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Programmers, DIY Types Embrace the 'Soft, Hackable Chumby'

wired.com — The Chumby is small, cheap, slightly squishy, equipped with GPS and an accelerometer, and endearingly ugly. Put another way: It's a hacker's dream come true.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 16, 2008

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15 Comments

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  • spitfireaus, on 04/16/2008, -0/+10I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with GPS... not that it needs it. The Chumby rocks!
  • lcarsdeveloper, on 04/16/2008, -0/+6From the article, here are some other "hacks" people have made for this device:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/11410414@N06/11101740 ...
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/11410414@N06/13256862 ...
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/11410414@N06/13247907 ...
  • darundal, on 04/16/2008, -0/+6The Chumby DOES NOT have a built in GPS unit.
  • mrgreen4242, on 04/16/2008, -0/+3Ya, I was confused by that. I read the article (first I'd heard of the Chumby) and then went to the Chumby site for more details, and there's no mention of GPS anywhere on there. If it had a GPS receiver built in (along with all the other features) it'd be a pretty great bargain at $180, even if you had to find/make/buy mapping software separately. But, alas, no GPS and no mention of how to add one on? I assume you can plug in a USB receiver/antenna unit to it, like you would a laptop, but it would be nice if the offered that as an option.

    From the looks of it, they don't even offer a DC adaptor for your car...
  • reclusivemonkey, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2If only they'd sell them at a reasonable price...
  • nirav72, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1for a second..I thought the title read as "programmers, DIY types embrace the soft hackable chubby.."

  • kavaliro, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1Chumby's fatal mistake is not cutting the cord. It's just not portable enough. Sure there are hacks out there to cludge a battery into one, but that should have been the design from the beginning. That's the only thing keeping a Chumby off my Christmas list.
  • lcarsdeveloper, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1They're on eBay with an international adaptor for 100-240V. They seem to be between US $250 and $300.
  • Kelpesh, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1on my birthday wish list, told the wife its a cool alarm clock, will kill me when she finds me reading digg in bed!
  • joesmeat, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1Buy a Nokia N800 and install the chumby program.
  • noisymime, on 04/16/2008, -3/+4If only they'd sell them outside the US :(
  • jhofman, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1And they don't run off batteries, which limits their uses. And the screen will die in a few years because it's turned on 24/7 if you use it as intended.
  • Domdogg123, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1hm....video codec looks a little shakey. I don't like viruses
  • clappro33, on 04/16/2008, -0/+0I bought a Chumby for my mother for Christmas, and she loves it! The only problem is, I hear she's playing Sudoku with it while she's in bed (it's her alarm clock) and consequently never talks to my dad anymore... :
  • benroy, on 04/16/2008, -5/+1"Soft Hackable Chumpy"
    Sounds Pretty Gay To Me.

    Not That There's Anything Wrong With That...

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