AMERICAN INSIGHT
American supports entrepreneurialism and small-business growth
through its Innovators Initiative, which focuses onworkingwith startups
and small-business customers toempower their success.
Visit
aa.com/innovators
to learnmore.
T
hedigitaleramakesusnostalgic
forcertain things— likereading
actualbooks,onactualpaper.
Then thereare therituals thatwe’llnev-
ermiss— likegetting lockedout.
August, aSanFrancisco-basedstart-
up,makesasmart lockandhomeaccess
systemcalled theAugustSmartLock.
Itallowsusers tosend“time-restricted
virtualkeys” toanyonewithanAppleor
Androidsmartphone.
That takescareofa laundry listof
issues thatwehumanshavebeendeal-
ingwith for the lastsix thousandyears
(that’show longmechanicalkeys—
August’scorecompetition—havebeen
around) including: lostkeys, aneed to
giveaccess toaneighbororrepairman,
orhidingasparekey.
And then there’sanotherproblem
thatJasonJohnson,August’sco-found-
erandCEO, explains,“Co-founderYves
BeharandIbothexperiencedsituations
in thepastwherewehadgivenkeys
topeopleand theynevergave them
back.Webothhad tomake thedifficult
decisionwhetherornotwewouldrekey
ourdoors.”
The“smart”partof theAugustSmart
Lock is that itadapts toyourbehaviors,
sensesyouapproachingandcanopen
thedoor foryouuponarrival.Digital
keyscanbecreatedandsent toguests
instantly.As for thehardware itself,
itattaches to theexistingdeadbolton
yourdoor.
On theheelsof theAugustSmart
Lock (it’salreadybeingdistributed in
AppleStores,BestBuyandonAmazon
inaddition todirectsalesonaugust.
com), the teamrecentlyreleased the
AugustDoorbellCam,whichallows
users toseeandspeak tovisitorsat the
door, givingyou theability tosafely
screen them fromanywhere.
Anotheralluring factorabout the
Augustproducts is thatyoucancontrol
them fromanywhere, includingan
airplane.Johnsonhimselfonce letan
electrician in from30,000 feetand the
jobwasdoneby the timehe landed.
The future looksbleak for the fake
moonrocksyounowhideyourkeys in.
WrittenbyChrisJohnson,CEO&co-founderof
Uncubed, asmallbusinesspartnerofAmericanAirlines.
SeeUncubed’scoverageof technologyand theironline
skillscoursesat
AUGUST
A farewell togetting lockedout
100
NOVEMBER2015
AMERICANWAY
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Receive10%off
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ifpurchasedwithan
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Discountcanbeusedat
store.august.com, but
doesn’tapply tosmart
lockproducts.
