Update on the DIY Sonos Using Plex

Now a few months in, I can weigh in on how the DIY Sonos project has gone.

The Good:
Controlling the devices with other devices work well.
Responsive volume change from remote control devices

The Bad:
Once the burner phone screen goes off, the iPad (or other remote) loses connection with it. I have to turn the phone screen back on to get the iPad to reconnect for controlling
Utter (what I'm using for the DIY Echo) has a tendency to screw up playback, and I have to disable Utter

The Unexpected:
If I have a track playing on the living room Plex phone, I can use the iPad to pause that track, then connect the iPad to the kitchen Plex phone and resume. This allows room to room streaming. Sure it's not nearly as swift as Sonos, but I'm doing this on a budget of ~$30 (two phones x $12 each, Plex app for ios and Android ~$5)

Update on DIY Amazon Echo

An update to this post
I have two ringer phones in always listening states now. One in my kitchen, the other in my living room. The living room phone is hard wired to speakers and uses the phone's mic/receiver to listen. The kitchen phone is largely novelty at this point due to Bluetooth issues which I will explain at the end.

Since the last post, I installed the apps Utter and Commandr and have been messing around with them to create a more fluid Echo-like experience. Both allow more device-specific features than what Google Now offers. One can control volume and open apps on the phone using voice commands.

Waiting for Alexa: The Case of the DIY Amazon Echo

My Amazon Echo will not arrive until late June. Originally I didn't want one, but after seeing its expansion into controlling Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play Music with just voice commands, I decided to shell the $99 for a Bluetooth speaker that can also set a timer for me without using my hands.

In addition to the DIY Sonos (previous post), I worked on an always listening Google Now setup akin to what the Moto X can do: always listening for the voice trigger.

I created a poor man's Echo. Although this guide is out of date, the idea of command strips was taken from him.

Game Review: Fields of Battle for Fire TV

I love the Fire TV. I have a bare minimum cable tv package, and Kodi's addons have given me access to live and archived shows and movies. I also have it pointed to my NAS for local movies.

When it first came out, Amazon wanted gaming to be an important factor for the device. They released their own branded controller and showcased Sev Zero at the intro.

Since its launch, though, there aren't that many good games for it. Sev Zero is intriguing but then becomes tedious unless you have a Goose on a tablet while you Maverick your way through the aliens.

Recently I installed Fields of Battle, a free paintball FPS. More games like this would keep boosting the AFTV as a serious gaming alternative, supplanting Ouya and the Shield. NBA 2K15 lacks a season mode, so I'll wait for it to be on sale before I buy it.
I don't know how to take screen shots from the FTV, so this brief review will be a wall of text.

The DIY JBOD

The HP N40L Microserver has four hot swap bays, a fifth SATA port that I use for OS, and an eSATA port that can be flipped to a sixth internal SATA drive. I have always had 6-7 drives in it (2.5 laptop drive connected to internal USB header on motherboard)

I have a slew of working, lesser capacity SATA drives sitting in an old Antec atx case.
As mentioned in my DIY Sonos report, I'm cheap. Drobo, QNAP, Synology aren't worth it for me.

So why not a DIY JBOD?

I made one. It works.

Using Phones as DIY Sonos

TL;DR - Just get Plex.

I have spent an unnecessarily unfortunate amount of time trying to achieve a few tech things in my house. For cheap.
For years I used an HP Microserver as an htpc, although its limits of directly playing 1080p video (native) via VGA was the most prominent problem.
Then the Amazon Fire TV (AFTV) came out, and since I have been a Prime member from inception, I gave it a shot.
It's perfect. Netflix has never been a problem as my TV has it built in, even a button on the remote just for Netflix. But now I have Prime video, for what it's worth (not much), and way more importantly: XBMC/Kodi. I consider Kodi to be the perfect solution for the modern media enthusiast.

On the AFTV, I can use the Fire remote, my iPad, or my phone to control Kodi. The Microserver now sits in a different room, resolved to NAS and file serving duties. It streams 1080p just fine to the AFTV over wifi.

So one problem solved: a good, silent HTPC that allowed dubious media and was wife friendly (dubious media meaning Icefilms, Genesis, and the like. Although my wife refuses to watch CAMs and has issues with TS)

The next problem I have dealt with since 2010 is the concept of the "smart speaker," which Sonos has perfected. My parents have a few of the speakers, and it works great for them. I'm too cheap, and wanted an alternative that didn't have restrictions.
In 2010, I used an Asus router with usb capabilities, after seeing this video, to re-flash to linux for streaming. The problems with that option were cache and memory sizes, but another problem that has prevented most fixes: controlling the speaker from a different device. It ultimately failed: great for streaming WYEP and DroneZone, not good for local media on a grand scale.

Mussels in Brussels

(For some reason, the following youtube clip only appears if you click the "Mussels in Brussels" header)
Bourdain ended up at the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit, one of my favorite places:


The Cadieux Cafe (pronounced Ca-dgoo )in Detroit boasts "America's Only Feather Bowling", a Belgian oddity that probably only exists in the old Belgian neighborhood and not in the homeland.

Aside from the hybrid bocce-curling-bowling game, this Belgian cafe really is an old school bar.  Back in 2005, their beer menu exposed me to life beyond the swill of PBR. It launched my ongoing lust for Duvel, the King of Kings.  "The Devil" holds an 8.5% punch and pours a ridiculous head if not done correctly.  Most of the beers on the menu are relatively common at specialty beer stores, only one or two may be hard to come by.

The third interesting finding at the Cadieux is the year-round mussel offering on the menu.  Prices remain fixed throughout the year.  I have yet to find a place that prepares and serves them this way in America.

http://greatlakesgazette.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/3255/

However, mussels dominate this restaurant-dense area of Brussels

View Larger Map


I went to Belgium for the beer and food, as well as the new flight route from Detroit.  Chez Leon caught my eye.  The variety of mussel preparations is worth noting.  Interestingly, the mussel price in Belgium is higher than in Detroit (~$15 US vs ~20 EU).  I ended up at the Leon twice, as they know how to prepare a mussel.
And yes, I tried the Leon beer.  It wasn't remarkable.

For "remarkable", walk around the corner of the Leon to the Delirium Cafe.  2000+ beers.  The menu they hand to you is essentially a bible.  I'm not sure how much money I spent there, and I can't recall everything I sampled.

Two stories that came from my venture to the Delirium: