Ever eye over a Chumby and think to yourself, “That’s one cool gadget, but I’m not looking to spend the cash on a widget machine.” That we have and I’m sure the creators of the YBox 2 Kit have as well. This DIY kit allows you to build and create your own machine that displays customizable content. Think Chumby meets inner-city Detroit.

Based on the Parallax Propeller chip, this little kit runs WAY faster than your old 486DX ever did. You can output video via a composite jack, network via DHCP with your broadband connection, use a remote with the built-in IR sensor and so much more. Lady Ada is selling the kit for a measly $75 and very few are left. Hit the link to grab one while you still can.

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You want a Chumby, you just don’t know it yet. A Chumby is a DIY versatile multigadget that is capable of displaying a variety of options and can be built into literally anything. The Chumby is basically a processor, some memory and a screen, but the lengths at what you can do with these few supplies are nearly endless.

Users can download widgets from the Internet that give the Chumby the capability of doing a variety of jobs. You can set up a widget for a stock market ticker, an alarm clock, a webcam viewer, an MP3 player, a photo viewer, a GPS device, a news ticker, and the list will go on and on.

The Chumby was developed by hackers, so hacking and modding are encouraged. The product’s site even has a “My Chumby” section to share your creations. The Chumby supplies are not yet for sale, but they are expected to be available for about $150 when the company decides to release it. — Andrew Dobrow

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The 6th major release of Apple’s Mac OS X is slated for release as early as late March, says sources. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, which became available for testing last August, is marked as a major release featuring the added innovated feature of both 64-bit and non-emulated 32-bit drivers.

64-bit capability allows users to use higher then 4GB of memory in their computer, and is said to run even quicker then 32-bit with same memory amounts in both. The faster bit-rate for 10.5 Leopard will allow a faster reaction time for loading applications.

Also added to the OS X is a few application surprises, including Time Machine, a automatic session restoration and backup program, and Spaces, an application allowing easy navigation between programs needed for the same task. Along with the new programs comes a dashboard of over 2,500 widgets, improved Spotlight and iChat support, and a “Core Animation” developers tool for minimal coded animation. — Andrew Dobrow

Report: Apple to release Mac OS X Leopard as early as end of march [MacDailyNews]