Chat of Things

Bounty!

00:38

8

Q: How to detect the state of "dumb" entertainment equipment?

Scenario After the helpful answers to my last question I got myself a Harmony Hub and it works as I want it to. Basically, it remembers the state of the devices and uses infrared signals to fake the remotes and change to the configured settings when I activate a setup like Watch Fire TV or Watch...

smart-home

Henry WH Hack v2.0

04:12

Site Scope Event

10 hours ago, 2 hours 51 minutes total – 393 messages, 9 users, 66 stars

Bookmarked 1 min ago by Henry WH Hack v2.0

Aurora0001

10:20

Anyone want to write a summary of the site scope event?

Henry WH Hack v2.0

@Aurora0001 Like?

Aurora0001

Well, a list of all the key points raised, etc.

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Cloud Computing?

I have no idea why I always say cloud computing.

Aurora0001

15 hours ago, by Aurora0001

Is cloud computing on-topic?

Read the points after that for the discussion

Seems like yes, if it has relevance to physical devices

Henry WH Hack v2.0

@Aurora0001 Thank You! :)

I am working on a tour video on the site.

So far it's not working out.

Aurora0001

10:32

Good luck with it!

Henry WH Hack v2.0

What are you guys doing to promote le site?

I putted the le in there as a joke^.

Aurora0001

I've shared the site on one subreddit, the openHAB forum and the SmartThings forum

Henry WH Hack v2.0

What was the results?

Aurora0001

Using the site analytics, it seems like they did have some effect

The reddit post got 28 new visitors

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Ok

Aurora0001

10:41

SmartThings got 13

openHAB got 11

I only expect around half of those joined though

And even fewer than that participate

Henry WH Hack v2.0

So not everyone will participate even if there are a member.

Aurora0001

Hence why we have over 600 users, but only 40 'avid users'

27

Internet of Things – iot.stackexchange.com

Beta Q&A site for everyday objects embedded with electronics to be sensed, monitored, and controlled remotely.

Currently in private beta.

40 avid, 625 registered

Henry WH Hack v2.0

That's bad!

Aurora0001

Not unusual

Slightly lower than I would have expected, but not terribly bad

I think about 1/10th being counted as avid is usual

e.g Sitecore = 137/1347

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Well we need that number to grow.

Aurora0001

10:45

Esperanto has a lot more avid users

105/754

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Ok

Aurora0001

It's simply a case of getting the word out to relevant communities though @HenryWHHackv2.0

It'll be easier in public beta - you'll just be able to share good questions

Henry WH Hack v2.0

K

K = "OK"

print K

OK

My tour is not going to well so much bad stuff.

Aurora0001

What problems are you having?

Henry WH Hack v2.0

distractions

bad commenting

@Aurora0001 Take a look at this video for an example it's bad:

Not Really the IOT.SE tour

►

Ok well it starts off good then went off topic.

Aurora0001

10:55

It's not bad!

Henry WH Hack v2.0

I went off topic

Aurora0001

You have far too many chat rooms :P

Henry WH Hack v2.0

The video got off topic at 1:43

VTC that video as off topic.

Well I just have to keep on trying.

@Aurora0001 The event is over you change back the room topic now.

Aurora0001

Oh yeah

Thanks for reminding me

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Well. ;)

Aurora0001

11:03

room topic changed to Chat of Things: General discussion for iot.stackexchange.com [stars]

Henry WH Hack v2.0

You're Welcome! :)

[Event Status: Reopened]

[Event Status: Closed]

What other type of event can we host?

By "we" I meant you.

Aurora0001

Some sites have a weekly event

Aurora0001

11:30

Pretty much every iot question on Stack Overflow is terrible and worth closing

Helmar

12:02

My bounty question got me first a nice question badge and then two down votes - or better a downvote and a retracted up vote

Aurora0001

Wow

How ungrateful :P

Helmar

But we got a new user with a new question :)

Not that it's a particularly good question :/

Aurora0001

Well, it could be good with a little more info

Helmar

Definitely

Aurora0001

Hopefully the author responds and addresses the issue

Helmar

12:37

Yay, I successfully faked a smart device for the Alexa discovery :)

My Pi will be a fake home device in no time

Ghanima

@Helmar thanks for preparing the event and handling the incomming ideas this well... and thanks to @all for contributing and discussing (yesterday everybody seemed to have vanished after its finish)

2

Aurora0001

@Helmar congratulations on getting all the AuroraHats!

Ghanima

@Aurora0001 extreme to the max hatter?

Aurora0001

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/…

You see, it wasn't rigged!

Ghanima

@Aurora0001 not exactly some sort of a proof, but yeah ;)

Aurora0001

12:46

Look, I definitely would not just use this as weak evidence to support my point

user223506

12:57

sooooo..... scientific IoT in or out?

Aurora0001

I think it's probably in

Henry WH Hack v2.0

How much reps do I get for doing tag edits?

Aurora0001

+2 @HenryWHHackv2.0

Just ping me if you need anything approving

Henry WH Hack v2.0

K

Aurora0001

All edits are +2 until you get to 500 rep

user223506

12:59

hmmmm just read your 'event' about scope - definitely not clear

Aurora0001

@Doc that tends to be the case in private beta though, it seems

user223506

so it seems

Aurora0001

The general opinion seemed to be that if the question is primarily about IoT devices, it should be on-topic

Helmar

tag wiki edits are +2 until you reach 2k

user223506

still very dubious

Aurora0001

13:02

@Doc that's true, but the thing is it's hard to just come up with a fully defined scope without lots of questions to test what works and what doesn't

user223506

true, in other news - just got published with a scientific based IoT device

Aurora0001

Congratulations!

Henry WH Hack v2.0

How can I preview tag edits?

Aurora0001

There should be a preview box below

The 'usage guidance' do you mean @HenryWHHackv2.0?

Not the full tag wiki?

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Use

Aurora0001

13:05

That doesn't support any markup

So there's no need to have any preview

user223506

@Aurora0001 thank you - I designed it, tested it and validated it - and it worked

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Ok

Helmar

Damn, Robert overtook me again with suggested edit reviews

Seems he was not completely on vacation after all

user223506

well, just letting you know that there is a growing application of IoT in the sciences

Aurora0001

Honestly I'd be interested in some questions about scientific applications

Keep in mind that if your question has a lot of knowledge required, you'd be best to go to the experts (e.g. Physics.SE)

user223506

13:10

i already do (answering questions at this stage)

user223506

i am fairly good at physics

Aurora0001

I'm certainly not an expert in a lot of more complex topics in physics, although I do enjoy that sort of thing

user223506

phD and all

Aurora0001

What's your field?

user223506

atmospheric radiation

user223506

13:12

image sensor semiconductors

user223506

monitoring and measurement instrumentation

user223506

cat herding

Helmar

So where goes the sensor on the cat?

user223506

you don't want to know

user223506

anyways -gotta go, its past my bedtime - good chatting with you all :)

Aurora0001

13:19

See you later @Doc!

Henry WH Hack v2.0

I wish I had more posts to edit.

Helmar

Congrats for Outspoken Aurora

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Hey I was just looking at that badge! LOL! :D

Helmar

:D

Now I know why Aurora held that event ;)

4

Henry WH Hack v2.0

He wanted the stars! ;)

Helmar

13:36

Only 87 people read the tour page :D

Aurora0001

@Helmar the attraction of the silver badge was too strong!

Helmar

And it's a really elusive one

Henry WH Hack v2.0

"Post 10 messages in chat starred by 10 different users" I don't understand.

Helmar

Because many sites don't even have 10 chat regulars, even less have 10 that regularly star stuff

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Ok

Helmar vs Aurora0001

Helmar

13:44

Hihi, I think Henry just gave it to me too

Outspoken, awarded 53 seconds ago

Henry WH Hack v2.0

@Helmar You're Welcome! :)

Is this a star for star thing?^

Aurora0001

Sounds like a voting ring!

PREPARE THE KICK-MUTE

Helmar

:D

Henry WH Hack v2.0

We need some karate kicks!

Helmar

Anyways, private beta is killing us

We are down to 60 views

And sharing questions links doesn't work because we are private

Aurora0001

13:47

I'm starting to fear that they'll just shut the site down now

Henry WH Hack v2.0

That's what there did to I2P.SE!

Aurora0001

The numbers aren't exactly looking healthy

Helmar

If they do, it was just timing. December launch and dragging private beta over the holidays.

Aurora0001

The true view counter is nearer 50 views/day

Helmar

Two weeks ago we had all sorts of good metrics to go public

Aurora0001

13:48

Perhaps part of the challenge is sustaining the site

Rather than launching too early

Helmar

Private beta is supposed to go one or two weeks, tomorrow I'm getting Enthusiast

Aurora0001

They are a minimum of 3 now aren't they?

Helmar

If it's a minimum of three they knew that that would end up right in the holidays

Aurora0001

Yeah, but extending private betas isn't that rare either

I think we've got to consider promoting a little more right now

Helmar

Yeah

Where do we get some users?

Aurora0001

13:52

The Google Home subreddit might be worth a try

Helmar

Users who don't mind detouring over Area51

Aurora0001

Ideally speaking we want people who are familiar with Stack Exchange at the minute

They're more likely to tolerate the extra work of going through Area 51

Helmar

So we go on a tour through the chat rooms?

Aurora0001

Could do, but it might seem spammy

Are there any questions that overlap with no answers yet?

E.g. if we had a cryptography question with no answer, it wouldn't seem so bad to share that in another room

Helmar

Maybe @Ghanima or @goldilocks can pin something in the Raspberry Pi chat

@Aurora0001 Yeah, that'd be good

Aurora0001

13:55

Still, we have to tread the fine line between sharing and spam

Helmar

True

14

Q: Is there a fully open source platform for IoT presentation and visualization?

I have decided to use the AWS IoT communications platform in order to talk with our sensors. However, when it comes to visualization, I was hoping it wouldn't be necessary to reinvent the wheel. As you can see in the above picture, the IoT framework connects to an application server. My previ...

web-services

Serverfault?

Aurora0001

Probably nowhere else will work

Software Recs maybe, but I doubt they're active

Helmar

Recs has 54% answer rate

Serverfault chat is practically dead

Aurora0001

This chat is relatively active in SE terms

Also, looking at the traffic stats, almost no-one ever looks at meta

Helmar

I know

Aurora0001

14:05

Apparently there were 2 visitors yesterday to the meta site...

Henry WH Hack v2.0

@Aurora0001 Yeah unlike the Sitecore.SE chat room.

Sitecore

General discussion for sitecore.stackexchange.com

Helmar

I just tested it. It's six steps for a non-SE user to get to a question he has the link to.

Aurora0001

Well, actually, given the link only you can't sign up at all

can you?

No

You can't

Helmar

No, you have to click on the Area51 link, then on Visit Site

Then you can sign up

Or login

Aurora0001

So, even though SE stress the importance of sharing, they make it as hard as possible

Helmar

14:12

1. Click on link. / 2. Click on Area51 / 3. Click on Visit site. / 4. Sign Up or In. / [5. Confirm E-Mail] / [6. Confirm Account Creation] / 7. Re-Enter link to question

It's seven even

I guess 4-6 can be skipped for SE users

Not sure about 7 though

Aurora0001

The typical lifecycle is more like this:

1. Get link to site

2. Can't sign up

3. Give up

Helmar

Most likely

Dammit, closed the 10 minute mail tab and now I cannot call for deletion of this guy: iot.stackexchange.com/users/639/sockpuppet

Henry WH Hack v2.0

10minutemail.com?

Helmar

yep

Aurora0001

Ah, you did the same as me :P

Henry WH Hack v2.0

14:16

LOL! :D

Aurora0001

I can't delete Aurora0002 either

Helmar

Fantastic

Henry WH Hack v2.0

@Aurora0001 @Helmar When you guys become mods then you can! :)

I think.

Not Sure

Aurora0001

Yeah, mods can destroy accounts

But still, I might not get the mod position anyway :P

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Don't abusive your powers!

Aurora0001

14:19

I'm still confused as to where that mysterious downvote on my nomination came from

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Why do you guys need a sockpuppet?

Aurora0001

It doesn't really bother me, but I do wish I could know what I've done to upset someone

Helmar

Don't try to decipher down votes on SE sites. Especially not on meta

Aurora0001

@HenryWHHackv2.0 I made Aurora0002 so I could test whether you can create an account without committing

Helmar

@HenryWHHackv2.0 Just wanted to see how fabulous the path to a linked question is for someone not already logged into an SE account

Aurora0001

14:20

Because there would be no point sharing a link that didn't work for other people

Henry WH Hack v2.0

@Aurora0001 You can

Aurora0001

I know that now :P

@Helmar wise words, I suppose. I even got a downvote on SO for an accepted answer, somehow

No comments or other answers

But mine was downvoted for some reason

About 3 months after I posted it, mind you

So I have the 'privilege' of a -1 accepted answer now

Helmar

No badge for that, you need zero scores for tenacious ;)

I posted in Serverfault chat about the web visualization, any other questions we might interest other SE chats in?

Aurora0001

Not sure

This might be on-topic for Web Apps, but their chat is dead:

7

Q: How do I generate a Time-based One-time Password with IFTTT?

I recently registered with IFTTT, which seems like a fantastic service to chain events together in order to create a smart home. I've just found the Maker channel which allows you to make simple HTTP requests (e.g. GET and POST), and I'm hoping to use this to securely send a message to a Raspber...

security ifttt one-time-password

Helmar

Damn

Aurora0001

14:29

Other than that it might be worth just sharing canonical questions which need a better answer @Helmar

Stuff like this:

32

Q: Securing small home automation setup

I have a small home automation lab (that I keep saying I'll expand, but haven't). In this set up, I have a control system to control lights (utilizing the x10 protocol), blinds, a Nest thermostat and two web cams. With the recent record setting DDoS attacks utilizing unsecured IoT devices, I'd l...

security smart-home networking

The answers perhaps need reviewing by some people with more expertise

Helmar

That could be a good one for the SecuritySE, yeah

Aurora0001

I'll stick a bounty on it

Helmar

I'm also thinking about blatantly asking the community building SE what they would suggest for our site

goldilocks

@Helmar I can do that, but is it true that anyone can sign up via the Area 51 -> visit page link? This would be easier than doing email invites.

Aurora0001

@Helmar That could work, especially if you word it in a way that's more about 'how can you drive traffic to an early SE beta'

Helmar

14:32

On the other hand, they've got 23 visitors a day on the main site

@goldilocks Yeah, I tried it

19 mins ago, by Helmar

1. Click on link. / 2. Click on Area51 / 3. Click on Visit site. / 4. Sign Up or In. / [5. Confirm E-Mail] / [6. Confirm Account Creation] / 7. Re-Enter link to question

goldilocks

Cheers, good.

Aurora0001

@Helmar, that security question now has a bounty

Helmar

I guess 4-5 don't apply for people who are already signed in with an SE account

Security.SE chat doesn't seem too deserted

Henry WH Hack v2.0

Ask Ubuntu Chat?

Helmar

Eh, community building SE has zero questions per day

23 visitors, I'm not sure asking there will get me any results about how to promote an SE site properly

Bounty!

14:37

32

Q: Securing small home automation setup

I have a small home automation lab (that I keep saying I'll expand, but haven't). In this set up, I have a control system to control lights (utilizing the x10 protocol), blinds, a Nest thermostat and two web cams. With the recent record setting DDoS attacks utilizing unsecured IoT devices, I'd l...

security smart-home networking

Aurora0001

@Helmar perhaps we should try to bounty stuff more frequently

Like an IoT.SE version of this:

220

Q: Enhance moderation ability by encouraging excellent content

I have a proposal, I've been upholding it for quite a while now, and I'd like to share my efforts with the rest of the high (30k+) reputation users. I found a way to both encourage great content and potentially enhance the number of users contributing to the moderation effort we have. Some of th...

discussion

Even with that bounty I'm at a net positive with rep today

Obviously I can't give away 500 each time, but perhaps +50 every week or two is achievable

Helmar

Yeah, I'm at -7 now, that's certainly not killing me

Aurora0001

Perhaps if we give away +50 away every two weeks (alternating) so that there's one +50 bounty a week, that could be nice

Hopefully the extra rep will encourage people to stick around and do the moderation tasks

Helmar

I think the main problem is that we have no good advertising possibilities as long as we are in private beta.

Henry WH Hack v2.0

I need 4 more reps to get on the top beta users list on area51.SE.

Aurora0001

14:45

Do 2 edits then

Helmar

I guess every user gets an email when we go public. That'd be 600 users that potentially come back

Aurora0001

@HenryWHHackv2.0 Or get 1 question upvote

@Helmar interesting - does anyone know if they do send a beta email out?

Helmar

And we can share good questions which are accessible via one click then

One click, versus seven steps

Aurora0001

Or an inbox notification would also be good

Ghanima

@Aurora0001 but we're lacking content not moderation tbh

Helmar

14:49

Certainly, we need fresh content, the moderation is no problem currently

Aurora0001

Well, it also helps to encourage creating good content, hopefully

But as I keep saying, the biggest issue is views, views, views!

Ghanima

bounties at least attract content (hopefully good)

@Aurora0001 I am viewing, viewing, viewing!

Aurora0001

If we get more views, most of the other problems will start to solve themselves, in theory

@Ghanima Alright then

Unique views, Unique views, Unique views!

Ghanima

55 mins ago, by Helmar

Maybe @Ghanima or @goldilocks can pin something in the Raspberry Pi chat

what are you thinking of? I have shared this site during proposal and when it got beta

the thing is, chat over there is not that lively

ok, nevermind, @goldilocks posted something

Helmar

It was just an idea, and I have no idea how that chat ticks, so I thought you guys know that way better as if I go there and just post stuff.

0

Q: Best practices to promote a private beta SE site

I'm one of the more avid users of the emerging Internet of Things Stackexchange1. With the holidays our private beta has gotten a bit long and we are struggling a bit to re-engage with the pre-holidays user base and getting new users to join and ask questions. What are best practices to foster c...

site-growth user-retention promotion

Aurora0001

14:53

~~@Helmar, I suggested an edit for your community building post~~ already approved

Helmar

Anyways, I'm not putting too much hopes in that question considering their stats

Aurora0001

They do have a couple of dedicated regulars though

Still, if they'll run that site, we should be safe :P

We have about 25% of the number of questions they have already

In about 3% of the time

Helmar

Yeah and we get a mathematical exception when trying to describe our questions per day as product of theirs :D

Henry WH Hack v2.0

in Sandbox, 1 min ago, by Henry WH Hack v2.0

27

Internet of Things – iot.stackexchange.com

Beta Q&A site for everyday objects embedded with electronics to be sensed, monitored, and controlled remotely.

Currently in private beta.

Aurora0001

15:16

@Helmar what are your thoughts on this question?

0

Q: Smart device directly to Amazon AWS IoT without any intermediate connect device like RaspberryPi, etc

It may be noob question. I thought if i have a smart device like wifiLED, i could directly connect to Amazon AWS IoT as a Thing, but by following their documentation, we should have to have connect device like Intel Edison, RaspberryPi,etc. Is there any smart device where it can run Amazon AWS I...

amazon-web-services iot aws-iot smart-device

Is it worth trying to salvage and bring to our site?

Or should we just leave it

I've tried to find stuff that would actually be good to migrate, but there isn't any, really.

The iot tag on SO is really terrible

Helmar

I commented with some questions and dropped a link at the end

Anyways, I think that the general IoT tag is really bad over there

Maybe the aws-iot tag is not as bad

Aurora0001

[aws-iot] isn't great either

Helmar

bummer

Seems smart-device is even worse

Aurora0001

home-automation is not terrible

Also keep an eye on philips-hue, amazon-echo and google-home

Helmar

15:32

Those links all go here ;)

Aurora0001

Can't help that :P

Just highlight "iot.stackexchange" in the URL and replace with "stackoverflow"

Helmar

15:46

3

Q: Amazon Echo to Raspberry Pi

How can we direct a Amazon Echo intent to a private/internal https endpoint? Like a raspberry pi running nodeJS. Using an "Echo Proxy" still requires to have the service accessible from internet (More on Echo Proxy: https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/3blkax/alexa_api_proxy_java/ ) Usi...

raspberry-pi alexa amazon-echo

Just no responses at all

But the solution is quite interesting

Aurora0001

It's quite old though

Helmar

Yeah I know

Aurora0001

16:05

Ghanima seems to be a review queue ninja today

Helmar

Indeed

Aurora0001

Looks like he is

Helmar

Damn, this chat is active :D

Aurora0001

Plus room owners can see deleted messages anyway

Helmar

:D

Ghanima

16:14

'bout time to un-RO the Madnificent

Aurora0001

Don't you dare

Helmar

We can communicate completely in deleted messages

Hm, the consumer tagline is voted better than the power user one

Not sure I like that

Aurora0001

The second one just got buried, that's the trouble

Too many suggestions

Ghanima

yep, that is it

Helmar

Well there were a few people there yesterday and still it only got two votes, that's not that many

Ghanima

16:19

too many

Helmar

Can you guys track tag badges instead of showing the next privilege?

Aurora0001

Nope

I can't track anything at all

It's just blank, because there are no more privileges for me

Helmar

Ok, bug report incoming

Ghanima

?

privs and badges are different things

Aurora0001

You can usually click the cog beside the privilege tracker and switch

Ghanima

16:29

yep

and that's doing that

Helmar

0

Q: Can't switch to tracking tag badge process

On other sites I can choose to track tag badges instead of showing my next privileges. However the little cog to reach that setting is missing on IoT. Is this a private beta thing or a bug?

bug

Ghanima

oh, now I get it

you people could wory about stuff ;)

Aurora0001

I assume someone forgot to turn on a switch

Helmar

Likely

16 meta questions and only 7 on the inquisitive counter—I'm really bad at timing

IoT meta

16:53

1

Q: Can't switch to tracking tag badge progress

On other sites I can choose to track tag badges instead of showing my next privileges. However the little cog to reach that setting is missing on IoT. Is this a private beta thing or a bug?

bug

Site Scope Event

Sitecore

Transcript for