Anyone willing to rival the iTunes/iPod model has my respect and admiration… okay, and skepticism. While the changes in DRM regulations can only help push forward the entire industry, any competitors are fighting against quite the behemoth (a very shiny silver and white behemoth, at that).

So who’s jumping into the ring?

Say hey to the new phone from AT&T and Samsung— powering Napster.

Yup, Napster.

Users can search through a music catalog of 5 million+ songs, preview song samples, and download their picks right to their phone. For every song downloaded, the user will also receive an email allowing him to pop a copy onto his computer for no extra charge.

Only prob? Well, other than the fact that it’s not iTunes… each song is $1.99. That’s twice the price of what iPodders are ponying up…

[tags]The Web Outside, Napster, Samsung, AT&T, DRM[/tags]

[Oh, PearlBarracuda, don't look so concerned... I like you! We're friends!]

I’ve only had about 20 minutes of play time with my Chumby so far (say hello to “PearlBarracuda”), but here are my initial observations:

The good…

1. It’s a cool novelty that could eventually be very useful, but that all depends on the types of widgets that are developed for it. Right now it’s just a neat toy.

2. It’s soft and leathery. And it comes with cute rubber charms so you can give your Chumby a little bling.

3. It’s a fairly quick and easy activation process… maybe 10 minutes start to finish.

4. It came in a sweet burlap sack with the Chumby logo on it… super packaging job! A pleasant surprise upon opening the box.

5. Most importantly… it’s completely open and hackable (I mean… that’s pretty much the entire point). How awesome/functional/popular this thing gets really depends on the community and how they respond to it… which will be very interesting to track. I’m also anxious to see if this ever hits the mass market.

The Bad:

1. The touch screen is awful, just awful. Maybe I’m spoiled by my iPhone (oh, you poor girl!), but the thing has absolutely no sensitivity. I tried my finger, my fingernail, a stylus, a chopstick, the end of a pen, a donkey… all to no avail. It took me 7 tries minimum to get the screen to respond… and it didn’t always respond in the way I was expecting.

2. Lack of battery ability

3. Current limited selection of widgets (although that’s simply a time-zero prob).

4. It’s a bit unstable and unpredictable… sometimes updating the channel online doesn’t immediately work on the Chumby itself (even after refreshing the channel).

5. The connection is super slow, although it’s hard to determine whether that has more to do with my wifi network or the Chumby itself. For the sake of fairness, let’s blame my network for now.

Overall, I’m amused, but left wanting more. I’ll be very anxious to see how the developer community responds, as the coolness quotient is majorly in their hands. We have two here in the office, so we’ll be doing our part!

*Update* [11/2/07]
Last night, I received an email from Sam, Chumby Support Manager, who had read my post and responded with some helpful tips for recalibrating the touchscreen so that it’s more responsive. Thanks Sam! After using the tip of a mechanical pencil (upon Sam’s suggestion) to recalibrate, it’s working MUCH better. Still doesn’t work with my finger, but the pencil is just fine as a tool. Maybe the Chumby should ship with a Stylus if this is a common problem? In any case, great customer service… I didn’t even need to reach out to Chumby- they reached out to me… very impressive.

*Update* [11/2/07]
Now that I’ve had a chance to add more widgets, I have to say, I’m totally digging my PearlBarracuda. It’s a pretty nifty always-on device… and set next to my laptop and iPhone, I can rest assured that I’ll ever *not* be suffering from Digital Info Overload. I set up Craigslist to show me open apartments in Cambridge, along with a slew of RSS feeds (Goog News, Slate, Slashdot, and so on). My iGoogle page will never play second fiddle to a Chumby Channel, but it’s got a little healthy competition. The question still stands: Do I only love this because I’m a nerd?

[tags]The Web Outside, Chumby, widgets, open source, third party developer community[/tags]

I was excited to receive an email last night letting me know that a limited number of Chumbys were available for purchase, and I should pony up and get one.

You say: Chumby whaaa?

I say: A Chumby can best be described as a device that looks like an alarm clock and behaves like a laptop. Chumby displays your custom widget loop on its 3.5″ color LCD screen, all the while decked out in some slick leather casing.

Awesome, right? Well, almost.

I was all set to blog about the Chumby as a neat new tool to carry forth the message of the web outside, until I learned…

IT NEEDS TO BE CONTINUALLY PLUGGED IN.

*sigh* We still purchased one to play with in the office, but man… so close to so cool. I understand the rationale (a battery can’t power an LCD–even a teeny one–for very long), it’s just really hard for me to get excited about something with a cord.

Being tethered is so 1985.

[tags]The Web Outside, Chumby, wireless devices with cords[/tags]

The Bzz Outside

AdAge reports this morning that holding company Interpublic Group has entered into a strategic partnership with Boston-based word of mouth marketing firm, BzzAgent. To be clear, the deal isn’t an investment, nor is it exclusive; but, what it certa