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Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

lockitron.com

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Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#41

Post by paulgerhardt »

lessnonymous wrote: post #29

This is bananas! Please, someone who has reserved one .. WHY do you need to open your deadbolt from anywhere other than your front door? Do you often find yourself down the street / at work / in an overseas hotel with the need to open the deadbolt? Don't you want to see who's there? Don't you have a second lock built into the knob? It's an interesting idea to control a mechanical object (lock) with an internet connec…

Founder bias here, but...

As someone who lives with three adult roommates who all have S.O.'s we have people in and out all the time.

As someone who lived by himself in college it was nice to know when the landlord came by.

As someone who runs a startup, it provides more benefit than a typical modern access control system without the $3000 price tag.

For American locks, the deadbolt provides most of the security. The handle can usually be loided and is kind of only useful if you're stepping out for a minute to grab the mail and want to shut the door behind you.

For letting someone in remotely, you usually have an idea that they're coming over first. If they were to show up unsolicited, you would likely call first.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#42

Post by kami8845 »

dchichkov wrote: post #11

It really pays to check how ones company name sounds in different languages. Because in some cases connotations could be not even funny :( For example in russian, lockitron sounds very similar to 'lohotron' which translates as con game, scam etc.

This is a non-issue.

Look at MongoDB.

If you want to say "You're a retard" in German you'd say "Du bist ein Mongo". Mongo being short for mongoloid and just as `politically incorrect` as retard is in the English speaking world. If anything the name made the product more memorable for me (and I use it almost every day now)

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#43

Post by kami8845 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #26
gggaaahhh wrote: post #13

So now instead of carrying my keys around I get to carry a phone charger...terrific?

I always wonder about drive-by trolling. Suggestion to pg, make it so that accounts cannot post their first comment for 24hrs. That said, this sort of complaint is not uncommon, I saw a lot of "Gee why not use a hidey hole? or a camo-rock?" and the answer is, of course, that for the use case these folks are targeting divulging the secret hiding space to a temporary renter means you need a new hiding space for the nex…

As long as they're obviously dumbasses I don't mind their just getting down-voted to the bottom. Not much harm done and they'll get `dead`ed before too long.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#44

Post by krapp »

paulgerhardt wrote: post #41
lessnonymous wrote: post #29

This is bananas! Please, someone who has reserved one .. WHY do you need to open your deadbolt from anywhere other than your front door? Do you often find yourself down the street / at work / in an overseas hotel with the need to open the deadbolt? Don't you want to see who's there? Don't you have a second lock built into the knob? It's an interesting idea to control a mechanical object (lock) with an internet connec…

Founder bias here, but... As someone who lives with three adult roommates who all have S.O.'s we have people in and out all the time. As someone who lived by himself in college it was nice to know when the landlord came by. As someone who runs a startup, it provides more benefit than a typical modern access control system without the $3000 price tag. For American locks, the deadbolt provides most of the security. The…

Is it possible to use just the alert features and disable the open/close mechanism? My first impression -- being able to open a deadbolt with a text message seems like a bad idea (sooner or later it has to become hackable) but knowing, remotely, when someone's knocked or used the deadbolt seems really useful.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#45

Post by kwekly »

lessnonymous wrote: post #38
zacharycohn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To answer your questions: 1) Why? Faster than keys. And I might forget my keys, but I won't forget my phone. Also, if a neighbor wants to borrow something, I can let them in remotely and lock the door behind me. 2) No, but I often am not sure if I locked the door or not. Or see the above example with a neighbor. 3) I don't see how that's relevant. If I'm home, I'll walk over and open the door. Or if they yell "It's J…

1. Faster than keys? Wow .. you need faster keys .. it's WAY faster for me to pull my key out of my pocket than my phone. And I don't have to unlock my phone, find the app, launch it and anything else the app needs me to do (PIN?) 1b. That's the most expensive let-in-a-neighbour idea ever. My neighbours have a spare key to my place. If you're going to trust them once, why not just trust them? 2. Again .. a really exp…

The intuitive cynic in me sees a combination of 1b and 2 explaining this:

1b: Many people barely know the name of, let alone trust their neighbours these days. They are turning to the neighbour out of necessity, rather than old-fashioned good will.

2: Perception of hi-tech security, or rather perception of making an effort at security. Just like the gahzillion dollars spent of on body scanners that don't do very much for air plane safety, certainly not in proportion to their cost.

It's hardly the first first-world product that satisfies a want rather than a need.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#46

Post by drags »

lessnonymous wrote: post #29

This is bananas! Please, someone who has reserved one .. WHY do you need to open your deadbolt from anywhere other than your front door? Do you often find yourself down the street / at work / in an overseas hotel with the need to open the deadbolt? Don't you want to see who's there? Don't you have a second lock built into the knob? It's an interesting idea to control a mechanical object (lock) with an internet connec…

Sometimes people come into the office on the weekend. Sometimes they don't realize that they lost their office key until they get to the office (they're never the first one in during the week, for instance). It would be nice if they could text me and I could remotely open the office for them.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#47

Post by prunebeads »

gigantor wrote: post #28

Playing devil's advocate here, but what is the hype surrounding this lock? I bought two 'aesthetic enough' keypad code locks from Home Depot and it' been serving me well since. It doesn't require my phone or launching an app from my phone (think bags of groceries in both hands and you forgot to preunlock), doesn't require Wi-Fi, and I can program temporary codes for Airbnb, etc. within seconds. The only draw back is…

>think bags of groceries in both hands and you forgot to preunlock

If you've got both your hands busy, whichever keylock system is on your door is irrelevant. Only a voice activation system would be Ok.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#48

Post by morsch »

justjimmy wrote: post #22

I've been minimizing the stuff I carry in my pocket for a while now (for every day work). The wallet was the first to go. Then I stopped carrying IDs (I use public transport). Now I'm down to my keys, my phone, a credit card, and a metro pass. The day when all I need is my phone is getting closer!

There's a point to be made here about putting all your eggs in one basket...

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#49

Post by paulgerhardt »

krapp wrote: post #44
paulgerhardt wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Founder bias here, but... As someone who lives with three adult roommates who all have S.O.'s we have people in and out all the time. As someone who lived by himself in college it was nice to know when the landlord came by. As someone who runs a startup, it provides more benefit than a typical modern access control system without the $3000 price tag. For American locks, the deadbolt provides most of the security. The…

Is it possible to use just the alert features and disable the open/close mechanism? My first impression -- being able to open a deadbolt with a text message seems like a bad idea (sooner or later it has to become hackable) but knowing, remotely, when someone's knocked or used the deadbolt seems really useful.

Sure, just cut the wires hooked up to the motor with a pair of snips.

Or get a Twine instead: http://vimeo.com/41895848 Either works.

Re: Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations

#50

Post by jordanthoms »

prunebeads wrote: post #47
gigantor wrote: post #28

Playing devil's advocate here, but what is the hype surrounding this lock? I bought two 'aesthetic enough' keypad code locks from Home Depot and it' been serving me well since. It doesn't require my phone or launching an app from my phone (think bags of groceries in both hands and you forgot to preunlock), doesn't require Wi-Fi, and I can program temporary codes for Airbnb, etc. within seconds. The only draw back is…

>think bags of groceries in both hands and you forgot to preunlock If you've got both your hands busy, whichever keylock system is on your door is irrelevant. Only a voice activation system would be Ok.

Lockitron can unlock based on proximity to a Bluetooth 4.0 phone
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