Interesting Ideas: "Knock to Unlock" software...
I've been using this for a little over a week now and while it does have some issues with the LE Bluetooth connection to my phone (iPhone5), periodically causing me to quit and relaunch both apps (on the Mac and iPhone)... I gotta admit, it's pretty awesome when it works.
There is about a 10 second lag from when I open up my rMBP in sleep mode to when I am able to knock on my phone (yes, I timed it), but it actually seems much shorter than that. I imagine this would be quite handy for folks out there with iMacs that are always on, locked, with a screen saver. When my computer is sitting there, locked and at the ready? It works like a charm with no wait whatsoever.
Other things I noticed:
- People out there flipping out about knocking on an iPhone clearly don't own one. You'd think they were hitting it with a damn baseball bat instead of the knuckles on your hand! Please calm down. You don't have to knock that hard at all for it to work.
- The initial setup is a breeze once your computer recognizes and pairs with your phone.
- True to their site description, your phone's battery life doesn't take a hit at all. It is one of the first interesting (and awesome) uses of Bluetooth LE that I've seen to date.
- Check out their site: knocktounlock.com, there's some fun stuff going on in there.
- Before you buy, make sure your computer and phone are compatible!
- If, for whatever reason, your computer doesn't find your phone via BT, don't worry, you can still type your password in. Though that admittedly will make you snicker and doubt your purchase.
- If this app doesn't make you hunger for the day that NFC (near field communication) proliferates our lives and devices a bit more, I don't know what will.
I really hope they continue development for this fun idea! As I said, when it works it's a lot of fun to watch (not to mention it's a legit time-saver)!