May 2018 Summaries

The text discusses the integration of Arduino microcontrollers and PubNub's real-time communication platform to enhance the functionality and security of smart home devices, particularly focusing on smart locks. It highlights the increasing popularity of smart locks that allow users to lock and unlock doors remotely, emphasizing their security features against hackers. PubNub's Access Manager is introduced as a robust security framework that provides token-based authorization, enabling fine-tuned access control at user, device, and channel levels for IoT deployments. The text explains how to set up and use Access Manager on a Raspberry Pi to manage a smart lock, detailing the process of granting access and the potential errors for unauthorized attempts. It concludes by noting the simplicity of using PubNub with Python on Raspberry Pi and hints at future enhancements with OAuth 2.0 for increased security.

Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) practices are becoming essential for development teams, with tools like Travis-CI, CircleCI, Drone, and Jenkins enabling small teams to automate code testing and deployment. This approach allows developers to commit code to platforms like GitHub, have it peer-reviewed, automatically tested, built, and deployed, thus ensuring efficient updates. The article explores how to integrate CI/CD with Functions by using the Functions CLI tool, which allows developers to edit code locally, keep it in source control, and manage deployments comfortably. It also outlines setting up Travis-CI with a Functions repository on GitHub, detailing steps for configuring Travis to trigger automatic runs and deployments when changes are pushed to the master branch. The integration requires setting up secret environment variables for authentication and configuring the .travis.yml file to ensure that deployments only occur after successful tests and when a pull request is merged. This process helps manage deployments more efficiently and reduces risks associated with manual updates.

Part 3 of the PubNub series guides users through the process of enhancing a chat application built with PubNub’s AngularJS SDK by adding a real-time user roster. Building upon the previous tutorial that introduced infinite scrolling, this installment focuses on implementing a feature that displays the current online users and updates in real-time as users join or leave the chat room. This involves activating the Presence API in the PubNub admin dashboard and developing a User service to manage the array of online users, which is continuously updated with events such as 'join' and 'leave'. The tutorial further instructs on setting up the user interface for the real-time roster using AngularJS directives, allowing developers to see the user list dynamically update across multiple windows. This comprehensive guide provides not only the steps to integrate these features but also emphasizes the modular approach of adding components to the chat app, akin to assembling Lego blocks.

IoT security has been a critical focus for the past decade, particularly highlighted by incidents like the 2016 Dyn DDoS attack, which exploited vulnerabilities in unsecured IoT devices to create a botnet that disrupted major online services. This attack emphasized the importance of improving IoT security standards, as many devices were compromised due to unchanged default passwords. In response, companies recognized the need for secondary DNS providers and the necessity of changing default passwords, although the latter remains largely within the user's control. PubNub, a data streaming network, has been proactive in addressing IoT security with features like transport layer security (TLS) and AES encryption, enabling secure communication and compliance with regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR. Despite increased competition, PubNub's commitment to security and innovation positions it as a leader in enhancing IoT technology, encouraging further industry advancements by providing reliable and secure solutions.

Microsoft has launched version 3 of its Translator, which integrates with the PubNub platform to enhance language translation capabilities for applications. The new Microsoft Translator BLOCK allows developers to incorporate powerful translation services directly into their data streams using PubNub's Functions and BLOCKS Catalog, facilitating seamless integration of third-party APIs and services. This collaboration enables quick and accurate translation of text and speech into multiple languages without needing additional servers or logic, as all translation occurs within the network. The growing demand for translation services across sectors like e-learning and eCommerce highlights the increasing adoption of multilingual capabilities, particularly within chat interfaces. For developers interested in implementing this technology, a guide is available on building a multilingual translation app using the PubNub ChatEngine and Microsoft Translator.

Functions and AWS Lambda are both event-driven services used to execute code, but they cater to different use cases and scenarios. AWS Lambda is integrated within the AWS ecosystem, allowing event triggers to invoke code and other Amazon services, with users billed based on compute time, making it suitable for scenarios requiring significant processing power. In contrast, PubNub's Functions are specifically invoked by real-time messages or HTTP requests, focusing on in-transit data enrichment with a globally replicated KV Store for data storage. Users are charged per transaction, making it cost-effective for handling real-time data. Functions excel in real-time applications like message translation and validation, while Lambda is best for tasks like generating analytics data and automated log analysis. Both platforms offer serverless deployment, allowing code to be executed globally without the need for managing infrastructure. PubNub's open-source catalog of Functions and AWS Lambda's integration with various services highlight their adaptability, although PubNub emphasizes rapid integration with third-party services.

Capacitive sensors, commonly used in everyday devices like smartphones, operate by detecting changes in electrical charge between two parallel plates, making them effective for touch inputs. This technology leverages the human body's natural capacitance to alter the charge cycle of a circuit, allowing for input detection when a person touches the sensor. Various implementations include surface and projected capacitance methods, with the latter allowing for multi-touch capabilities by using a grid of conductive layers. Capacitive touch technology is extensively utilized not only in smartphones, where it enables virtual keypads and multi-touch interactions, but also in innovative applications like Makey Makey Go, which turns everyday objects into input devices, and in safety devices like SawStop table saws that prevent injuries. Despite its complexity compared to simple switches, capacitive sensing excels in specific applications and enhances the functionality and user experience of modern touch devices.