I just wanna know what happened in the guardian

Bought this a couple of months ago when this came up. I oddly love it - its the perfect little device for Pandora and the local NPR station, photos to impress recruits in my office and check the weather.

Got one of these in a previous woot! offering... very nice.

Makes for a very cool clock radio.

I've been eyeing these for a long time. Couldn't justify the price until now. Woot-hoo!

Previous Woot Sale

I love this dang thing! Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Youtube, Over 200 cool clock faces, weather, horoscopes, Pandora, Slacker,etc, etc, etc, lots of apps, all on your night stand. Plug in a good set of speakers, and you've got a mini-entertainment system that simply works. My favorite Woot buy in a good, long time.

And don't accidentally unplug it, ridiculous boot time. Awful sound quality too. Exactly what is good about this thing?

Got one of these last time. I love it. Here's for the inevitable questions:
NO it is NOT an iPad, tablet, or anything resembling one. It is designed to sit on a table or shelf and passively display information from various internet services. There are some apps that allow you to search and view online content, but primarily you will "set it and forget it" and just let it run.
YES it is very much like an alarm clock. In fact, that's what I primarily use mine for. Have had no problems with it.
You can play media from the USB port, but only mass storage devices (thumbdrives, digital cameras, etc.)
Speakers are decently loud, plus there's a line out.
Online setup and maintenance is easy.

Go to sleep watching "Blazing Saddles", wake up to Enya! What's not to love!?!

I loved my the Sony Dash I got during the previous Woot'ing before the NETFLIX PRICE INCREASE EARLIER THIS WEEK! I've since Bing'd "Amazon Streaming Sony Dash" several times and have gotten a few Chumby results.

Does anyone know if this thing will stream Amazon video for a desperately-seeking-film-content ex-Netflix user?

Last time ipad 75$ for ref now its new, this thing gonna sold out again !!!
Such a great device.

aaronshall wrote:I just wanna know what happened in the guardian

there you go

Does anyone know what email applications it supports? I would like to use it to check my email in the morning, without having to boot up my computer. Am I limited to Gmail, or can I check any email?

pinchecat wrote:I loved my the Sony Dash I got during the previous Woot'ing before the NETFLIX PRICE INCREASE EARLIER THIS WEEK! I've since Bing'd "Amazon Streaming Sony Dash" several times and have gotten a few Chumby results.

Does anyone know if this thing will stream Amazon video for a desperately-seeking-film-content ex-Netflix user?

Better, it's got Crackle!

pinchecat wrote:I loved my Sony Dash before the NETFLIX PRICE INCREASE EARLIER THIS WEEK! I've since Bing'd "Amazon Streaming Sony Dash" several times and have gotten a few Chumby results.

Does anyone know if this thing will stream Amazon video for a desperately-seeking-film-content ex-Netflix user?

Yes!, & if you have Amazon Prime, it's free. Video quality is superb, for some reason, even better than Netflix.

So does this support more apps then just the ones at the chumby app place which is pretty much dead.. Also does that disclaimer mean you cant update the firmware? Also i take it it has a real web browser?

My dad got one for Christmas. He only kinda liked it, until he hooked it up to a Sony stereo, and now can enjoy international music at top volume.
Hardware and software-wise, it's been solid- I haven't had any tech calls since we set it up. I don't even like Sony products, but I have to give them credit for this. Yes, it should have been portable, but my dad is happy it's not- it's right where he wants it, and it stays there.

I'm not sure I see the appeal. It does look like a cool little toy, but nothing too special about what it does. Is it because its portable? Anyway, If I got one, I would rather receive it as a gift than spend my own money on it. :-))

shdwghst457 wrote:And don't accidentally unplug it, ridiculous boot time. Awful sound quality too. Exactly what is good about this thing?

just about, everything?
Sound quality? Nah, the sound quality is A OK.
If you fancy yourself an audiophile you've got two solid options: plug in a quality pair of headphones, or use a standard 3.5 to rca. Perceived problem alleviated.

I'll give it to you, the boot time could stand losing a deca-minute or two.
But other than that, it's awesome.

Crab wrote:Does anyone know what email applications it supports? I would like to use it to check my email in the morning, without having to boot up my computer. Am I limited to Gmail, or can I check any email?

Seems to be any web-based email. It's doing my hotmail and my Comcast accts. Should do any POP-3 acounts. But I could be wrong...

They put this for sale after I bought the chumby during the woot off. Sigh

I bought one of these and love it. I only wish it had more themes.

This is the 3rd time this has appeared on Woot! since I bought mine from a previous woot!

It is one of my most used and favorite woot! purchases ever. I just finished watching the new Dr. Who series one episode a night for the past several weeks via streaming netflix streaming on it.

Once you get this you will find yourself using it more than you probably think. Lots of nifty apps, alarm clocks galore, programmable on/off times, easy to move from room to room (even say, the bathroom), etc. I have it streaming Picasa photo albums or using the Chumby Spy app to view random public webcams around the world when its not in clock mode or streaming video.

Does the fox come with it? Such a cool pet.

Ah, I can finally see where that pesky fox hides. Thank you, Sony!

There ARE reviews on Buzzillions. And they aren't too bad. Around 3.4 stars.
http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/sony-hid-c10-dash-personal-internet-viewer-reviews

freak6148 wrote:I bought one of these and love it. I only wish it had more themes.

Sadly, we're probably looking at the finished product. But at least it's a quality product, and it's stable. For the price, the BEST NIGHTSTAND ENTERTAINMENT EVER (with the sole exception of Astroglide).

Rumor has it the new one will have the ability to run on batteries and come in different colors.

Crab wrote:Does anyone know what email applications it supports? I would like to use it to check my email in the morning, without having to boot up my computer. Am I limited to Gmail, or can I check any email?

It works with getting gmail.....

Also I'm probably one of the few people using USB to ethernet with this. (i.e. non Wi-Fi). It works with the 2 adapters I tried (Belkin and Trendnet)

From the previous woot! someone asked how loud it was. I measured the sound and came up with this:

Using my handy Analog Radio Shack Sound Level Meter I peaked out at 90dB using one of the louder alarms and averaged about 70dB with the others. I measured pointing the Sound Level Meter directly at the Dash's speakers from 1 foot away with the Dash's volume set on the loudest setting.

How loud is 70 to 90dB? Some examples:

90dB - Motorcycle at 25 ft
89dB - Garbage disposal, dishwasher, freight train (at 50 ft.) for jjdarling
80dB - garbage disposal.
77 dB - Passenger car at 65 mph at 25 ft.
76 dB Living room music.
70 dB radio or TV-audio.

source

dheaven wrote:Sadly, we're probably looking at the finished product. But at least it's a quality product, and it's stable. For the price, the BEST NIGHTSTAND ENTERTAINMENT EVER (with the sole exception of Astroglide).

I absolutely Agree! Love the video quality for my Netflix.

Shinespark wrote:Rumor has it the new one will have the ability to run on batteries and come in different colors.

That's what she said...

I picked one of these up last time it was on Woot.
The apps selection is a little useless. I think 99-100% of the apps were written for the Chumby's 4:3 screen. They don't take up the full size of the Dash screen when used.

The various clock apps out there are pretty much a joke. Most of them are so garish and silly looking, it would cheapen your Dash to display them and would keep you up at night.

The alarm function is really bare bones. I would have liked to see gentle alarms built in (of the 200+ clock apps, only one has a gentle alarm, and it's a recording of birds chirping and has no snooze).

Weather apps also pretty much suck. All of them are worse than what you can download for free for your smartphone.

End result: it's been nice for the few times I've wanted access to Netflix and Pandora in bed. When I'm not doing one of those two things though, it stays on night mode all day.

I cannot emphasize enough: DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF CRAP.

A) For anyone who cares: IT IS NOT A CHUMBY. IT CANNOT BE ROOTED SO YOU CAN ONLY RUN SONY APPS, NOT EVERY CHUMBY APP.

Beyond that the whole Chumby model is ridiculous.

This thing only runs a certain kind of Chumby FLASH application. There's not a whole lot of them out there, and I hope you like clocks, because there are 200 different clocks.

What is this device good for?

Displaying a clock.

Who would this device be bad for? Anyone with any amount of ADHD.

What the device does is cycle through these flash apps that you set up for it: clock, weather, clock, travel, clock, webcam, clock, webcam, clock, weather, clock, clock, clock, webcam, clock, twitter, clock, clock, clock, facebook.

Each time it changes apps, you'll notice it flicker and change out of the corner of your eye and it will distract you.

This is seriously an overpriced, expensive, not very good, CLOCK.

It can't be rooted, don't expect it to run chumby software.

It sucks.

I'd have to give this device the award for most misunderstood underappreciated gadget of recent history.

I'll break it down for the uninformed.

This device is a media hub. As such it sits in one place. It is not an alarm clock, but can carry out that function. It was never meant to be portable (though granted, that would rock) so take me to the land you're from where portable youtube/pandora/netflix players cost 69.99 new. Please! Do dream, but please a dose of reality is also healthy and necessary.

With a decent WiFi connection there is little to no buffering. It certainly is not intolerable. The number of functions this is equipped with and services it can check more than justifies its asking price.
But really, if this is a duplicate device for you... skip it! It's not that hard to realize what you need and what you don't.
Those who beg for this devices justification--baffle. If you can't see justifying paying 69.99 for something incredible, then by all means, don't. But for those who recognize value and don't have duplicate devices, you can pick this up and feel justified in its price even if it's only used for netradio streaming. Seriously. Price them.

Given that you can buy a real 7" Android-based Tablet for about $79, I don't understand why you'd want this Dash. For example, Woot recently had the Cruz R101 for that price. It has everything the Dash does and can accomplish so much more. It even comes with a stand so that it can function like a digital photo frame.

If you want it to behave like the Dash, simply disable the Auto-Off feature. You'd then have a sleek 1/2" thick display that is always on, displaying any widget you want to install. Here are the benefits over the Dash:

1) You have access to most Android apps, which is bigger than the Chumby/Dash market

2) The Apps are much more useful and interactive since the Dash is mostly a viewer. The Cruz and other tablets are considered computing devices

3) Tablets have real browsers, and some can even handle Flash. I can't imagine how clunky it is to watch YouTube and write email on this thing. My Cruz is running Dolphin HD beowser, which has multiple tabs and add-ons -- rivaling Firefox. You cn even download files and YouTube videos.

4) PORTABILITY! The Cruz, like all tablets, has a rechargeable batery. I can take it off its stand and use it from from to room, or eveb away from home. The Dash needs to be plugged in.

5) Tablets can be eReaders. I wouldn't try to read an ebook on the Dash.

6) I can read/edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel files on my Cruz. Not an option on the Dash.

7) Although the $79 Cruz doesn't have a camera, some Chinese made tablets in that price range do have cameras -- great for video calls. Even without a camera, almost all tablets can Skype.

8) Watching videos are a tablet is better because CODECS are readily available to accomodate the latest compression schemes and containers. I doubt if the Dash can handle MKV videos.


In the Dash's defense, it does have:

1) A capacitive touch screen. All tablets in this price range have a resistive screen. But given that the Dash is only single touch (no fancy multpoint gesturing), there really is no practical advantage with a capacitive screen.

2) An accelerometer. Although my Cruz also has an accelerometer, many cheaper tablets do not. But here's the thing -- why does the Dash need an accelerometer when the thing is made to stay on a desk or table??? And I bet virtually no app makes use of it because the Chumby doesn't have an accelerometer and app makers use the Chumby to design their software.


Again,I need to stress that the Cruz and similar tablets are only $10 more, but it's so much much more functional.

tigerxchaos wrote:I picked one of these up last time it was on Woot.
The apps selection is a little useless. I think 99-100% of the apps were written for the Chumby's 4:3 screen. They don't take up the full size of the Dash screen when used.

The various clock apps out there are pretty much a joke. Most of them are so garish and silly looking, it would cheapen your Dash to display them and would keep you up at night.

The alarm function is really bare bones. I would have liked to see gentle alarms built in (of the 200+ clock apps, only one has a gentle alarm, and it's a recording of birds chirping and has no snooze).

Weather apps also pretty much suck. All of them are worse than what you can download for free for your smartphone.

End result: it's been nice for the few times I've wanted access to Netflix and Pandora in bed. When I'm not doing one of those two things though, it stays on night mode all day.

You must have a different Dash. My apps are always full-screen, my clock display is set to dim, or even shut down, at midnight, and I wake up to my Pandora "Enya" station or my Slacker "New Age" station every morning. Some mornings I chose to wake up to a rowdy Garth Brooks video, and it accommodates me.

a.priori.eureka wrote:I'd have to give this device the award for most misunderstood underappreciated gadget of recent history.

I'll break it down for the uninformed.

This device is a media hub. As such it sits in one place. It is not an alarm clock, but can carry out that function. It was never meant to be portable (though granted, that would rock) so take me to the land you're from where portable youtube/pandora/netflix players cost 69.99 new. Please! Do dream, but please a dose of reality is also healthy and necessary.

With a decent WiFi connection there is little to no buffering. It certainly is not intolerable. The number of functions this is equipped with and services it can check more than justifies its asking price.
But really, if this is a duplicate device for you... skip it! It's not that hard to realize what you need and what you don't.
Those who beg for this devices justification--baffle. If you can't see justifying paying 69.99 for something incredible, then by all means, don't. But for those who recognize value and don't have duplicate devices, you can pick this up and feel justified in its price even if it's only used for netradio streaming. Seriously. Price them.

It is decent for watching movies, if watching movies on your alarm clock is what you're into. Quality is good, didn't run into any lag with it. It doesn't really have anything my bravia NX810 doesn't have built into it though, and I wish the Dash could control the Bravia somehow like a wifi remote. but no, the Dash is the one Sony product that doesn't interact with the rest of them.

dheaven wrote:Go to sleep watching "Blazing Saddles", wake up to Enya! What's not to love!?!

Enya?