Chumby

The Chumby is a consumer electronics product formerly made by Chumby Industries, Inc. It is an embedded computer which provides Internet and LAN access via a Wi-Fi connection. Through this connection, the Chumby runs various software widgets. In 2010 Sony introduced a single product based on an offshoot version of Chumby, the Sony Dash.

Roughly resembling a small clock radio, the original Chumby features a small resistive touch-screen housed in a leather and plastic exterior with six color options. Power to the original Chumby and the Chumby 8 is supplied through an AC adapter. A later model, the Chumby One, also offered the option of a 9v backup battery. Related devices, the Infocast 3.5 and Infocast 8, devices manufactured by Best Buy based on the Chumby software, are also only AC powered. The device is designed to be customizable by users: after agreeing to the Chumby HDK License, users may download schematics and other hardware information.Wired magazine named Chumby one of its top gadgets for 2008. Its software is mostly open source, running on Linux.

In 2012, Chumby went into bankruptcy and was liquidated, with the assets being purchased by Duane Maxwell, the former Chief Technology Officer of Chumby Industries, who formed Blue Octy, LLC. The server needed to keep the devices running were kept online as a full service by Blue Octy. LLC until March 2013. At that point, the server went offline and all devices only displayed a single widget, referred to as the "Space Clock." Blue Octy, LLC relaunched the full Chumby service on July 1, 2014 as a paid subscription service, currently charging $3 USD per month. An open source firmware is available for free that allows existing devices some of the functionality of the paid service at no cost. Devices without a subscription still receive the Space Clock widget.

Andrew "bunnie" Huang was the lead hardware engineer at Chumby. The Chumby premiered on August 25, 2006 at Foo Camp and was released to around 100 alpha release testers at the event.

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