my M1 is disarmed, sleep when the system is armed, display the time using oversized numbers, play the song of a Hermit Thrush to wake me up, speak the current weather and daily reminders, and soon they'll flash their lights if there's voicemail.

You can purchase a used Audrey on eBay for under $50.

In the other corner we have the Chumby ...

which has only a 3.5" 320x240 screen - but has a 350mhz processor, 64mb ram, rumored to have mpeg4 decoding in hardware, rss reader, pandora and shoutcast streaming, youtube viewer, support for python, perl, java, ruby on rails, and flash

i myself have 5 audreys, but it's always fun to play w/ new toys

 

[123]

No argument from me; the Chumby has more oomph plus wireless connectivity. However, its tiny screen puts it into the PDA category albeit with an oddball form factor.

The folks that use Misterhouse eventually write a driver for every gadget on the planet but the Chumby hasn't gained much traction. It has potential but not many HA converts (or they're not announcing their progress). Perhaps that would change if someone posted a few good examples of how they integrated it into their HA system. I found this blog but there must be more.