For those of you that haven’t heard of the Chumby (and I’m guessing that is the majority of people out there ~ other than the “nerd” set), it’s basically an “internet viewer” in a bean bag. Doesn’t sound interesting yet, does it? Wait, it gets better…

Basically, the Chumby is whatever you want it to be. It can be an alarm clock. It can be a digital picture frame. It can notify you when you get new email or even Twitter messages. Here’s all of the info about the device. It connects to the Internet through wifi and is able to display custom developed widgets that can be developed by anyone (that has some programing skills under their belt). It also is completely open-source and the company promotes the hacking of the device (hardware, software and even the leather case).

Anyways, I got an email from Chumby the other day that gave me a password to order one since I was a registered insider. There’s something in my blood about being an early adopter and tinkering around with the unknown so after thinking about it for a day or so, I couldn’t resist and ordered the Latte Chumby.

The above is actually displaying a series of widgets that I set up (and will display once the actual Chumby lands at our house) an example of what is on My Chumby. You don’t have to have one to play around with the widgets. Fun stuff! :)

If you know me, I’m sure you’re assuming that I will be at the Apple Store this evening in line to pick up an iPhone at release. It’s not unusual for me to be the typical/rabid Apple fanboy:

- I was there day one back in Fall of 2001 to pick up the very first generation iPod (having just gotten back from our honeymoon in Ireland).

- I’ve bought every OS X release at the “Launch Parties” that Apple has thrown at their stores.

- I’ve even been to two Apple Store grand openings (dragging Liz to the Chicago – Michigan Avenue event).

What you’re going to read in the next sentence may surprise you…

I think I’m passing this time around.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the iPhone is one of the sexiest/sweetest gadgets that I may have ever seen. What pains me is the “lock-in” that comes with cell phone service. If the device was coming out tonight that was everything (including WiFi) but minus the phone, I’d be taking off work and sitting in a lawn chair all day waiting for it (I seem to have done this before for other “gadget launches”). It just pains me that such a cool device and all of its features cannot be used without active phone service (and the day I stop service/upgrade to another phone, I can’t continue using it as even just an iPod/Internet device ~ am I wrong in that assumption?).

I guess the other part that turned me off is that the data plan is being reported to be dog-ass slow (that’s a technical term). I’ve been living with highspeed Internet connectivity on my phone for almost a year now and I can never go back. Hopefully this gets bumped up in the near future as it probably (subconsciencely) overshadowed the “lock-in” issue to me. Besides all of these excuses, I have another little gadget that’s on order that you’ll be hearing about soon enough (not to mention the majority of my money is tied up in a new house and baby on the way)!

Until further notice, I’ll be living vicariously through David Pogue’s iPhone Diary video on YouTube and following all of the buzz on the Internet (and coming to my senses and picking up the second revision next year or the day I need a new phone!) :)

If any of you that I know are picking up your iPhone at launch, let me know. I’ll take you out for lunch or something and use it as an excuse to check it out (and I promise we won’t go for buffalo wings or something messy that will get your new phone all greasy)… :)

Good luck, you iPhone consumers… I’m jealous already.

I’ve always been partial to the color but am digging the brown one. Yes, I’m the only one.

“This prototype mobile PC, about the size of a paperback book, has a 7-inch touch screen and standard x86 processors. It can run full versions of desktop operating systems beyond the XP variant from Origami.”

I’ve been waiting for something like this from Apple for years (no, I’m not talking about the Newton!). A pretty powerful computer in an incredibly small form-factor. Scoble says that he’s going to buy one with his own money. If the price is right, I may have to as well. I have to say that I’m pretty intrigued (and you know I’m a sucker for shiny gadgets). I guess we’ll find out Thursday.

If you’re just joining the conversation, I talked about the Origami Project the other day…

I was in a late night conversation this past summer with someone from Microsoft and they were hinting/talking about a device that they were possibly developing that was a “cross between a Tablet PC and Pocket PC”. I didn’t really think much about it then, but with all of the hype that has been going on about Microsoft’s Origami Project, I am pretty sure that this is what this un-named person was talking about.

Matt/JR/Mike? Do you remember this at all? :)

On a completely different side note, who was a bit underwhelmed with Apple’s “Fun New Products” released today? I would absolutely love an Airport Express with video capabilities, but have the feeling we’ll never see it.

Update @ 2:36pm: I do think that the new Mac Mini’s are pretty sweet and possibly could make that nice addition to my television/stereo setup, but I think I have to wait for aquiring a TV that has DVI built-in. That’s probably the day that I’ll integrate something like this into my setup.