Want to see what future CE devices will be like? Buy a $220 Chumby and see. Chumby’s consumer product is best described as an Internet-connected alarm clock/radio with all the functions an Internet-connected device might have, such as waking users with Internet radio stations or allowing them to select from hundreds of clock faces.
Chumby the company wants to become Chumby the platform for future CE equipment a la Yahoo’s TV widgets. Chipmaker Broadcom is embedding the Chumby technology in its system-on-a-chip (SoC) used in digital TVs (DTV), set-top boxes and Blu-ray disc players. Makers of CE gear can use the chips to add Chumby functionality to their products.
Users will be able to access Chumby’s library of entertaining and interactive Internet content such as Internet radio streams and podcasts.
Chumby content currently consists of over 1,000 widgets in 30 different categories ranging from news and entertainment to videos, music and sports provided by leading media partners such as CBS, MTV Networks, The New York Times, Pandora, The Weather Channel Interactive, AOL’s SHOUTcast and Scripps Networks. Additionally there are thousands of Internet radio stations and podcasts.
Chumby users can also share their own user-generated content, including photos and e-cards, with family and friends via Chumby’s social network
Chumby’s network architecture is free and open, which allows creators to publish content they’ve developed. The operating system is Linux. Chumby calls its network scheme “cloud-based.” The company said its standardized tools allow developers and manufacturers to create consistent, high-quality content.
CE gear such as TV sets, DVRs and Blu-ray players that have Broadcom’s Chumby chips will allow users to share content, photos, video clips, games or messages with friends and family who own any Chumby-powered device.
Dan Marotta, senior VP and general manager for Broadcom’s broadband communications group, said the company’s chips would allow equipment makers to deliver a personalized Internet experience via Internet-connected TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray disc players without increasing bill-of-materials cost or complexity.
The products, he said, mark “the convergence of traditional PC-based Internet content with the comfort and convenience of living room viewing, positioning the connected TV as the information and entertainment hub of the digital home.”