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chumbysphere forum → Product Suggestions → My clock conundrum.
Duane Rules!
(I was tempted to go with Duane Rocks! and Duane for President! but got sidetracked with another person asking me if I wouldn't *please* send another email for them.)
'splain to me (if you are allowed) who in the world you are having to send their emails for them? Are there actually people earning a living without knowing how to do that...or are you an email launderer? If so, I have a list for you... :-)
FYI Just came up after another afternoon in the basement and if you look at weather.com, it will be a looong night. Could be worse, could be Chapman. 80% destroyed. If you don't hear from me again, C, MAKE Duane give you my T-shirt AND don't let him get by without putting my touch screen tap back!
Yikes! If it comes down to that, I will make sure that Duane signs the shirt, "To Heyartlady, who went in the line of service to her fellow Chumbians."
Hope you and the dog are okay! (I know hubby will be fine encased in a secure gov't building 
)
(Edit: I stand corrected!!! Edit again, sorry Duane, but women are not "babes", we're intelligent but emotionally charged packages of beauty.)
Yikes! If it comes down to that, I will make sure that Duane signs the shirt, "To Heyartlady, who went in the line of service to her fellow Chumbymen and women."
You know better than that! You meant to say C D's and D's! (Chumby Dudes and Dudettes!) Hope to talk to you tomorrow!
I think the titles you're looking for are "chumbros" and "chumbabes".
Well said, Duane. I like that better than the rest. I'm assuming you have read from the beginning and are aware of what C and I have hatched...plotte...figured out that will solve everything. You might be able to tell, we are very, very proud! Not only is it cool, it is implementable and will make the widget developers happy too!
Oooh, yes, our design is the BEST! Pick us! Pick us!
Only kidding
Seriously, I hope that our suggestions have some use, or maybe lead to some use...I was thinking that maybe we needed a summary so we don't bore them to death...it would be nice to hear what the developers do with it, or not. Or we can go back to brainstorming.
signed,
Cecilia
Proud half of the B&C brainstorming team!
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.
Ok, calm down. I think you took my post out of context. Sorry if I offended you but it was not meant that I am so rich I can spend $180 on a toy. Quite the contrary. I'm so cheap, I couldn't imagine spending that much on a clock!
Think about it this way: how much do you think the average person spends on their hobbies? Think about people with boats, motorcycles, radio control planes, etc. The people with anything gas powered probably spend more than $180 on gas in one weekend. The Chumby (and tinkering/programming in general) is a hobby to me and I don't understand why me stating that I bought my Chumby for fun would offend anybody.
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.
I didn't say you specifically, I said "people in this thread". Just because I quoted your idea of per-channel overlays for my first point, didn't mean I was directing the second part of my post to you. Again, sorry if I offended you.
In reading this thread, I did infer that what was being said was that most people were believed to have bought their Chumby as a clock. I simply wanted to mention that there were Chumby owners with a different view than yours. I may have read the posts wrong, but after re-reading the entire thread, I still get the impression that the inference was chumby==clock. After re-reading it I did see a little more emphasis on the fact that you believe Chumby marketing is directed at the Chumby being a clock which is still open for debate.
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.
I understand that I am probably not "the norm" when it comes to developer versus regular end user, however I think there's plenty around. I believe that many people that buy chumbies are developers of some sort (flash/linux/etc.).
You might not have a clock conundrum, and that's fine. I do like your idea of community widgets for alarms. 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?
I didn't mean for the rest of my post to be so offensive, and after re-reading it, I still don't think it was, but sorry for getting under your skin.
Nice work, I like it!
The Chumby (and tinkering/programming in general) is a hobby to me and I don't understand why me stating that I bought my Chumby for fun would offend anybody.
In reading this thread, I did infer that what was being said was that most people were believed to have bought their Chumby as a clock. I simply wanted to mention that there were Chumby owners with a different view than yours.
Whoah, I'm so not offended by you buying Chumby for a hobby! It's hobbyists that make the product better! But at the same time, I don't understand why me buying my Chumby as a clock would offend you, either.
Let me restate, then: I bought Chumby for it's configurable alarm clock radio *capabilities* which are advertised brightly on the website. I am a tinkerer too and don't mind being in on the beta end of things, even though what I know about linux/flash you could fit on the head of a pin. But for a true J6P user, they're not going to tinker OR buy Chumby as a hobby. Unfortunately, J6Pers outnumber Linux/flash developers by, something like 500,000 to 1. If the Chumby people want to limit their community and user base to just those hobbyist linux/flash developer people, then they should go for it! But what I'm saying here is that Chumby has the ability to provide to J6P a commodity that is not easily gotten: SLEEP. As Chumby takes off and the price starts to go down (as EVERY product eventually does), J6P is going to see this appliance and say, Cool, I can sleep in on my day off without an annoying alarm going off. Then J6P is going to learn the other cool features of Chumby, perhaps show them to his friends, etc etc. That's the best marketing in the world!
Okay, Whether or not Chumby is PRIMARILY a clock doesn't concern me. What does concern me is that while there are hobbyists buying Chumby who might not care about Chumby being a clock, there are ALSO plenty of people who DO care about Chumby being a clock. Just check this website for people complaining about the clock being off, alarms not working, etc (although I have NEVER had this problem with my Chumby). So what's wrong with attempting to bring that customer base in too? Perhaps improve those services too? Especially since it's potentially a astronomically larger number of people than the hobbyist crowd. Who, I have said ad nauseum, are most DEFINITELY an important customer base, especially right now in the early stages. Just not the bigger potential crowd. Make sense?
I may have read the posts wrong, but after re-reading the entire thread, I still get the impression that the inference was chumby==clock. After re-reading it I did see a little more emphasis on the fact that you believe Chumby marketing is directed at the Chumby being a clock which is still open for debate.
For ME, Chumby==clock. No, for me, Chumby==Pimped up alarm clock radio appliance. NY Times and CNBC agree with me, just click on their review on the right hand side of Chumby.com. Doesn't mean that's ALL it is. But it's a damned good hook for J6P, IMHO.
I understand that I am probably not "the norm" when it comes to developer versus regular end user, however I think there's plenty around. I believe that many people that buy chumbies are developers of some sort (flash/linux/etc.).
I agree. Especially for right NOW, at the early stages, you ARE the norm. It makes sense, as Chumby is not quite yet "easy" to use. Well, it is, but it might not be for someone who doesn't know how to send emails from Outlook (like most of the people in my office ). But hopefully it's the hobbyist that's going to improve the Chumby community so much that it will be so easy that my Outlook-disabled users will be able to use it and love it.
Look, I was offended because you insinuated, no STATED, that I was *wasting* $180 so that I could get a little sleep. In general, people can't buy sleep, or even time for it. IMNSHO, that $180 was so NOT wasted!!! And there will be other people who agree. So that's my primary purpose for spending $ on Chumby, but then there's also the geek in me that's trying to learn flash and wants to play with widgets (and for some of us, play with widgets in bed ), so I have a secondary purpose as a sort of hobbyist.
But you seem like a nice dude, or Chumbian, or chumbrero (sorry Duane, that makes me think of a hat! :-/), and I'm willing to call a truce. I have NO problem with you stating your opinion, but just realize that if I'm personally insulted, I will respond....
Here's the thing.
No, Chumby isn't just a clock. But to say that somehow, the clock functionality is overshadowed by the other things the Chumby can do... is disingenuous to the point of folly.
What did CNBC call it? A clock.
What did the Economist call it? A clock.
What did every other review call it? A clock.
What's the tagline, in 24 point font, on Chumby.com right now? "WAKE UP TO YOUR INTERNET LIFE."
What do I use my Chumby for? A clock. One hell of a clock. A clock that streams iTunes from my computer up to a certain time, then switches over to ocean waves to lull me to sleep, then fades out to keep me asleep, then fades back in to wake me slowly, then plays the New York Times podcast when it's time to get up. In 5.1 surround sound. And then it shows me my auctions on eBay, the traffic cams in Seattle 'cuz I get homesick when I'm away, that goofy internet aquarium because I miss my fish, and lord knows what else I feel like throwing at it. I've got a channel of games that I play before I go to bed.
I am a Power User.
But ya know what?
You can't tell when the snooze is on.
You're not sure if it's going to wake you up every time.
If you schedule more than a few alarms (alarms, in this case, means "events"... as in, changing from one channel to another) reconfiguring them is a stone cold pain in the ass.
If you actually want to see traffic cams, or ebay auctions, or rss feeds, or something like that... you don't get to know what time it is. If you want to know what time it is, you don't get to do anything else. And if you mix the two up in a channel, chances are excellent that you won't get the information you want. There are no other clocks in my life that I have to *wait* to see what time it is.
I connived the fiancee into getting me a Chumby for Christmas because I loved how open it was. All the stuff you could do with it. Everything neat about it. None of that has changed. I'm a big booster of this thing. I've got a dozen friends who want one. Hell - they interviewed me for an hour for that article in the Economist and I said nothing but nice stuff. But that same fiancee? She'd like it to just be a clock. And as "just a clock" the Chumby is inadequate. For no good reason.
I've seen no suggestions in this thread that would harm the functionality of the Chumby. I've seen nothing put forth by the "pro clock" faction that would in any way, shape or form impede the experimentations or enjoyment of the "anti clock" faction. So when a statistically significant portion of your userbase says "I want a good clock..."
...Listen.
I, for one, am about sick and tired to the pro-clock faction whinging endlessly about it. If you want a box that does nothing but sit there telling you the time, well, Linens and Things and the rest of the box stores will gladly sell you all manner of them. Buy one and get on with life.
Or, here's a tip, do something to help chumby... buy another one and just show the clock on it!
I, for one, am about sick and tired to the pro-clock faction whinging endlessly about it. If you want a box that does nothing but sit there telling you the time, well, Linens and Things and the rest of the box stores will gladly sell you all manner of them. Buy one and get on with life.
Or, here's a tip, do something to help chumby... buy another one and just show the clock on it!
Why do you read this thread then?
The title says CLOCK.
You know it's going to be about CLOCKS.
But you come in this thread JUST to insist that we are wrong in using Chumby as a CLOCK.
Why do you have to be SO OVERBEARING AND CONTROLLING to continually and repeatedly tell us that, because YOU don't like CLOCKS, we ARE NOT ALLOWED to discuss Chumby as CLOCK?
Why does it concern you? How does it harm you?
I don't tell you what to do with Chumby. Don't you tell me what I should do.
I, for one, am about sick and tired of the ANTI-CLOCK faction (okay, honestly, it's just ONE specific control-freak) whining endlessly about how we should NOT be using or discussing one of Chumby's GREATEST features to the fullest.
Fine, you don't want to use Chumby as a clock. IF CLOCKS DON'T CONCERN YOU THEN STAY OUT OF THIS THREAD.
You can't tell when the snooze is on.
Oooh, I forgot about that one. Now that we have our "Clock View" showing our "Time Bar" we could add a snooze countdown into the time bar...?
side thought...instead of a snooze countdown, maybe it can be a "next alarm" that updates for snoozes while you're snoozing?
And a question: Slave2thelight, how do you get 5.1 from chumby?
I've seen no suggestions in this thread that would harm the functionality of the Chumby. I've seen nothing put forth by the "pro clock" faction that would in any way, shape or form impede the experimentations or enjoyment of the "anti clock" faction. So when a statistically significant portion of your userbase says "I want a good clock..."
...Listen.
Amen to you, brother!
For the record, let me simply state this is in a timely haiku:
I am not pro-clock,
and I am not anti-clock.
I am just o'clock.
--Marc
June 13, 2008 @ 11:28 PM
N40° 46.565' W073° 58.756'
Why do you have to be SO OVERBEARING AND CONTROLLING...
Who's the overbearing one here? YOU. Cripes, you're coming off like some sort of insane cat lady, all gung ho about something based entirely on your own misperceptions of reality. Give it a rest already. You've made it clear, move on.
Easy, everyone. The benefit of these Forums is to provide feedback to us and civil conversation among us all on Chumby, the Company, and chumby, the product. We read every post, we consider the thoughts expressed, but we also try not to "referee" these Forums too much. We've heard the point and, as Duane said earlier in this thread, it's not a new concept to us and we've been trying different ways to enable this without also making the rest of the functionality on the chumby diminished in some significant way. It's something we're thinking about and working on, and your suggestions are welcome, but it's just one of many areas where we're constantly trying to move things forward, and I won't say it's the highest priority, but it is on the list to figure out. So please consider the suggestion box stuffed to the brim on this topic at this point.
Steve, While I somewhat understand what you are saying, I have to admit that I am slightly disappointed that your note only acknowledged what you seem to consider to be negative through this post. You said you, or someone reads the entire thread. Since that is true, you might also remember to acknowledge that there have been, as well, a lot of interesting give and takes, some humor, some offtrack, a lot of pats on the back to Chumby, and a lot of excellent ideas put forth. I'm sorry you only seemed to see the negative when reigning us in. What I think you are interpreting as negative, mainly involved interactions between people trying to defend their position, which as you know, is incredibly difficult to do with strangers in an email. As I am sure you are aware, there have been books written on that subject...written conversations are difficult. I think the positives totally outweighed the negatives in this thread.
I don't see this at all as negative, only worry when it starts to go ad hominem. Like I said, the whole point of this Forum is for input and communication -- and my point was that we get the point. But, like I said, I don't want to referee so, if you'd still like to let the dialectic rage on, feel free.
Oh please, I'm not trying to insult anyone. Get a thicker skin and stop reading into it things that just ARE NOT THERE. Really. If you're taking that away from text forums perhaps you just need to step away from the keyboard for a while. I agree with our storm suffering friend from Kansas and her observations. Let's move on.
I would like to add my vote to having an option to always show a clock overlay. For your consideration, here's how I use my chumby in real life and how I would like to see this feature implemented.
My chumby is sitting on my nightstand, during the night it's in night mode, and goes there all by itself based on an alarm at 11:30 PM. This way, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I get to see what time it is without much hassle. When the alarm goes of in the morning, the 'morning' channel is loaded, NPR starts playing, and I get to see useful information (weather and news) and useless information (horoscopes). I tend to roll over, listen to NPR and play with the widgets for a few minutes before getting up. It would be nice if, while doing this and while I am playing close attention, doing things like reading NY Times articles, I could see the time at all times.
To me, the best way to do this would be to use an overlay similar to the little pie shape that appears in the top left of the screen when a widget is about to be replaced. Simply put the current time there (i.e. 7:23) when the pie is not shown. Very small would be fine, as I only care to be able to glance at the time while interacting with the chumby. I'd like this to be an option that is set in the channel definition at chumby.com, this way I could elect to not turn it on on some of the other channels I use.
The simple solution would be to just say on a per-channel basis: Overlay Clock On or Overlay Clock Off. The even fancier solution would be to allow this configuration on a per-widget basis, but frankly, I'd be happy having it on the per channel basis.
During the daytime I have another channel running that shows stock market info, news and some digital pictures (again triggered by a silent alarm) so I can just 'catch' something useful as I walk by. I don't need to see the time at all time in this mode. In the late afternoon there's a switch to another channel that just shows digital pictures, and so rounds out the day.
The usecase for the always on clock for me is just to help me determine when I absolutely cannot delay any longer and have to get out of bed... Since I'm there playing with Chumby and paying very close attention to the screen, small letters is fine by me.
Hope this helps, and for the record, I think this is a pretty awesome device!
Niels.
+1 in favor of the features listed in the original post, including the appended brainstorm
I'm not sure why this three-year-old thread was pulled back from obscurity, but the feature requested was added at least two years ago, as linked by afischer15.
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