The trouble is that we have a few widgets that use the accelerometer, including some games, with hopefully more to come.

> ...we have a few widgets that use the accelerometer, including some games, with hopefully more to come.

I have three ideas to get around this.

The one you won't like (but I think it's the best): take the accelerometer away from the widgets and use it as a system-level interface only. Changing channels is a fundamental function that is often desired. Posts all over the forum confirm that many see this as a function that desperately needs a simpler, less interaction-intensive interface. Widgets that use the accelerometer are few and far between. I loaded a couple to play with and while they have a gee-whiz factor about them, this wears off almost immediately. By far, most widgets don't use it and those that do are mostly tech demos. Shaking the Chumby sideways to change channels is a cool and sensible interface and makes good use of the hardware.

Second idea: let a widget hog the accelerometer if it wants. Shake-switching would only work for non-accelerometer-using widgets (ie, almost all of them). I bet many people - like myself - would remove accelerometer-based widgets from their channels and use shake-switching happily. Those who dig the gimmicky accelerometer-based widgets could still do so.

Third idea: when the accelerometer is maxed out with hella sideways motion, handle that event at the system level and change channels. More subtle movement is passed to the widget. This would let all widgets shake-switch while still enabling widgets to use the accelerometer if they want.

How about holding the squeeze button down and tilting to the right or left for next or previous widget? Just pushing the squeeze button and releasing it makes the Chumby just go to the control panel. (Like it is now)