Topic: what can Chumby do without a WiFi connection?
I am interested user of Chumby and have read your website extensively and some online searches. So far, I've been impressed with the powerful features enabled by Chumby, many of which is triggered by the Internet capability Chumby can associate with (e.g. youtube, facebook, flickr, weather channel, etc...)
However, I have a question. WiFi connectivity can sometimes be spotty at various places around the home, e.g. due to dead zones, interferences, etc...
And I've read that Chumby is not meant for enterprise WiFi connectivity which may undergo further authentication/security mechanism beyond wep/wpa/wpa2 verification.
My question is, given an environment where the Chumby device is in an area without WiFi connectivity (perhaps the user is carrying Chumby while on travel as an alarm clock, iPod boombox, etc..), what "feature" capabilities are still possible to operate on the Chumby device itself?
From what I've read, it seems the alarm clock widget also requires WiFi connectivity. Besides a music player, what else can the Chumby device do w/o WiFi. Or to re-phrase the question, if I were to plug in a 4 GB usb storage drive on the Chumby and without any WiFi in current location, what can I do with it? Can I run a widget and see photo slideshow locallly, watch videos locally, view documents, or other possible interactions via the usb? Also, the Chumby has 2 usb ports, 1 can be used to connect an external storage? What can the other usb ports be used for besides a usb-to-ethernet connector, e.g. connect chumby to laptop via usb for customization (is the WiFi built-in to the chipset or plug-in via usb?)?
I'd appreciate if anyone can provide some insights to the questions above. Thanks!