

An IoT dashboard - Maakuth
http://dashboard.sidlee.com/

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jsingleton
OK, this is epic. Well done guys! I especially like this:
[https://undo.meteor.com/](https://undo.meteor.com/)

I sometimes worry about the privacy implications of making this data public
but aggregating by hour seems to alleviate some of this. How do you get staff
buy-in? e.g. the undo is effectively a key logger.

I thought monitoring door locks [0], power usage [1] and temperature [2] was
fairly advanced. What are you using for the power monitoring?

\--

[0] [https://unop.uk/dev/spark-core-shower-room-door-
sensor/](https://unop.uk/dev/spark-core-shower-room-door-sensor/) (v2 write-up
with Blinkytape coming soon) [1] [https://unop.uk/dev/raspberry-pi-
electricity-monitor/](https://unop.uk/dev/raspberry-pi-electricity-monitor/)
[2] I use a [https://twitter.com/myjoulo](https://twitter.com/myjoulo) (their
main site is down)

~~~
EvilDavid75
Thanks! [https://undo.meteor.com](https://undo.meteor.com) was a side project
last year that we aggregated into the dashboard. The undo is indeed a key
logger on all Macs at the office. The server only registers the events when
the IP address from the sender matches the office's (so we don't log events
outside of the agency). We're about 30 people at the office, they all know and
trust me. They're all aware of the logger, and it does show in the menubar.
And it really, really, really only logs LeftCommand-Z and sends the first name
from the logged in user + the active app. Looking forward to your sensors btw!

~~~
mfontani
Is the source code for this key logger available somewhere? I'd be interested
in extending it to track Ctrl+C and Esc (heavy Vim user here)!

~~~
EvilDavid75
Here! My first OS X app, and I'm no developer, so probably poorly written.
[https://github.com/SidLeeParis/UndoLogger](https://github.com/SidLeeParis/UndoLogger)

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crivabene
Their YouTube video [0] and GitHub repo [1] are providing some background
details (it's all made with Arduino sensors).

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TioYIJhdaKo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TioYIJhdaKo)

[1]
[https://github.com/SidLeeParis/sidLeeAgenceConnectee](https://github.com/SidLeeParis/sidLeeAgenceConnectee)

~~~
bpg_92
You are the real MVP!

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normloman
I'm sure you worked very hard on this. It looks attractive.

Why would anyone want to know the number of times someone used the stairs at
your office?

~~~
EvilDavid75
Just to clarify: this dashboard was made as a sort of a joke :) The data is
real but our idea was to make something completely uninteresting fun to watch.
We don't use any of the data in a business or cost reduction perspective
(although I have to say that the number of printouts makes me realize we could
be more eco-friendly). Nothing here is a technological achievement per se, the
fact that we brought all this together is what makes it fun.

~~~
midnitewarrior
While well done, this illustrates the pointlessness of the current focus of
IoT applications. Getting a metric on how many times a door is opened, or how
many times the toilet has been flushed has extremely limited usefulness for
most people.

I know you guys are simply using this for illustrative purposes, but I believe
there is an army of developers out there looking to make all this happen...for
what purpose, I do not know!

This design is excellent though, good job.

~~~
normloman
There IS an army of developers waiting to make this happen.

[https://www.myvessyl.com/](https://www.myvessyl.com/)

Look. It's a cup that tells you what you're drinking and records it. Why? I
don't know. To lose weight? Why not just drink water? I don't know!

And it gets stupider from there. We have an obsession here with recording
every little thing. That's great, if that data changes behavior. But some data
just tells you what you already know, and stresses you out.

People in the 1st world have enough data. What we need is clarity! I want to
retreat to a monastery sometimes.

~~~
kirse
Don't forget paper [1] and pencil [2] to go with your cup!

[1] [http://www.fiftythree.com/paper](http://www.fiftythree.com/paper)

[2] [http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil](http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil)

Maybe this tech could be extended to create anti-drug cups en-masse for bars,
or maybe use it for simple safe-water testing? Or what if diabetics could use
it to test for sugar levels? Just speculating, I have no idea how it works
though.

~~~
normloman
These questions were asked when Vessyl made the front page months ago.

1\. It can't detect date rape drugs. 2\. It can't tell if your water is clean.
3\. After detecting what you're drinking, it will tell you on average, how
much sugar that drink has. Maybe that's useful for diabetics. Not sure. But
it's not being marketed to diabetics. It's being marketed to tech people who
like tracking things.

BTW, Love "Pencil". Especially this quote: "An artisanally crafted tool. The
body is milled from a solid piece of premium-grade walnut that has met
rigorous standards for sustainability. Each Pencil has a unique character that
will subtly change with years of use."

Ha. Artisinally crafted. Walnut. Stylus.

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maxtardiveau
You've made Ed Tufte cry... The concept is cool, but the display is terrible.
Black and white, seriously? There is no organization, no drawing attention to
the relevant data (is anything recently changed? Out of the usual range?).
Just a bunch of data thrown at the screen.

Don't give up, but you got some ways to go.

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StavrosK
I love things like these, but I'm worried about the security implications
(even though they're hosted on my own server). I've been thinking about
encrypting the values (I only do TLS now), but you can probably get a lot of
information from traffic analysis alone.

A bigger question is how to send the control signals (e.g. lights/AC on/off)
in a secure manner, so I've devised a protocol that uses ECC keys to sign each
request. The keys are exchanged during an initial pairing process, and then
the client (the thing that controls the lights) knows to trust the controller
(the mobile phone or PC). If you don't have the private key, which is only
ever generated and stored on the device, you can't control anything, so it's
even safe in the clear.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Killjoy :(. I thought the _whole point_ of IoT was to be able to flicker your
neighbour's lights, turn on music on your crush's radio and flush random
toilets remotely.

(I'm only partially joking. Security and fun seem to be mutually exclusive.)

~~~
StavrosK
Unfortunately, some people have a different concept of fun from ours :P

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NicoJuicy
This is a clean looking dashboard! Nicely done. Is it a live demonstration? If
so, what hardware do you use or do you have any blogposts about it?

I'm curious about a lot of things, like how did you integrate this with common
hardware? (eg. the widget with footballs used)

~~~
scrapcode
Seems like a lot of nifty Arduino implementations. At the bottom they give
credit to the work of "Arduino and Server." Edit: ...and at the top it states
"Real time data with Arduino."

~~~
bigx
Yep, 7 arduino ethernet (thanks to all the rj45+poe sockets on the walls in
the agency), 2 spark cores (wifi), around 50 electronical parts (sensors and
stuff), and some programs running on the internal network (cmd+z and printed
sheets measures)

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maelito
Click many times on the switch button in the bottom left, you could get a
reward.

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csmattryder
In the Arduino source, it seems that each sensor has a token that has been
hardcoded into the query to send data to the API.

Wouldn't this make it way too easy for somebody to fudge your data by sending
fake API requests?

~~~
bigx
yes, that was a stupid move, i just removed them

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ChikkaChiChi
What a fantastic tinker tool! You're clearly using a lot of different sensors
for a lot of goofy reasons, but that is the very basis for curiosity!

Well done and thanks for sharing your code!

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pjmlp
> Sorry, we were too lazy to optimize this site for your current browser.
> Please download Chrome for the best viewing experience.

Sorry I am too lazy to care about browser specific web sites.

~~~
EvilDavid75
Fair enough :) Do you mind sharing what's your browser? Trust me, it's been
hard enough to work on Firefox, Chrome, Safari, iOS and Android for a first
try!

~~~
Gmo
I had the same message on my Windows Phone 8.

It actually doesn't show too bad. So I would anyway rewrite this message.

\- First, why absolutely say Chrome ? Especially if it actually works in
Firefox.

\- Second, well, even if I wanted, I can't download Chrome on Windows Phone,
so I would say that you should detect when it's a smartphone and show a
different message then.

\- Third, I can understand that it's a lot of work to support all of those
platforms, so I don't necessarily expect that you fix the issues with Windows
Phone, but that really irritates me when people always advise to download
Chrome. This is not IE 6 times anymore, we should all learn from it :)

~~~
EvilDavid75
New message is up, linking to browsehappy.com :)

~~~
Gmo
Yes, saw the commit on your project, thanks ! :)

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44Aman
People are leaving at 2/3AM? Hope this was an office event!

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__mp
I find it crazy that people leave/come in to the office at 4AM/5AM in the
mornings. Also note the peak in CMD-Z at 12am... :/

~~~
EvilDavid75
Yep. Unfortunately, it happens that we work late. We had a pitch presentation
this morning, creative team working all night :S

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Smushman
All I see on this page in my browser is a pulsing white circle in the middle
of the screen.

HN'ers do you see something else? Is it just me?

~~~
EvilDavid75
We experienced a server crash a few minutes ago, I think your problem is
related. Can you please refresh the page?

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tek-cyb-org
This is totally what IOT NEEDED!~!!!!! Ive always though this. incredible work
guys! how can I contribute?

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consta
Impressive. What kind of sensor was used to determine the goals for table-
football?

~~~
bigx
Arduino + IR beams
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyof9imgl6ps1aq/2015-01-22%2022.32...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyof9imgl6ps1aq/2015-01-22%2022.32.37.jpg?dl=0)

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bgdnpn
2-3 degrees lower would be great for savings and the environment (+ health) :D

~~~
EvilDavid75
And for people working there! To be honest, the sensor is near a radiator,
ambient temperature is hot, but not that much ;)

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efnx
This crashes chrome on iOS. Seems like a cool project though.

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q3k
A prime example of why dashboards are useless. Information that nobody needs
(toilet flushes? ctrl, excuse me, apple-z's?) shown in a shiny way.

~~~
nl
_Information that nobody needs_

Wow.

Toilet flushes: a significant change in the frequency of toilet flushes may
indicate the spread of communicable diseases such as gastroenteritis, or
community health problems like food poisoning.

Apple-z: Clearly someone is having a lot of problems with whatever software
they are using. There is a UX optimisation opportunity there.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _Toilet flushes: a significant change in the frequency of toilet flushes may
> indicate the spread of communicable diseases such as gastroenteritis, or
> community health problems like food poisoning._

Well, you can't learn anything from just a number of today's flushes. With a
proper chart graphing frequency over time and emphasizing changes, sure. But
that's not what you get on the dashboard, at least without clicking. The lone
number is useless.

> _Apple-z: Clearly someone is having a lot of problems with whatever software
> they are using. There is a UX optimisation opportunity there._

Well, maybe. You can't tell from a lone number. Again, the graphs you can find
when you click around could be useful, but not what you get by default.

Information is useless if it doesn't help you make decisions.

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ytechie
Hover over that tile and you get a (+). Click on that, and you can graph by
day/month/year.

~~~
TeMPOraL
I know. But some (most?) of this data should be shown by default if you want
to be able to just glance at the dashboard and learn anything useful.

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Rapzid
Dynamic infographics.. Excellent.

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leuqui
Nicely done. Excellent !

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guindou
Just amazing idea !

