Patrick Filler

Lockitron

For around 300 bucks, Lockitron lets you turn regular doors into awesome doors from the future that can be opened via smartphone or text message. Never again will your keys poke you in the leg when you’re jammed into a full subway car.

I was tempted to ignore the obvious security issues and order this bad boy until I read this:

The Lockitron is currently a “beta” product and as such certain aspects of its operation might, at times, not perform as expected. Some things that we would like to note include wireless range issues, problems working with non-standard or damaged doors and latencies that might occur while unlocking your door.

Turns out the future isn’t here just yet.

(via Matt Haughey)

The Ultimate Car Geek Accessory?

It wasn’t long ago that I was writing about a Zipcar iPhone app that allows customers to use their iPhones as a car key fob. Now, you can have that functionality in your own car.

The Viper SmartStart is a car security system with its own iPhone app. For 500 bucks, you can have a system that makes it possible to lock and unlock the doors, start the car remotely, open the trunk or hit the panic button — all from your iPhone.

Very cool.

(via @ugmonk)

Zipcar’s iPhone App

Zipcar is a service that offers many city dwellers a real alternative to owning their own car. Cars are parked at various locations throughout a city so there’s likely one near where you live or work. You can reserve a car for a few hours - or a few days through their web site. During your reservation window, you use your personal key card to access the vehicle and drive off (no counter paperwork necessary).

When our old Suburban died last year, we looked into using Zipcar instead of buying a replacement car. It wasn’t an easy decision, but there were a number of reasons why Zipcar wasn’t perfect for us. Ultimately, we decided to purchase a new car.

With Zipcar’s recent iphone app release, I’ve been wondering if we didn’t make the wrong choice. The app lets you locate cars and make reservations right from the phone. When you have a car, you can use the phone as a key fob which activates the horn and locks and unlocks the doors. It’s a fun app that provides real added value to the rental experience. It’s these kind of apps that are making the iPhone platform a space companies can’t afford to miss out on.

Update: A new system from Viper makes it possible to add similar functionality to your own car.