sony dash

A

apostolakisl

Senior Member
I just came across this http://www.buy.com/prod/sony-dash-personal-internet-viewer/q/loc/101/listingid/87884118/215876677.html

It is a very cheap ($148) device by sony with a 7 inch touchscreen and a set of applications you can download to it via wifi. I have not actually seen, touched, or otherwise interacted with one aside from seeing at buy.com

Anyway, is anyone who writes apps thinking about writing HA apps for it? It is way cheaper than an ipad and is designed to stand up on a table which, in my thinking, is more usefull as a HA controller than a tablet ipad design. It does need to be plugged in (no battery) but sitting on the coffee table, bedside table, or wall mounted all are conducive to being plugged in. Frankly, I think being plugged in tethers it to a location so you aren't constantly hunting for it like you would with an ipad.

At that price I would buy three or four and have them around the house if there were some nice HA apps for it.
 
The new Western Mountain RUC IP UPB interface/timer has an app.

Search the site for "Chumby", there are several threads.
The Dash is a Sony licensed Chumby.

I just bought a Dash but have been unable to fire it up yet.
I plan on using it as a morning clock, weather, music, basic UPB link xmtr, info reference in the Master Bath.
Depeneding on that experience I may get another.

It won't replace higher end tablets/touchscreens. That's not its purpose.
 
Lou Apo said:
I just came across this http://www.buy.com/prod/sony-dash-personal-internet-viewer/q/loc/101/listingid/87884118/215876677.html

It is a very cheap ($148) device by sony with a 7 inch touchscreen and a set of applications you can download to it via wifi. I have not actually seen, touched, or otherwise interacted with one aside from seeing at buy.com

Anyway, is anyone who writes apps thinking about writing HA apps for it? It is way cheaper than an ipad and is designed to stand up on a table which, in my thinking, is more usefull as a HA controller than a tablet ipad design. It does need to be plugged in (no battery) but sitting on the coffee table, bedside table, or wall mounted all are conducive to being plugged in. Frankly, I think being plugged in tethers it to a location so you aren't constantly hunting for it like you would with an ipad.

At that price I would buy three or four and have them around the house if there were some nice HA apps for it.
Click to expand...

it's a chumby in disguise. from what i read it's not very hackable. the infocast is a better choice http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17953
 
I just went to best buy and looked at both of them. The insignia and sony are quite a bit different but work on the same principle. I did buy the insignia chumby model for $99 and will play with it. At worst it will just be a fancy clock radio for the bedside.

It doesn't look like a "hack" is necessary. It seems that it is like itunes where you can write apps and submit to the company for inclusion on their list. I can only imagine that they would encourage that as more apps means more potential market.
 
to run in their framework, you have to write apps in flash. the apps run in a sandbox on chumby.com i think. this prevents access to local network shares. i think i read that you can get around some of this by running a perl or python script on the device in conjunction with a flash app. also in flash (*i think*), you can't access sockets so it limits what type of apps you can build and what things you can interface too. also, there is no native browser interface without a hack, although chumby is working on something w/ it
 
I bought the $99 insignia infocast the other day - but I was checking out the Sony Dash this morning and think it may be superior - I like that it plays the apps in a frame, but keeps the weather and time always visible... and you seem to be able to better trigger actions based on time, like starting music or apps (from what I can tell) - and, it can actually play Hulu Plus and Netflix.

There's a very good chance of me actually exchanging my Infocast for the Sony Dash while it's on sale... I just hope the audio quality is as good - because it's actually pretty decent on the Infocast; where I can't see any speakers on the Sony.

I too use it in my master bath - to play pandora, and for time and weather... so I'd really like to have it showing the time/weather all the time like the Sony does.

Also - if you go to the Best Buy Infocast page/instructions - they in no way match the actual device... just a warning.
 
It's my understanding that you can't execute apps from a usb drive (i.e. running the 'debugchumby' script on boot) on the Sony Dash. That mens no webkit browser and other 'simple' hacks.

Terry
 
I would get an Android tablet and call it done...
Don't need to "hack" it as it's designed to be flexible by it's nature.
very likely higher horsepower hardware
Much better developer support and options.
Very worth the $100 ish incremental if this is what you want to do.
 
True - for hackability the Infocast sounds better... but I'm not out to hack mine; I want to use it as it was built for now. The Sony has both the Bravia media software built in, and within that, it runs the Chumby software in a window.
 
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