Since I got my Chumby when they were first released I’ve been hearing about “Chumby as a service” from the Chumby Industries blog. I had an idea of what they meant by it, but the video they recently posted makes it clear, and it’s kinda cool.
One thing I really like is the device that allows you to see several of your widgets at one time and focus on the one you want to see more of. Although this functionality would be nearly impossible on the standard Chumby device, I often wish it was much easier and quicker to switch from one to another.
The thing I still don’t like, though, is the widgets themselves. I’ve never felt that it made much sense to have a device that is as wide-open as the Chumby, then lock widget development into the realm of Flash. Because of this– and the fact that I have no desire to aquire or learn Flash– I’ve been unable to make my own widgets. This means I’m stuck using ones that have been designed and developed by other people, which I generally find to be lacking for one reason or another. Except for the Kane Approves! widget, which brings me nothing by joy.
I don’t really get why there’s not an embedded Webkit browser system in place. With a system like this, web developers could quickly and easily create new widgets using the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript they already know in addition to the server-side language of their choice.
Generally, I chalk this up to “I have enough stuff to do without messing around with Chumby widgets,” but that only partially works. I’m still left with a Chumby-widget-developer-sized hole in my heart.