
210
Part II: Home Entertainment
Extensions
This was a big project. But if you’re still not yet satisfied, there are several
ways you can take it a bit further:
• Add additional transmitters to allow different family members to listen
to their own audio sources simultaneously.
• You might want additional feedback when rewinding and fast-for-
warding. TiVo provides “bing” and “bong” sounds when buttons are
pressed; adding similar sounds to Frank would make it much more
fun.
• Use speech synthesis to read news and weather at the press of a but-
ton. Check out the Festival Speech Synthesis System at http://www.cstr.
ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/ and the Speech::Rsynth Perl module at http://
ftp.linux.cz/pub/perl/modules/by-module/Speech/.
• Use the same system to play back your entire digital audio collec-
tion. This is actually much easier than time-shifting live radio. Search
around at Sourceforge, and you’ll find many projects that can help you
do this.
• Set up your own radio station for everyone at the dorm, office, or apart-
ment complex to listen to.
FCC rule 15.215(a) says, ”Unless otherwise stated, there are no restrictions as to
the types of operations permitted under these sections.” So you can play your
music for your neighbors or coworkers, and you don’t have to worry about get-
ting a note from the RIAA.
• Most people do most of their radio listen ...