
Show HN: Sesame, the wireless Mac lock - elmarto755
http://atama.io/sesame.html
======
canistr
At first I thought this was similar to a bike lock so that your Mac can't get
stolen. But that doesn't appear to be what this is. I don't see why simply
"locking" your screen with something as simple as configuring a Hot Corner
(all I do when I leave my Mac is swipe my trackpad to the bottom left) and it
locks the screen. Logging in again isn't a problem no matter where it is. The
fear is that if I'm in a coffee shop, my entire device will be stolen.

~~~
hosh
Yep.

A friend brought up another scenario, where you have to get up fast. If the
Hot Corner is not fast enough, you can always just close the lid.

On the other hand, a fob like that seems unreliable in comparison. Aside from
"steal the fob" (which, arguably, is similar to "steal the Mac, get info from
Mac"), what is the operating envelope? At what range will it shut it down? At
what range will it reactivate? How reliable is it?

~~~
jibberia
You can lock the screen with control-shift-eject (if you have an eject
button).

~~~
canthonytucci
cmd-opt-eject is also an option

Edit: this is actually to sleep the whole machine I think

------
mbreese
I hate to be that guy, but hasn't this idea been around for a while, but using
the bluetooth on your phone? Aside from using Bluetooth 4 (LE), what would the
advantages be to this?

I'd also caution against marketing this as a "Mac lock"... I at first thought
it was going to be an alarm for the physical device, not the OS.

~~~
jotm
Yep, I used it before on Windows - the problem was that the Bluetooth range
was too long :-). But it works great without the need of yet another piece of
hardware on you (that you need to charge I think?).

~~~
networked
I ran into the opposite problem with Bluetooth, although on not-so-recent
hardware. A little while ago I wrote a bunch of shell scripts for Linux to
active Motion [1] on my home computer and laptop whenever I (or rather, my
Bluetooth-equipped phone) was away. It would then record any detected motion
as video and pictures (uploaded offsite in real time in case the computers got
stolen -- that, I thought, was a neat feature) and alert me. In practice the
system ended up producing too many false alarms when it failed to detect my
phone for up to several minutes when I was around and generally had a very
unstable range.

[1]
[http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/bin/view/Motion](http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/bin/view/Motion)

------
eps
Good idea, but presentation is a bit iffish.

First, that the opening title about the coffee thing - I had to re-read that
section twice to realize it wasn't referring to someone getting a refill in a
coffee shop and wondering why the heck would they leave their precious Mac
behind.

Second, I would strongly consider redoing photos that have woman's hand in
them. As odd as it may sound, the nail polish color is annoying and
distracting. It has this old lady feel to it. Also there's something
altogether wrong with the second from the bottom photo, it is just ... gross.

Also, the fob seems to be just a tad too big. I can't help but to compare it
to the Fitbit. That's the baseline for size _and_ it's got the wireless
proximity sync _and_ an incredible battery life. It may not have crypto
support, but there are few simple ways around it (e.g. preloading one-time pad
during paring over a wire).

All in all though - very cool. I'd rather see one project like yours than a
hundred of Jekyll JavaScript icons for MongoDB on Bootstrap or what have you
:)

~~~
marksi
Good comments.

Here's a photograph of fitbit next to Sesame. They're about the same size.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/55147661@N03/10578659116/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/55147661@N03/10578659116/)

~~~
eps
Oh. Well then, yet another reason to redo the photos, to provide a better
sense of scale for the fob as it looks _big_.

------
elmarto755
Software dev here -

First time writing mac software instead of iOS, throws up some interesting new
challenges! Any questions i will do my best to answer!

~~~
ceeK
Looks great! I don't really suffer from the possibility of people snooping
whilst I'm away, but it'd be a great convenience device.

I'm an iOS developer as well, but I haven't delved into OS X development. What
makes the device compatible with newer MBP's but not older ones (i.e. my 2009
model)?

~~~
karlshea
I would imagine it's not compatible because of Bluetooth 4. I had a similar
issue with my MacBook vs iMac using that Authy two-factor authentication app
that was talked about a couple of months ago.

------
pieterhg
I hate to be that guy, but this already exists as a stand-alone iOS app
[http://www.imore.com/iphone-proximity-sensor-locks-mac-
keyca...](http://www.imore.com/iphone-proximity-sensor-locks-mac-keycard-mac)

------
lucb1e
I did this with my phone using a wireless hotspot and some bash scripting.
Basically you're paying 40 euros for closed source hardware that works only
with Mac, when you could do it with some scripts and your smartphone ;)

~~~
eps
To quote form an earlier thread -

 _you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an
FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on
the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be
accessed through built-in software_

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224)

~~~
pyre
You forgot the original:

    
    
      > Apple Releases iPod
    
      No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
    
        - CmdrTaco
    

[http://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-
ip...](http://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod)

------
FWeinb
Why isn't it possible to just use your iPhone or any other Bluetooth (4.0 low
energy) device, they should have a unique mac address and could be used for
something like this.

~~~
techscruggs
I am curious too. It has me looking at apps like:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tokenlock/id402433482?mt=12](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tokenlock/id402433482?mt=12)

How/why is this better?

~~~
marksi
iPhones have this habit of running out of battery. That could be inconvenient.
The battery in the key fob probably lasts on the order of months because
that's its only purpose in life.

~~~
yoda_sl
That's one way of seeing it... Usually when I am at work or work with my Mac
most likely my phone is either with some decent battery % or being charged. So
if I leave for a few min, my phone usually always goes with me thus will work
fine without another device.

I just scan around and there is another app in the Mac AppStore:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keycard/id578513438?mt=12](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keycard/id578513438?mt=12)

And some tutorial: [http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/security/use-your-phone-
to...](http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/security/use-your-phone-to-
automatically-lock-your-mac-when-you-walk-away/)

which reference another open source project -which seems left in the water for
the past few years.

Anyway the concept overall is good but I think I am not the target market: not
really interested to add one more BT devices that I need to carry.

Good luck to the team

------
makeramen
control + shift + eject/power.

But really, I'd prefer this to be an app on my phone instead of a keychain. I
usually walk away from my computer with my phone but I'll leave my keys on my
desk because they're more uncomfortable in my pocket.

------
j_s
Flashback to 2005 and the Security DR 90105 00 PC DEFENDER Wireless Screen
Lock Data Protection. Hope Sesame put more effort into wireless security and
the client software!

[http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Coding4FunSomeAssemblyRequired...](http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Coding4FunSomeAssemblyRequiredUSBWirelessPCLock.aspx)

[http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/PC-Defender-Wireless-
PC...](http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/PC-Defender-Wireless-PC-Screen-
Lock/2066122/product.html)

------
ianbicking
I thought this was going to an alternative to a physical lock, which seemed
impossible, but on my way to click on the link it occurred to me you could
setup the Mac so it sounded an alarm if moved, unless you unlocked it with
your password. Which would be also be a cool idea. (Since I am at a cafe I
guess my mind went more towards physical security.)

------
davidchua
Aside from the other comments that the functionality could already be
replicated with a mobile phone, it would be cool if the device could have some
kind of screen effect as though the machine is powered off. (ie. the power
pendants in the TV series Revolution)

------
james33
This looks cool, but I would really hate to have to always have the device on
me for this to work. I can just as easily hit Control+Shift+Eject to lock the
screen when I get up.

~~~
marksi
I don't have an eject key on my Mac. No DVD drive, no eject.

It goes on the same keyring as my house key.

~~~
hijinks
replace the eject key with the power button and the same key combo locks your
screen

------
seivan
On Mavericks: Just tap the 'shutdown' button. That will turn of the screen and
lock your laptop. Problem solved.

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huhtenberg
This looks like one of the ideas that could be patented all over. Have you
guys done any due diligence on that front?

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andy318
Why isn't this just an iPhone app?

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prawn
Not sure that anyone wants to be updating the battery in something so simple
every few months?

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a_c_s
I fail to see what value this really adds:

If you have a laptop, just close the lid. By default (on a Mac) you have to
log in again when you return.

If you have a desktop, what kind of environment are you going to be in where
you need to guarantee the screen locks when you are away even momentarily?

~~~
cortesoft
Closing the lid will put it to sleep, which is not always what you want to do.

~~~
omonra
Hotcorner screensaver?

~~~
cortesoft
Yes, that is what I use.

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adambom
Got one

