Look out, Chumby's coming. No, it's not your portly brother-in-law coming to clear out your fridge — Chumby is a portable Internet gadget that first made itself known to the world about a year ago. The handheld device has a 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD and built-in Wi-Fi for tapping the Web whenever you're in a hotspot. The specs aren't exactly "standout" — a 350-MHz processor, 32 MB of RAM and 320 x 240-pixel resolution — but Chumby's secret weapon is the arsenal of widgets you can download as well as the gadget's "hackability." Owners are able to make modifications to the software and share them online.

Although Chumby has a friendly design, I can't help but be underwhelmed by him. An hackable, portable Internet device with fuzzy edges? That's pretty much a guarantee for niche status, and the design is a little too reminiscent of the TVs from the terribly named HANNspree. Widgets are cute, but I don't think they can be the main selling point of anything. I hate to say it, but even Sony's Mylo has more going for it than Chumby. If you disagree, though, the little guy's debuting this summer for $180. — Peter Pachal

Chumby, via CrunchGear