I have a new friend, and his name is Chumby. While only in alpha release, the cute little wireless Flash player is going to be big. The device sports two speakers, an LCD color touch screen, accelerometers, a bend sensor and WIFI.
The Flash widgets look and feel like the "gadgets" and "widgets" on Vista and Mac OS-X. The current widget menu consists of the standard diet of weather, news and stock prices along with some great new treats like flickr photos, PandaCam and Shamu Cam.
The best part is that the platform is open - everything from widget creation to the hardware to the soft beanbag case is encouraged to be hacked. My hacks will integrate the Chumby into my home automation system. Other hacks being discussed have touched on VOIP and video playback. My unit doesn't have the MP3 player yet but I hear that it will be available soon.
I haven't heard what the price point is going to be, so that is still up in the air. While the alpha unit is a little bit clunky, I still love my Chumby. Ooh, I think I just saw Shamu swim by...
