Bizhack.net

What is it about the names of things? Take “Chumby” for instance. To me it brings to mind some half-forgotten pudding from the north of England, possibly involving a combination suet, bananas, gravy and coleslaw. Or perhaps the brand name of a mountaineer’s sock. Fortunately for us, it is none of these things: It is a gadget that stands for a lot of what Bizhack considers to be its principles.

The Chumby is a device that has almost endless possibilities. Rather than try and decide what all those possibilities are however, the manufacturers have let us do that instead. Consider it to be a blank canvas - you can do with it what you like. So you get the tools with which you can work - a 3.5″ screen, speakers, wi-fi connectivity, two external USB ports, squeeze sensors, and an accelerometer. You also get the source code, so you can use all these to create your own applications for the Chumby.

Let us momentarily waft away on a flight of fancy… Another day breaks, and you need to be on time for the first meeting of the day. Chumby’s alarm clock faithfully beeps at 7am, and you lean over and squeeze it in order to activate the snooze. But yesterday you cunningly set your USB bucket-full-of-water-perched-precariously-on-the-edge-of-the-shelf-over-your-bed device, and at 7:01 this swings into action, saving you those precious three minutes you would have spent in the shower. Automatically the Chumby switches to your customised internet radio station, and as you pull on your y-fronts, you hum along to the cool sounds of electrogrindskiffle, casually glancing at the weather and traffic reports which are now automatically displayed on your friendly bedside companion. Noting a small riot downtown, you fire off a quick email to your butler so he can turn on the heated seats in your amoured personnel carrier. As you tootle off to work, even a faint note of teargas on the breeze tastes sweet and the urban decay around you can do nothing to dampen your ardour for life, all thanks to your everpresent Chumby.

So you get the idea - Chumby is a neat device which will perform a range of useful functions straight out of the box, but it is also has the potential for a myriad of functions for which you don’t necessarily need a full blown PC. If you’re not the adventurous hacker type, you can still download plenty of applications from the ever-growing list on Chumby’s website. Unfortunately the bad news is that it’s not out in the UK yet, so Blighty-based gadgeteers will have to wait for a little bit. Now if only someone will get on and invent a USB-activated kettle.