Internode launches chumby in Australia

Cult Internet access device the chumby is finally available in Australia with ISP Internode announcing it will sell the cute little critter for under $300.

Chances are you’ve seen pictures of it before or frustratingly waded through chumby’s FAQs only to find they wouldn’t ship it to Australia. Thankfully the wait is now over.

Superficially, chumby is a 3.5-inch colour touch screen that sits in a soft padded case.

It needs only a power outliet, Wi-Fi connection and a small amount of configuration and registration. Once this is all taken care of, the chumby sits on your desk constantly streaming the content you want to see from its 1,000 individually selectable widgets.

The configuration is done through the international chumby website.

Widgets streaming news items, surf reports, traffic details, jokes, music and job ads are among those on offer, but Internode is also getting in on the act for its own customers as well.

“We’ve developed our own widget that allows you to read news and network advisories, and we plan to offer various new customer service tools in this way as well,” said Richard Burke, content and communications coordinator for Internode’s Content Services Group.

Other locally designed applications for chumby would be offered ‘in the near future’, he said.

“Chumby can play streaming audio from around the Internet, and we are working with Chumby Industries to provide convenient access to the Internode unmetered streaming radio station service in the near future,“ added Burke.

If you’re itching to get your hands on one, visit http://www.chumby.on.net for more.