Is the Chumby Built for Fashionistas?

Friends...lovers...I know what you're thinking. "What the hell is a chumby?" You see, I know what you're thinking because that was exactly my thought when a gracious PR rep for the gadget approached me about doing a review for the site. While I was intrigued enough to say yes and even to hook the chumby up at home, I was not intrigued enough to keep using it beyond a 30 minute introductory session. While I'm tech savvy enough - hi, I do have a blog and an iPhone with all of those fancy new applications and all, I'm NOT tech savvy enough to have a chumby as part of my everyday life - that I knew immediately. But I knew just the person who'd appreciate it...my gadget-loving friend Alan, who blogs over at Big Ideas from Tiny D. Here's what he had to say on the matter:

What it is:
chumby is a constantly-connected WiFi-enabled squishy, softball-sized device that continuously displays customizable widgets on a beautiful LCD touch screen.

How it works:
chumby is sold by a company called Chumby Industries that also is responsible for the Chumby Network. The Chumby Network is an open platform that offers developers the chance to create, and consumers to download, three separate kinds of widgets:

Widgets that are made by Chumby Industries. These can range from simple clock widgets to a widget that asks, I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

Commercially-made and/or sponsored widgets have been created by The New York Times, MySpace, The Weather Channel and so on.

The most interesting widgets are usually user-created. So far, users have created widgets ranging from one that allows chumby owners to band together and create a community canvas to one that pulls news from the German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Right now, the Chumby Network has approximately 725 widgets, with a handful being added each week, including the recently released widget that showcases the best of the last 15 years of the ESPYs and a webcam of Copenhagen.

On chumby, each widget is displayed about every thirty seconds or so and always has up-to-date information.

So how do you set it all up?
First, plug it in to any standard plug and turn it on with the switch in the back.

If this is your first time, the chumby tour will start. It’s a cute, Flash-like animated opening supposedly starring various chumby employees as they walk you through how your chumby works. I’ll admit I skipped it quite early. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I’m the kind of techno-enthusiast that wants to learn by playing. (And sometimes breaking.)

Then, configure your chumby to find your WiFi network. Next, activate your chumby by using your home computer. (Even though the chumby eliminates the need for your computer for many things, you still need one to activate). After that, you’ll need to set up an account at chumby.com. That’ll take a minute or so and then it’s time for the fun part: picking out your first selection of widgets.

Here were the first ones I tried. Nothing too crazy. Instead, I wanted to go for the practical ones at first:

Gmail Viewer. Who wouldn’t want to see their email without getting off their bed? Me for one. Alas, this widget only lets you view. No deleting or replying. Replying… I could live without that. I can use my Blackberry for that. Deleting… that would be great, if I could clean out the junk mail and newsletters in the morning before I even throw the covers off.

Weather by the Weather Channel. I used to check the weather on my TiVo Series 3 all the time, but I got sick of the load time—and sometimes it wouldn’t even load. So then I started using my iPod Touch. But this is a much more elegant solution since I don’t leave my iPod connected to my WiFi connection all the time (that would drain the battery). This widget’s a keeper.

Facebook Status. In theory, a great idea. But it’s too much info to cram on the chumby screen. This works MUCH better as the new iPhone/iPod Touch App that was released last week.

YouTube Videos. Again, this is much better implemented on a different device, like the AppleTV and iPod Touch. chumby just isn’t designed for this kind of widget.

Since this is eye4style, however, I should examine some of the beauty and fashion widgets available for chumby:

The Superficial. Get bite-sized news from the popular gossip blog, along with a picture.

Fashionista. Again, a collection of the best entries from this blog. I think this is one of the best one because their widget displays pictures the best—sometimes the whole screen of the chumby is taken up by a picture.

New York Times Fashion. New York Times’ widgets are very intuitive. Instead of presenting a series of stories or blog entries on the chumby one at a time like the blogs above, this widget shows a list of the top stories. You then select, with your finger, the one you would want to read in-depth.

i heart adidas. This is the kind of widget fashion/beauty companies should be making. Made by a fan of the 35th anniversary of Adidas’ Superstar line of sneakers, this widget is nothing but a gallery of the sneakers.

Who it’s meant for:
Plain and simple: not for techies. (Editor's Note: Hm, there goes my theory...)

Even though the development platform of the Chumby Network is absolutely amazing, and programmers are constantly developing new widgets, I don’t think this device is meant for tech-enthusiasts such as me.

As for readers of eye4style, while there are widgets catering to beauty and fashion interests, there’s not a heckuva lot of reason not just to view those sites on your laptop.

Software/widgets aside, it’s obvious the designers put a lot of effort into making the chumby NOT look like a tech-device. From the shape, to the colors, to the fact it comes with customizable charms to attach to it, it’s clear the chumby is meant to reflect its owners’ personality and fashion sense. But, it feels like it would be more at home in a college dorm room than on my nightstand or my parents.

If you think a chumby would suit YOUR lifestyle, buy it directly via this link for $179.95, including shipping.

- Alan Danzis, Guest Blogger