We have one of these and we love it! We use it to help our young kids keep on schedule. You can set up as many alarms as you like, so we have morning brush teeth reminders, time to put on shoes and get your gear together, time to walk out the door, time to start homework, time to take a bath and put on jammies, time to brush teeth and read your books, time for bed. . .

Because it's Chumby saying it's time to do something, the kids can't argue, it's great!

If Chumby could pick up the kids after school and grocery shop, it could take over the parenting job entirely from me.

Reading back through the comments, I don't understand the remarks about ads.

I've had a Chumby for a year or two now, and the only ads I see are movie trailers, but that's because I have the movie trailer app running, because I like to see them. (Maybe you can't take that app down?)

The ads would depend on what apps you load. It't like a smart-phone in that ads don't come standard, but some apps use ads to generate revenue. However, none of the apps I use do that (other than the aforementioned movie trailers, which are ads in and of themselves.)

Edit: I found the originating post. I suppose my movie trailer app might qualify as the enforced advertising app I have to have. Even if that's the case, you aren't forced to watch any of the movies - you just sometimes see movie posters that you can touch for previews if you wish. It's non-intrusive.

I have something that functions and processes apps just like one of these little gizmos does. Mine also makes phone calls... I bet yours does, too. I wonder if this one can make calls with skype...?

frogboy99 wrote:I have something that functions and processes apps just like one of these little gizmos does. Mine also makes phone calls... I bet yours does, too. I wonder if this one can make calls with skype...?

No skype. Don't think of it as a smart-phone, think of it as a smart-clock instead.

You might plug it in in the kitchen and have it stream news stories of the day, or comics, or you could listen to Internet radio.

A computer is more fully featured than your phone, so why not just have a computer? It's the same kind of comparison.

I just realized, if you look at the picture it's a picture of the woot site, inside another chumby with a woot site, on and on FOREVER...

I think I need some sleep.

silverfaux wrote:And you can apparently delete the ads off the Chumby.

I've had a couple original Chumby for a long time. Three years? Something like that.

If you put one or two applets in a channel, you don't get advertising. It's when you have a bunch that they squirt advertising in the middle of the cycle between applets.

Honestly, I think they make an outstanding alarm clock. I don't use mine for anything but that function. I have one channel with an awesome little Nixie-tube clock, and another with a weather applet. Wake to Pandora alarm rocks. Being able to put it in "night mode" then tap "dark" is great if you don't like ANY light in your bedroom. Tap the screen once and it's back in dim night mode, tap again and it's back in full GAH IT'S BRIGHT mode.

I have Android tablets and a phone, and all the alarm/clock apps I've seen are clunky. The Chumby is really dialed-in as a high-tech alarm clock. A vast number of alarms can be set that are incredibly programmable. It's worth every penny of $50 as a night-stand dweller. Finally the bedside alarm clock joins the 21st century!

For me, I thought I'd use all the connected feature wizbangs - but I don't.

This will take forever! May be Woot is buying some time to process the existing orders for the last few days.

dammit. I've been staring at it since the woot off ended but I can't handle it any more. I ordered one, even if I just turn around and sell it for $60.

sdc100 wrote:You can't even effectively read email since the screen is 3.5".

Since the Chumby doesn't have a web browser, you can only read email through a custom app. Since that app was written for the Chumby, the font size has been adjusted to make the email readable on the 3.5" screen.

Also, a 3.5" screen isn't that small...it's similar in size to most smartphones, and many people read emails on their smartphones. Why you'd want to read email on a Chumby is somewhat puzzling to me -- it really doesn't seem to be what it was designed for -- but if that's what you want to do, there are a few apps available that will let you do it.

trunggauuoi wrote:This will take forever! May be Woot is buying some time to process the existing orders for the last few days.

uh.. what do you mean it'll take forever. It's not a woot off.

KarenMarie wrote:What the heck is this and why would I want one?

Its an ugly version of iphone except you can't use it like phone...or maybe you can?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRfe6sFeras

If this is just like the DASH, then BUY ONE! Or, better yet, wait for the DASH (larger screen) to come back. I bought one on a whim the last time it was on WOOT. It is awesomely awesome. It replaced my clock radio/alarm clock. It is WAY cool. My social status has risen since my purchase.

It's unique, we use ours as our alarm clock.
Think of it as a widget alarm clock...

january wrote:So...it's basically a laptop, but instead of programs, it has apps?

tylerbrainerd wrote:uh.. what do you mean it'll take forever. It's not a woot off.

I thought we were still in the woot off. My bad!

surfacing wrote:From the picture it looks pretty large, in reality its actually really small.

Per the specs, it's only:

4" wide x 4" tall x 3.5" deep

with a 3.5" color LCD screen. Petite!

The Sony Dash, which was available during the recent Woot-off for $69.99 (plus shipping) has a 7" LCD screen and can run the same apps as the Chumby. The extra real-estate is probably worth the extra Jackson, but otoh I'd feel more comfortable hacking the cheaper device (first).

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the Dash also has Sony's Bravia Internet Video streaming media layer, so Netflix, Slacker, Amazon VoD, etc. are available on it.

hbodle wrote:Will this allow me to monitor Woot-offs?

In theory, yes. There is a Woot app:

http://dash.chumby.com/guide/widget/Woot

in for one.

not necessary, but i hope it makes my life easier, by making it unnecessary to turn on my computer for petty little tasks. we'll see. if i like it, i'll buy the sony dash in the future

Aside from "alarm clock" and "I don't know why anyone would want to read EMail on one" I haven't read any good examples, here, of what I would want to do with one.

Obviously it doesn't have an FM radio or play CDs, so I don't see that it's even a good replacement for a clock radio.

So, given that I will need to keep the clock radio on the nightstand (to hear radio and CDs), will someone please give me some specific examples of why I would want to have one of these, too.

Although, since the woot.com server seems to be locked up for the last 10 minutes, maybe it doesn't even matter.

Adrenalynn333 wrote:Honestly, I think they make an outstanding alarm clock. I don't use mine for anything but that function. I have one channel with an awesome little Nixie-tube clock, and another with a weather applet. Wake to Pandora alarm rocks. Being able to put it in "night mode" then tap "dark" is great if you don't like ANY light in your bedroom. Tap the screen once and it's back in dim night mode, tap again and it's back in full GAH IT'S BRIGHT mode.

I have Android tablets and a phone, and all the alarm/clock apps I've seen are clunky. The Chumby is really dialed-in as a high-tech alarm clock. A vast number of alarms can be set that are incredibly programmable. It's worth every penny of $50 as a night-stand dweller. Finally the bedside alarm clock joins the 21st century!

If this works like the Dash - I think they both use Chumby's OS - I wouldn't recommend it as an alarm clock, unless you're comfortable with an alarm clock that can and does freeze up during the night. I have to power cycle the Dash about once a week because the screen goes blank and it's unresponsive to any input.

Waking up to Youtube videos or Pandora may be a cool idea, but I'd set a backup alarm.

The 21st century (hopefully) doesn't mean that every device has to have an OS with a GUI, Wi-Fi, etc. Increased complexity comes at a cost, including lower reliability. The KISS rule still applies.

globalhavoc wrote:Maybe you can buy a bunch and resell them as chumby guts?

http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKCH1

Interesting that it costs $10 more to buy the guts than to buy a stock Chumby and disassemble it yourself. I guess it must be worth it to have it done by a professional hacker?

chefbooyadee wrote:If the software setup is anything like the previous chumby, prepare to have auto-cycling gadgets, including at least one advertisement gadget that you cannot remove; if you try to remove it, another will take its place.

I gave one to my brother as a gift, and we ended up returning it because of this; I had no intention of giving him an alarm clock that happened to be a direct channel for advertisements to his bedroom.

You're better off shelling out for a Sony Dash, which I think doesn't have the ad issue.

I have this Chumby, and while i have several apps that cycle, i can assure you there are no ads. Maybe certain apps come with ads, but I have yet to see any.

ymmv,
jeff

Bought one. Now: Silly Consumer Justification Time!

I need a new alarm clock. This is cute. It is payday. That is all.

crowbite wrote:Aside from "alarm clock" and "I don't know why anyone would want to read EMail on one" I haven't read any good examples, here, of what I would want to do with one.

Obviously it doesn't have an FM radio or play CDs, so I don't see that it's even a good replacement for a clock radio.

So, given that I will need to keep the clock radio on the nightstand (to hear radio and CDs), will someone please give me some specific examples of why I would want to have one of these, too.

Although, since the woot.com server seems to be locked up for the last 10 minutes, maybe it doesn't even matter.

what? it plays fm

crowbite wrote:So, given that I will need to keep the clock radio on the nightstand (to hear radio and CDs), will someone please give me some specific examples of why I would want to have one of these, too.

Look through the apps and see if any interest you. For example, if you like news, you can get NY Times and CNBC headlines and stories. Dining and shopping? You can view the latest Yelp reviews. Flickr photostreams. Local traffic. Etc.

A key difference between these devices and a laptop or smartphone is that they're designed to push content to you. You can interact, but it's limited. I mainly use mine to stay informed from various sources that I'd miss if I had to pull the information every day on my PC or phone.

crowbite wrote:Aside from "alarm clock" and "I don't know why anyone would want to read EMail on one" I haven't read any good examples, here, of what I would want to do with one.

Obviously it doesn't have an FM radio or play CDs, so I don't see that it's even a good replacement for a clock radio.

So, given that I will need to keep the clock radio on the nightstand (to hear radio and CDs), will someone please give me some specific examples of why I would want to have one of these, too.

Actually, this does have an FM radio. And while you can't listen to your own CDs, you can listen to music from a flash drive in MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC, or M4A formats. Or you can listen to a variety of commercial-free online radio stations.

borntohunt wrote:Maximum PC on Chumby at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas Jan. 8th, 2011


After a hectic Friday, CES is (pretty much) at a close. Hopefully you've already had a chance to check out all of our videos from the floor and read about the winners of our FTW awards (if not, check out the Max PC winners and the Max Tech winners) but we've got one last treat for you guys. Here are 20 of our favorite photos snapped by our editors on the CES floor.

The new Chumby 8 (center) will have 1,500 apps, a browser and will sport an 8-inch screen running at 800x600 resolution screen. Chumby 8 runs on an 800MHz Armada 166 CPU and packs 128GB of DDR2. No price has been announced and availability is scheduled for the first half of the year.

Thank you for this. Seeing what I thought was Chumby's only product discounted over 60% on Woot had me concerned that they were going out of business, which would be a problem since the device gets apps from them over the Internet. If Chumby were to go dark, you'd essentially have a $50 paperweight.

It seems that they're probably clearing their 'shelves' of the current product in preparation for the new one. Great!

And N43. Need an alarm clock that isn't as bright. This one can be adjused as low as you want.

Silvyn wrote:I got one of these a year ago for Christmas. I played with it for a few days, put it on my nightstand, then just realized from this sale that I haven't touched it since.

It lost it's cool factor quickly, and didn't have much more than that.

It has a cool factor??? They should put up a picture then, cuz I ain't seein' it!

editorkid wrote:For folks who remember the Sony Dash from a month ago, this is the original and slightly smaller version of that.

I wanted to get a couple more Dashes during the woot-off but they sold out a little before I woke up. I'll get a couple of these, and with luck they'll be shipped out without lightning striking twice...

Just be aware that the Chumby won't stream Netflix. That's a DRM issue Sony negotiated for the Dash. The Chumby isn't ever expected to do this.

I just hope I'm getting my Amazon credit card rewards for these

austinwebb wrote:Sorry but I read all 5 pages and still nobody has confirmed if there is an actual keyboard that pops up so you can type emails or update your facebook status. Anyone? Bueller?

There is a Facebook status app:
http://www.chumby.com/guide/widget/Facebook Status

but their e-mail app is limited to viewing messages. Honestly, I think you're better off using your smartphone rather than this device for anything requiring a lot of 'keyboard' input.

otoh, it does have a touchscreen, so if you're really motivated you could develop a full-blown e-mail app.

jodythebad wrote:We have one of these and we love it! We use it to help our young kids keep on schedule. You can set up as many alarms as you like, so we have morning brush teeth reminders, time to put on shoes and get your gear together, time to walk out the door, time to start homework, time to take a bath and put on jammies, time to brush teeth and read your books, time for bed. . .

Because it's Chumby saying it's time to do something, the kids can't argue, it's great!

If Chumby could pick up the kids after school and grocery shop, it could take over the parenting job entirely from me.

You are awesomemom! Thanks for the ideas. We use the Dash to stream Netflix so our 5 year old can watch iCarly reruns while we watch the big screen. Never thought of actually using the alarm clock function, since every cell phone we have has that, but she'll like the Dash telling her when to get ready. Espcially if I rename the Dash "Chumby".

Thanks for your reply.

gantt wrote:if you like news, you can get NY Times and CNBC headlines and stories.

I would prefer to read the news in a 17" screen, while sitting upright, rather than on a 3.5" screen, sideways, while horizontal in bed.

gantt wrote:Dining and shopping? You can view the latest Yelp reviews.

I already know which restaurants I like. I don't do "shopping" locally, unless I need something from (regrettably) Lowe's or Home Depot. I wouldn't want to shop online using 3.5" apps, I would prefer a 17" browser that is open to the entire internet.

I used to buy a lot on Woot, when it offered a steady stream of electronics at good prices. Now that Woot has turned into overpriced baby strollers and faux leather day planners, I don't buy much there, either.

gantt wrote:that they're designed to push content to you. You can interact, but it's limited.

That pretty much reinforces my feeling that I don't want to be "pushed" and I'd rather have a full-power browser.

But thank you very much for your detailed suggestions.

Great deal. I bought one for my Dad for his upcoming birthday. I'm sure he'll love it. I mean really, what do you get a 75 year old man who has everything? A woot, of course!

tannerzion wrote:I wonder if this will connect to an ad-hoc network..

Also, with all the hacking related posts, and the fact you can mess with the software, bypassing ads is probably easy.

Why would you want to do ad-hoc? You'd have to enable ICS on another computer, since the
Chumby gets its content from the web.

MWPollard wrote:Actually, this does have an FM radio.

Thanks for pointing that out. As I recall the original Chumby did not, although it had stereo speakers. So I guess this model is both an upgrade and a downgrade from the original.

MWPollard wrote: And while you can't listen to your own CDs, you can listen to music from a flash drive in MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC, or M4A formats.

That's an interesting thought.

I have searched, for years, for a clock radio that would also play tracks from a flash drive. I've never found one (except one from "Genius" brand which doesn't display any track info, so it's useless). So I've been forced to burn the MP3 to a CD if I want to listen.

With the Chumby the situation would be reversed. If I wanted to listen to a CD, I'd be forced to rip it first.

But the Chumby has only one (mono) speaker, which must be fairly small. So I suspect the listening experience is inferior compared to a Sony Dream Machine, let alone a Boston Acoustic. Probably very disappointing, I doubt that I'd be satisfied.

The internet radio option doesn't interest me, as I've found only a handful of stations that I like, and since they probably haven't written their own Chumby apps, I could get them only through a conventional browser.

There's room for only one gadget on he nightstand... Hmmm...

But thank you for your detailed reply and suggestions.

phacopida wrote:You can follow your friends on facebook and twitter - but can you reply? Keyboard anyone?

There is a touchscreen keyboard for setup, but no, you cannot reply to FB, Twitter, or email. This is for receiving data, not sending it,.

crowbite wrote:That's an interesting thought.

I have searched, for years, for a clock radio that would also play tracks from a flash drive. I've never found one (except one from "Genius" brand which doesn't display any track info, so it's useless). So I've been forced to burn the MP3 to a CD if I want to listen.

With the Chumby the situation would be reversed. If I wanted to listen to a CD, I'd be forced to rip it first.

But the Chumby has only one (mono) speaker, which must be fairly small. So I suspect the listening experience is inferior compared to a Sony Dream Machine, let alone a Boston Acoustic. Probably very disappointing, I doubt that I'd be satisfied.

The internet radio option doesn't interest me, as I've found only a handful of stations that I like, and since they probably haven't written their own Chumby apps, I could get them only through a conventional browser.

There's room for only one gadget on he nightstand... Hmmm...

But thank you for your detailed reply and suggestions.

pandora is more full featured then you'd expect

ivioo wrote:I really want to buy this but I think I might just spend another $150-200 and get a Nook Color and put Android on it.

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/install-android-3-0-honeycomb-and-market-on-nook-color/

I'm interested in the Nook Color rooted to run Android (or maybe Ubuntu) too, but that's an entirely different class of device than the Chumby. Anyone expecting this to be a 'tablet-light' device is likely to be disappointed.

I've had one for over a year. I love it. Internet radio in the kitchen, apps, etc.