Here’s my virtual Chumby, which anybody reading can get one of these by simply registering at the Chumby.com website:

Now here’s the real deal which I received an invite to buy a few weeks ago because I registered at the Chumby website saying I wanted to be notified when they were available for purchase:

This morning on Twitter I read this from Dave Winer:

I’d love to get a http://store.chumby.com/ but I’m not one of the “cool” people who are allowed to.

This has nothing to do with how cool you are, Dave. This isn’t one of those private betas where only the cool people get invited. Friends of people who know other people, it’s nothing like that. I don’t know anybody behind the Chumby team, am not part of the cool circle that got to play around with the Chumby at Foo camp in 2006. Now, there is your cool club, Dave.

I don’t like those cool clique private beta deals either. The instructions on the Chumby website were pretty clear: fill out your email address and we’ll notify you ahead of the general public to be able to buy from the Chumby store. That’s what I did, and that’s why they sent the password so I could buy one. As it turns out, my wife actually bought me one because she knew I was trying to decide over a Chumby and a Zune 2 which comes out later this month. She went on my computer, found the Chumby store password and made the purchase of the pearl Chumby shown above.

As of this time, anyway, there are only three choices of Chumby to choose from: basic black, latte and pearl. She bought me the pearl one.

How long to receive the Chumby?
The Chumby is made and sent from a company in China. It took a couple business days to reach Alaska, where customs inspected and then forwarded to the post office in Seattle which forwarded to Pacific which forwarded to Puyallup. A UPS tracking number was provided via email to be able to watch the Chumby on the way to our office.

Describing the Chumby
The Chumby has a beanbag like padding around it with a squeezable button on the top. Squeezing or pushing that button will load a control panel once powered on and updated. The 3.5″ screen a touchscreen. It also has a microphone built-in along the left bottom corner and if you shake it, there is a sensor built-in to detect that as well. Many different programming possibilities available. The Chumby even runs a small Linux-based web server!

On the back of the Chumby:

1 - USB port #1
2 - AC Adapter plugin. It is one of those side AC adapters which makes it easier to plugin to a power strip / UPS.
3 - USB port #2. You can use these ports to load programs from flash USB devices.
4 - Standard headphone jack. The speakers in the Chumby on the back to each side are surprisingly clear. When you first power up the Chumby a demo video walks you through the setup which I’ll cover by separate post in much greater detail.
5 - Power button. After plugging in the Chumby, press this button and you’re on your way.

After the setup, Chumby activation and software upgrade through Wi-Fi period, which took less than 15 minutes in my case — but I saw one other friend on Twitter say it took over 4 hours — you can start adding widgets. Adding widgets from the Chumby website is as easy as choosing the Flash-based widget you want and what channel it will display on the Chumby, setting the amount of time it will display (default time varies by widget and is controllable by you). The default widget is a blue clock with the Chumby in the background and big hands of the clock. You don’t have to set the clock unless there is no Wi-Fi signal, the Chumby sets the clock itself.

The first widget I added was the Astrological widget, I’m a Libra, BTW, and set the default time to 15 seconds. So then I had the time showing for 15 seconds and then the Astrological widget showing the forecast for Libra. Next, I added the countdown widget to the Van Halen concert, which I am about to reduce to five seconds. Then came the Chumby RSS widget using the Google News tech query. I see an error in the format that Chumby doesn’t like so I’ll be tweaking that going forward.

I played around with the Twitter widget last night but took it down because it didn’t update fast enough. Look GrahamEnglish, you’re a star on my Chumby:

Widgets you add from the Chumby will be updated within five minutes on the Chumby automatically. You can also go into the channel settings and force an update by touching the refresh button.

The Chumby folks could help out folks like Dave who would like to purchase one by changing the text to a definitive date when the Chumby will be available instead of: “The store will be open to the public very soon.” When is very soon? I understand Dave’s frustration, because it’s no fun wanting to play around with some new gadget or see the inside of a new website and be denied.

Ironically, I could say the same thing to Dave and others about the video service Seesmic.com by Loic Lemeur, that does seem to be only available to a cool club. I don’t have an invite for that and nobody has sent me one. I thought I filled something out at Seesmic to request one of these invites but maybe I screwed up and didn’t. As it happens, I see numerous people talking about Seesmic and linking up their Seesmic videos but can’t get involved. I just filled out the form to be part of the Seesmic Alpha (again, I think). We’ll see if I have any more luck this time around.

How to buy a Chumby now?
It appears like those who have passwords to the store can buy at least one additional Chumby. I just ran a test and the shopping cart let me choose one and took me to the credit card payment page. So Dave, perhaps all you have to do is contact somebody who already has bought a Chumby that you know (like me) and see if you can order through them? That’s the path I’d take at this point if you really want a Chumby ASAP. Billing address must be exactly the same as the credit card. Cost? $179.95 USD and shipping was included in our order, not sure if it will be that way on any future orders. I’m going to send a direct message on Twitter to Dave with a link to this post, so hopefully he knows somebody out there is willing to help him buy a Chumby.

I think doing this is kosher because Chumby mentions “gift wrap” inside the sales area. If this is not “cool” then somebody please let me know and I’ll update this post accordingly.

Just so it’s clear, I am not volunteering to be the unofficial Chumby order desk, but instead willing to try and help the following people, of which are many in number:

1. readers who have left at least one comment on this blog before today (that’s thousands of different people)
2. friends who follow me on Twitter before today (84 friendly folks)
3. anybody I’ve met in person like Dave at conferences, blog meetups, etc., (lots)

These people if interested in buying a Chumby will need to pay with their own credit card.

I guess, somewhat hypocritically, this my cool club, except the difference is anybody reading this could have gotten into this club with a very small bit of effort prior to today. Like filling out one’s email address on Chumby’s website a few months ago. If you don’t fit into this category, then check with somebody else who has bought a Chumby or has a Chumby store invite and perhaps they can help you. And do one or more of the three listed above.

And now, somebody, anybody, send me one of those Seesmic invites please. I’d like to see what’s behind that curtain.

Update 11:38am PST: Steve from the Chumby team responded in the comments below saying that next week anybody could get a Chumby through the website as part of some beta program. Good. Also, Dave responded to me as well saying he submitted his email and was waiting.

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