OStatic

As I just got done saying a couple days ago, we here at OStatic love our chumbys. The always-on wireless device is as cute as it is handy, keeping you connected to all your favorite Web sites like Flickr, Weather.com, and Twitter. The chumby is fully hackable, from its open source software to its leather-and-plastic housing. Now, the chumby has a little sister fresh on the shelves -- the chumby One.

The newest chumby still sports a touchscreen, accelerometer, and a stereo headphone output jack. Unlike its big brother, however, it also features an external volume knob, FM radio tuner, and a slot for a rechargeable lithium ion battery (not included).

The rest of the specs:

Though 2009 has only just begun, it looks like this year's going to be a busy one for Chumby Industries. The makers of the hackable, completely open, Linux-based, internet-enabled, so-much-more-than-an-alarm-clock -- well, alarm clock -- have announced a number of partnerships since January's Consumer Electronics Show.

The first two partnerships, with Samsung and Marvell, bring the widget-based Chumby platform to digital photo frames and similar embedded devices. The latest partnership, with Broadcom Corporation, aims to bring the Chumby platform to internet-enabled televisions, set top boxes, and Blu-Ray players.

Earlier this year I wrote about the Chumby internet appliance/open source alarm clock. Though Chumbys have been available in the US for a little over a year now, Chumby Industries hasn't been able to officially sell these products internationally.

Chumby Industries intended all along to open sales outside the US, but electronics standards (and approval procedures) vary from country to country, and it's been time consuming. Some international users turned to friends in the States or third party shippers, but now, at least in a few countries, this is no longer necessary. Chumby is available at select retailers in Japan, and a Japanese language Chumby portal was launched last month.

Sam has recently written a few excellent posts about open source software being used in unusual ways. He's also covered a few open source hardware projects.

Though it may not be as epically geek as the NetBSD toaster, there is a certain appeal to Chumby, the Linux alarm clock. The hardware and software are open and hackable, for the hands-on type.

For the rest of the population, it's still an interesting and functional little device.

Chumby Industries announced this week it has secured $12.5 million in Series B funding that will allow the company to accelerate growth of the company, and expand and broaden the Chumby Network to other screen-based Internet connected devices. (Chumbies are Wi-Fi connected gadgets that receive news and entertainment streams based on an open platform and a modified Linux kernel.) This is great news for Chumby fans who will hopefully soon see some new features and improvements to their gadgets.Along with the post above, it also shows that venture capitalists, who have been talking about supporting the open source community for a while now, are willing to put their money where their mouth is.