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When I first unpacked my Chumby review unit at my desk in the bowels of the Mighty Houston Chronicle, a coworker stopped by to check it out, and wrinkled her nose as she examined it.

“It looks kind of . . . medical,” she said. “It looks like something you’d see in hospital. It looks . . . Oh, I don’t know, geriatric.”

I guess I can see her point, but it strikes me more as, oh, I don’t know, kinda cute. And judging from most of the reviews I’ve seen of it, most folks agree with my assessment. There’s just something nifty about the Chumby . . .

At its core, the Chumby is a tiny Linux-based computer stuffed into a soft, leather-like case that resembles a beanbag. It uses Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet, from which it downloads widgets that deliver specific bits of information to its 3.5-inch touchscreen.

You select, configure and organize these widgets via the Chumby Web site. If you like (and you know a little bit about programming) you can even make your own widgets and upload them for consideration by the device’s manufacturer, Chumby Industries.

I was sent a tan-colored Chumby (Chumby Industries unfortunately refers to it as “latte”) and there are two other hues — black and pearl. Given a choice, I probably would have opted for the black.

The Chumby comes in a burlap bag, nestled in an inner pouch. This is packaging as marketing — it prepares you for technology that’s soft and cuddly, rather than angular and austere.

Along with the Chumby itself, you get a power adapter and some “charms” to hang off the metal rivet on right side.

To use the Chumby, you set up an account on the Web site and then activate the device. You’re shown a screen of ovals, some of which are blacked. You use the touchscreen to enter a similar pattern on the Chumby, which syncs your account with the device itself.

You can then select widgets to add to the device, which are displayed in rotation on your Chumby. The widgets range from useful to silly to fun. For example, among the widgets on my Chumby are: