Chumby

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The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web: news, photos, music, celebrity gossip, weather, box scores, blogs — using your wireless Internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what's online that matters to you.

Plug it in, connect to your wireless network, and use your computer to choose a playlist of "widgets" (the bite-sized applications that run on a chumby). And if, say, you want to see news, the surf report, and traffic in the morning, and animations, web cams and eBay auctions at night, you can group widgets in "channels." Watch constantly updated info, or use interactive widgets that take advantage of its touchscreen or motion sensor. You can share widgets and send ecards to other people's chumbys.

[edit] Features

Music

Tune into one of our many Internet radio options: SHOUTcast streams thousands of free online radios stations from around the world. Mediafly offers podcasts on a ton of topics: news, sports, comedy, fitness, science, travel, languages, entertainment, and much more. Radio Free Chumby has a dozen stations you can quickly tune into. Own a SlimServer device? You can stream your music collection over the chumby. Like even more Internet radio options? You can enter a URL for any stream in MP3, M3U, OGG or PLS formats.

Chumby next to a regular size coffee cup

You can also listen to any mp3 or m4a files on your iPod through the two stereo speakers while recharging it. (Not currently compatible with Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or 6th generation iPods.) The chumby will also play music from USB storage devices that are in mp3, ogg, wav, flac or m4a formats.

Alarm clock

Finally, a truly personalized way of waking up. With the customizable alarm clock features, you can wake up to a simple tone or to your favorite Internet radio station. But don't just stop at sound — give your eyes a wake-up treat by selecting any channel to start playing when the alarm goes off. Jump-start the day with your favorite news, humor, photos, horoscope, sports scores — whatever gets you going!

You can set a different alarm for every day of the week, with each alarm playing something unique. And why limit yourself to wake-up calls? Use the chumby as an alarm reminder any time during the day since you can set an unlimited number of alarms that repeat or play one time only.

And just in case that's more customization than you'll ever need, the chumby also has a single-screen alarm setup that makes setting an alarm quick.

Digital Photo Frame

Got an account on Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, Facebook, or MySpace? Perfect! Use the chumby as a digital photo frame to show off your favorite photos (or your friend's photos). You can view public or private photos, or search for specific photos using tags. It's also easy to share your photos with chumby friends — surprise them by sending pictures straight to their chumbys of your latest get-together! More photo hosting services and social networking sites support is planned. Browse the Photos category.

Chumby Network

Access to the Chumby Network is FREE. No subscriptions to pay, no plans to sign up for. It's paid for by Chumby Industries and by sponsor companies who will be sending you widgets such as music, games, movie previews, customized alarm clocks, and special offers for products and prizes (called "Chumbooty" — coming soon), and who knows what else the future holds? Chumby Industries is 100% dedicated to keeping your widget channels new, intriguing, fun and FREE.

Check out all our categories and the latest hot widgets on the Browse Widgets page. More widgets are added all the time and if you've got a programmer's touch you can even publish your own.

When you use a chumby, you choose what shows up on it. Many of the widgets use information straight from web sites on the Internet, so some of this content may be more mature in nature than others. Artists and developers may also create widgets with themes that are not appropriate for some teens. If you're concerned about what will appear on a chumby, be sure to educate yourself on the source of the content. CollegeHumor isn't the Weather Channel!

News & Entertainment

Stay informed — view popular tech, local, national, and international news sources. Keep on top of weather conditions with current temperatures and three-day forecasts. Need your fix of celebrity news? We've got plenty of ways to keep you in the gossip loop, with dish from sites like TMZ, VH1 News, and Perez Hilton. The Chumby RSS Reader lets you follow the RSS feeds of your choice. Browse the News and Entertainment categories

Humor

Get your dose of daily humor with Chuck Norris Facts, College Humor, The Onion and more. Browse the Humor category.

Sports

If you like to stay on top of the latest sports news, get ESPN news and the latest scores delivered to your chumby. You can even set up widgets to highlight your favorite team's score. Browse the Sports category.

Videos

View and share popular video clips, off-beat animations, anime, vintage cartoons and media mash-ups. Enjoy videos from sites like YouTube and VH1, or build your own using the Animoto widget.

Social networking
Stay connected — view the latest activity on your social network accounts like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Who's sent you a friends request? What messages are waiting for you? Who's given you a "poke" recently? Keep in touch without being a slave to your computer. Browse the Social Networks category.

Games

Play classic games like BlackJack, Reversi and Sudoku, as well as offbeat originals. Two-player games let you play with a friend who has a chumby. Games like chumbyland allow you to travel from chumby to chumby via a custom avatar. The chumby's motion sensor is inspiring fun games like Chumball. Take a break every once in a while! Browse the Games category.

Auctions & Classifieds

Tracking the progress on any eBay auction is as simple as entering the item number. Got an eBay account? Your chumby makes it easy to keep tabs on the items you've placed in your Watch List. If you're a Craigslist follower, you can check local classifieds and forums for 450 cities worldwide. Select your location, category, and search terms and see the results on your chumby. Or, enter a URL on the Advanced customization screen to include any location or search term. Email search results to yourself straight from your chumby! Browse the Shopping category.

Messaging

Waiting for an email message? Use the Email Notifier to see the latest messages in any POP or Gmail account. If you have a "chum" — any friend with a real or virtual chumby — surprise your chum by sending a widget you've customized to his or her chumby. It's a fun way to keep in touch.

Chumby in your life

You can use a chumby anywhere there's a power outlet and wi-fi coverage. Whether a chumby's on your nightstand, bathroom counter, coffee table, in the kitchen, or out on the patio, it keeps you connected to your "Internet life" all the time!

[edit] Specifications:

Wi-fi connectivity
3.5" LCD color touchscreen
two external USB 2.0 full-speed ports
350 MHz ARM processor
64 MB SDRAM
64 MB NAND flash ROM
stereo 2W speakers
headphone output
squeeze sensor
accelerometer (motion sensor)
leather casing
AC adapter included
Dimensions: 5 1/2" wide, 4 1/4" tall, 3 1/4" deep at the base, and 2 1/4" deep at the top.

Because it's always on, the chumby must be plugged in to an AC outlet. Unlike phones or other portable devices, the chumby does not spend any time in "sleep" mode, so a battery would not be able to power the 3.5" color touchscreen for very long. The chumby takes less than 30 seconds to power up so you can still move it from room to room with little downtime. Energy consumption is also minimal — a chumby uses a little less energy than it takes to power the clock on a microwave oven.

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