WE NEED THE CHUMBY AND DASH TO HAVE A LOVE CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!!

i want something as customizable as Chumby but I like the slim, large screen, room saving design of the dash

GAH when will they make babies

theguruguys wrote:Never came out, wouldn't use it much anyway on a device like these, not what they are made for would never be very practical.

A lot of kitchen users thought that it would be nice to look up recipes.

plasticpopcorn4 wrote:WE NEED THE CHUMBY AND DASH TO HAVE A LOVE CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!!

i want something as customizable as Chumby but I like the slim, large screen, room saving design

GAH when will they make babies

Hasn't the 8" Chumby (aka "The Chumby 8") been released already? Ojay, that base looks pretty deep so it's not "space saving." Here's are plenty pf Google photos.

plasticpopcorn4 wrote:WE NEED THE CHUMBY AND DASH TO HAVE A LOVE CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!!

i want something as customizable as Chumby but I like the slim, large screen, room saving design of the dash

GAH when will they make babies

I'm afraid Android devices will take these over. I'd rather my Dash and Android OS have a love child, and they could sell it at $69!!

sdc100 wrote:Hasn't the 8" Chumby (aka "The Chumby 8") been released already? Ojay, that base looks pretty deep so it's not "space saving." Here's are plenty pf Google photos.

:O thanks for that didn't know they had these. A little pricey at 200 but it appears to be out now!!!

sdc100 wrote:A lot of kitchen users thought that it would be nice to look up recipes.

There are a few recipe apps like recipe fetch for a compromise..

plasticpopcorn4 wrote::O thanks for that didn't know they had these. A little pricey at 200 but it appears to be out now!!!

This is where an Android tablet would, without any debate from me ;), be much better. Unless perhaps you are just crazy into the Chumby hacking/development scene. I doubt we will see the 8" Chumby at the $69 price point. Wouldn't make the best alarm clock either with its physical footprint.

ballewja wrote:What's the snooze problem? I use Pandora as my alarm on the Dash...I guess I never noticed it.

The alarm goes off as it should, but when hitting snooze it does nothing but continue playing and it returns to the home screen.

ballewja wrote:What's the snooze problem? I use Pandora as my alarm on the Dash...I guess I never noticed it.

Is there a trick to getting Pandora to work? I can't seem to get it to work on my Dash.

novastarj wrote:Wooted this a couple months ago. As long as you're aware you're getting what's pretty much a stationary alarm clock (and NOT a tablet in any way) it's a pretty awesome product. Great for waking up to internet radio, setting complex alarms, seeing the weather every morning, etc.

A few notes:
- No web browser, unlikely one will ever come
- Sony seems to have abandoned most (if not all) support for the product. The forum is a ghost town
- Not customizable/hackable like the Chumby, you're stuck with the Sony firmware
- Rumor is version 2 will be released soon, possibly why these are so cheap

But anyway, if you want a great alarm clock with an outstanding quality screen and a couple useful apps, this is perfect.

*Everything* is hackable. ;o>

linrey wrote:NOT identical to Chumby - it doesn't run most of the apps and it's not hackable.

Bought one last time - Sony is barely supporting these.

But I like mine anyway.

Anything is hackable

Bought one because the description makes it sound cute and i buy too many gadgets: Surprise 1 - I found it nice, but kind of boring; Surprise 2, MOTl, who hates most tech stuff, loves it, but just reads the stream; Surprise 3, 8 year old granddaughter totally owns it when she is here - she has shown her 4 sisters, dad, and cousin how to load and play all the games. When she/they leave, I just erase the games. I just use the streaming news and, most of all, the weather - have set it to all the kids hometowns and our vacation spots. It is really a nice diversion. RECOMMEND!

sony site does not have a good way to preview apps before 'installing' them. so i go to chumby site to look at them, then to sony site to add them... blah.


does anyone have a list of good to have 'apps' in different categories + possible link to see what it looks like?

Let's not gloss over the most important thing: it keeps you informed as to the life or death status of Abe Vigoda. And it can display the clock in a similar visual style to the hologram of the Death Star approaching from the end of A New Hope. Worth the price already, eh?

I bought my chumby last time it was on woot, and the same day found the dash on newegg, after using the $10 off for new customers I got it shipped for 64.30... I love both the chumby and dash, but the dash is so much sweeter for the video streaming, it seriously is worth the money!

One very important caveat about the alarm clock functionality:

If you are planning to wake up to Pandora (like I was), there is a "backup alarm" which goes off after two minutes. No matter what.

This means if you set your Pandora Enya station as your primary relaxed wakeup call... you will get some nice relaxing Enya for two minutes, and then a loud, piercing, schoolbus-backing-up-into-your-bedroom screech.

This happens after two minutes, every time. It is a "feature". You cannot disable it. You cannot configure it, or change the sound file used.

What I WANTED to do was set my pandora alarm for a nice relaxing station starting at 6am, then have a more conventional alarm go off at 6:45. Sony, in their infinite wisdom, decided I would rather have my conventional alarm go off at 6:02, whether I like it or not.

This has been nearly a deal breaker for my month-old Dash.

Sure, it won't surf the web. But it makes a great alarm clock, player for some Internet radio stations (kind of hard to set up though) Pandora, brief news stories, weather and stuff like that which is handy to have at bedside. Easily connects to the WiFi network and works well if you don't have too great of expectations. I like mine, from the last Woot, a lot.

This product is horribly designed. For those that are tempted, trust me you will hate this thing. I got this from woot and it sits in a freakin drawer now. I gave it many chances.

A) It is not ergnomic. Hard to hold and pickup next to a bed.

B) The User Interface (UI) is horribly designed. It does not follow the conventions of most modern UI designs that have evolved. They just made up their own ides.

C) It has no battery backup. If you unplug it or move it, it takes light years to get back up again.

D) It constantly phones home, sending "who knows what" data about you, your usage, your songs and your pictures. Who knows. It is totally unecessary.

E) Requires too much thought to setup the alarms when you are tired. If you always get up at the same time, then maybe it is okay, but just too many buttons.

F) It is too sensitive when it should not be. You pick it up and are tryuing to hold it and you accidently, ans easily can inadvertantly press an option. Again, horrible design.

GOOD THINGS:
Pleasant alarm sounds. Bright display. Rubber texture. That's about it. It is just horribly designed. Amazing since Sony made the excellent Magic Link PIC 2000 device. How could they forget all that great engineering?

I wonder if this thing would act as a second screen for a laptop?
Anyone?

whebert1 wrote:I wonder if this thing would act as a second screen for a laptop?
Anyone?

I haven't personally used one or seen one, but from the descriptions of the type of device it is your best hope is that it "might", by long shot, be able to duplicate the first screen. I highly doubt it could possibly function as it's own screen unless you disassembled it...

If you want to watch Netflix it works...if you want an alarm clock that works and lets you wake to Pandora or has a working Sleep function go elsewhere.
Sony's has basically abandoned the product.
There are only a couple of themes for the thing, and they look like they were done by 3rd graders. Many of the apps either don't work or work poorly (facebook for instance).
There is supposed to be new firmware coming that will fix many problems, but after the announcement they then stated it "MAY" be released after more testing.
I'm not getting $75 worth of fun out of this one.

I bought the Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer on a previous WOOT. I love this device. It sets up in minutes.

cctruck17 wrote:Anything is hackable

Okay, no one cares about this thing enough to hack it.

[quote postid="4588831"]

B) The User Interface (UI) is horribly designed. It does not follow the conventions of most modern UI designs that have evolved. They just made up their own ides.

[/quote]

That's my beef. Everything else about what other have said is true... glorified alarm clock but the best you'll find for $69.

But GUI is simply atrocious... if there was anything that killed the Chumby/DASH product line is this GUI is a dumb as toast. It make iTunes seem intuitive. But I digress.

One of the developers of the Chumby and now the Dash fancies himself as a programmer, however his idea of GUI is byzantine! Fire his sorry a$$ and redo the GUI and then maybe they'd get some traction on these things and wouldn't have give them away on Woot. I own both Chumby and the Dash and purchased 2 Dash's last go around. And although they are a bit better then the Chumby for viewing they suffer the same GUI issues... plain dumb! I was hoping Sony would force a better GUI. Netflix works OK but once again trying to replicate what you on your PC or iPhone isn't well done. Again Mr. goofy GUI totally makes it painful to use.

Every time this baby comes on Woot, I'm destined to agonize over the purchase and eventually pass it up. Just can't ever seem to justify it when I have a tablet, phone, computer, and other such devices. They work perfectly fine as alarm clocks.

mrsly69 wrote:Here is the Sony Website. Get's some positive reviews. The price is excellent.


Sony Website and Reviews

On the Sony Website it gets good reviews? I'm surprised Sony isn't chosing the reviews that ends up on its website. You'ld think they would be smarter than that. ;)

I bought one of these on Amazon about six months ago for $89, and I'm glad I did, because I got to return it and get my money back. Some people seem to really love these things, but I was bothered by the general lack of customization, the clumsy UI and that I generally couldn't find a use for it. I understand that not everyone cares about the ability to customize their device to the same level I do, so for many this might be a good choice. But it definitely wasn't for me - a cheap Android tablet would have been much better.

I'm puzzled at the ergonomics of watching video on a device sitting on your nightstand. Seriously, you either sit up and park your neck to one side for an hour - ouch - or you lie on your side and it's the wrong orientation.

I keep a chumby on my dresser for random amusement. The utility of these things to run more than one app is severely compromised by their presenting them serially and then being poorly designed (really not at all) for hand-held usage.

I've got a friend that has Mrs. Dash in her kitchen and swears by it. Is this a more masculine version or what?
Vegas

Bought one of these previously. As soon as I got the unit and powered it on, it won't even connect to wifi. Found out it needed a firmware update. Got absolutely no help from Sony, saying I had to wait until there was an official release of the update "coming soon".

Found a downloadable firmware somewhere online and installed it, worked.

Last week - in the middle of a Netflix movie - the thing shut off and never came back on. It's now on its way to a Texas service center for repair/exchange.

djrmsn wrote:And the point of this post is WHAT? Are you lost? Do you think this is DealsWoot? We could view the list there and would not need this posted there either.

Are you serious? Have you never seen a spambot post before?

Don't quote it and reply, just tattle. The guy posting it likely doesn't speak English and will certainly not engage in discussion with you, and quoting it just leaves behind the link to his likely-fraudulent website.

I absolutely love my dash. My 7 year old goes to bed watching Netflix on it every night, or sits in my room in the evenings playing games on it. I like the way she can have her own Channel with all her favorite games and I can have mine with the latest in gossip and news. The switch over to either one is so simple.

mvsopen wrote:I know that this is identical to a Chumby, except branded by Sony. Can they be hacked as easily as a Chumby can?

Bueller? Frye? Anyone?

If it is IDENTICAL why the question?

theguruguys wrote:There are a few recipe apps like recipe fetch for a compromise..

Question: Can you send your own recipes to it? If so, my bride would like it. But if she could only peruse somebody else's recipes, she'd toss it.

qsopht wrote:And no battery.

And, since what it does is kept on the Internet anyway, you don't need a battery. If your power goes out, when it comes back on, it connects to the internet, reloads and keeps on going. You don't need to reset anything.

By the way, most battery backed up alarm clocks are the same - no alarms unless the power is restored - the battery only keeps time for you.

I have a Squeezebox that I use as my clock radio....it has a few quirks that make me nuts, so I am wondering if the Dash would be a better choice. I see it has no backup battery, and I gotta be up @ 3:45AM, so what happens to the Dash with the occasional power failure?? I CANNOT be late to work because the alarm didn't go off!

Also, what happens if I set it to a music source, and it has an internet problem when the alarm time comes?

I got this last time. Couldn't get it to work. found out that doesn't work with wireless G, Only N? Anyone comment on this? still sitting here trying to figure out if that's true. Any help would be appreciated.

Can this be used as an e-reader?

I'm considering a purchase. Couple of questions for folks who have it:

1) Reliability: Does the screen turn it self off or is it on all the time? If it doesn't turn itself off, does it move things around on the screen to avoid image burn in?

2) How bright is it to put next to bed? I tend to get red LED alarm clocks, because the red light is a lot less bright than green LEDs. I have a palm pre that I could put on a touchstone on my nightstand, but I don't because the screen doesn't turn off and it ends up being too bright... not to mention shortens the lifetime of the screen.

TIA

I got this on the previous Woot, too. Set up was easy and I've tackled Pandora and Netflix on it and am super happy with it. One of the best features, for me, is the nighttime setting for the clock. It tones down the brightness and thins out the lines which is just perfect. Yes, I've noticed the problem of the alarm 2 minutes after the Pandora alarm wakes me up, but it's never bothered me as I am usually up before my alarms anyway.

Usually when I'm not using it in nighttime mode, I just press the weather icon and boom! Weather and time all day long. It may have been a bit pricey for a simple alarm clock, but I'd been using an old CD-housed alarm clock for the last 7 years and decided it would be a good little gadget. I'm happy with it, and would recommend it.