The internet is full of data, yet most of us can only can access that wealth of information through a computer or tablet. The Nimbus Dashboard is a physical implementation of live data – four individual dials that can be customised to display information relevant to you. That’s a pretty awesome idea – but how useful is the end product, really?
To find out, we purchased the Quirky Nimbus Dashboard with our own money to help us determine if you, in turn, should spend your hard-earned money on it. At the end of this article, we’ll be giving our review unit away.
From the company namesake, “Quirky” is an apt description for this product, but it also describes the production process. Quirky is a user-driven company: users design products, vote on those they’d like to see made, and Quirky then takes those designs to reality – paying a fee to the idea creator. Products are hit and miss, understandably, but they’re almost always unique and designed to solve real world problems. The Nimbus was designed by Ryan Pendleton, apparently.
The Nimbus is named after cloud formations, I assume because it gathers data from the cloud. The premise that it takes a source of information, and display that in both an analogue dial form and digital output – a customisable, real world dashboard of data thats important to you. It costs $130, and there’s not really any similar products on the market. The Thingm Blink(1) is a USB LED that can be linked to different datasets, but it’s only output is a range of colours. There are numerous DIY projects to achieve something similar to the Nimbus, but nothing that can be purchased.
Design
In black, or white – as we chose – the Nimbus is much smaller than I expected, the diameter of each dial being about 5 centimetres total. For some reason, I expect larger: clock-sized or like a car speedometer.
For reference, here’s the Nimbus compared to a banana – because that’s how we measure things on the internet.
When placed flat, there are two microswitches at the front corners, such that pressing down on the Nimbus anywhere will trigger them – these are used to turn off the alarm and display alternate data views such as current weather for the temperature module.
It’s certainly pleasing to look at, except for the hideous glossy plastic – seriously, can we just agree right now to only use matte plastic coating on anything from now on?
The dial hands themselves have a hairline white indicator but are otherwise black. Given the face of the dials is also black, the hands simply don’t contrast as much as I would like – which is a shame really, given how much of this product is focussed on them. The LED screen directly below glows a satisfying white, so it would have been nice to see that replicated on the dials.
Overall, it feels a little tacky; from the plastic dial faces to the hastily painted hairline whites of the hands. It strives for simplicity, but not in an Apple way. For the price, it’s an acceptable build quality – but I think there could be a market for a premium brushed aluminium and glass version with glowing dials – the Nimbus Pro. Get on it Quirky, and I’ll take that 10% cut, thank you kindly.
The App: Wink
Setup and configuration of the Nimbus – any Quirky product in fact – is done through the 35 megabyte mobile Wink application (have you ever wondered how many iOS apps there are called Wink? A lot. You’re looking for “Wink: Instantly Connected“).
After registering an account, an 8-screen simple walkthrough is displayed. Like the Remeé lucid dreaming headset Remee Lucid Dreaming Mask Review and Giveaway The Remee Lucid Dreaming Mask (pronounced rem-may) claims to aid you in mastering the art of dream control; or as it's more commonly known, Lucid Dreaming. Join me as we lose ourselves down the rabbit hole;... Read More I reviewed last year, Wink-enabled devices are programmed by a kind of optical morse code – sequential flashes of light sent from your mobile – but you’ll also need to add your home WiFi details so they can fetch data over the Internet, as the light flashes are only used for the initial setup of the device.
After entering your WiFi password, the app instructs you to locate the “home sensor” on the Wink device – since it’s compatible with a variety of devices, there’s no specific mention of Nimbus at this point. The Home sensor is around the back of the Nimbus, hidden discreetly between the rear of the central two dials.
I must say, I really liked the way they eschew the more common USB cable method – you don’t need a computer at all, and it saves packaging yet another cable in the box. There are no “drivers” to worry about, for one.
Unfortunately, the Nimbus flat out refused to connect to my usual home network provided by an Apple Airport Extreme Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station Review and Giveaway Today, I'll be putting the Apple AirPort Extreme through its paces, seeing how much of a benefit I'll achieve over the top tier router supplied by my cable company. Read More – I’ve had this problem with other embedded WiFi chips too, so it could be related to the AC and dual band technologies in the router. It worked fine through a standard A/B/G/N test network, but this is something to bear in mind if you’re buying the device. Although ultimately unable to help me, support was generally good – they were happy to call me and walk through some troubleshooting procedures.
What Can You Display?
The nimbus is currently limited to 9 different display modules.
- Time: The alarm function however is separate, so you needn’t include the time display if you just want an alarm.
- Weather: Locked to Farenheit, with the dial showing as a change from yesterday – central being no change, a swing left meaning colder, a swing right meaning hotter.
- Traffic: Surprisingly rich in options compared to the “select city” weather report, traffic can be set to display either predicted travel time between a start and end point, or live traffic. It relies upon Apple Maps for info though, so make sure you have a post code handy.
- Calendar: Only for Google Users, can display time of or time until next event.
- Email: Again, Google only – displays the number of unread messages from a single account.
- Facebook: Probably the most pointless of all the displays, though you have a choice of unread messages, likes on your latest post (seriously), comments on your latest post, or pending friend requests – the last one presumably for celebrities who find the daily chore of accepting requests too overwhelming.
- Instagram: likes or comments on your latest post.
- Twitter: Number of mentions or retweets.
- FitBit: Calories burned, steps taken, or sleep duration
If you don’t think a combination of any 4 of the supplied modules would be of use to you, forget it. At the very least, I was expecting a stock price module – it’s stupidly simple to get from Google or Yahoo Finance – but, no. I was also optimistically hoping that it could read any arbitrary JSON or RSS feed – the standard format for information exchange between millions of websites.
This might be too advanced for most average users, but it does open up the Nimbus to thousands of willing developers and existing data sources. The iPad Status Board app for example does just that, so there’s a thriving community of user-contributed widgets. None of that on the Nimbus: you have any info you want displayed, as long as it’s one of these nine – most of which are a pointless exercise in social media diarrhoea.
The dials themselves – the central premise of the Nimbus in the first place – are just a pointless addition of unnecessary information. They’re supposed be an “at a glance” display, but the numbers they represent are arbitrarily defined in the Wink application and cannot be adjusted. On the predicted time to destination traffic module for example, 15 minutes is displayed as it would be on a clock, all the way up to 59 minutes being just left on the dial’s central point. There’s a disjoint between that, and the weather module for example, which swings left or right of the central point depending on whether it’ll be hotter or colder than yesterday.
The arbitrary decision of where the dial should swing would be acceptable if the Nimbus itself had a completely digital display so you could see context on the dial face – as it is, there’s no indication of what they mean except for on the iPhone app. I would, for instance, like the traffic display to show a neutral dial if the time is 15 minutes: this would be a reasonable time to take to drive my wife to work. On days of higher traffic, swing right; less traffic it would swing left. In fact, throw in a RGB LED so you can get immediate at a glance good or bad and that would be just great.
The premise of the Nimbus is awesome: a customisable, physical display. The practical realisation of this is atrocious, verging on utterly worthless – it’s a glorified alarm clock, and not even a very good one.
Should You Buy The Nimbus Dashboard?
If you’re a very active social media user who puts great emphasis on how many likes their latest Facebook post received, and live in the US – go ahead, you might love it! For international users, developers, hackers, and anyone hoping for customisation – move right along.
How do I win the Nimbus Dashboard?
You may enter by submitting your name and email address. You’ll receive one entry simply by doing so.
After that, you’ll also be offered various methods to earn additional entries. They range from sharing a link to this giveaway on social networks; to commenting or visiting a specific page. The more you participate, the higher your chances of winning! You will receive 5 additional entries into the giveaway for every successful referral via your shared links.
This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, January 10. The winner will be selected at random and informed via email.
The Winner
Congratulations, Claire Blaney! You would have received an email from jackson@makeuseof.com. Please respond before January 15 to claim your prize. Enquires beyond this date will not be entertained.
Send your products to be reviewed. Contact Jackson Chung for further details.
thank you for picking me as the winner :)
Can't think of any I would add.... seems sufficient... too bad it didn't meet MakeUseOf standards, BUT since it's a giveaway I'm cool with it... free is good.
I am happy to see it displays FitBit, but would love to see it with front door camera ability and actual mailbox notification.
Traffic app is awesome for the morning commute
Looks cool! Can;t think of anything.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter always takes the most time. It would be helpful if I used this to reduce time wasted and my battery definitely last longer!
It's OK for a "new" product :)
It's perfect!
Looks like it has everything you would need.
amazing dashboard :D
amazing dashboard :D
It looks pretty good to me.
Done steps
It’s great for me!
That's awesome!!!
It is very nice. Can't think of anything that could improve it
It’s perfect
It’s perfect as it is now!
It’s perfect as it is now!
Yea, it's great
it suites my needs, I wish it was able to wash my dishes though.
I think it's a little cheesy, but it would be a brilliant addition to the desk of any social marketing pro-- or anyone who wants an interesting retro-futuristic conversation piece on their desk.
I would be fine with it. I think ti would be interesting
It would be nice to test it and so I will know if it fulfill my needs.
it surely fulfill the social needs, and maybe addtl notif wouldnt hurt....
Any Additional feature upgrade if possible would be great. In terms of social media capabilities, yes this wud be useful
It seems rather useless unless you are a teenager in need of a social media boost to your ego..which I just happen to have. If it were geared toward actual adults with real world needs, I would enjoy the product, but as is..blah! Not for me, but my daughters may enjoy the toy! Thanks for the review.
Yah it would fulfill my wants on social networks, but if it has the ability to give other notifs that with be great from the norms
oh but it's perfect!
i am satisfied with Quirky Nimbus Dashboard features
I can't think of any additional features, but might If I was lucky enough to win :-)
I really liked Nimbus Dashboard and can't think of anything missing in it.
It's perfect as it is now!
yes. this would come handy like getting notifications when busy using a certain application fullscreen. i wish it had better dials.
It will be perfect for me. No further add ons.
It has what I want already but I would love to have regular traffic updates so I can plan my route while I'm driving.
i'd like to try it first but it looks cool!
I like the FitBit features best.
it just might fullfil the need, it should have more features , notification wise
integration with XBL or PSN would be neat!
The quite good interface
I think it's great the way it is -- how cool!
Voice command
Bigger displays
No it does not. I wish it at least had the option to customize the dial background with a photo insert to make it looks more appealing.
I like it. Like a dash clock, but now with additional dashboard.
Es ist neu . ( I like cool looking item )
It just sounds like a cool product to have
I'd like a 2 way interface so that in times of information overload you can dial back the internet.
link to ombd 2 and gps
I am a geek so i just want it
Fit my needs? I don't really need it, I just want a dash board for my life.
I hate checking my phone all the time for the same things. I have the Pebble Smartwatch but I would love a dashboard for everything else.
Yes, it does
I like the look of it, would give it a go, but I wouldn't pay out for it unless they address a lot of the points you make in your review.
no it doesn't
Voice command
Needs super fulfilled with a taste of class :)
wish it could display pictures, you know, something like digital photo frame
It's what I'm looking for but too bad it looks so silly
It does indeed!
just wanna check it out
Voice command
as per your review, it will not satisfy international readers. I live somewhere in Asia so it will not be so much helpful for me but somehow i would still ? to check it out. The customization thingy would be great.
Isn't this more or less a crippled Chumby/Sony dash? It didn't work out too well for them, and it was a lot more customizable. I still use a hacked chumby, and wish someone would make a modern replacement, but this needs to be more useful before I spend that much on one.
Yes..it does fulfill my needs..
Its a cool gadget and fulfill what I need, but if with build in radio would be perfect!! :)
It need more customization.
i'm not really sure, its an interesting idea though... :D
needs fulfilled
doesn't quite fit my needs but I'd like to win it just the same
Wish it would be customizable!
i agree with the fells who said it shoud be an "open source"
It doesn't sound like the Nimbus currently fits my needs. I wish that it allowed people to create their own feeds for it.
It should be able to switch to Celsius
Definitly a radio!
It does not fulfil all my needs. As Bruce says, it has lot to go.
Does not fulfill my needs. Could be a cool item to own but needs to be customizable.
Yes agree with you. It need more customization.
All I can say for now is "it's a cool gadget!".
Not really necessary, but it'd be cool to have one as an accessory in front of my PC while working
Only if it is just $9.99
It did. However, I wish it had Degree Celsius integration and Facebook integration.
It looks OK, but needs more customization.
It fulfil my needs :-)
I like it, I want it
Yes! I want it support other social network
Pretty quirky item. I'd play with it for a bit and then it would collect dust
I think I would regift it.
No idea for its using
If it did laundry I would pay 100 times this
What a review, nice one! No!
Cool product, but not sure if I'd buy
Can't one get widgets to display the same data for free or practically so? This seems like a colosal waste of money to me.
I dont think I Know what I would use it for just yet!
I think it's great! Wish I could win it!! Thanks!!
Is not full customized for international uses like me!
I like it, but I don't use Google mail so that's a bummer.
Doesn't fulfill any needs. But I'll find some if I win it.
It fulfills my needs!
would use constantly through out my day. for the next few weeks, re cooperating from surgery and would be located on my bed side table. after wards, very portable device, I like that most!~
Maybe it fulfil my need but I am not sure because it really new product I have not hear before.
If it could cook supper I would get it.....
Yep. It would fulfill all our needs.
It would be perfect for me. thank you for the chance to win it I wouldn't change a thing
I love it! I wish it could do the dishes...
I would miss internet surfing and printing capabilities!
Yes, though I would like the cloud to be fluffy and soft.
No, it's missing all the meters to measure my needs. Such as Hunger, Bladder, Hygiene, Energy, and Fun.
No, where's my speedometer?
Maybe it's hackable...hmmm...
Yes. Better API.
Eh, it fulfills my requirements... as long as it's going to cost me $0.
Just seems to be missing stock integration.
It fills some of my needs, but I do wish it would have a better interface.
It doesn't fulfill all my needs! Would love some customization and more talk back features!
Would be nice at the office, but more customizable faceplates would be helpful for all sorts of goodies.
An API would be most useful.
There is an API and probably IFTTT integration on the way, as well as more native things to track.
It's got some cool features, however I would not use it for the social media aspect. Besides the lack of customization, it seems like a cool gadget for any tech geek and it would satisfy my needs.