Like Fine Wine, Chumby Improves With Age
Posted by goodmind on June 24th, 2008
Chumby is basically a clock radio with the passive functionality of a laptop. It’s also;
internet-connected, runs on Linux software and is extremely hackable. In other words, it is a thoroughly open-source device. But alpha geeks are a small customer base, and Chumby Industries is betting that those early, tinker-mad consumers will transform its product into something more compelling to the rest of us…the alpha-geek development model proposes a revision of a gadget’s life cycle: As creative people keep hacking into what a Chumby can be, the device theoretically becomes more useful the longer you own it. (Rob Walker, Consumed)
Is this the “upgrade economy” described in Blur, almost ten years ago? Maybe. We’re certainly open to the possibility that co-rendering can make nifty tech gadgets more like a fine bottle of wine, rather than an expensive brick.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
