You may own a car that unlocks the door for you as you approach it with the key in your pocket.  How about your house doing the same thing?

CEPro, the trade magazine for the consumer electronics industry, just did a story about a "smart lock" by Goji.  In place of the round brass deadbolt lock we're all familiar with would instead be a circular disc of  a brushed metal finish with a blue LED display.  The Goji Smart Lock is a smartphone-connected electronic security deadbolt with a built-in camera that sends real-time picture alerts and emails for visual confirmation of who is opening the door.

The device replaces a key with a smartphone, activating the deadbolt lock when the homeowner approaches the door. Homeowners can grant day- and time-specific access privileges to people, for example, to visiting friends and family; service professionals such as contractors, house cleaners and dog walkers; and to short-term renters who use services such as Airbnb. Goji digital keys are encrypted using bank-level encryption and cannot be transferred, stolen or copied like a mechanical key can. In case the homeowner misplaces his phone, Goji offers 24/7 customer service to provide assistance.

To learn more about additional features and safeguards, you will want to check out their brief video that you can access by clicking here.

Homeowners can install it themselves in the place of an existing deadbolt and includes four digital keys and two conventional keys. Programmable fobs are also available.

Anyone who's ever had a newborn sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) knows all too well the anxiety that goes along with such an event.  For the mother in particular, her strong natural urge to bond with her baby is interrupted and limited by her baby's need for specialized medical attention.

One of the most basic desires for the mother is to be able to reassure her baby that she is not far away.  But in NICU, that can be extremely difficult to do.  She knows her baby is in a totally foreign surrounding absent of anything to remind her child of his or her mother.  Unless the hospital is equipped to house mother and child together there will be a great deal of time in which they are separated.  But perhaps technology can help!

Mommy’s Hear™ is a device designed to allow mothers to both see and speak to her baby while in NICU.  With technology borrowed from remote access security systems, this device is located right at the baby's incubator so the parents and family members can see their infant from any remote device like a smart phone or iPad.  This is especially vital in the case of long-term NICU care as with infants born prematurely, for example.

When the parents can't be at the hospital such as while caring for the baby's siblings, the family can talk to their infant at any time, night or day, via the phone or iPad--much like using Skype or FaceTime.  Telling baby "good night," singing a lullaby, or just watching baby awaken in the morning can be so reassuring to newborn and parent alike.

This ability to communicate directly is significant, as recent studies show the introduction of sounds like the mother’s voice reduces cardio-respiratory events common to premature infants.  Not only that, but it can aid in the child’s development while promoting bonding when parents can’t be at the hospital.  And should a family member be a little "under the weather," they can still see and talk to their baby without risking exposing their newborn to infection.

If you're like me, you already have used your smart phone or iPad around your house to stream music, control your DirecTV DVR or remotely control some device you have at home.

Of course, in my business, we create lots of home automation and control systems from manufacturers such as Crestron, Savant and Control4.  Invariably, everyone wants their smart phone or iPad to be programmed as a control device for whichever one of these systems we install.  And honestly, those phones and pads will work VERY well for that purpose.  Now as soon as I say that, let me be quick to add that those will not operate as seamlessly for that purpose as the manufacturer's own branded mobile device.

Still, for ease of use, each of those manufacturers has created apps for those commonly owned media devices for the simple reason that the consumer is already familiar with it and generally keeps them handy.  Those apps work as well as the control system manufacturer can possibly program those phones and tablets to perform that way.  But know that there will always be some kinda glitch--some incompatibility--that the consumer will experience when using their phone or wi-fi pad to control their home automation system.

Here's a good example of what I'm talking about.  Back in the day, you either owned a PC or a Mac.  If you created a document or spreadsheet in one type of platform and emailed it to s0meone who owned the other type of platform, they couldn't even open the thing let alone read it.  One day, the industry smartened up and started creating programs so the two could talk to each other.  Now the two could interface and everyone was happy.  But anyone will tell you that the two don't work together perfectly and your sometimes encounter formatting problems in documents or linkage problems in spreadsheets.

That's the way it is marrying the popular smart technologies with automated systems.  They WILL work and will be quite enjoyable when they do.  But for best results, use the mobile device designed for the product.