Lockitron

Two 'Lockitron' stories June 2013 - September 2013

The iPodFather strikes again: Nest’s rumored next move on the “ugly white plastic crap” in our homes

Nest thermostat versus “ugly white crap” smoke detector

Nest Labs, the high-profile startup created by “father of the iPod” Tony Fadell, is reportedly planning to set its sights on a hi-tech smoke detector, following the successful launch of its Learning Thermostat.

Former WSJ journalist Jessica Lessin cites “people close to the startup” as saying that the new device could go on sale later this year. It’s speculated that the smoke detector would also detect carbon monoxide, and would be offered with a subscription-based monitoring service. More mundanely, it could be silenced simply by waving at it (I’m probably not the only person whose cooking requires the occasional ability to silence a smoke detector …).

And the company doesn’t plan to stop there …
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Tile: Track and find lost items via crowd-sourced iPhone app

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/68719955 w=600&h=338]

I lose things all the time. My keys, wallet, and even my bike somehow find a way to escape my possession at least once or twice a week. Worse, there’s never a great solution to help me find the things I’m looking for. There’s no ‘Find My iPhone’ for a wallet, so whenever it goes missing, I’ll have to sift through my couch cushions or even call up one of my friends to see if I’ve left it at their house.

It’s not really a great solution, and it doesn’t always yield favorable results (like actually finding the item I’m looking for), but it’s the only good way I know how to find something I’ve lost. Recently (yes, recently), I lost my wallet again and I thought to myself that with an app for almost anything nowadays there must be a better way to find things I misplace.

Then I stumbled across Tile. Tile let’s you track items you often misplace using a slim, attachable tracking device and app for iOS. The neat part about Tile is that the iPhone app works via crowd-sourcing. If you lose your bike, for example, and another Tile user happens to be in the area of the Tile on your bike, you will be alerted. Read the press release below for more information: