diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/application.js b/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
index 17e366db..9072b3df 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/application.js
@@ -17,3 +17,4 @@
 //= require lib/backbone
 //= require backbone/kandan
 //= require_tree .
+
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/broadcasters/faye.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/broadcasters/faye.js.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0fbf69c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/broadcasters/faye.js.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+class Kandan.Broadcasters.FayeBroadcaster
+
+  constructor: ()->
+    @faye_client = new Faye.Client("/remote/faye")
+    @faye_client.disable('websocket')
+    auth_extension = {
+      outgoing: (message, callback)->
+        if message.channel == "/meta/subscribe"
+          # TODO move fetching auth token to a helper
+          message['ext'] = {auth_token: $.data(document, 'current_user').auth_token}
+        callback(message)
+    }
+    @faye_client.addExtension(auth_extension)
+
+  subscribe: (channel)->
+    console.log "Subscribing to #{channel}"
+    @faye_client.subscribe channel, (data)=>
+      console.log data.user.first_name, "says", data.content
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/kandan.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/kandan.js.coffee
index 6408eb4f..ece7b17e 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/kandan.js.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/kandan.js.coffee
@@ -10,12 +10,40 @@ window.Kandan =
   Collections: {}
   Views:       {}
   Routers:     {}
+  Broadcasters: {}
   init: ->
-    # new Kandan.Routers.Main()
     # Backbone.history.start({pushState: true})
-    chat_area = new Kandan.Views.ChatArea()
-    $('.container').html(chat_area.render().el)
-    # $('.container').append(chat_box)
+    channels = new Kandan.Collections.Channels()
+    channels.fetch({success: ()=>
+
+      chat_area = new Kandan.Views.ChatArea({channels: channels})
+      $('.container').html(chat_area.render().el)
+
+      chatbox = new Kandan.Views.Chatbox()
+      $('.container').append(chatbox.render().el)
+
+      # TODO move this to a helper
+      # can also be done by checking the active tab in the post event in the Chatbox view
+      $('#channels').tabs({
+        select: (event, ui)->
+          channel_id = $("#channels .ui-tabs-panel").eq("#{ui.index}").data('channel_id')
+          console.log "set channelID to", channel_id
+          # TODO move setting current channel ID to a seperate helper
+          $('.chatbox').data('active_channel_id', channel_id)
+      })
+
+      # TODO move broadcast subscription to a helper
+      # TODO change this to use the broadcaster from the settings
+      # TODO set as global to debug. remove later.
+      window.broadcaster = new Kandan.Broadcasters.FayeBroadcaster()
+      for channel in channels.models
+        window.broadcaster.subscribe "/channels/#{channel.get('id')}"
+
+      # TODO move this to a helper
+      $('.chatbox').data('active_channel_id',
+        $("#channels .ui-tabs-panel").eq($('#channels').tabs('option', 'selected')).data('channel_id'))
+    })
+
 
 $(document).ready ->
   Kandan.init()
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatarea.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatarea.js.coffee
index 3454be98..3b04ec96 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatarea.js.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatarea.js.coffee
@@ -3,16 +3,11 @@ class Kandan.Views.ChatArea extends Backbone.View
   template: JST['chatarea']
   # className: 'channels'
 
-  initialize: ()->
-    @channels = new Kandan.Collections.Channels()
 
   render: ->
-    @channels.fetch({success: ()=>
-      $(@el).html(@template({channels: @channels}))
-      for channel in @channels.models
-        view = new Kandan.Views.ListActivities({channel: channel})
-        $(@el).append(view.render().el)
-      $('#channels').tabs()
-    })
+    $(@el).html(@template({channels: @options.channels}))
+    for channel in @options.channels.models
+      view = new Kandan.Views.ListActivities({channel: channel})
+      $(@el).append(view.render().el)
     $(@el).attr('id', 'channels')
     @
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatbox.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatbox.js.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3a461232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/chatbox.js.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+class Kandan.Views.Chatbox extends Backbone.View
+
+  template: JST['chatbox']
+  tagName: 'div'
+  className: 'chatbox-area'
+
+  events:
+    "keypress .chatbox": 'postMessage'
+
+  postMessage: (event)->
+
+    if event.keyCode== 13
+      $chatbox = $(".chatbox")
+      activity = new Kandan.Models.Activity({
+        'content':    $chatbox.val(),
+        'action':     'message',
+        'channel_id': $chatbox.data('active_channel_id')
+      })
+
+      activity.save({success: ()->
+        console.log "posted! enjoy your day"
+      })
+
+
+  render: ()->
+    $(@el).html(@template())
+    @
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/list_activities.js.coffee b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/list_activities.js.coffee
index 30e78134..eea89900 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/list_activities.js.coffee
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/backbone/views/list_activities.js.coffee
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@ class Kandan.Views.ListActivities extends Backbone.View
       activity_view = new Kandan.Views.Activity({activity: activity})
       $(@el).append(activity_view.render().el)
     $(@el).attr('id', "channels-#{@options.channel.get('id')}")
+    $(@el).data('channel_id', @options.channel.get('id'))
     @
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/assets/templates/chatbox.jst.eco b/app/assets/templates/chatbox.jst.eco
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a7a01685
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/templates/chatbox.jst.eco
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<input type="text" class="chatbox"/>
diff --git a/app/controllers/activities_controller.rb b/app/controllers/activities_controller.rb
index b7725a95..b6fe7acb 100644
--- a/app/controllers/activities_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/activities_controller.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ def index
 
   def create
     @activity = Channel.find(params[:channel_id]).activities.build(params[:activity])
+    @activity.user_id = current_user.id if @activity.action == "message"
     if @activity.save
       respond_to do |format|
         format.json { render :json => @activity, :status => :created }
diff --git a/app/models/activity_observer.rb b/app/models/activity_observer.rb
index b2a54873..55ce4aac 100644
--- a/app/models/activity_observer.rb
+++ b/app/models/activity_observer.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 class ActivityObserver < ActiveRecord::Observer
 
   def after_save(activity)
-    faye_channel = "/channels/#{activity.channel.to_param}/messages"
-    Kandan::Config.broadcaster.broadcast(faye_channel, activity.attributes)
+    faye_channel = "/channels/#{activity.channel.to_param}"
+    # TODO move this to a rabl template
+    broadcast_data = activity.attributes.merge({:user => activity.user.attributes})
+    Kandan::Config.broadcaster.broadcast(faye_channel, broadcast_data)
   end
 end
diff --git a/config.ru b/config.ru
index 0d92bdaf..716293d2 100644
--- a/config.ru
+++ b/config.ru
@@ -3,13 +3,35 @@
 require ::File.expand_path('../config/environment',  __FILE__)
 require 'faye'
 
+# TODO move this to the lib dir
+class DeviseAuth
+  def incoming(message, callback)
+    if message['channel'] == "/meta/subscribe"
+      auth_token = message['ext']['auth_token']
+      user = User.find_by_authentication_token(auth_token)
+      if user
+        return callback.call(message) 
+      else
+        message['error'] = "Invalid auth token"
+      end
+    end
+    puts "Message: #{message.inspect}"
+    callback.call(message)
+  end
+
+  #TODO disable publishing by users
+end
+  
+
 faye_server = Faye::RackAdapter.new(:mount => "/faye", :timeout => 5)
+faye_server.add_extension(DeviseAuth.new)
 
 # TODO send pull request to faye to get this fixed
 # by adding a rack_prefix option
 # which should then make the faye server object available
 # via the get_client() method on the server
 
+
 FAYE_CLIENT = faye_server.get_client
 
 faye_server.bind(:subscribe) do |client_id|
@@ -18,6 +40,7 @@ end
 
 faye_server.bind(:disconnect) do |client_id|
   puts "DISCONNECT #{client_id}"
+  User
 end
 
 run Rack::URLMap.new({
diff --git a/lib/broadcasters/faye.rb b/lib/broadcasters/faye.rb
index fafb62a3..a58e0342 100644
--- a/lib/broadcasters/faye.rb
+++ b/lib/broadcasters/faye.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ class Faye
     class << self
       def broadcast(channel, message)
         # NOTE FAYE_CLIENT is set in the config.ru file due to the faye bug
-        if defined?(FAYE_CLIENT) && (not FAYE_CLIENT.nil?)
+        puts "CHECKING TO BEGIN BROADCAST"
+        if defined?(FAYE_CLIENT)
+          puts "BROADCASTING... to #{channel}"
           FAYE_CLIENT.publish channel, message
         else
           puts "OOPS! FAYE_CLIENT is not defined"