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Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

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Re: Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

#51
post #42
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm working with others on a FOSS toolstack that makes it easier to build decentralised systems. Take a look and let me know what you think. http://nymote.org/

All I get is a spinning blue dot. Your site is unfriendly to people who take their security seriously. That's not a good sign.

WFM

Re: Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

#53
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I run it without it having a connection to your servers?

This is pretty much the only important question

It's very important, and the first one I'd be asking if I wasn't a Ninja.

Right now, no. But it's something everyone wants. The main thing standing in the way at the moment is that the rules engine runs in only the cloud, but we will make it run locally as well. It's just a timing/effort thing.

(and open-source will mean others can work towards it too)

Re: Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

#55
post #50
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I get is a spinning blue dot. Your site is unfriendly to people who take their security seriously. That's not a good sign.

Thanks for the feedback. I don't understand your second comment though, how is it 'unfriendly to people who take their security seriously'? You can email me instead, if you prefer.

I'm guessing it doesn't work if you have javascript turned off, due to the unnecessary "splash screen".

It does look like you're addressing the right problems with "Signpost" and "Irminsule". Am currently reading your slides.

Re: Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

#56
post #50
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I get is a spinning blue dot. Your site is unfriendly to people who take their security seriously. That's not a good sign.

Thanks for the feedback. I don't understand your second comment though, how is it 'unfriendly to people who take their security seriously'? You can email me instead, if you prefer.

Pjc50 is correct. Practically every browser exploit over the last decade has had javascript as an essential component. Forcing users to enable javascript to use a site is a bad idea because it makes them more vulnerable. Javascript should be a last resort to provide necessary functionality that is impossible to do in any other way. If you want to use javascript for frills, that's fine as long as the frills don't become obstacles if javascript is disabled.

To put it into perspective, NoScript is the 4th most popular add-on to firefox.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/extensions/?sort=us...

Software like what you are developing needs to be designed with a strong security mindset from the beginning. It is a truism in the industry that security tacked on after the fact never works very well. I was extrapolating from the security naivete of your website design to the likely naivete of your software design.

Re: Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

#57

I'm digging all the new home automation stuff that's been coming out the past few years. I've slowly been starting my own collection of networked sensors and controls, reverse engineering the various protocols, and adding them to a custom dashboard. It's voice controlled (Chrome has a speech input JS API built-in now that makes building that easy), and responds to voice commands with dialogue from Star Trek LCARS res…

Tell us more about this project?

Re: Ninja Sphere: Next Generation Control of Your Environment

#58
post #56
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the feedback. I don't understand your second comment though, how is it 'unfriendly to people who take their security seriously'? You can email me instead, if you prefer.

Pjc50 is correct. Practically every browser exploit over the last decade has had javascript as an essential component. Forcing users to enable javascript to use a site is a bad idea because it makes them more vulnerable. Javascript should be a last resort to provide necessary functionality that is impossible to do in any other way. If you want to use javascript for frills, that's fine as long as the frills don't beco…

Thanks, this is a helpful explanation. The site came from a template and I didn't think too long about the issue you mention (but I agree it's important [1]).

Regarding your final para, please be assured that the folks working on the software are 'best-in-class' and do have a strong security mindset as well as a deep background in internet systems. The software is the output of research work being done in the University of Cambridge and I made the site to try and showcase the work and provide more context around it. The front-end of the site may be lacking but that shouldn't reflect on the software we're making (though I do understand why people extrapolate).

[1] https://github.com/nymote/nymote.github.io/issues/10

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