It pulls down your widget data and dashboard using a standard WiFi connection in your home or office. You program it by creating an account on Chumby. It's that simple. There are even widgets that display the surf report, your Netflix queue, Apple movie trailers, kids cartoons, the list goes on.
It would be hard to find something this unique device doesn't do. When I got mine I spent the first two days configuring and playing with dozens of widgets. They're so much fun that it's hard to keep yourself from trying every one, just to see what it does. If you want to use it as an alarm clock, you can wake up to a ShoutCast stream of ambient music, or the New York Times being read to you aloud courtesy of their Podcast.
The amount of things that you can do with Chumby is dizzying. I recommend that you go to their Web site and surf through the demos and widgets to see for yourself. While it's true that you can do many of these things on your computer — that's exactly the point — you can now do them away from your computer.
On your night table, for example. In fact, I like Chumby so much that I keep it on my desk next to my computer during the day because it's a welcome distraction from everything that's going on on my computer, and so I don't miss that important bit of breaking news because it's buried under a Window on my computer somewhere. Update: Chumby can be connected to a 9-volt battery but it's only there as an alarm fail safe and even that's in beta.
Chumby software currently does not support the running on a 9v battery so you'll have to run it solely on AC power. I recommend buying an extra AC adapter if you plan to move it between two locations i.
I suggested that Chumby 2. Volume is also difficult to adjust it's buried a couple of menus deep and there's only two brightness settings, where there should be a slider. Chumby users can send messages, pictures and widgets to other Chumby users, so if you're a user add "PowerPage" as one of your chums.
I've posted a bunch of Chumby pictures in this gallery. I don't say this often, but go get a Chumby, they're a whole bunch of fun and the best little innovation to come along since the iPod. Developers are in short supply.
Here are the skills and programming languages employers need. McDonald's quietly revealed its stunning future -- and some customers will like it. The painful shame of owning an Android phone. Time for a Linux smartphone? If you use Google Chrome, you need to install this now. To see the changes on the Chumby, go to the control panel and refresh the channel refer to steps above for refreshing the channel Once the channel reloads, you will see that the Intercom widget displays the updated image.
The Channel editor functions in the web interface are very capable and nearly complete. There are at least three different ways to edit the parameters of a widget. This post showed you how use two methods through the web interface and a third way by editing them directly on the Chumby device. What I mean by this is there are many things that can waste your time because they appear to be works in progress or abandoned ideas that were never completed.
I am going to document a few that I found so hopefully others will not waste their time. If you believe that the items I have identified as time sinks are not and are actually useful then please comment but please fully explain why it is useful and provide solid references or steps to make them useful. My biggest pet peeve is having people point others to vague references or incompletely documenting steps. However being a developer I know that writing documentation is one of the least favorite things that we must do and I would rather skip it as well but remember that you can have the greatest idea or the best product but if you cannot communicate to others why your idea is the greatest so that they can understand it then it is totally worthless and will help no one.
When I find something that I feel has value but is poorly documented, I attempt to produce documentation which will allow others to use it and modify it if necessary so they can receive some benefit from it. Zurk has done an excellent job with creating firmware that allows our Chumby devices to continue to be useful even though Chumby Industries Severs function no more.
I do appreciate Duane for maintaining a server to allow the Space Clock widget to run on our Chumbies. It has allowed me to wait until now to actually install the off-line firmware. I was hoping that the server s would be brought back to life but I must face reality and move on but I do not want to give up on my Chumby just yet. I really like these devices and intend to use them until they die or longer.
I am certain that there are other time-sink that I will come across so I plan to update this post when I find them. I will try to save you some time by providing detailed guides on how to get your Chumby up and running the way you want with out wasting too much of your time. Please post constructive and informative feedback to let other know about things that you have come across. BTW: Here is an example of a totally useless response I found relating to adding widgets.
The reason that I find it totally useless was the individual writing the response assumed that the poster did not see the button, which I doubt, and they assumed that the button actually performed a useful function. I assume that the individual who wrote the response had not actually used the button to add a widget.
If they did then they should have followed up with a detailed explanation on how to use it to add a new widget. I will be writing detailed instructions on how to use the button and add a new widget. This post may or may not apply to different versions. All comments should deal with version If your Chumby is in a sleeping area or you just want the Chumby to boot up quietly then you may follow these steps to silence the Chumby when it boots up.
The above steps show how to make the Chumby boot up quietly. If you have any problems, carefully review your work to make certain that everything is done correctly. In my write-ups, I try to capture every step and not leave anything out. If you find that I have missed a step or have anything incorrect, please add a comment. It is nicely done but a little rough around the edges. I also have had a difficult time adding new widgets and when I did figure it out something went wrong and caused the channel to stop looping.
This is an optional but recommended step. If you are not comfortable taking your Chumby apart, then skip this step. The next steps are to silence the Chumby on boot then modify the channels and widgets so the software is tailored to our location, needs, etc.
The final step will be adding additional widgets to the channels. There are three different projects which makeup the TxtMsg widget. First, there is the widget itself, then there is the configuration widget, and lastly there is the web application.
This post will deal with the setup and configuration of the web application piece. The web application was written using C and runs on IIS. The code is short and simple so it should be very easy to port it over to PHP or Java and host it on Apache.
The web application uses file storage to store messages and Chumby device information. The data should be kept in a database however I wanted to through something together quickly and make it easy for people to understand. Feel free to modify the application to use a different storage method. This entry will address the implemented file storage solution.
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