Once or twice a year, I try to take on a project around the house and bring it to a full 80% completion before abandoning for a few years.  In this case, I decided to install some sound around the home.  It was frustrating me to not be able to listen to my favorite music around the home (without dragging around gear), particularly when experiencing nice whole-home audio solutions at some friends’ homes. 

The big problem is that there are very few good audio systems for retrofit installations.  For anyone building a new home, my advice is this:  run wire.  Run wire like copper is on the path of incandescent light bulbs.   I’m not one to run 8 or 12 CAT6 drops to every wall, but at least 2, plus speaker wire, RG6, etc., would make sense.  Think about wall outlets, think about in wall/ceiling speakers, think about wall panel controls.  Even if you don’t complete the build out, having the cable in the wall makes life so much easier down the road.

I ruled out Logitech Squeezebox and any AirPlay devices (few that there are) pretty quickly.  (And yes, I get that Airplay is Apple and I work for Microsoft).   AirPlay is really too limited, and Squeezebox just not exactly what I was looking for and in many reviews I read, seemed to come up short with limitations.

And then after reviewing a few systems, I decided to try the Sonos solution.   Sonos is retrofit friendly (wireless) but also hardwire capable.    They have a variety of units: all-in-one speakers, amplified units to drive your own speakers, and unamplified units to provide line in/out into an existing AV receiver.   While the devices aren’t cheap ($300/$400 for their all-in-one speakers, $500 for an amplified controller) it’s certainly cheaper than most big names in whole-home audio, like NuVo. 

So first up:  the Office.  In the office I decided on a pair of Play:3 units, configured in a stereo configuration:

I purposefully left some items like a deck of cards, picture frame, and my C9 guy in the shot to give some contrast as to their size.  While pricey as a pair, the sound is among the best in class and, by the time you price out decent bookshelf speakers, an amp, etc., you’re certainly not any cheaper.  Of course, what’s missing from this configuration is a controller, which can be their stand-alone control, tablet/iPod controller, or desktop computer.

This setup is similar to what I did in the living room, except because it’s a big larger of a space, I used a pair of Play:5 units which are slightly larger than the Play:3. The Play:5 have a bit richer bass and can fill even a large room fairly easily. While I’m impressed with the Play:3, the Play:5 really shines in larger spaces.

Rounding out the install was a Sonos ZP90 feeding the home theater system (a Pioneer 1018-AH-K receiver). The ZP90 has a line-in, as well, so the output of the system is fed back into the ZP90. The idea here is that you can take programming – like a football game – and stream it to any other zone.

I also had 2 problem areas to solve, both of them outdoors. 

The screened-in porch is a nice, confined area, but needed all-weather speakers and creative wiring.  I needed 12 gauge cable due to the length (wiring it to a Sonos ZP120 inside), and the cable had to be in-wall rated, yet outdoor (UV) resistant, and direct burial rated.  That’s a tall order, but I found some at OSD.   Typically I’d buy most of my cable from Monoprice, but their cable is in-wall rated only. 

The cable is dauntingly large as you’d expect with 12 gauge.  I punched a hole near my previous projects (low voltage lighting and outdoor power in the other conduit), and started snaking the cable under the house to the living room.

Outside, the best place to run the cable was behind the gutter (pictures on right).  You can’t really see it unless close, and it blends nicely. 

The rest of the wire was easily concealed under some trim, so I brought it inside the porch to a pair of Definitive Technology AW550.    (I had auditioned some Klipsch speakers as well, and while I love Klipsch, I felt the Definitive were a better buy.

There’s one more problem, though, and that’s the outdoor patio.  I struggled with this area for some time because it’s not acoustically friendly (no area outside is, really, but this was particularly challenging).  There is no location for a set of speakers that would give a good sound stage (even considering rock speakers), and even all-weather speakers would get hammered in the elements.   I wasn’t sure what to do, and then I stumbled on the Soundcast Outcast.    As one reviewer wrote, the design reminded them of a diaper genie so it won’t win cool-looking design awards, but on the other hand, understated is refreshing. 

The Outcast is a wireless speaker and has received some fantastic reviews.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to plunk down the relatively high price tag without trying it to see if it would work with Sonos (primary concern was wifi interference).   I decided to reach out to the company, and ended up on the phone with Mal Hollombe, Soundcast President (small company or not, it’s pretty impressive to land on the phone with the president).   Because the CEDIA conference was imminent (though it was last week as I write this), I got a chance to hear what the company was planning and their excitement around the conference.   I don’t recall exactly how Mal put it, but essentially he remarked how there are a lot of companies that haven’t done wireless well, leading to a perception that wireless audio was second class.    I explained my setup and concerns, and was hoping there’d be a dealer that had a unit I could audition or possibly receive a review unit.   Unfortunately not, but he offered a unit I could buy (full disclaimer: at a discount) and return it if I wasn’t happy.  He promised I’d be impressed. 

The Friday before Labor Day weekend, I received the massive box containing the Outcast (this thing is huge) and began to unpack.  I love the fact that it’s weather resistant, has a battery, and is wireless (optionally).  Most important, though, was how it sounded.  I’m an enthusiast but no audiophile.  I have money invested in gear that would make some consumers gasp but most audiophiles laugh.   I can’t tell the difference between FLAC and good MP3s, but can’t bear to listen to built-in TV speakers, if that gives you a frame of reference as to my expectations.

So how does the Outcast sound?  Really, really good.  The 8” woofer provides great bass outdoors, and the circular design sounds great as it creates a very open soundstage.   As another reviewer pointed out, it provides great range despite not having tweeters.

I do have a problem, though, and that’s with the wireless range.   Virtually every review I’ve read lauds the Outcast sound quality and wireless range, but the latter eludes me.   Up to 150’ inside and 300’ outside according to spec, I was initially finding more like 15’ inside and 25’ through the window to the patio before I started experiencing breakup.  Something wasn’t right.

I ‘get’ all this wireless stuff of course, so began reconfiguring my access points and Sonos system to try to be as separate as possible and leave some channels clear for the Outcast.   My Sonos is, except for 1 unit, hard wired.  Most of these devices all live in the 2.4ghz spectrum, and unfortunately, most channels overlap quite a bit.    After some fiddling and relocation, I was able to find a sweet spot for the Outcast transmitter (called the iCast), but this has two problems:  the Sonos ZP90 that was feeding it can no longer do so because it was located in another room (which means another ZP90 is needed), and the range, while better than my first attempt, isn’t great.

I’m continuing to try and diagnose.   As far as I know, I’ve removed all possible sources of interference.  I don’t blame Soundcast – I believe it can likely work GREAT but in my case, I can’t quite get the range I’d like.   Whether it’s the Sonos creating ambient RF noise, AC ducts in the ceiling, or just the environment being less than ideal, I’m not sure.

This is ultimately the bane of wireless – companies like Soundcast and Sonos have solved the quality issue.  Wireless continues to be hit or miss for streaming and there’s only so much unregulated spectrum, and while I can solidly recommend the Outcast as a great sounding speaker, I’d encourage anyone considering it to audition or buy from a place with a return policy in the event the wireless doesn’t work out.

As for Sonos, I have no problem recommending it – although I have had no problems with the wireless, most of my units are hardwired so I’d recommend, for wireless users, an evaluation before committing.  One unique feature of Sonos is Sonosnet, a proprietary mesh protocol.  While it operates over the same wireless frequencies, the mesh means each device becomes a repeater, able to overcome most interference issues.

Many years ago, I was a reasonably active person in computer chess and OTB (over-the-board) chess playing, though admittedly I was more interested in the computer science behind chess rather than my own chess playing strength.   I owe this resurgence in my interest to my daughter as her interest in the game has grown.   I’ve broken out the nice pieces, chess clock, and of course, software!

I’ve been searching for casual chess meetups in the Greensboro, NC area, and haven’t had much luck (if you know of any, let me know). 

When I left the chess scene (approaching a decade ago), endgame tablebases were becoming very popular for chess engine play – and to my surprise, tablebases haven’t really changed much.   Tablebases represent perfect endgame knowledge as a database (loosely); the idea being that chess engines can do a lookup to see if a given position is won or lost, without having to evaluate the rest of the game.  3, 4, and 5 piece tablebases are quite common.  Size quickly becomes a factor: I believe a complete 6-piece tablebase approaches 1 TB in size.  

While a 5-piece tablebase doesn’t leave a lot of material on the board (remember, 2 of those 5 pieces are each player’s king), a chess engine can probe the data with more pieces on the board to gauge the strength in a position.   For example, if there are 7 pieces on the board, and white has an opportunity to exchange a piece, it can instantly look up whether that exchange is a won or lost position.

This is quite a bit different than opening knowledge.  In general, chess engines don’t play opening moves.  Authors create opening books based on grandmaster-level games and the engine or GUI automatically plays those moves.    I believe endgame knowledge is ultimately how chess will be solved – and perhaps this is an interesting area for cloud computing.   Of course, it took until 2007 for checkers to be solved, so solving chess isn’t going to happen in the near future.  Generating the endgame tablebases isn’t so much of a problem, it’s the storage – and storing this data in the cloud, opening it up via some sort of API for chess engines, would be great to see if the latency could be dealt with.  (I wish I had something more concrete to say about that with Azure as a solution!)

Chess engines, the heart of a chess app, are stronger than ever.  Some of them, like Stockfish, are even open source.   10 years ago, free engines may have been weak, but today, Stockfish and others can beat many of the commercial engines.  In my next post, I’ll discuss some of the problems I perceive with one of the largest Chess software companies: ChessBase.

Today I made a fairly exciting trek to Best Buy to buy some printer ink.  I live on the edge!

While I was checking out and paying with my credit card, the cashier asked to see my ID.   I admit, I’ve shown it in the past, and it has always irritated me.  It doesn’t irritate me because it’s inconvenient to take my license out of my wallet, but rather, because it doesn’t do anything but put me at risk.

Merchant agreements (at least with Visa cards) basically say the merchants can’t demand to see any form of ID to verify the card holder if the card is signed (of course they can require it if you’re buying something that requires ID – like alcohol), but they can ask (and most people may assume that if they’re asking, they don’t have a choice).  The problem with asking for ID is that it exposes essentially any information on that ID – your name, address, height, weight, eye color, license number, date of birth, etc.    Now, we can argue the cashier (or anyone else within visual distance) couldn’t possibly remember any incriminating information, but that’s not the point.   Fundamentally, it exposes you to a greater risk of identity theft.

The clincher is this – I tried to explain in a friendly way why I was hesitant to show my ID, but the cashier was visibly aggravated and simply said, “I’m just trying to protect you.”  

I firmly believe that he believes this, but it’s just not the case.  In a credit card transaction, we have Visa, the bank who issued me the card, Best Buy (in this case), and me, all involved in this transaction.   In reality, he’s protecting Best Buy, not me.  Nothing wrong with that as an employee, but not at the expense of exposing my personal information.

On 2 occasions over the past 10 years, my credit card information has been compromised by someone – I never found out how because Visa won’t tell me, but they were pretty broad cases that happened to many people online so the presumption was an online retailer was compromised.    In any event, it was not really a problem – I signed a paper that said I didn’t make the charge, and the problem for me was gone.  It would be far worse if someone opened an account in my name or I was a victim of fully blown identity theft.   And the best way to avoid identity theft is to never expose your personal information.

In this case, if I were a criminal (craftily trying to forestall suspicion by buying printer ink for $30 instead of a $10k home theater) I would’ve refused to show ID and Best Buy would have to accept the sale anyway (if my signatures matched).   So all I’m doing is proving I’m me, and I already knew that. 

So what could the Best Buy cashier do?   Well, comparing signatures on the card is a pretty fool proof method --  nothing more is needed.  Next is applying common sense – I’m buying printer ink for $30.   Visa will automatically call me or block an ‘out of character’ transaction.    I used to work retail and the credit card machine would return a “Call” message instead of “Approved” in these cases.  If I fail the signature test, either call Visa or ask for an ID.

What happens if I was a criminal and was able to buy the ink?  Well, I’d notice this on my statement and refute the charge, at which time someone will be screwed – either Best Buy or the bank – I’m guessing it depends on what kind of evidence is produced and perhaps their agreements in place, I’m not sure.   

So if Best Buy or another merchant is so exposed, why accept Visa (or other) credit cards at all?   As I mentioned above, signatures are a pretty fool proof method.  But, the reason is getting more business.   Best Buy has the option to not accept Visa, but they have made the choice to accept the merchant agreement in doing so.   If Visa thought it was a problem, they’d change the agreement or put my picture on the card.

Should the cashier or any other merchant read this, my advice is to always be friendly – lose the chip on your shoulder if you have one.  I was politely trying to explain this and not give the guy a hard time (no one was in line behind me), so as long as I’m friendly, be open to the possibility I might know what I’m talking about.   In turn, it aggravated me that he was so aggravated.   I’ve been there myself, and I work with customers all the time today – fortunately the vast majority are great. 

Coincidentally, and to make this entry a little more apropos, while I was writing this I saw a Microsoft commercial for IE8 that talks about identity theft – check it out at http://ie8protects.com… it’s a “reality” style commercial where they set up a fake bank, and entice customers into a false sense of security – it was pretty funny actually, especially since I was writing this post!

How about you?  Do you care if merchants ask to see your ID?   If so, did this post change your mind?

The other day, I had the honor of sitting down and rambling endlessly with Michael Kimsal in this podcast.  It was a lot of fun, despite the overly loud announcement system in the background (“…table 3, your order is ready” type of thing).   Michael is one of those insanely smart kind of guys that has a really balanced view of technology and a lot of fun to talk to.   Michael publishes (among other things) jsmag, a must read for javascript developers.  Check it out!   Also, if you use coupon HITNEY on the site, you can get a free issue!  (Thanks Michael!)

I’m on a FAIL kick lately, and this one deserves a post.  I used to be a huge fan WinRAR, a file compression tool that was easy to use and supported a wide array of options like file spanning and encryption.

I’m all for integrated ads – that is, ads that leverage the same font/color scheme of the site.  Now, both of these ads in the page below are for the same product, RegistryBooster 2009.  The ad in the top right is obviously an ad, but it’s pretty close to crossing the line.  What do I mean by crossing the line, and how integrated is too integrated?  Crossing the line is when there’s a strong likelihood users will accidentally or inadvertently click on a link, not realizing it’s an ad. 

The second arrow (the ad in the middle) crosses that line.  While it’s true that it’s marked as “advertisement,” it’s done in a clever enough way that attempts to trick the user to click on the link (let’s face it: we usually skim pages).  This is because the placement of the wording would make users feel that clicking “download now” is actually downloaded the intended WinRAR application.  Further, the green “run system scan” link implies I’ve clicked this link before, and consciously or unconsciously, we feel safer in clicking previously visited links.

So what do you think?  I’m not claiming this is the worst I’ve seen, but it’s enough that makes me question the integrity of both RARLabs and Uniblue (makers of RegistryBooster). 

Any takers as to what is going on here?   Little things like this can be so frustrating and yet funny at the same time. 

So quick background:  cancel wife’s old cell phone, decide to get a new pay-as-you go plan because she never/rarely uses it.  Most carriers have a plan that for $100, you can add a bunch of minutes that expire after a year, so, it works out to be about $8/mo.   I already have an AT&T account, so decide to go through them. 

I go through checkout, yadda yadda:

Um, where’s North Carolina?  It has my zip code already and prepopulated the city.   For that matter, where is New York??   Now, remember, I already have service here, there’s plenty of coverage, stores all around, etc., so I know there is service here.  Clear everything (including cache), start over, same issue.

Next I load the site in Firefox:

Ah!  There we are.  And New York is back, too!  As best as I can tell, I followed the same procedure for selecting the plan.  Maybe a rendering issue?  Let’s look at the source…

First up, what is with all the white space in the document?  This is in both browsers (I highlighted part of the document to show the blank spaces):

Next is the state selection in IE8.  Why the gap(s)?  And why is Minnesota selected??  (NOTE: I’m not suggesting the gaps pose a problem other than wasting bandwidth … but it does seem to indicate some kind of processing change … server side code would tend to be more predictable):

And now in Firefox:

Weird, huh?   Because of the white space and layout, it seems something is going on during server side rendering. 

UPDATE:  Seems like it’s fixed.  I tried several times in IE8, clearing the cache, with the same result.  Then, I tried Firefox with the IE8 User Agent, and it worked – but then when I went _back_ to IE8 it seems to be working.   So for now, I guess it will remain a mystery.  I’ll venture a guess that it had nothing to do with the user agent and rather something else, such as hitting a different server or server farm altogether, despite having cleared the cache as I went back and forth. 

Maybe it’s because I just returned from Vegas.  Maybe it’s because I used to live in Idaho.  Maybe it’s because I’m not part of the 20% who can’t locate the US on a world map, but geez, how do graphics like this get on air?   

I've noticed a disturbing trend lately and not quite sure if it's just me, or happening more in the industry.  Or, maybe it's because my credit card, for the 2nd time in less than 2 years, was compromised by someone (Visa won't tell me who -- and with today's BI, it's pretty easy to figure out I would image). 

So, I'm seeing a number of sites on the internet not using SSL when capturing PII.  Clearly, this is crucial for credit card transactions, but it's also important for PII.  Of course, SSL only encrypts the traffic between you and the domain, and ensures the domain is who it says it is -- what the host does with your data is out of your hands.  It's a little like going into the kitchen at a restaurant. :)

The other day I was lamenting with a colleague about my lame internet connection while we were playing around with the cool sharing features in Office Communicator.  (Bottom line was my connection chokes on camera and desktop sharing.)  The best I can do on my internet connection is, sadly, 512k upload:



The chart is fairly amusing on various levels but seeing that I'm out of luck in going beyond 512k, I decide to contact customer support to see if there's anything I can do.  Heck, even 768k upload would open a lot of opportunities.

But when I go to ask a question on the support page, I see this page:



No SSL?   No credit card information but surely enough PII to make me feel SSL should be required here.  Now, this scenario is a bit different since I'm a customer, so I did a traceroute to see where my data was going:



So, fortunately, as long as I'm sending the data from my house, it seems my data is reasonably secure as it's staying within Time Warner's domain and frankly, that's the best you can get from SSL. 

I didn't submit the data, but it made me realize how many sites I've run into that don't use SSL, or access points that are insecure.  I recently permanently borrowed Glen's HTC Touch Pro, and it has built in wifi.  I left it on and as I drove around, I was completely stunned at home many times the phone would ding that a new wireless network was available -- and most were insecure. 

So is this my imagination, or is security really this bad?