Chumby shuts their doors

Chumby is no more.

After years of having my Chumby on my night stand, looking at everything from whales swimming half way across the world to checking local weather, I noticed that the widgets no longer worked. I checked out the website to find this sad note…

Hey! What happened to my widgets?

Chumby Industries closed its doors in December 2011, and laid off all of its employees.

Since then, the service has been maintained by a small group of volunteers, and paid for by a succession of companies. The volunteers were notified that the funding would cease at the end of February, 2013, with the prospect of the devices being rendered completely useless.

In January 2013, one of the volunteers initiated an effort to create a company to acquire all of the remaining assets of Chumby Industries for the purpose of maintaining the service. That company, “Blue Octy, LLC”, completed the transaction in mid-February.

However, the cost of maintaining the full service in its previous form was prohibitively expensive for an individual to fund. Due to the short time remaining before the prior funding ran out, it was decided to create a “stub” service that would keep enough going to allow the devices to start up, authenticate with the service, and allow the use of alarms and music, and the playback of a single, fixed, widget – a clock.

The database of user accounts, device registrations, widgets, channels, etc. has been completely backed up for the purpose of restoring the full service at some future date, once the economics have been set up to make the service sustainable. In other words, our strong hope is that the limited service you’re looking at today is temporary.

This “stub” service is designed to support the following products:

• chumby Classic, chumby One, chumby 8
• Insignia Infocast 3.5″ and 8″
• Insignia Connected TV
• WOWbox 3.5″ and 8″
• chumby Lite (Android)
• chumby for Sony Tablet S (Android)

Some other devices not listed may also work but are not “officially” supported.

If you have a Sony dash, your device is now supported entirely by Sony. Please visit http://www.sony.com/mydash to manage your device.

Hope this company returns with new inventions.

Celebrate Excellence in Design at the ASID Awards Gala next month

ASID New England Awards Gala

For tickets contact the ASID office p.617.261.399 e. asidnewengland@gmail.com

Ray Allen’s Boston Mansion hits the market

Ever wonder how super stars live? We all do, right?! Well here’s a peak at former Celtics star guard Ray Allen’s mansion.

Although Ray and his family have packed up and moved South, their 11,000+ Sq. Ft. Wellesley home is now up for sale. It can be yours for a mere $5.2 million. Sound pricey? keep in mind its on almost 1.5 acres and boasts over 9 bedrooms and bathrooms.

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An interview with one of our own….

One of our own is in the news…check it out!

My co-worker, Sherif Anis was recently featured in an interview with the Boston Society of Architects. He discusses living and working in the Middle East, his inspirations and motivation.

Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Where is the field of architecture headed?

I think that architecture is headed in the right direction. As devastating as the economic downturn has been to our profession, it has also brought us closer to addressing what is important about our profession. I find designers and clients alike are considering design value more closely and that gratuitous extravagance is a thing of the past. Firms today offer more integrated multidisciplinary services [that] make for more interesting design work, going back to the days of Gesmtkunstwerk, or total work of art. I like that science, technology and sustainable thinking are rooted at the very core of what we do and that they are not an afterthought. Perhaps [we are returning] to a simpler application and celebration of that in our work.

Can design save the world?

No. Can it make our lives better? Sure. Can it help us live more sustainably and responsibly? Yes. Is that enough to save the world? From what I see and read about regionally … it is clear that people worldwide need more than what design can offer—a lot more!

Read the full article here.

Refresh your knowledge with ASID

Breaking News—NCIDQ marking mistake!

For all of you that recently sat for the NCIDQ, listen up!

IIDA has released  a statement (see below) regarding an error that was made while tabulating results. What does this mean? You may have scored higher than you think. Hooray!!!

IIDA wants you to be aware that there was a reporting error by NCIDQ regarding Section 3 results for the most recent exam (March 2012). As a result, some candidates were misinformed of their pass/fail status for Section 3 of the test. NCIDQ has contacted all candidates who sat for the exam informing them of their correct status. NCIDQ addressed this issue with the IIDA Chapter Leaders during the biannual Chapter Leadership Council in Chicago on June 9, and have issued an official statement regarding the error, available here. As NCIDQ points out, this was not a scoring error, but a reporting error. No candidate’s exam scores changed. We understand that this error by NCIDQ has affected a number of IIDA Members. NCIDQ is managing this issue and is available to work directly with those affected. For more information, contact NCIDQ at www.ncidq.org or call (202) 721-0220. International Interior Design Association 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 567, Chicago, IL 60654 USA

Architectural clothing

Every day I come across at least one thing that is cool. Today, I saw this highly structured, architectural dress [Love] designed by Icelandic designer Ninna Thorarinsdottir. The beauty of this dress isn’t just in the construction details, it’s the surprise element that the dress actually moves. It dances via remote control….yes, remote control. Check out the video here, now that really is cool!

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