In the home of the future, you can skip the keys. Just tap your phone, and presto, your door swings open.在未来的家中,你仍然必须钥匙了。只需轻点手机,转眼间就能关上家门。
A new company with a high-powered designer is the latest one hoping to take that vision to the masses. That company, August, introduced its version of the so-called smart-lock to the public last week.一家名为August,享有极强设计师的新公司于是以期望把这幅愿景带来大众。上周,该公司向公众发售了自己的智能锁住产品。
The lock is the brainchild of CEO Jason Johnson and renowned designer Yves Béhar, who also designed the Jawbone fitness tracker and led the design for the One Laptop Per Child project. August hopes to win the hearts of early adaptors and bring more people to the smart home market, with a design that emphasizes sleek aesthetics and ease-of-use.这种智能锁住是首席执行官杰森o约翰逊和著名设计师伊夫o贝哈尔的杰作,后者还设计过Jawbone健美追踪器,也是“每个孩子一台笔记本”(One Laptop Per Child)项目的总设计师。公司期望凭借这款造型典雅,用于便捷的产品,夺得早期用户的注目,并造就更加多人转入智能家居市场。While people may like the idea of smart homes, according to research firm IHS, only 5.6 million smart platforms have been installed globally. But the number is expected to rise to 44.6 million by 2018.研究公司IHS回应,尽管人们有可能讨厌智能家居这个理念,但全球目前只加装了560万套智能平台。不过到2018年,这个数字未来将会升到4460万。
Smooth and round, August’s lock has the heft of a medallion or a gilded hockey puck and allows users to unlock their doors by using their phones. Customers can also let in a babysitter or a maid by issuing them a temporary wireless key.August智能锁住平滑圆润,重量相等于一枚奖章或一个镀金冰球,用户可以通过手机门口,还能给保姆或家政人员一把临时的无线钥匙。“We’re approaching it as a consumer product rather than a piece of technology” says Béhar.贝哈尔称之为:“我们将其作为消费产品而不是一项技术来研发的。”The lock, which uses Bluetooth, fits smoothly over an old-fashioned door with the help of two screws and some wing flaps so customers can retrofit their doors without altering the appearance. Users open the door by holding their phone app up to the lock or tapping a button on their phone screen.只需两颗螺丝和几个合页,就能精彩地这把用于蓝牙技术的锁住加装在老式门上,而需要转变房门外观。
用户把手机上的应用于对准这把锁住,或是按一下屏幕上的按键就能门口。Skeptics have raised concerns about how well August locks, which cost $249, can hold up under security attacks. Registering for the app requires two layer authentication. But during a recent product demo, the process was slightly buggy and difficult to enter email addresses for Android phones. Johnson defended the company’s security by pointing out there’s also two layers of encryption on the lock.对于这款售价249美元的锁住,所持猜测态度的人担忧它能否很好地抵御安全性反击。登记这款应用于必须两层证书。
但在近期举行的一个样机展示会上,这个登记流程并不那么流畅,而且在安卓手机上输出电子邮件地址时甚有艰难。约翰逊则大力夸赞产品的安全性性能,认为该锁住还有两层加密系统。
August has raised over $10 million in venture capital funding for their lock, one of the early forays into the world of smart home security. It faces a lot of competition from both well-established brands and start-ups. Yale has its own line of smart locks while Kwikset released its smart-lock, Kevo, last year. Meanwhile, start-up Goji plans to release a sleekly designed smart-lock that will take pictures of people who knock on your door and sends it to your door. This lock is August’s first product, but they don’t seem too worried about the competition.作为智能家居安全性领域的早期产品,August公司已为这款智能锁住筹措了多达1000万美元风投。不过它于是以面对来自知名品牌和初创企业的白热化竞争。
耶鲁公司(Yale)就有自己的智能锁住产品线,Kwikset公司去年也发售了自己的智能锁住Kevo。同时,初创公司Goji于是以计划发售一款设计时尚的智能锁住,它能拍到进门人的照片再行零担用户手机上。本文开篇所提及的这款锁住是August公司的首款产品,但该公司或许并不过于担忧白热化的市场竞争态势。
“We’d love to see other people enter this market,” says Johnson. “It helps us if more people start using smart locks.”约翰逊称之为:“我们很乐意看见其它公司转入这个市场。如果更加多人开始用智能锁住,这对我们来说是件好事。”Johnson envisions a world where keys are unnecessary, and speaks of them as jagged and ugly.约翰逊期望未来世界仍然必须钥匙,在他显然,锯齿状的钥匙十分古怪。
“We’re about changing the way you interact with your home.,” he says. “We have keyless cars, why not keyless homes?”他说道:“我们不会转变你和家对话的方式。早已若无钥匙汽车了,为什么无法若无钥匙之家呢?”Johnson won’t go into further specifics about August’s long-term vision, but he did say in less than 90 days, August will be unveiling and shipping a new and complementary product.约翰逊不愿更进一步透漏公司的长年愿景,但他回应,在将近90天后,该公司就将向市场发售一款全新的补足产品。
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