1 (edited by Cecilia 2008-06-27 09:15:21)

Topic: My clock conundrum.

It seems that every time I go to look at the Chumby to see the time, there's no time there (ie. it's on something else, maybe a webcam of Cuba or the Art of War).  This despite having a Default of Clock-Widget-Clock-Widget..... ad nauseum, even having the clocks set for longer than the default times.

I would like to suggest that the Defaut channel have an overlay of a clock in one corner.  Or perhaps a specific "Time Channel" that will always contain the time, and widget programmers can have the option of programming around it.  Or just a general option to have the time float somewhere on the screen that the user can decide to use or not, per channel.  That way, the moment I wake up, the clock will be there, every moment in between brushing my teeth the clock will be there, yet I can read my horrorscope and the latest Woot offering at the same time as knowing what the exact minute is, and how late I am for the bus because I'm playing AlbinoBlacksheep films (llama llama duck). 

Even when an advertisement or a Chumby 101 or advertisement shows up, the time will display as an overlay in the corner or at the bottom, or smack dab in the middle, in outline, right over the entire widget.

After all, a main feature of Chumby is alarm clock, no?  So time should be an important issue?

Whatta ya all think?

Cecilia  smile

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EDIT: For the convenience of future viewers, the following suggestion/idea is the result of the brainstorming of members here to solve the above problem, and a few other problems, mentioned in this thread.  I'm copying it here so that there is no need to go through the whole brainstorming process with us, but feel free to if you like pain and agony sad



Okay, picture this (hang in with me, it's just an idea):

On the Chumby website in the Manage Channel section, Create Channel screen has an option that says "Clock View" with a Yes/No checkbox, defaulted to No/False. Rename Channel screen is renamed to Edit Channel where users can change the channel name as well as whether the channel is in Clock View.

If the channel has Clock View set to No (the default), Chumby stays as it is, widgets and channels work as they currently do, the user will not be bothered with any changes or differences, people who hate clocks are happy.

A channel that has Clock View set to Yes has a reserved space of approx 1/4" at the top of the screen reserved for clock information (see details below).  Widgets are shrunken proportionately (approx 1/4").  The reserved space (referred to as "Time Bar") are a solid color with text in a strong color contrasting to the bar's background. (This involves no overlay.  I have some ideas that could make this more aesthetically pleasing but they're not posted in this thread.)  Yes, the information will be small, but at least it will be there, and the user has the option to squint or pick up Chumby and pull it closer (in a loving embrace wink.  An example is the header on NY Times widgets that reserve 1/4" to show that Chumby is displaying the NY Times.

Widgets appearing in channels with Clock View are viewable only, widget actions are inactive until the widget is activated into Widget View.  A tap of the widget portion of the screen moves Chumby temporarily into Widget View for the duration of this widget only.  In Widget View the Time Bar disappears, the widget expands to full size, and the full functioning of the widget is available.  Upon moving in sequence to the next Widget, the Time Bar reappears and Chumby returns to Clock View.  Changing widgets or channels through the control panel always results in display of a widget in the same mode as its channel setting.

A tap of the Time Bar area brings up a menu of three choices:

1 Widget View: automagically puts Chumby back into Widget View (expands the widget as described above) for the duration of the current channel.  When a new channel is chosen from the control panel or an event triggers a new channel, the channel plays in whichever view mode was set in the checkbox for the selected channel

2 Select Widget: displays a text list of widgets from the current channel, or text with a small graphic representation of the widget, similar to the NY Times widgets that list news articles with a small graphic and a right-hand scroll bar.  Selecting a widget puts Chumby temporarily into Widget View for the duration of the current widget as above.  When the Chumby changes to the next widget, Chumby returns to Clock View

3 Select Channel: displays a text only list of channels.  Selecting a channel puts Chumby in whatever mode/view the channel is set to in the checkbox.

The contents of the top Time Bar: Day of the week initial (M T W H F Sa Su) followed by the Time (ie. t-W 8:45am), and the next alarm to go off (a-H 5:45am), which, while the alarm is being snoozed, changes to the time the snooze will activate the alarm again (a-H 5:50am).  If space allows, the full date might be displayed in the Time Bar.

>>A tap of the next alarm to go off text in the Time Bar will cancel that alarm and show the next alarm time with a single line through it.  Once that time has passed (and since it was canceled, that alarm did not sound), the next alarm will display without the line through it.  Alarms resume as normal, including the one that was canceled for one time only.  (cancel next alarm only feature, in case user wakes up before alarm or next day is unusual holiday)<<

The left side bar displays the name of the current widget, the right side bar displays stars and allows users to rate a widget.  Arrows below this information allow tapping to cycle through the widgets that are in the current channel while remaining in Clock View.  (even cooler, tipping Chumby to the right causes a new widget to fall from left to right, the reverse moves back one channel)

The end result for the user is that he can easily choose to customize Chumby as an alarm clock, or not, with each option independent of the other.  Clock and alarm information is immediately viewable.  Widgets are instantly accessible on the screen, through the control panel, and through a menu system that allows easy access to both widgets and channels.  Widget developers will enjoy a system that allows users to get to their widgets easier, either through the menu system or a quick tap, as well as a way to promote themselves as developers and have their widgets rated.  And no changes to the control panel needed. 

Hopefully this little brainstorm we've put together will be useful for the developers, maybe give them some new ideas for improving on menuing and clock functionality.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4535/timemockupjg0.th.gif

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565

Re: My clock conundrum.

I think this is a great idea, I just got my Chumby and was looking for this feature.

Re: My clock conundrum.

We have an experimental Control Panel that has the option to display the time all the time - however, it always ends up conflicting with *something*.

There's also a struggle between making it large enough to see from a distance but small enough that you can get some value from the widgets.  We've experimented with translucency, but a similar problem happens - either it's too transparent and gets lost on visually complex widgets, or it's too opaque and, again, destroys the value of the widgets.

The feature is still on the roadmap - just not sure yet how it will be implemented.

Re: My clock conundrum.

Cecilia says:
After all, the main purpose of Chumby is alarm clock, no?  So time should be an important issue?

NOOOOOOOO! The main purpose of a Chumby is when you are lying in bed, Chumby on your stomach, catching up on the news, watching a few videos, listening to The Beatles, playing a few games before going to sleep. Sorry, C, I couldn't resist. I guess everyone has a different "main purpose" for a Chumby! :-) I've never even tried it as an alarm clock, but I can tell by reading that that is many peoples' main use.

Re: My clock conundrum.

Well the issue for me is that the Chumby is on my nightstand right now.  If I wake up in the middle of the night, the first thing I usually want to do is glance at the clock and see what time it is.  I actually don't have "night mode" running alot of times when I fall asleep, so the clock isn't there in this situation.

I would suggest having the option in the control panel to have a clock overlay in one of the corners of the screen while the widgets are playing.  If the user touches the screen to interact with a widget maybe the clock could disappear and then return when the channel resumes cycling. 

Even better would be to allow having this persistent clock as an action in the alarms as well.  In my use, I would have an alarm that changes the channel to the widgets I like to see when going to sleep, and I could have another alarm with an action to put up the overlay clock.

Re: My clock conundrum.

heyartlady wrote:

Cecilia says:
After all, the main purpose of Chumby is alarm clock, no?  So time should be an important issue?

NOOOOOOOO! The main purpose of a Chumby is when you are lying in bed, Chumby on your stomach, catching up on the news, watching a few videos, listening to The Beatles, playing a few games before going to sleep. Sorry, C, I couldn't resist. I guess everyone has a different "main purpose" for a Chumby! :-) I've never even tried it as an alarm clock, but I can tell by reading that that is many peoples' main use.

Hehehe...so THAT's what beds are for!  Playing with Chumby!  I'm going to suggest this to hubby, he's always so anti-technology.

Just out of curiosity, is there a vibrator mode that I am unaware of?  Or is this a widget you're not ready to share?

big_smile

Sorry, I had to ask lolololol

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565

Re: My clock conundrum.

As for seeing clock during the night, here's what I do (and this might not at all be what you are looking for, because I don't use the alarms and don't know if this interferes with those who do) I finish all my reading and browsing, go to the control panel open my clock folder, set the push pin, select either Big Ben (but it chimes hourly) OR the new one called Large Digital Clock. These are two which I can tell time by without putting on my glasses and are not too bright! The Big Ben is not too bright and I can see the analog hands easily and the Large Digital Clock allows you to customize back ground and number colors, so I set mine to black background and grey numbers so it is not at all too bright. You might find other clocks you prefer that you can visually see. Anyway, the widget stays open all night with the pushpin and I can easily tell time any time I look at it.

Re: My clock conundrum.

Here's a thought.  Or a few, actually.

Give us a transparent overlay like the Night Mode clock.  Set it so that it either darkens or lightens the pixels under it so that what we get is nothing but contrast.  I paid for a chumby.  I didn't pay for widgets.  Widgets that interfere with my clock won't go into the channels that need a clock.

But wait.  Widgets are Chumby's revenue stream.  So fine.  Your paid widgets from Chumby Partners?  They can either deal with the fact that there's a possibility for a clock overlaying their content... or they can pay you extra to disable the clock for that widget.

But wait.  It's my chumby, it's my clock.  How dare they disable my clock.  So I click on the control panel and I rate that widget a zero.  That widget author now knows I hate his widget.  If he wants me to think favorably about his content, that's something he'll want to know.  I'm guessing you guys are providing them with a somewhat-better-than-rudimentary datamining ability on our habits, no?  Well, there's a data point.  Interfere with my clock, and I'm pissed off.  Make a widget so good I don't mind you cooking off my clock?  There's a datapoint, too.  Am I going to be pissed off at Chumby for throwing a widget at me that kills my clock?  Maybe.  But Chumby is making extra money for my annoyance, so suck it up.

***

It's an opensource box.  If I want a clock all the time, I'm going to pick widgets that don't suck with the clock.  If I don't want a clock all the time, it doesn't matter.  I have the ability to rate, vote on, and comment on all widgets.  If I, as a hypothetical widget designer, get nine comments that say "this rawks" and ninety that say "this sucks with a clock, fix it!" I would say that I'm incentivized to fix it to work with a clock.  That's kind of the Invisible Hand, isn't it?

The Chumby is coming back down to LA with me on Monday.  It was a no-go with the fiance.  Why? 

NO CLOCK.

It sits there in night mode all day long.  She tolerates it... barely.  But when she looks at it, she wants it to tell her what time it is.

(...and she wants a snooze she can trust... c'mon guys, it's been a month and a half)

That, right there, is the geek/non-geek barrier.  Chumby has failed to breach it in my household and we've got four computers for two people.  A clock that doesn't tell the time, ALL THE TIME, is a non-starter round here.  Wish I could candy-coat that, but I can't.

Trust your userbase, guys.  If we're asking for a clock, give us one.  If your widget designers bitch, tell them to suck it or pay you.  Broadcasters will tell you this much:  yes, you want to make your advertisers happy.  but piss off the audience and you're dead in the water.

Slave to the Light, Inc.
Los Angeles & Seattle USA
www.slavetothelight.com

Re: My clock conundrum.

I guess I don't understand this.  Why should everyone (users and developers) have to compromise on their use of the product and widget design because *some* people want to always see the time?  What if some people insist that the chumby should show weather all the time, or their stocks all the time?

If you want a clock, why not just put clock widgets on it?  I have one at home that does only that - show clock widgets all day, all night.

The chumby is *not* a clock - it's a general purpose computing device that can be treated as a clock if you configure it that way.  By the same token, it's not a picture viewer, but can be treated that way, and it's not an Internet radio, but can be treated that way.

Re: My clock conundrum.

Duane, when I use the pushpin to keep Big Ben open so I can see what time it is all night, it tolls the Westminister chimes on the hour, but unfortunately it is a bit out of sync with the chiming of my wall clock in the den. Is there anything you can do about that? :-)   :-)   :-) JUST KIDDING!

Re: My clock conundrum.

Duane wrote:

I guess I don't understand this.  Why should everyone (users and developers) have to compromise on their use of the product and widget design because *some* people want to always see the time?  What if some people insist that the chumby should show weather all the time, or their stocks all the time?

If you want a clock, why not just put clock widgets on it?  I have one at home that does only that - show clock widgets all day, all night.

The chumby is *not* a clock - it's a general purpose computing device that can be treated as a clock if you configure it that way.  By the same token, it's not a picture viewer, but can be treated that way, and it's not an Internet radio, but can be treated that way.

I'm not quite so hard-line on this as Mr. Slave and his fiance.  But I do get his point.  Chumby IS a clock, did you read the marketing for it?  (It may have changed recently, but I found it by searching for customizable alarm clocks, which means it IS a clock).

In counterpoint to your argument above, why should users who bought chumby as a clock, which it was advertised as, have to compromise because *some* widget developers want to shove stuff down our throats, okay, maybe not that severe, but because those particular developers don't care that what *I* bought was a clock, as advertised, and don't want me to be happy configuring my clock to show me the time when *I* want to see it?

What I see as a compromise is one channel (or the ability to activate per channel) that I can have a clock overlay on.  Then *I* can choose to have an overlay all the time if I want, and not pick widgets that interfere with it, yet I can enjoy the widgets that I like that don't interfere with it.

It's all about user choices.  I see chumby as first and foremost and primarily a clock, so I want to choose it to be a clock, but yet I don't want to miss out on anything else fun.  If I was stuck with just a channel with clocks, I'd lose out on all the fun (ie. weather, stocks, a dog that licks the screen clean). 

Bottom line, if I wanted *just* a clock, I'd buy a clock.  But I didn't buy a clock, I bought a chumby!  I bought it because it was an incredibly customizable alarm clock, that would let me wake up to streams and news and all sorts of things that are infinitely helpful first thing in the bleary-eyed AM.  Or last thing before I drift off.

Hope this makes sense.

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565

Re: My clock conundrum.

Yes, it does, C. and I like that little dog licking the screen clean too!

Re: My clock conundrum.

As I've said, we've been experimenting with this internally - it's really in the hands of Product Management to figure out what to do with it and the art department to make it look as good as possible given the constraints that the overlay hardware imposes.

However, I can tell you that we're not going to beat up the widget developers.

Re: My clock conundrum.

I think we all need to remember that this is a product. Every product that we ever buy, we buy it AS IT IS, right off the shelf and that's it. This is the first product in my life where people have been given any input from the very beginning and even now that it has been released we are still being given input.

It is not any one thing, it is many things to every different person. We can set it up however we like it to be and use it in any way that suits us. We can have one or six of the NY Times news feeds. We can have Youtube, ebay, games, news, weather. Yours looks different from mine. And I know, as you all know, from reading these lists, that Duane and many other Chumbians are there reading every word we write and passing it along and in many cases implementing our suggestions, and we know they are there because they reply all the time.

I hear people talking about how expensive it is. Since I got mine 7 months ago, before they were even out there, I had no idea what it even was. My husband, the geek, heard about it on Twitter and thought I would come to enjoy it. I was a graphic artist BC (Before Computers) and when MacPaint came out, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Wow. Circles. Without even trying. Then MacDraw. I had to be convinced about MacDraw. Then I started designing stuff that filled the disk so fast that to save a change to a line I had to insert one disk then the second, then the first then the second until it was saved. Now EVERYBODY can be a graphic artist. When I got the Chumby, I had to be convinced about that too, but I have come to understand what it is FOR ME and that it is something different FOR YOU.

Anyway, it is fun, it is useful, it costs the same a 8 books and we can put in it whatever we want to put in it. And store it in whatever way is useful to us. And if we don't like something we can instantly delete something. It takes less time to delete Chumby 101 that you don't want to read than it does to worry about it.

And when we have a problem there are people to listen to us. It's not everything every single one of us might want at any given moment, but Lord knows, it's a lot of stuff possible. And people are working with us to make it what we want it to be. Name me one other product EVER, that has done that. It's open ended.

Sometimes the changes they make drive us crazy. When I lost the ability to tap my screen with my stylus to return to the control panel so I could just go from widget to widget so easily...well...Duane knows I'm still not over that. Lying in bed holding C in one hand and having to get to the control panel by pushing a button causing the other hand to hold the weight of the Chumby is beginning to be a pain. But they are listening to me when I say I'd like it back. They are listening more than any other company.

I don't have all the technical words, don't understand half of what I read on this list and I still can't figure out how to make my own stations of music but where else could I get puzzles, Shamu, a licking dog, The NY Times in whatever version I want, a clock I can READ all night long AND streaming Beatles?

Besides that, I filled out my survey yesterday and I KNOW I am going to win the T-shirt!

15 (edited by Cecilia 2008-06-11 19:33:43)

Re: My clock conundrum.

Duane wrote:

As I've said, we've been experimenting with this internally - it's really in the hands of Product Management to figure out what to do with it and the art department to make it look as good as possible given the constraints that the overlay hardware imposes.

However, I can tell you that we're not going to beat up the widget developers.

Hehehe...

I would never promote resorting to violence.  Even against developers.

But think of it in terms of all software that thinks that IT is the MOST important thing in the world, puts everything in your system tray without letting you choose, turns your Start button purple (although I might like that one), installs DELL wallpaper you can't remove, inserts registry keys that interfere with the software that you DO want....I can go on, but I think you get my point.  If I paid for it, I should have a tiny bit of say in what's most important, no?

I also get the point of buying something As Is, but I also believe that when I bought it it was still considered Beta.  The point of a Beta is to GET user feedback for development towards a full release, so that's all I'm trying to do, provide feedback.  BTW, I've been in on the ground floor of quite a few products: the original Rio player, ReplayTV, Roku, I can't think what else at the moment but there are plenty of others just counting the consumer products and not software (then we'd be in the double digits).  None of these products (or the products that they later spawned) would have been ANYTHING without feedback and users making requests (note that I say requests, not demands wink.

And to toss a quirk in an already quirky product, if the As Is thing applied here, then I wouldn't be arbitrarily subjected to ads that didn't exist when I bought it.  If you're going to allow developers to modify someone's product, then you also have to let the person who paid a big chunk of $ have a bit of say about what happens in the future too.

Anyway, I feel like I'm beating this topic dead...hey, full circle, VIOLENCE!  big_smile 

Duane, I know you guys said you're working on it, but I also kinda feel like since it's something important to me, then if you say, "Hey, well it's not that important" then I kinda have to give my reasons why I think it's important.  I do appreciate that you listen, and I also value others' opinions that might not agree with mine.  But an opinion is just an opinion, and until I learn to build my own Chumby, hardware software & all, I have to work with what I've got.  And it ain't all that bad big_smile

Okay, artlady (or should I call you Mona?), WHERE did you find Streaming Beatles AND the possibility of winning a T-Shirt???  I'm soooo jealous!  big_smile

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565

16 (edited by heyartlady 2008-06-11 19:46:18)

Re: My clock conundrum.

Hi C, Streaming Beatles. Shoutcast, upper right search, type in Beatles. you get 25 stations playing beatles. 21 of them are shoutcast stations that happen to be playing beatles at that moment. 4 or so are playing all beatles. Takes a while to find a good one and the next night there are 25 different ones. That's why I wish I could learn to put in my own stations. This doesn't eem to work for many other groups or bands. Only the beatles seem to have their own "all beatles all the time" options. Type in Allman Brothers and you get a few, but not any "All Allman All the time" stations.

The free tshirt? I'm not a shoo-in. I just got an email Chumby survey and I filled it out, so I was teasing about winning! Hope I do!

The Mona. I'm an art teacher and do a really great Mona lesson for my PK and K. My B-in-L shopped me into a Mona pic. Just like Mona but with eyebrows!

Re: My clock conundrum.

heyartlady wrote:

The free tshirt? I'm not a shoo-in. I just got an email Chumby survey and I filled it out, so I was teasing about winning! Hope I do!

Very cool, thanks for the Beatles tips.

As for the email survey, I didn't get one, maybe they don't like me complaining about clocks sad

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565

Re: My clock conundrum.

I'm sure they don't mind you complaining abou the clocks! I've been complaining (Duane will agree) on a regular basis about the loss of the tap-screen to get back to the control panel almost daily since they took it off!

Re: My clock conundrum.

I'm outie! Me, my chumby and the dog are going to bed and with any luck we will have no storms tonight for the dog to wake me up every ______ 5 minutes all night long!

Re: My clock conundrum.

Well, I waited long enough to hear the tornado sirens so I'm delayed again! See you tomorrow. B

Re: My clock conundrum.

I have mixed feelings about the clock conundrum, and thought I'd post my thoughts.

First, the only bit I think that isn't touched on enough in this thread is this:

Cecilia wrote:

What I see as a compromise is one channel (or the ability to activate per channel) that I can have a clock overlay on.  Then *I* can choose to have an overlay all the time if I want, and not pick widgets that interfere with it, yet I can enjoy the widgets that I like that don't interfere with it.

I think if the clock overlay is forced on, not only should it be an option, but it should be a per channel option.  This way, if I like the idea, but don't want it all the time, I can have 2 of the same channel, one with, and one without the overlay.

Second, I did NOT buy Chumby as a clock, not mainly a clock, not partly a clock.  If you're rich (or crazy) enough to spend $180 on a clock, more power to you.  I bought my Chumby because it's an open source gadget to play with and see what fun can be done with it.  I see many uses besides widgets like being a UPnP control point, baby monitor, surveillance control point (arm/disarm, look at cameras, etc.), open source GPS device for the car, mini-wardriving machine, the list goes on.  I work with embedded systems in a Linux environment and love supporting companies that develop with an open source agenda because the possibilities are countless.

I bring up that I did NOT buy the Chumby as a clock because the people posting in this thread are implying that most people bought their Chumby primarily for a clock.  I would bet that there's a lot of people like me who didn't and just aren't here posting about it.

My big clock issue isn't the "must be displayed at all times" issue, it's that I'd like to see an option to use community widgets (not built in to the control panel, but use an API to call in/out of the control panel) for alarms, music, and other control panel "closed" things.  That's an issue for another thread (which I've actually mentioned in other threads).

Linux Guy - Occasional Chumby Hacker

Re: My clock conundrum.

I agree with the idea that the Chumby is not just a clock.  I didn't buy it to be a clock either.  I bought it because I'm a developer and the concept of an open source gadget that I can tinker with was very appealing. 

That being said, just because it isn't *just* a clock doesn't mean that it can't function as a clock when you want it to.  If I have the Chumby bedside and I want to be able to get the time off of it in the middle of the night, I should be able to.  I believe this is why there is a night mode.  But what if I don't want to activate night mode at bedtime?  The beauty of having an open product like this is that I should be able to make it do what I want, either by way of an inbuilt feature or through some programming.

So, either we will end up with a persistent clock option in the control panel, or maybe someone can point me in the right direction for coding it myself?

Thanks

23 (edited by Cecilia 2008-06-14 14:45:05)

Re: My clock conundrum.

Materdaddy wrote:

Second, I did NOT buy Chumby as a clock, not mainly a clock, not partly a clock.  If you're rich (or crazy) enough to spend $180 on a clock, more power to you.

I bought my Chumby because it's an open source gadget to play with and see what fun can be done with it.

I bring up that I did NOT buy the Chumby as a clock because the people posting in this thread are implying that most people bought their Chumby primarily for a clock.  I would bet that there's a lot of people like me who didn't and just aren't here posting about it.

My big clock issue isn't the "must be displayed at all times" issue, it's that I'd like to see an option to use community widgets (not built in to the control panel, but use an API to call in/out of the control panel) for alarms, music, and other control panel "closed" things.  That's an issue for another thread (which I've actually mentioned in other threads).

HAH.  Now you got me pissed.

My back at ya is if you're RICH ENOUGH to spend $180 on a TOY, more power to ya.  IMNSHO, THAT is more of a waste of money, rather than buying it to fulfill a NEED.

I bought Chumby as a CONFIGURABLE alarm clock that would allow me to enjoy a variety of early morning and evening media.  THAT is what the advertisements said when I bought it.  I can wake up to an alarm on the days I want at the CONFIGURABLE times I want and have NO alarm when I want so that I can sleep in on my mondays off without having to remember to reset an annoying clock.  Sleep is PRICELESS, definitely worth more than $180, while a toy is worth $0.95.  Not everyone works 9-5 every day of the week.  AND I can throw my ipod in it and wake to a song or a streaming radio station (radio reception sucks where I live) and be able to see the weather, etc.

However, NEVER once did I imply that "most people bought their Chumby primarily for a clock."  You inferred that, but you got it wrong, buddy.  What I said was, if you read the advertisements, THAT is how it's being MARKETED, and that is why *I* bought it.

After all, as you stated in your post, you are NOT a primarily END user, you are primarily an experimenter and developer.  Sure, it's a valid use of the product, but how many people in this world do you think have experimentation and development of such a technical product as their primary purpose?  I have users who still can't send a freaking email from Outlook--and unfortunately, these people outnumber people like you and me in our society by the gazillions.  IMNSHO if someone in the real world would consider buying Chumby it would be because they'd read the marketing and say, Oh, hey if I get this thing I can set it to let me sleep in on the weekends and wake up to my ipod.  Those other uses that you mentioned are GREAT but they're not easily usable for J6P at this time and will take a bit to get there, and they're also not going to say Oh, hey I can learn to program flash and do linux development, what a cool toy.

I'm not saying that people who buy the Chumby for tinkering and development don't exist and that their needs aren't important too, but the reality is that you're more likely to find THOSE people here and the normal J6P NOT here talking about end user issues.   

You might not have a clock conundrum, and that's fine.  I do like your idea of community widgets for more configurable control panel options.  Now why couldn't you have just suggested that instead of being all insulting to someone who is just trying to request a solution to an end user problem?

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565

Re: My clock conundrum.

THAT is what the advertisements said when I bought it.

I'm not sure what "ads" you're talking about.

I don't think we've placed any ads that describe the chumby as primarily a clock - pretty much everything we've put out there lists clock functionality as simply one of *many* things the device can support.

It is pretty clear that *other* people describe the device as a clock, but I'm not sure how it's our responsibility to respond to that. For instance, people also seem to like to call it a "clock radio", but does that mean we should also change the product to include a radio?

25 (edited by Cecilia 2008-06-12 16:31:20)

Re: My clock conundrum.

Duane wrote:

THAT is what the advertisements said when I bought it.

I'm not sure what "ads" you're talking about.

Go to chumby.com

Look at the main "advertising" on the page.

The one right in the center says "Clocks and Alarms."  That was what my eye went to first.  Of course the reason I went to chumby.com was because I was searching for an alarm clock (having tried an infinite number of other "weekend sleep" and other alarm clocks that didn't satisfy in the least), so I do agree that there is an element of me trying to solve a life problem for myself (lack of sleep on Mondays).

Edit: BTW, I just noticed on the chumby.com page the link to Pimp My Clock Radio" smack dab in the center of the right hand menu.  That indicates to me that NYTimes, CNBC, and you guys also think of chumby as a clock radio--pimped.

I mentioned that I've tried an infinite number of other alarm clocks that didn't satisfy, because what will happen is that eventually *somebody* will see the Chumby product, *somebody* will see that there is a need for a product that *is* an alarm clock that is configurable this way and create a Better-than-Chumby, and if it fits my needs better than Chumby, I will move on.  Maybe you don't care about that, but that's not the point.  The point is that this is an issue for me, someone who uses Chumby primarily as an alarm clock.  The chumby people can decide whether or not they see it the same way as me or not.

I would argue that Chumby already IS a clock radio because it gets internet radio, AND the limitations of WHICH type of internet radio are clearly stated.  Just because it doesn't pick up broadcast radio doesn't mean it fails to do that particular job.

Vice President of Duane's Chumby Buddies Inc, Pro-Clock faction                       Clocks are life; we all expire sometime.
http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?id=2565