More Nifty Uses for NFC Technology; NFC Enabled Residential Locks

[dgstorm]

[video=youtube;nkBODXyk0S8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkBODXyk0S8&feature=player_detailpage[/video]​

If using your NFC enabled Android smartphone as a digital wallet isn't cool enough, (or seems too scary for now), this next innovation for the technology will either have you extra excited, or extra frightened. Apparently, a company called Yale Locks and Hardware developed an NFC enabled digital residential lock. Basically, you can swipe your smartphone in front of your door-handle to lock or unlock the door, rather than fumble around with keys. There was no word given on pricing or availability, but of course, it's only a matter of time as more smartphones start coming with NFC chips internally.

Although the U.S. has been slow to adopt the many interesting facets of NFC technology, apparently, throughout Asia it is becoming fairly common. What do you guys think? Really cool tech, or recipe for disaster? Here's the full press release below:

Yale Debuts First NFC Door Lock for Homes

Near Field Communication (NFC) employs Mobile Keys platform from parent company Assa Abloy.

LENOIR CITY, TN — Yale Locks & Hardware (Yale® Locks & Hardware), an ASSA ABLOY Group company and a world leader in door hardware for residential and commercial applications, will demonstrate a version of its Yale Real Living locks with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The demonstration will take place at the upcoming CEDIA Expo 2011, September 7-10 in Indianapolis, IN.

The Yale Real Living line is the company’s first locks specifically designed to integrate seamlessly into the digital home.

In adding NFC capability, Yale expects to be the first US brand to offer residential locks with NFC capability. What’s more, this Yale Real Living line will be compatible with the ASSA ABLOY Mobile Keys platform. A scalable secure delivery infrastructure for distribution and management of mobile keys, the ASSA ABLOY Mobile Keys platform allows credentials to be distributed securely through NFC-enabled mobile phones as an alternative to mechanical keys and physical access cards. Consequently, this will be the first line of residential locks that can be unlocked directly using an NFC-enabled mobile phone.

NFC is a short-range wireless communication technology standard that enables the exchange of data between devices up to a 10-centimeter distance. Applications include contactless transactions such as payment and transit ticketing, keys, data transfers including electronic business cards, and access to online digital content.

The mobile keys platform enabled by the NFC technology has already been introduced to the hospitality industry by Yale’s parent company, ASSA ABLOY. In fact, ASSA ABLOY recently completed the first-ever trial of the mobile keys platform at the Clarion Hotel in Stockholm, in which 28 frequent hotel guests were invited to use the technology over an eight-month period. Reaction to the mobile keys platform was overwhelmingly positive.

“From a residential perspective, the mobile phone is ubiquitous,” said Jason Williams, General Manager of Yale Residential. “We use it to make reservations, schedule our day, everything. By incorporating NFC technology into our Yale Real Living locks, we’ve extended the functionality of the mobile phone even further. What’s more, we’ve created a highly secure product that capitalizes on ASSA ABLOY technology that is being extremely well-received in other end-user markets.”

Available with either a sleek capacitive touchscreen or pushbutton key pad, Yale’s new platform of intelligent locks supports both Z-Wave® and ZigBee, allowing them to integrate seamlessly into a wide range of home control and security systems, including Control4, the Vera Z-Wave home control system by Mi Casa Verde, and Alarm.com’s emPower, among others.

Source: DroidMatters

 

[johnomaz]

People, please get someone that knows how to use a touch screen phone. That guy was mashing harder than I've ever seen on a phone. Also, I don't want to have to turn my phone on, open an app and then select which door i want to open. Thats more time than using a key that is already in my hand since I most likely just got out of my car. Plus, how many times have you forgotten your phone at home. How much you wanna bet the lock itself is $500 or more.

 

[GeLopez]

i would pay around 20 usd for it. mostly because i dont see anything wrong with the current key system now days.

 

[NeoPhoenixTE]

You know, at this point, why bother putting chips in the phones? Just put them under our skin and be done with it. Kinda hard to lose your wallet and your keys when it's a part of you.

 

[Sweettooth]

This is quickly becoming a hackers paradise. Soon everything in your life will be digitally controlled. Stealing information, breaking and entering, grand theft auto and the like will require nothing more than cracking/decrypting a few lines of code. How crazy would it be if someone, using their Droid Decepticon 2 stole your car (unlocked and started using NFC), drove to Mcy Deez to buy a number 14, no onions with a Sprint, on you of course using NFC Tap N' Go, then drove to and entered your home (using Android NFC residential locks, went through you or your relatives things, logged into and spammed your favorite sites (using NFC account authentication), left, locking the door on the way out, drove the car back to where it was, turned it off, locked it, and went on thier way. Talk about being digitally violated, the reality is almost more shocking than that amazingly long run-on sentence of mine.

 

[beneharris]

How much you wanna bet the lock itself is $500 or more.

it'll end up being closer to $200 most likely. I'm a yale dealer, and i've not heard of them being this expensive

 

[Raverrevolution]

Has anyone even noticed that apparently an iphone 4 has a nfc chip in it?? That's what the guy is using.

 

[Trusstopher]

This is quickly becoming a hackers paradise. Soon everything in your life will be digitally controlled. Stealing information, breaking and entering, grand theft auto and the like will require nothing more than cracking/decrypting a few lines of code. How crazy would it be if someone, using their Droid Decepticon 2 stole your car (unlocked and started using NFC), drove to Mcy Deez to buy a number 14, no onions with a Sprint, on you of course using NFC Tap N' Go, then drove to and entered your home (using Android NFC residential locks, went through you or your relatives things, logged into and spammed your favorite sites (using NFC account authentication), left, locking the door on the way out, drove the car back to where it was, turned it off, locked it, and went on thier way. Talk about being digitally violated, the reality is almost more shocking than that amazingly long run-on sentence of mine.

That is why you need to include some sort of rolling encryption unlocked with biometrics (and I'm not talking about the gimmicky fingerprint swipe stuff). But in all seriousness, I don't feel like implementing this tech makes us any more vulnerable than we already are, but it does make us think about it more.

I remember reading a "forum" (Reddit, i think) about "the creepiest things a guy has done to impress a girl" and there were actually numerous cases recounted in which a guy who worked as a locksmith or key cutter thought it would be clever/impressive if he memorized the cut of her house key that happens to be sitting in the open, go and cut a duplicate, and give it to her later... the point of all that is, with enough determination, people have always had ways to get into our homes, cars, email, credit cards, and bank accounts if they really wanted to, this would just be another way for people with ill intentions to get at them.

On the other hand, when Snake Plissken pushes the button that sets off the world wide EMP, we will no longer be able to start our cars or get into our houses, but we will have bigger problems at that point anyway.