这款智能锁号称可以让你用手机开关家门，它安全吗？
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在未来的家中，你不再需要钥匙了。只需轻点手机，转眼间就能打开家门。 一家名叫August，拥有超强设计师的新公司正希望把这幅愿景带给大众。上周，该公司向公众推出了自己的智能锁产品。 这种智能锁是首席执行官杰森•约翰逊和知名设计师伊夫•贝哈尔的杰作，后者还设计过Jawbone健身追踪器，也是“每个孩子一台笔记本”（One Laptop Per Child）项目的总设计师。公司希望凭借这款造型优美，使用便利的产品，赢得早期用户的青睐，并带动更多人进入智能家居市场。 研究公司IHS表示，尽管人们可能喜欢智能家居这个理念，但全球目前只安装了560万套智能平台。不过到2018年，这个数字有望升至4460万。 August智能锁光滑圆润，重量相当于一枚奖章或一个镀金冰球，用户可以通过手机开门，还能给保姆或家政人员一把临时的无线钥匙。 贝哈尔称：“我们将其作为消费产品而不是一项技术来开发的。” 只需两颗螺丝和几个合页，就能轻松地这把使用蓝牙技术的锁安装在老式门上，而无需改变房门外观。用户把手机上的应用对准这把锁，或是按一下屏幕上的按键就能开门。 对于这款售价249美元的锁，持怀疑态度的人担心它能否很好地抵挡安全攻击。注册这款应用需要两层认证。但在近期举办的一个样机展示会上，这个注册流程并不那么顺畅，而且在安卓手机上输入电子邮件地址时颇有困难。约翰逊则大力夸赞产品的安全性能，指出该锁还有两层加密系统。 作为智能家居安全领域的早期产品，August公司已为这款智能锁募集了超过1000万美元风投。不过它正面临来自知名品牌和初创企业的激烈竞争。耶鲁公司（Yale）就有自己的智能锁产品线，Kwikset公司去年也推出了自己的智能锁Kevo。同时，初创公司Goji正计划推出一款设计时尚的智能锁，它能拍下敲门人的照片再发到用户手机上。本文开篇所提到的这款锁是August公司的首款产品，但该公司似乎并不太担心激烈的市场竞争态势。 约翰逊称：“我们很乐意看到其它公司进入这个市场。如果更多人开始用智能锁，这对我们来说是件好事。” 约翰逊希望未来世界不再需要钥匙，在他看来，锯齿状的钥匙十分丑陋。 他说：“我们会改变你和家互动的方式。已经有无钥匙汽车了，为什么不能有无钥匙之家呢？” 约翰逊不愿进一步透露公司的长期愿景，但他表示，在不到90天后，该公司就将向市场推出一款全新的补充产品。（财富中文网） 译者：清远 |
In the home of the future, you can skip the keys. Just tap your phone, and presto, your door swings open. 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. 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. 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. 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. “We’re approaching it as a consumer product rather than a piece of technology” says Béhar. 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. 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. 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. “We’d love to see other people enter this market,” says Johnson. “It helps us if more people start using smart locks.” Johnson envisions a world where keys are unnecessary, and speaks of them as jagged and ugly. “We’re about changing the way you interact with your home.,” he says. “We have keyless cars, why not keyless homes?” 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. |
