Chumby constantly streams your favourite parts of the Internet to its 3.5 inch colour touchscreen. Little software programs, called widgets, stream anything from weather forecasts and sports scores, to eBay bids, and your favourite online radio stations.

Launched in Australia last month, chumby needs only a power outlet and Wi-Fi coverage to provide touchscreen-based access to Internet content in the kitchen, lounge, backyard, or even a bedside table.

While most chumby content comes from the US, Internode has announced its chumby widget development competition to encourage Australians to apply their ingenuity to this new platform.

Internode Content Administrator Richard Burke said developing chumby widgets was quite straightforward. "If you understand the basics of Flash, it's worth giving it a go," he said.

"You don't even need to own a chumby to create widgets or enter this competition. You can create a virtual chumby at chumby.com and then you're in with a chance to win your own chumby prize pack."

The competition closes on January 9, with the winners announced on January 16. Prizes include two chumbies, a copy of Adobe Flash Creative Suite 4 Professional, and credit towards Internode services. Full details of how to enter the chumby competition are available at http://chumby.on.net/competition/.