Blump’it Firefox plugin turns any touchscreen PC into a joojoo-like web tablet

Now that Michael Arrington’s $200 CrunchPad has been turned into the $499 JooJoo, you may be looking for another way to get your hands on a low cost, easy to use web-tablet. Blump’it has an interesting solution: A Firefox plugin that essentially turns any existing tablet into a JooJoo-like device.

The Blump’it plugin basically adds an on-screen keyboard, touch-friendly gesture support, and a widget engine to Firefox so that you can run weather, email, news, and photo applications. There are also games and other so-called BlumpsApps available for installation.

Eventually there will also be a plugin for Google Chrome, but right now Blump’it is Firefox-only. Of course, that’s setting the bar pretty low, since pretty much any Mac, Windows, or Linux netbook can run Firefox. That means if you have a touchscreen netbook (or if you throw your own touchscreen into an existing netbook), you can run Blump’it. Of course, if you want a tablet, you’re going to need to perform some fairly serious surgery on your netbook. But it’s not like you’d be the first person to turn a netbook into a tablet.

The Blump’it project started out as the iFrame prototype we spotted way back in January, 2009. In addition to making a free Firefox plugin available, Blump’it plans to sell its own tablets soon, although there’s no word on pricing or specs.

You can read more about Blump’it at Download Squad. And you can check out a demo video, courtesy of TechVideoBlog after the break.

Update: The Blump’it tablet is currently in testing, but if you’re interested in buying one you can send the company an email. It’s a 10 inch tablet with an Atom processor, Linux, and a 2.5 hour battery.

via SlashGear

Posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009, 2:41 pm by Brad Linder
Tags: blump'it, firefox, iframe, tablet

Comments

1
BigGoofyGuy // December 9th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

eComStation also has a version of Firefox. eComStation is an updated version of OS/2 Warp.
http://www.ecomstation.com
It would be neat to see if it runs on a tablet that has eCS on it.
2
microshaftsux // December 9th, 2009 at 4:28 pm

Theft
3
ninetynine // December 9th, 2009 at 4:58 pm

So Jolicloud+Blump'it is basically the instant on (well, 15 second on), touch browsing dream. Just makes the JooJoo failure even more comical.

Although, just taking a glance at the website and it's list of 'known bugs', software could still use some work. I mean both the plugin and the website.
7
oseres // December 10th, 2009 at 4:35 am

Thanks for your article. Note that the plugin is in alfa version you can register here on our website http://blumpit.com.
Concerning the tablet, we are currenly testing 3G under linux.
Specs are here : http://blumpit.com/get-a-3g-tablet/
Anyone who 'd love to participate, don't hesitate to contact me oseres AT gmail.com
8
BoloMKXXVIII // December 10th, 2009 at 7:22 am

Something truly interesting! Definitely something to follow. Still only Alpha but if the bugs get squashed…
9
BoloMKXXVIII // December 10th, 2009 at 7:25 am

After reading your specs I realize you need to up the battery life to AT LEAST 5 hours.
10
Scott // December 11th, 2009 at 12:34 pm

The WebTaps touch screen toolbar from (http://www.webtaps.com) for Firefox does this too, but also includes a feature that shows or hides the keyboard automatically depending on the website – so if you go to google.com for example, the keyboard is already shown right below the text field. It also automatically resizes website to maximize the use of the (limited) screen space.
11
Scott // December 11th, 2009 at 5:34 pm

The WebTaps touch screen toolbar from (http://www.webtaps.com) for Firefox does this too, but also includes a feature that shows or hides the keyboard automatically depending on the website – so if you go to google.com for example, the keyboard is already shown right below the text field. It also automatically resizes website to maximize the use of the (limited) screen space.