Web storage and collaboration tool Dropio has just put out a useful new way to control who can access files by using Facebook Connect. Called "friend lock," the system uses your list of Facebook friends as a simple directory that you can pick and choose from to create a white list of approved contacts.
Once you've logged in with your Facebook credentials and pick the people who you want to be able to have access, you can fire off invites that show up in their Facebook in-boxes. You can also set it up to publish a note to your Facebook wall whenever you add or update a file within that storage drop (just like it can do with Twitter). Then, if one of your approved friends sees it, he or she can click on it in your news feed to hop right to it.
Here's a quick video of how it works:
This is one of the neater uses of Facebook Connect to come out thus far. Most services that have implemented it have simply used it as a way to let people skip registration and bounce data back to their news feeds. In this case, it's giving users a very high level of control over contact management outside of Facebook's walls.
Lock company Schlage is launching Schlage Link, a suite of products to allow over-the-Web control of a home's locks, lights, and thermostats. It also integrates with Webcams.
Use your mobile phone as a key.
(Credit: Schlage)The new lock is the centerpiece of the system (as we would expect from a lock company). It can be opened by key, with a four-digit code, or through the online and mobile sites. The lock can also alert its owners via a mobile message when it's opened or tampered with (when incorrect codes are entered multiple times in a row).
An online control center lets you program the system to turn on lights when someone enters the house or at certain times, to send your phone photos of your doorway when a door opens, and so on. You can enable and disable specific codes as you wish--useful to give service people access only at certain times, for instance.
There have been several similar home-control and DIY security systems to hit the market in recent years, and none, to my knowledge, has gotten much consumer traction. Schlage General Manager Dwight Gibson thinks that the well-known Schlage brand will help this product succeed where others have failed.
I'm somewhat skeptical, not just because history teaches that having expertise in one technology, i.e. locks, doesn't always translate into another, i.e. Web services (Fortunately, Schlage has a partner, Crayon Interface, in this venture). But I also believe the Schlage product is overpriced. The starter kit with one lock set, one light module, and the home network connector box, costs $299, and the network access costs $12.99 a month. The hardware cost is within the realm of reason, but the monthly fee is usurious, in my opinion.
Sill, if you don't mind shelling out for the hardware and then continuing to pay for Web access, this could be a very useful product for anyone who would like better management of their home's security.
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