"We made it all up. Chumby Industries was formed by hackers who wanted to create something interesting, useful and different. The starting point was the humble clock radio."

These are not really intended to be mobile devices, but they look like a whole lot of fun.  The Chumby (due to launch next March) is a very low-cost, WiFi-enabled, highly hackable device that’s meant to sit on your bedside table, or in your kitchen or bathroom or similar. Oh, and it’s soft and squishy – as you can control it via tapping or grabbing it.

Chumby is completely open source, and the developers have already released SDK and HDKs for it – and are actively encouraging mods and hacks of the devices.

TechCrunch got hold of one of the first hundred or so prototypes of these, and has some good things to say about it. There are already several widgets available for Chumbys (or is it Chumbies?) and the Chumby web site already has a wiki, forum and is good fun to look around.

According to the TechCrunch post: The device has a 266MHz ARM controller, 32MB SDRAM, a 320×240 3.5 inch touch LCD screen, two speakers, audio output, microphone input functionality and a USB port. Chumby also has a squeeze sensor. All of this is housed within a soft, sqeezable shell about the size of a coconut.

For lots more details, take a look at the Chumby site and TechCrunch post:

TechCrunch Chumby article

Chumby web site

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