Hasta La Gadget!

NFC-powered door locks are already a thing, allowing owners of compatible smartphones (or NFC rings) to get into their houses with a tap of their gadgets. But NFC is not the only transfer tech capable of powering a smart lock (plus, if you have to dig your NFC phone out of your bag, that’s not necessarily much quicker than using a traditional key). Well, Unikey has come up with a smart lock system that uses Bluetooth 4.0 to turn compatible smartphones into proximity-sensitive keys.

Their version of the smart lock — called Kevo — doesn’t require the phone to be tapped to the lock. Rather the phone-owner only needs to touch the lock with their finger to gain entry. The crowdfunded Lockitron smart lock also uses Bluetooth 4.0 — but that device is also continually connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, allowing owners to lock or unlock their doors remotely from anywhere. Which may or may not appeal to you, depending on how paranoid/security-conscious you are. Being Bluetooth-only and lacking a continuous hook into your home Wi-Fi, the Kevo smart lock doesn’t support a remote-unlocking use-case. But that does mean you can’t accidentally unlock your door when you’re miles away. The eKey owner has to be standing next to the door to lock or unlock it.

How else does Kevo differ from Lockitron? Its creators have crafted a slightly slicker-looking and smaller smart lock — which also includes a visual coloured LED indicator, so you can confirm by eye that the door has been locked (or unlocked). Kevo’s lock also supports mechanical key rekeying. But it’s also a little more expensive (at least than Lockitron’s reserve price of $179).

In addition to being compatible with iOS devices, the smart lock system works with a dedicated key fob for people who don’t have a phone or other device capable of running the Kevo app (which is currently iOS only). Whatever you’re using as your eKey — i.e. the key fob or iOS device — can remain in your pocket; you only have to tap the lock with a finger to lock or unlock it, as demonstrated in the below video.

Importantly, Unikey says its technology is able to detect whether the authorized user is standing inside or outside the house — which is rather, er, key, in terms of preventing an eKey-less stranger from gaining entry from outside if there happens to be a nearby eKey inside. The company doesn’t go into detail about how they detect exactly where the eKey is located but say their technology is patent-pending.

Aside from enabling people to get in and out of their homes without fumbling around in a bag or pocket for their keys, the Kevo lock supports other features — such as the ability to share multiple eKeys, including single-use keys that can only work within a given period, and also generates a record of when your door is locked and unlocked, and by whom.

On the security side, eKeys can be deleted via a web portal or by signing in to your account on another device in case a smartphone or key fob is lost or stolen. And the system can send you notifications when the door is locked and unlocked.

Compatible iOS devices are the iPhone 4S and 5, the fifth-generation iPod touch, and third-gen or higher iPad and iPad mini. Kevo’s creators say they plan to make the app available for additional platforms once they are able to support Bluetooth 4.0, noting that app development for Android and Blackberry is “currently underway”.

The Kevo lock is currently on pre-order, due to ship in September, with a price tag of $219 from Kwikset in the U.S. The retail package includes one deadbolt, one key fob, two mechanical keys and two smartphone eKeys available for download. Additional eKeys can be provisioned via the Kevo app.

With fewer and fewer computers packing an optical drive, you might be under the impression that the accompanying media is dead. Not if you’re to believe Sony and Panasonic, who are planning to develop a next-gen optical disc with capacity of at least 300GB.

Read more…

Yet more exits for Israeli startups, with the latest two developments a throwback to the hardware and engineering muscle that raised the tech profile of the region in the first place, before the Waze’s of the world got us thinking about Israel as a hotbed of consumer internet companies.

Today, reports leaked out, and we have now confirmed, that Intel has acquired Omek Interactive, a company it had already invested in that makes technology for gesture-based interfaces. At the same time, Israel publication the Calcalist is reporting that Apple is circling around PrimeSense, another developer of gesture-based technology that has been used in Microsoft’s Kinect. Together, the moves could be a sign that gesture-based controls such as those in Microsoft’s Kinect may become even more prevalent.

The Apple/PrimeSense talk, however, appears to be too early, if not altogether inaccurate. The Calcalist’s report notes that this is based around some meetings between the two companies, and that the price for the deal would be around $280 million. But a source at the company described the report as “BS.”

This is “journalist delusion based on unverified and twisted hints,” the source added, also questioning the valuation: “280M? Come on! We’re worth 10 times that. ” Up to now, PrimeSense has raised nearly $30 million from investors that include Gemini Israel Funds, Canaan Partners, Genesis Partners and Silver Lake Partners and bills itself as “giving digital devices the gift of sight.”

Meanwhile, we have contacted Omek, where the person we tracked down on the phone giggled (yes) and then referred us to Intel for any questions.

We have yet to hear back from Intel or investing arm Intel Capital. A post on Harretz notes the deal actually concluded last week. Haaretz has also managed to get a confirmation directly from Intel: “The acquisition of Omek Interactive will help increase Intel’s capabilities in the delivery of more immersive perceptual computing experiences,” the statement says.
Update: Intel has confirmed to me that the transaction has closed. In addition to the same statement it gave Haaretz, an Intel spokesperson added it’s not confirming the value of the deal, and “we are also not disclosing the timelines on future products that integrate this technology.”

The reported value of Intel’s deal for Omek is between $30 million and $50 million. Without actually hearing from Intel on the details, for now there appears to be a few lines of thinking behind why Intel is going beyond being simply a strategic investor. (Omek has raised $13.8 million to date, with $7 million of that coming from Intel Capital.)

The first of these — as explained in a story in VentureBeat, which first reported talks between the two in March of this year — is that Omek may have been in the market to raise more money and that it chose the exit route instead of going it alone.

Another is that Intel wants the technology as part of its bigger moves into 3D visualization and “perceptual computing”, Intel’s catch-all term for gesture, touch, voice, and other AI-style sensory technologies. This is also the subject of a $100 million investment fund Intel launched in April.

And a third is more mundane and cynical, and potentially true regardless of Intel’s wider, more airy ambitions. The blog GeekTime suggests that this is a hardware play: Intel wants Omek for technology that it can embed into chips. The more functionality it can add that will drive new purchases of those chips by device makers, the better:

“The search for worthy power eating technologies to justify the need for yearly chip version upgrades is an integral part of the hardware industries market management strategy,” it writes. “Device companies must be convinced of the need to design their products to support the more expensive vanguard models of the processing world, placing the need for innovation above price point, and even quality in some cases.”

Whether or not the PrimeSense news is accurate, 9to5Mac makes a convincing argument for how the startup’s intellectual property could fit in with other IP at Apple already; and with Apple’s bigger ambitions to develop products that take it further into the living room, specifically with Apple TV.

And that, in the end, seems to be the crux of today’s news as well. However you cut it, and whoever ends up controlling it (in the tech sense), gesture is increasingly coming into focus and will let us get machines to do our bidding with the wave of a hand, or finger, soon.

Do you have a truly innovative product, but need to grab the attention of America’s consumer base? Walmart is ready to give a few talented innovators a leg up on the competition!

Traveling with top-flight innovators is a heady experience under normal
circumstances. However, when you conduct a think-tank 30,000 feet above terra
firma, it’s a whole new ballgame. Such was the case when award-winning
filmmaker and founder of the Webbie Awards, Tiffany Shlain
took to the creative skies with 130 techie-elite from the Silicon
Valley. In fact, there was so much to absorb, it will take her a couple
of months to document her experience on film.