Smartphones replace keys in smart door locks

Smartphones replace keys in smart door locks
Three tourists killed by lightning on Argentina beach
Residents from Kampong Ayer to be relocated
SUPP’s darkest hour looms
Cheap eggs may force smaller farms to close
MCC clarifies issue of over-parking compound

Posted: 09 Jan 2014 06:36 PM PST

LAS VEGAS: Gabriel Bestard-Ribas got tired of his house keys scratching his smartphone in his pocket, so he combined them.

The result was a Goji lock, which senses when a resident's smartphone is near and not only unlocks a door but greets the resident by name.

It's just one of the trends of "smart locks" on display at the Consumer Electronics Show that ends here Friday.

"My keys were always scratching my phone, so I thought why not build them in," said Bestard-Ribas, founder and chief executive of San Francisco startup Goji.

His creation fuses mobile Internet technology with centuries old lock mechanics. A free Goji application installed in smartphones uses Bluetooth connectivity to let the lock know a person is near and, if it is a resident or someone given a "digital key," a personalised welcome message displays and the path is opened.

A camera built into the lock takes a picture of whoever is arriving. Images of visitors as well as alerts regarding entry are relayed to residents' smartphones through home wireless Internet connections.

"It is about allowing you to feel confidence and control over your home access," Bestard-Ribas told AFP. "We have all lost keys or given them to someone who left our sight; we don't know if copies were made."

Temporary digital keys, restricting use to specified time periods, can be emailed to house cleaners, dog walkers, or others who may need to visit homes.

The locks were available for order online at gojiaccess.com at a price of $299 each, and will begin shipping in March.

Veteran lock makers Kwikset and Schlage were also showing off smart locks at CES.

A Kwikset Kevo lock senses when a resident's smartphone is near and then opens when the person touches what appears to be an ordinary deadbolt in a door.

"As long as you have your phone in our pocket, or in your purse, you touch the deadbolt and in about a second it will lock or unlock," said Phil Dumas, president of UniKey, whose technology was built into Kevo.

"It can even tell what side of the door you are on, so you can be on the inside and a bad guy can touch the door and it won't unlock."

Kevo launched late last year at an array of US retailers with an application tailored for iPhones, and UniKey was waiting for a software update from Google to release one compatible with Android-powered handsets.

Schlage's touch-screen deadbolt let people unlock doors to their homes remotely using their smartphones, and featured built-in alarms that shriek if incorrect codes are entered too many times.

Each of the locks provided ways to offer limited access by granting people temporary keys or codes, and promised records of who entered and when delivered to smartphones.

"Your lock is linked to the Wi-Fi of your home, and your home automation system, so you could manage your home from anywhere in the world," Bestard-Ribas said. "This is a really life-changing event that is happening now-a-days."

For folks interested in seeing who is on their doorstep without having to change locks, there was SkyBell.

The Internet Age doorbell connects to the same wires as its simpler predecessors, but has a built in camera and synchs to Wi-Fi to stream real-time video of who is ringing to a resident's smartphone.

It also has motion sensing and night-vision, so it can transmit images even when visitors arrive in darkness, according to SkyBell's Kelly Stewart.

"You can see and hear and talk to them," Stewart said, of visitors both welcome and not. "If a robber is in front of your house the motion-sensor will alert you, or if your daughter tries to sneak in after her curfew."

SkyBell users have the option of capturing screen shots of visitors. SkyBell, launched by the California-based company at CES, is available in the United States at online merchant Amazon.com for $199.- AFP

Three tourists killed by lightning on Argentina beach

Posted: 09 Jan 2014 05:24 PM PST

BUENOS AIRES: Three tourists were killed by lightning and 22 others injured after a storm battered a seaside town in Argentina, officials said Thursday.

Most people on the beach in Villa Gesell, in Buenos Aires province, had already left by the time the storm erupted, local officials said.

The fatalities, aged 17, 19 and 21, and those injured had been seeking shelter under awnings when the storm erupted. After the lightning struck, several victims were ferried away from the scene on sun loungers.

One witness described seeing a "fireball" and hearing a "terrible noise" when the bolt hit.

The vendor at a nearby spa, Osvaldo Garcia, told local television he saw the people who manage the beach awnings fly three or four metres (10-13 feet) and a man "burned to death while travelling in a quad" vehicle.

The injured included six children and 16 adults. Two women were seriously injured and were hospitalized in critical condition.

Many of the injured were treated in hospital for burns.

Villa Gesell is situated on the Atlantic coast, roughly 400 kilometres (249 miles) from Buenos Aires. – AFP

Residents from Kampong Ayer to be relocated

Posted: 09 Jan 2014 04:42 PM PST

Posted on January 10, 2014, Friday

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: To make way for a promenade as part of the "Regeneration of River Eco-Corridor' project in Bandar Seri Begawan; work is currently ongoing to demolish some houses in Kampong Ayer, Brudirect reported.

The development is part of the key strategic planning in the Bandar Seri Begawan Master Plan implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Development

Around 492 residents from 94 houses will be affected by the said project and they will move into their new houses in Kg Katok by tomorrow (January 11). Demolition then will take place once the keys to their new homes are collected from the Housing Development Department.

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SUPP’s darkest hour looms

Posted: 09 Jan 2014 01:34 PM PST

Show-cause letter, branches' deregistration confirmed; party appealing to ROS

KUCHING: Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) secretarygeneral Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian yesterday confirmed receiving a show-cause letter addressed to the party central leadership and two letters to deregister Bekenu and Piasau branches from the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

He said the state Registrar of Societies, Ken Leben, who represented ROS Kuala Lumpur, handed over the letters to him yesterday morning.

"The show-cause letter dated Jan 6 was issued under Section 13(2) of the Societies Act 1966, which requires the party to submit to ROS in Kuala Lumpur the reason or reasons the registration of SUPP should not be cancelled.

"(State ROS) director Ken Leben also handed me two letters addressed to the secretary of Bekenu and Piasau branches with copies to the chairman and treasurer of the two branches concerned. In essence, these letters were to convey that ROS Kuala Lumpur could not accept the replies to the show-cause letters issued to the said branches on June 6, 2013.

"And therefore, the ROS has decided to cancel the registration of Bekenu and Piasau branches with effect from the date the said letters were issued, which is Jan 6, 2014," he said in a press statement here yesterday.

Dr Sim said former chairmen of Bekenu and Piasau branches,Tan Sri Peter Chin and Datuk Sebastian Ting were trying to salvage the two branches.

"As secretary-general of the party and on behalf of the party's central leadership, I assure all SUPP members attached to the former Bekenu and Piasau branches to remain calm and exercise tolerance, patience and understanding during this difficult period.

"All efforts are being made by the former chairmen and their teams of the affected branches concerned to ensure all necessary actions and procedures are duly complied in submitting appeals as required under the Societies Act."

He also informed that all memberships of former Bekenu and Piasau branches remained valid and attached directly with SUPP party central.

"From now onwards, all activities related to members of these former SUPP branches will be directly dealt with by the party central."

On the show-cause letter to the party central leadership, Dr Sim said the party would do whatever it would take to comply with the requirements of the letter and the Societies Act.

He assured all SUPP members that the party central leadership together with other senior leaders would strive to preserve the legal status of the party.

"Therefore, on behalf of the central committee (CC) and central working committee (CWC), I want to appeal for calm, tolerance, patience and understanding from all members during this difficult period of our party's colourful history.

"We have faced adversity before and we have overcome them. I am confident that we can face this one with courage and determination to overcome the challenge."

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Cheap eggs may force smaller farms to close

Posted: 09 Jan 2014 01:02 PM PST

by Johnson K Saai reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on January 10, 2014, Friday

KUCHING: Smaller chicken farms in the state may soon close shop if the significant drop in wholesale price of eggs remains unchanged.

Owners of several farms in Kuching and Samarahan divisions are concerned, lamenting that the price of eggs had dropped to as low as RM5.99 per tray which is way below production cost.

Their spokesperson Chai Yian Foh, who has been in the industry for some 40 years, said the decline in price was due to oversupply by several farmers failing to control production.

"We estimate that two million eggs are being produced daily throughout the state, which is certainly more than what we can consume.

We have no alternative but to sell them at a rate well below production cost in order to reduce the stock.

"We just don't have a better alternative because eggs cannot be stored for long.

They get spoiled very fast and in the end we will lose everything," he said.

Chai, in the company of several other fellow farmers, told reporters thi s when met at Sa rawa k Livestock Breeder's Association premises in Kota Sentosa here yesterday.

He explained that the ideal price of eggs was RM9 per tray because production cost was about RM8 per tray.

However, he said, the price of eggs had dropped drastically over the past few months and this had resulted in almost all farmers registering loses because like it or not they had to sell the commodity at unreasonably low price.

As such, he said that livestock farmers from Kuching and Samarahan divisions were appealing to others in the same industry to consider controlling their daily production so the price of eggs could return to normal.

"The truth is that many bigger farms are producing excessive eggs daily, resulting in over-supply which is not healthy. And we cannot afford to continue making loses," he said, adding that there were about 50 small and big livestock farms in the state.

Their hope, he said, was that the situation would return to normal as soon as possible or else many smaller farms would not be able to sustain their business and would gradually be forced to close down.

"Hopefully, the bigger farms understand our problem. No doubt we have free business policy but we must be realistic in our production. We have to remember that egg is a controlled item and exporting them is prohibited," he added.

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MCC clarifies issue of over-parking compound

Posted: 09 Jan 2014 12:28 PM PST

MIRI: Miri City Council (MCC) yesterday issued a press statement to clarify the fuss about the issuance of over-parking compound notice.

It said the fundamental basis of managing public parking

lots was to enforce ruling that motor vehicles must have sufficient value to meet the prescribed fee for the parking period during which that vehicle is parked.

Thus, over-parking compound notices will be issued to any over-parking of the parking period.

The over-parking compound notices are issued based on the overall over-parking duration during which the motor vehicle has over parked and did not have sufficient value to meet the prescribed fee.

For example, the blue zone parking lot is designated for half and an hour parking duration.

A vehicle owner parked at this area only put a coupon from 9am to 9.30am. However, he/she has not placed another new coupon for the next 30 minutes parking duration.

Thus, the parking attendant will issue the first over-parking compound notice to the vehicle owner.

If the owner still did not display the new coupon, he/she would then be served with the second over-parking compound according to the prescribed fee, and so on.

The parking hours at the council car parking areas have been set from 8am until 5pm (Monday to Thursday) and 8am to 11.45am and 2.15pm to 5pm on Friday.

Motorists who have doubts regarding the over-parking compound can get clarification or to lodge complaints to Miri Parking System Sdn Bhd (authorised contractor) at 085-418734 or 418743.

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