
Lockitron exceeds $2,000,000 in reservations - idigit
https://lockitron.com/preorder?hn=true
======
nandemo
From <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4699862> (also at the front page
right now):

> _We funded the Lockitron guys back in the summer of '09—that's them at their
> YC interview. A year after YC, they were still figuring out their idea. They
> lived with the Wepay guys and one day the Wepays had a party for their
> investors. By that point the Lockitrons were working on a product to lock
> your door with an iPhone. They were able to impress one of the investors
> with their prototype, and he asked to have 40 installed in some startup
> offices he owned. The founders were psyched, but the commercial locks they
> needed to use cost $500 a pop. They didn't have $20,000 to fulfill an order
> that big. So they went around to the local locksmiths and scrapyards, buying
> broken locks for about $10 each. They fixed them themselves and were able to
> deliver on that order._

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dchichkov
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.

~~~
kami8845
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)

~~~
adgar2
MongoDB is considered a complete joke by most who've programmed a distributed
system.

So.... poor example.

~~~
GauntletWizard
For the first year or so I read about it, I though it was MnogoDB; as in,
Mnogo Nukes. Woulda been a much better name.

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lessnonymous
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 connection, but a deadbolt?

~~~
paulgerhardt
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.

~~~
tedunangst
Changing the lock probably violates your lease. And if you wanted to catch
them entering your apartment without notice, something like a camera that
creates readily identified evidence would be a better idea.

~~~
mikeash
Isn't the whole point of this device that it works with your existing lock?

~~~
tedunangst
I wasn't sure if it can be configured to prohibit key access. How strong is
it? If it can, it's unauthorized. If it can't, it's not keeping your landlord
out.

~~~
mikeash
He said he wanted to know when the landlord came, not keep him out. As far as
I know, it won't even attempt to stop the key from opening the lock, but it
will detect it.

------
mikeknoop
@Lockitron, I recall the original story going: "We decided to host our own
"Kickstarter" because investors did not seem interested and Kickstarter
changed their policies."

I am curious, have you found that investors have changed their tune due to
your successes so far?

~~~
paulgerhardt
I think you're conflating two stories. Eric from Pebble originally went on
Kickstarter because of investor interest. We created our own crowd funding
platform because Kickstarter changed their policies. Both stories are detailed
here: [http://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2012/10/what-goes-
wrong...](http://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2012/10/what-goes-wrong.html)

In both cases, investor interest is a barrier but the core problem seems to be
1) making something people want, 2) finding a platform to tell them it exists,
and 3) being able to deliver it. Kickstarter is wonderful for 2).

------
gigantor
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 lacking the option to increase 30 second
autolock interval.

Add a keypad, make it as rugged as existing locks, place it in the Home Depot
lock aisle beside the other 'uncool' locks and you have a disruptive winner.

~~~
majormajor
Consider everyone who lives in an apartment who doesn't have the option of
replacing their lock (and I wouldn't really want to anyway... I rather prefer
the unchanged external appearance of this product).

IIRC, you can also easily deauthorize users, so it's also the cheapest way I
can think of to retrofit something into being a shared space where you want to
be able to control access going forward.

It's not the perfect lock solution for every use case, but it's a really cool
utility for a lot of purposes.

~~~
lessnonymous
So .. it stops physical keys from working?

~~~
jessaustin
No, it doesn't. Presumably the parent is describing a situation in which a
temporary guest wouldn't receive a physical key at any time, but would have
temporary access through the app.

------
codenerdz
As somebody whose enjoyed a keyless lock in a condo in Hawaii fairly recently
I have few things to say.

* Keyless locks are great

* Depending on a phone is a very limiting requirement.

From my experience, it was a huge relief not to have to carry any
valuables(such as a smartphone or keys) to the beach, because the door had a
4-digit-code lock device. If i had to carry a phone around with me, i would
rather carry a set of keys.

Furthermore, if youre planning to use it for AirBnB and youre expecting that
your tenants will have cell service, youre excluding international travellers
who have just arrived in your town and may not have cell coverage with their
international phones.

What I would like is a code-based lock that would allow me to reset the code
remotely, to add multiple levels of codes, time-limited codes, etc. I would
pay lockitron prices for it.

~~~
diminoten
Lockitron is highly hackable, based on the video. A guy made bananas create
tones based on pushing on them, and that set of tones opened the lock. You'd
buy lockitron at that point as a way to interface with your lock in a more
reliable way than whatever you could throw together.

Secondly, what do you need cell service for when communicating with a device
via bluetooth? Or NFC? Or WiFi? No one's being excluded here except the
unimaginative.

------
refurb
I wonder how strong the actuator is on the device. I know that most deadbolts
don't line up all that great with the hole in the frame and require a lot of
force to actually open and close. I'm sure the actuator is limited in how much
force it can generate.

~~~
abthomson
The Kwikset motorized deadbolts have tapered bolts to help compensate for poor
alignment. I'm not sure why it's not more common with other locks.

------
theatraine
How the device fits over the lock handle reminds me of another device I made
to unlock a door. I had to get into a room to reset a router, however the lock
was a deadbolt, and I didn't know how to pick it. Using a (heavily bent) coat
hanger, I squeezed it through a crack in the top of the door, lowered it with
twine until it grasped the lock handle, and then turned the device with some
more twine (from under the door) and I was in.

Locks that open when the door handle (not a knob) is turned can also be opened
relatively easily with coathangers from under the door. Make sure to consider
all aspects when making secure systems!

------
skeletonjelly
A lot of doubters when this was launched! Albeit not a jetpack, it's exciting
to see the future slowly arrive!

~~~
marvin
If you see the comments here, there are still a LOT of doubters. Which
surprises me a lot, this product is genius. With so much skepticism, if
Lockitron was a stock, I would buy it.

------
justjimmy
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!

~~~
hoprocker
> Then I stopped carrying Ids

I assume you either a) don't drink or b) live in NYC.

~~~
justjimmy
Neither! Never got the acquired taste for alcohol. And I don't live in NYC -
residing in Toronto atm.

------
jaytaylor
Interesting, but this seems similar to the Z-Wave[1]/Schlage Internet-
controlled remote entry systems. I'm not sure what the additional value add is
beyond an iPhone app.

Am I missing something?

[1] <http://www.z-wave.com/modules/ZwaveStart/>

~~~
turtlebits
For Z-wave, you still need a Z-wave gateway/controller, which can cost several
hundred dollars. The Schlage gateway requires a monthly subscription.

------
mattmanser
Congratulations! Now if you can do the same thing for my gas oven, that's the
next 2 mill!

~~~
CKKim
Haha, completely agree with this sentiment. By far the most attractive thing
about this for me is being able to check my phone and immediately assuage that
"Oh shoot! Did I lock the front door?" feeling.

It's something I've been thinking about a solution to for a while. One of
these days I'll get around to making a key cover with a simple mechanical
display of which direction the key was last rotated. Cool idea, right?

------
slashedzero
You know, I was not impressed until I saw the guy playing the bananas to
unlock his door. Now I must have one.

------
ucpete
This is all really great, but my ISP and router situation is not at 100%
uptime and about once a week I need to reset them both. I wouldn't be able to
rely on this completely :/

~~~
tlrobinson
_"If you use an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5, you can enable Lockitron to sense when
you walk up to the door and unlock for you using Bluetooth 4.0. We call it
Sense."_

------
stcredzero
Lots of folks here "just don't get it" and lots of others think this is great.
That is a good sign, startup-wise!

------
holgersindbaek
Big congratulations!

------
dylanrw
Congrats gents. :)

------
austinlyons
Well deserved

------
allbombs
insane!

------
paulhauggis
Is this the same company that was on the Shark tank a few months ago?

~~~
jpb0104
It was <http://www.unikeytech.com/>

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

~~~
ChuckMcM
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 next one. So much
easier to just delete their access code.

I didn't realize quite how much this industry needed to be disrupted until I
went out and added fob based locks to our offices here at Blekko. What I
_want_ is a self contained solution, I know I can hack one together with a few
arduinos and RFID readers and a closet web server type app on a Raspberry pi,
but nobody sells that. And some of the components are poorly documented (as it
the general rule for "security" stuff it seems) for this reason alone I cheer
on the Lockitron guys and look forward to their Enterprise product.

~~~
lotharbot
> _" Suggestion to pg, make it so that accounts cannot post their first
> comment for 24hrs."_

Two problems with this approach:

1) if someone's post happens to make it big on HN and they discover us through
their logs, they can't give feedback while their posts is still on the
frontpage.

2) HN has a long tradition of throwaway accounts [0] being used to give
valuable input in sensitive discussions (abuse, corruption, medical,
financial, family/social, or legally dangerous.) A waiting period means those
contributions won't be made, or at the very least, won't be seen by the
majority of readers.

The price of getting rid of drive-by trolling is that we lose these
contributions. Seems better to just downvote or flag the trolls, and keep the
really excellent stuff.

[0] There are some real gems among
[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=throwaway&#...</a>

~~~
krapp
In this particular case, keeping track of the similarity between posts might
have helped. There's no legitimate reason to post the exact same content
several times that I'm aware of.

Post quoting might end up being an issue though.

~~~
lotharbot
The software auto-kills duplicate posts.

You're probably seeing them because you've turned on showdead.

~~~
krapp
You're right, I did. My mistake then. Still a newb.

