Dangerous Ground - Proximity Triggers

I love gadgets. But gadgets are expensive, and given that I'm a cheapskate--I don't have many of them. That said, I love to read about them and concoct dream scenarios where said gadgets fall into my lap via conference giveaways or drawings. Today on TechCrunch, Romain Dillet posted an article on Revolv, a device that acts as the connective tissue for all your smart devices so you can connect to one pane of glass from your mobile device to control them. TechCrunch ran a test with the unit that included the Nest thermostat and of more interest to me, the Kwikset bluetooth lock. It's incredibly cool that you can configure the device to add a variety of other smart devices, and going further, create alerts.

And thanks to location sensing, when someone is close to his or her home, Revolv can turn on the heating (Nest), switch on the light (WeMo), unlock the door (Kwikset), etc. It’s as simple as that.

That seemingly innocuous quote made me think of a scene from the season six finale of Smallville titled "Phantom." In that scene a scientist is trapped in a controlled facility with the phantom. Said phantom (a little boy) kills the scientist, and then chillingly drags his lifeless body across the room to get his hand to the biometric scanner so he can exit and face off with our favorite Kryptonian. Proximity triggers for door locks seem like a great convenience, but...that means only your phone needs to be in proximity. Not you. At least there is a physical component there to narrow the threat landscape, but still. I love the technology, and inside my home, I could see setting some triggers up. But for access? Thanks, but no. I'll pass.