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For those of you interested, there was an app called Chirp by Animal Systems that allowed you to transfer messages and shortcodes of hosted media content over a

For those of you interested, there was an app called Chirp by Animal Systems that allowed you to transfer messages and shortcodes of hosted media content over audible frequencies. Despite being rather ear-piercing each time a Chirp was sent, it was still a very interesting principal. I remember reverse engineering the protocol and error correction mechanisms (it was a varient of the Reed-Solomon algorithm iirc) with a friend for a little household "internet of things" that communicated over sound. I still have a few temperature monitoring devices around the house that sing a little tune based on the RE'd code every few hours to report back to my RasPi on home temperature data. Judging by the fact that this was in my GitHub stars list from about a year ago, it looks like I was considering transitioning to something more open. With the right encryption and error correction mechanisms I think this type of technology could be really useful for short-range home iot communication.

natar 9y ago
I remember that app! It sounded so cool but was only available for iOS at the time and when I saw the Android app a few years later by change it was only a weird proof-of-concept where you can transmit folder-icons from within the app to another phone with the app. Mh, looks like they're still around: https://www.chirp.io/ https://www.chirp.io/ I really like the concept, would be really nice to have a functional app one day.
icebraining 9y ago
It's already becoming common. Chromecast has used it since 2014, and I just bought a $30 Wifi camera on Aliexpress that also uses ultrasounds for the initial configuration.
ggerganov 9y ago
It's definitely an interesting concept. I've been playing around myself recently with implementing a simple data-over-sound protocol (nowhere near as advanced as Quiet). If anyone is interested, here is a quick 1 min showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrMQjFGD_MU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrMQjFGD_MU
pavel_lishin 9y ago
Using something that sounds like bird calls - or something else that's pleasant - to transmit data sounds like a pretty neat idea for a smart home. It would expose the otherwise-invisible artificial ecosystem you're living in.
- SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
  Imagine your smart home ecosystem that sounds like the Amazon ecosystem. That sounds like the kind of thing that would actually push me the extra edge to wire my home up.
  - mongol 9y ago
    You mean Amazon as the Amazon river..?
    - crtqt3 9y ago
      The Amazon rainforest you mong
    - pavel_lishin 9y ago
      You know, if I worked at Amazon, I would be very tempted to build something that plays river-and-rainforest sounds to indicate the health status of things. Smoothly running stream? Everything is green. Rapids? Yellow-status; something needs looking into. Waterfall? Something's gone terribly awry. Happily chirping birds? Successful health checkins. Monkeys screeching? Unhealthy result. Jaguar growl? Datacenter is on fire.
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    Until 3am, when auto-installed updates roll out :)
  - jhayward 9y ago
    Back in the mainframe days I spent many late nights in the machine room doing systems janitor work. I could easily identify which workload was running, and what phase, by the ambient noise of disk and tape drives. I can imagine your house chirping and tweeting about, when suddenly you wake from a deep sleep saying "what was that!" when some unusual pattern of sound happens. The pattern matching and decoding portions of our brain never, ever, stop their efforts and are wired deeply in to the survival mechanisms we have.
moreati 9y ago
> I remember reverse engineering the protocol and error correction mechanisms (it was a varient of the Reed-Solomon algorithm iirc) Wow! Do you have a write up, or code? I tried to do the same [1], but got stuck on the error correction [2]. I'd love to get closure. 1. https://github.com/moreati/chirppy https://github.com/moreati/chirppy 2. https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/663643/discover-parameters-of-a-reed-solomon-code-from-its-output https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/663643/discover-par...
- joshumax 9y ago
  I'll see if I can't send something over in a PR or Issue :) I'll have to make sure it's a clean-room implementation, however, to get around legal issues.
  - moreati 9y ago
    Thank you
fullstackwebdev 9y ago
I've been hearing weird short "chirps" on youtube re-broadcasts of my shows on non-licensed accounts. I was wondering if they were weird leaking ultrasond signals (leaking under 22khz) used for advertisement tracking on mobile devices. I turn off my mobile at night now before I watch the shows.

natar 9y ago

I remember that app! It sounded so cool but was only available for iOS at the time and when I saw the Android app a few years later by change it was only a weird proof-of-concept where you can transmit folder-icons from within the app to another phone with the app. Mh, looks like they're still around: https://www.chirp.io/ https://www.chirp.io/ I really like the concept, would be really nice to have a functional app one day.

icebraining 9y ago

It's already becoming common. Chromecast has used it since 2014, and I just bought a $30 Wifi camera on Aliexpress that also uses ultrasounds for the initial configuration.

ggerganov 9y ago

It's definitely an interesting concept. I've been playing around myself recently with implementing a simple data-over-sound protocol (nowhere near as advanced as Quiet). If anyone is interested, here is a quick 1 min showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrMQjFGD_MU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrMQjFGD_MU

pavel_lishin 9y ago

Using something that sounds like bird calls - or something else that's pleasant - to transmit data sounds like a pretty neat idea for a smart home. It would expose the otherwise-invisible artificial ecosystem you're living in.

SimbaOnSteroids 9y ago
Imagine your smart home ecosystem that sounds like the Amazon ecosystem. That sounds like the kind of thing that would actually push me the extra edge to wire my home up.
- mongol 9y ago
  You mean Amazon as the Amazon river..?
  - crtqt3 9y ago
    The Amazon rainforest you mong
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    You know, if I worked at Amazon, I would be very tempted to build something that plays river-and-rainforest sounds to indicate the health status of things. Smoothly running stream? Everything is green. Rapids? Yellow-status; something needs looking into. Waterfall? Something's gone terribly awry. Happily chirping birds? Successful health checkins. Monkeys screeching? Unhealthy result. Jaguar growl? Datacenter is on fire.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  Until 3am, when auto-installed updates roll out :)
- jhayward 9y ago
  Back in the mainframe days I spent many late nights in the machine room doing systems janitor work. I could easily identify which workload was running, and what phase, by the ambient noise of disk and tape drives. I can imagine your house chirping and tweeting about, when suddenly you wake from a deep sleep saying "what was that!" when some unusual pattern of sound happens. The pattern matching and decoding portions of our brain never, ever, stop their efforts and are wired deeply in to the survival mechanisms we have.

moreati 9y ago

> I remember reverse engineering the protocol and error correction mechanisms (it was a varient of the Reed-Solomon algorithm iirc) Wow! Do you have a write up, or code? I tried to do the same [1], but got stuck on the error correction [2]. I'd love to get closure. 1. https://github.com/moreati/chirppy https://github.com/moreati/chirppy 2. https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/663643/discover-parameters-of-a-reed-solomon-code-from-its-output https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/663643/discover-par...

joshumax 9y ago
I'll see if I can't send something over in a PR or Issue :) I'll have to make sure it's a clean-room implementation, however, to get around legal issues.
- moreati 9y ago
  Thank you

fullstackwebdev 9y ago

I've been hearing weird short "chirps" on youtube re-broadcasts of my shows on non-licensed accounts. I was wondering if they were weird leaking ultrasond signals (leaking under 22khz) used for advertisement tracking on mobile devices. I turn off my mobile at night now before I watch the shows.