Story Of My Life...

 

Contact-Less User Interfaces Are Becoming A Part Of Our New Future - Part 1

As we progress toward a more contact-less future, given the current precarious situation we find ourselves facing, with the pandemic today causing upheaval to our daily lives....

We decided to share a new post to discuss some contact-less options that already exist in today's world and articles that we have written over the last 10 years or so.


Voice control is one area that we have embraced in recent years with the advent of Google Voice, Home, Amazon Alexa, Echo etc among other offerings.

Below find a number of articles that we have written, that provide some interesting reading about some of the options already available to us. Some of the products listed below do not exist anymore but talented researchers are constantly creating new and improved products that might help us progress through this new world...

Locksmith Ripoffs - Continue To Plague The Wider Locksmith Industry Worldwide

We have written about the Locksmith Scammers that infiltrate the locksmith industry, for many years now (see some of our articles here).

Above, you can find a recent in-depth hidden camera investigation produced by a Canadian news station, that shows these fraudsters are still ramping up their nefarious activities in North America.

It is becoming significantly more expensive to market a locksmith business worldwide, especially if you wish to compete fairly through the search engine mediums.

Multiple lawsuits including class-action litigations have been dismissed against search engine monoliths when judiciaries find the defenders attorneys claimed  the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. SubSection230) describes how search engines and other advertising mediums are protected under USA Laws.

This, unfortunately means that the search engines are NOT responsible for what an advertiser might publish in their medium. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to be truthful in all its advertising.

This defense forms the precedent that defends any/all advertising mediums from culpability and transparency.

The video above shows some companies ripping off (would-be) consumers, using sub-standard methods and over-charging (bait and switch) for services rendered.

The decision handed down by the United States Court Of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, forms the precedent that protects advertising mediums/search engines from prosecution.
(see case).

When you decide that you need the services of a locksmith, it is up to you, the customer to be diligent in choosing your provider. Just because a company might enjoy many incredible reviews online, how can you be assured that these reviews are genuine? In reality you cannot. But often, third party sites like lead generation mediums, can provide customer reviews that are legitimate and checkable, because they are on the third party sites.

Many consumers today, refuse to spend sufficient time to research the appropriate trade service company to service their needs and will often use the top listed advertiser in their search results online. Realizing that most of the legitimate companies, the ones that provide legitimate professional services, are concerned about their reputations, often do not have the resources to pay for top listing on search engines. Meaning, they wont often be found higher in search. As such, they rarely compete with the higher paying advertisers. Naturally, these advertisers who pay more to be listed higher, have to charge more for their offered services, often significantly higher prices than they advertise.

The original story can be found in the source below.


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Smart Speakers Are All The Rage Today Except....

We have written numerous articles over the last 12 years about locks, lock systems, safes, master key systems, doors, repair techniques etc.

Curiously, smart speakers like those offered by Amazon, Google and others have certainly made many of our lives significantly easier but they are found wanting too, as the above video, comediclee shows,

We posted the above video to our social networking pages and are seeing increasing views and likes from our viewers.

It does bring up a topical discussion though and one we feel is important to our readers here too.

Some of the articles we have written about new age smart locks can be seen here

In the above video, the man returns home only being unable to gain entry. Smart locks, for all their good intentions, suffer from many issues that should be considered prior to purchase.

Issues that can include:

• Poor Battery Life
• Weathering
• Low Security
• Hardware Failure
• Increasing Insurance Premiums

Poor Battery Life

Many of today's smart locks operate using 4 AA batteries. We suspect manufacturers decided to use these low power systems due to their extremely cheap price points. 

I find repeatedly, customers often calling for locksmith services where their batteries have failed and they either do not have their mechanical over ride key available or their product has no mechanical key over ride function

It's not just digital smart locks. We are also seeing increasing calls to open safes, where battery failure is a common symptom. Often there are additional issues besides poor battery life including internal wiring not lasting or corroding that contribute to other issues where just replacing dead batteries may seem like a simple fix.

Weathering

Weathering is another common pitfall that occurs repeatedly with battery operated smart locks. Often, once installed the lock will operate efficiently for sometimes 3 months before the user may need to replace batteries. But even correctly installed locks suffer from earth movements that affect the correct alignment of doors into their frames. This will often make operating the deadbolt too difficult for the motor inside the product to correctly throw the bolt. People may leave their homes expecting their door to lock behind them automatically, whereas they are often unaware that the product failed to adequately lock and secure their doors.

Other weathering issues rarely considered include, many digital smart locks are installed to external doors or prime entry doors, Sure the batteries might be on the inside but the keypad will be outside and naturally affected by changing weather. In some regions high humidity can cause internal  components to attract condensation. The water can make internal electrical components to short circuit. Also, when the weather patterns change to cold conditions, the freezing air and rain etc can cause batteries to wear down faster.

Low Security

Many manufacturers, to compete in the global marketplace, decided to use lightweight materials in the construction of their products. Security and access control are some of the reasons some people choose battery operated lock systems. Why anyone who cares about their families security and peace of mind, would choose to spend ~$195+ for a poor quality digital door lock, that is designed to fail within (often) 2 years, puzzles me!

Remembering that it is often all about price, how much is the security and ease of use worth to you?

Often consumers may spend hundreds of dollars on clothes and shoes or thousands of dollars on furniture, electronics or art only to secure their homes with cheap lock systems, It doesnt make any logical sense.

Hardware Failure

Like mentioned above, "the pain of poor quality lasts longer than the pleasure, cheap price provides"

Or

"if you only want to pay peanuts expect to get monkeys"

Consulting your local trained professional locksmith before purchasing locks or other door hardware would be your best approach, in my opinion. Locksmiths have deliberately chosen to train to provide customers with quality offerings aimed at making your lives easier and secure.

You trust your mechanic to fix your car, You trust your electrician to keep your lights working. You trust your plumber to keep the water flowing. Doesnt it make perfect sense to trust your locksmith to keep your home secure?

Increasing Insurance Premiums

An often overlooked issue that many purchasers of digital door locks rarely consider is how installing a digital door lock might affect the amount of insurance you pay.

A number of companies including Walmart, Amazon and others are embarking on delivering groceries and purchases made online to homes and entering your homes to deliver, stock the fridge etc. These new services are attempts to deal with the porch theft phenomena that has resulted in recent years with the expanding delivery markets, While this practise might be considered more secure and more convenient, are you really willing to open your private abode to persons you dont know?

Insurance companies are salivating at the opportunities presented by allowing access to your private dwellings from people who "don't belong".

Also, many digital door lock users will give each user a code. How sure are you that any person is not sharing a code? How would you know if someone who is not authorized, enters your home?

Mechanical keys provide much more immediate security than digital locks because you must have and use a key to operate your lock. Besides the significantly cheaper cost of mechanical products, no requirement to replace batteries ever, even the ease to lock your door if weather affects your installation, you are better protected by using a key to access your property.

This article is primarily about digital battery operated products. Many commercial systems are significantly more expensive for good reason. They are made with higher quality components, often use stronger batteries or are hard wired to mains power. You see many commercial installations that use card/fob access control systems where you simply present your credential to a user interface. These are deliberately hard wired systems, because they last much longer and work continuously without having to maintain batteries.

2 Factor Authentication - Google, Amazon, Facebook Offer Improved Security To Protect Your Data

What Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) Is - And How to Enable It


The large internet companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook, have been busy the last couple of years designing new security protocols in the wake of a number of much publicised data-breaches that have affected millions of people across the world.

2 factor authentication is not a new concept, however an increasing number of security system providers have been including new high-security initiatives, aimed at securing our individual and collective data from the prying eyes of cyber crooks.

You may or may not have been affected by a cyber-security breach, in recent times. Credit card companies, banks, even department stores have fallen prey to cyber-criminals, who have stolen private credit data, social security numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, email addresses etc among other personal details.

Some people have discovered that their credit ratings have been severely affected by these crooks, even to the point that they cannot even access their own private details. Criminals have found simple ways to be able to lock you out of your own accounts.

A great many users operate an email account using the popular Gmail system, but apparently less than 10% of Gmail users, adequately protect their addresses with multi-factor authentication

 This is proving to be a large factor affecting far too many people. Many new security products, alarm systems, door locks etc are introducing multi-factor authentication protocols to better protect users of their modern products.

Tom's Guide provide an article on how to set up 2 factor authentication with various large online companies. Check out their link to learn more.

The main reason we decided to include this article here, is due to us learning that behemoths like Google are introducing physical security keys to assist with multi-factor authentication procedures. This especially interests us because companies like Google have been instrumental, the last 10-15 years in designing and building electronic "keyless" products aimed at simplifying our lives, That they realize (what we) physical security product providers have been saying for so long, is almost a testament to the benefits that physical security products provide, over and beyond many electronic products.

The source below, provides another link to a Tom's Guide article that peaked our interest and propelled us to write this article.

You dont have to purchase your security key from Google. There are other providers.

If you like to be able to protect your data from the chance of being "hacked", perhaps altering your procedures for "logging in" to your portals should be a worthwile consideration.

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Codelocks CL5510 - New Product Shines Where Others Dont

Codelocks 5510 appears to (me, to) be the bees knees for Smart Locks.

This digital wireless product answers virtually all the checkboxes when it comes to entry options (except WiFi/LAN Controller)

You can use the codepad, a key, a cellphone or even a proximity card/tag, providing up to 350 individual users with access using one of the credentials.

Also, the use of Netcodes offers management the ability to provide timed access on the fly. That means that a manager can send a code by text to a users cellphone to grant them access for a limited (programmed) time. Click on the link above to learn more about using NetCodes.

Using the K3 Connect app, which is available in both IOS and Android, allows bluetooth featured cellphones to access the lock.

The added convenience for managers and security personnel using Audit Trail, allows for instant recognition of which credential was used at what time.

The product complies with ANSI Grade 2 specification. Grade 2 is often considered heavy duty residential/light duty commercial quality but often in a commercial setting Grade 2 hardware will perform like a Grade 1, but is significantly more competitively priced.

The product is not cheap, but quality products are worth more than the other garbage in the market.
Codelocks are a sought after product offering by many locksmiths and security hardware providers across the world.
For more details click the source below.


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AI Powered 3D Security Camera Manufacturer Closes Down

Back in mid 2017, a new company formed to produce and sell an ambitious new product called the Lighthouse AI Security Camera.

Well known former Google manager Andy Rubin was instrumental in the development of this technology.

Well, another one bites the dust....

The company just announced that they are closing due to insufficient sales orders of the revolutionary product.


Originally the company claimed...

The camera is powered by AI and a 3D sensor that can supposedly distinguish people from pets and recognize faces. Its onboard laser (similar to the 3D sensing devices used by self-driving cars) can measure the structure of what it sees and therefore differentiate objects and people from one another. Because of this capability, Lighthouse promises that you won't be bothered by false security alerts from shadows or pets because the camera can tell small objects from large ones.

The AI also understands normal speech patterns, so you can ask the camera questions like, "Did anyone walk the dog between 10 and 11 am?" The different types of tech within the camera work in tandem to deliver a full experience.

"Custom optics for a time-of-flight camera that directly measures the 3D structure of the environment," CEO Alex Teichman says in a blog post. "Recurrent neural networks for computer vision specifically tailored for use cases within the home. And a natural language interface to simplify -- and amplify -- the user experience."

A announcement on their website (in the source) below explains they are shutting down and closing their doors. It seems apparent that not enough customers were happy to pay $300 for each unit and a $10/month access fee for this advanced technology.

The announcement thanks their few customers for their interest.

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About To Celebrate Our 12th Anniversary With The Home Advisor/Angie's List Network

Below you can see our page hosted on Home Advisor. We have been continued members since 2007 of the Home Advisor network of service professionals.

When the parent company of Home Advisor acquired Angie's List late last year and completed merging the two networks together, the created a behemoth in the lead generation market, a market that has seen meteoric rise since Google began their Adwords program.

The early days of lead generation began with companies developing advertisements using the Google Adwords platform. At that time PPC (pay per click) was in it's infancy and costs for clicks were around 1-5 cents per click. 

Enter lead generation marketers.

They discovered methods through the Google architecture to use prime positioning in Adwords to build their lead generation networks, effectively raising the cost per click to prices unsustainable by small businesses alone. Then they could sell memberships to service providers and charge for customer's contact details. This opened a modern market formerly controlled by Yellow Pages and other directory advertising portals. What makes gthese lead generation companies money is the ability to sell these leads to multiple service professionals at rates significantly less than those service professionals would have to spend to acquire customers in ways past.

We are lucky enough to have received 380+ reviews from customers we have served with most being 5 star, Please enjoy the page shown below and feel free to comment in the box provided beneath.

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Language Barriers Once An Issue Of The Past, Are Simplified And Eradicated With Google Translate

Multiculturalism has become a very large and important part of society and business life today, with a great many people living here and across the world who may speak little to none of the native language of the land.

I was called to a client last Friday, to survey and estimate for a door and lock repair project, where the customer who had filled out the online lead form, obviously didnt understand much English.

I contacted them immediately (as i try to do with all leads) and noticed the difficulty in understanding them and they in understanding me.

By speaking very slowly and enunciating my words, I was able to get my message across and determine some of their needs. I arranged a suitable time (in the following hour) to attend and provide a free onsite survey and estimate, like we offer to all our clients.

Upon arrival, ringing the door bell and waiting, the clients daughter answered the door and invited me in.

She spoke very little English and after a few minutes I managed to get her to tell me that she was Nepalese. She pointed me in the direction of the project request and toward her father and mother.

The difficulty in communicating, to determine their needs was perplexing until I remembered that Google produced a fabulous app, a few years ago called Google Translate.

Having traveled abroad, a number of times in recent years and me not speaking the native language of some of my destinations, I have successfully used the Google Translate app on my cellphone a great number of times. From reading menus to understanding street signs, the Google Translate app has quickly become one of my most prized app's. I remember traveling from Italy, through Switzerland to France, a few years ago and we stopped over in Bern, Switzerland for a few hours while waiting to transfer trains. We decided to look for a bite to eat but very few of the signs had English translations, so understanding where to go and what to do was difficult without the app.

The app includes a microphone feature that enables you to speak in your language and it will automagically translate into the desired language for which you want to speak. Then you can play the translated phrases for your subject to hear and understand. they can then respond in their language, again into your cellphone and the app will translate into English. then I press the play button and a Google created synthetic voice will speak in English.

While abroad another time, we were staying in Madrid, Spain for a few days and wanted to go to the oldest restaurant in the civilized world, Sobrino de Botín and eat from their unique menu. The taxi driver that picked us up at the hotel, did not speak any English at all and I immediately pulled out my phone and spoke our request into the Google Translate app. When the driver heard the synthesized voice, he lit up and smiled and understood perfectly. he responded in Spanish and thanked us for introducing him to such a fabulous tool that would help him to earn substantially more money in future.

......back to the subject of the post here... the customer was able to communicate their needs in their native Nepalese and to understand my responses after translating from English.

We have arranged the project completion for next week and chalk up another satisfied client.


If you run your own show, or even if you dont, you will most likely run into communication issues in your life and sometimes your daily travels. using the Google Translate app will help you to communicate easily with almost anyone and provide top notch customer service for which you will be remembered and referred  because of. I highly suggest you download the app from your OS app store and start capitalizing on income opportunities from customers, whom in the past, you may have had difficulties talking to and with. 

Below find links to the app in Apple App Store and Google Play.


Google Translate For IOS

Google Translate For Android 

The Locksmith Business Is Really A Global Business - Enjoying Globalization

Pictured here are some statistics showing the depth of penetration, our website has experienced globally over the last 8 years.

This chart shows the countries that lead the world in pageviews for our business.

Our business has been going a little under 13 years now but records available through our blog platform can only provide statistics since May 2010. Having started the website in 2007, we naturally have significantly more pageviews than reported in these charts.

Naturally, the United States leads the chart and by quite a significant amount. Obviously viewers in the USA are somewhat interested in what we have to say.
But you can see that many other viewers across the world also appear interested in our opinions and writings with increasing pageviews by many other countries too.

Listed herein are the top 10 countries and number of pageviews since May 2010,

 Here is a chart of the last weeks pageviews, to show that other countries are also showing interest in our articles too,

These are just the pageviews for the top 10 countries listed, as reported by our blog administration and just for the last week to Saturday 6/23/2018.

Writing a blog, I have found is the simplest method for new original content to fuel our exposure to the world wide web.

We have written well over a thousand articles since inception, on many products, services and locations that offer merchandise and expertise to help consumers, businesses, residents, governments, builders, building managers, real estate agents, aged care centers, hospitals and medical clinics, churches, temples, synagogues, universities and colleges to gain quality services and products at competitive costs.

Interesting too, is the amounts and types of differing operating systems that have found their way to our website.

Here is a chart that shows, over the last 8 years Windows operating system is by far the most popular choice for our visitors.

Obviously a Windows user still enjoys the full benefits of the modern day computer user interface, significantly more than other operating systems, but you can see that mobile operating systems are also putting in a good show too.

Interesting to note in the chart, is the prevalence of iPhone over Android. This may be due to significantly more iPhones used in the USA (and our other charts above showing USA as the largest geographic group viewing our pages)

It is quite well known that Android OS is far more widely used and adopted outside the USA, probably because it is more competitively priced than the Apple options.

Our final chart here depicts the usage statistics of pageviewers by browser choice.

You can see the period in the upper left of the image, May 2010-June 2018.

As mentioned above, we have been operating our business since December 2006 and the website since June 2007, so we are actually missing data from the early years (before 2010). We expect that our numbers will be significantly higher than what is shown,

You can see that Chrome enjoys a significant lead in market share, of pageviewers seeing our pages.

The number of browsers is an interesting statistic too. I had not heard of some of them (and I consider myself quite informed).














So, why do I post these images of the charts displaying readership of our site?

I post this details to show potential advertisers and post sponsors the value of your advertising or post sponsoring through our website and blog.

Restaurants require bums on seats and plates of food sold.

Cinemas require tickets sales of films and cartons of popcorn sold.

Locksmiths and hardware manufacturers require eyes and ears on their offerings and a dedicated site that offers almost 7,500 pageviews a month and across the world, can provide you and your offering a wide readership.

Contact us to learn about our sponsored posts and how (for a small fee) you can enjoy additional direct marketing for your product or service too.








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iOPEN - New Smart WiFi Operator Switch - A New Access Control Product

iOPEN is a relatively new product, currently exclusively sold by US Gate Supply of Southern California.

This exciting new product is designed to operate with about 90% of the current brands of automatic garage doors, mag locks, electric strikes and automatic gates available in today's markets.

This product is different to the wireless options otherwise being bandied about the markets, in that it is actually hardwired to your current product.

This product enables you to simply download the appropriate app from Apple's App Store or Google's Play Store.

Some pictures of it's uses include...

This is a typical residential garage door. You can see the app open on the users smartphone.

This an image of a type of gate you might find in upmarket real estate or perhaps a gated community.


You can also connect the product to your Amazon Alexa smart speaker or your Google Home smart speaker.

With the growing smart product market becoming an ever more staple of modern living, products that operate through the IOT (Internet Of Things) architecture framework are becoming the new sought after commodities.

For a professional, keeping abreast of products and industry updates, new technology and items aimed at improving our and our customers lives, is an important attribute in today's business age.

I like the idea of this new product and i think it could certainly see traction across the wider consumer marketplace.

Amazon Key, which we have mentioned a lot in recent times, purports to offer would-be Amazon shoppers the opportunity to enjoy new delivery methods from Amazon. We continue to warn consumers that using services like Amazon Key, can potentially reduce any security you may currently enjoy and even potentially increase your insurance premiums.

This new product might mitigate the threats posed by granting delivery drivers access to your home, by only enabling them to access your garage door, allowing you to keep the door connecting your garage and house, locked.

Apparently the app can allow for separate devices to operate through the one app, meaning your one smartphone now becomes the remote control operator for multiple separate entries.

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Amazon Alexa Shown To Be Spying On You - Rendering Your Smart Locks or Connected Security Products Vulnerable To Exploitation

Amazon are reeling recently, from reports (like the Engadget article in the source below) indicating that the AI (artificial intelligence) built into this modern day search porthole, is actually listening in to all your private conversations in your home or office.

The article in Engadget goes on about a couple in Oregon whom have been directly affected by this "storm in a tea cup".



Apparently the AI used by Alexa listens continually for it's activation keyword, in all conversations within earshot of the devices microphone.
The couple in question were luckily alerted by the husbands employee, who called him and shared the recording of the conversation sent to the employee by the Amazon Alexa AI.

The couple immediately reported the issue to Amazon and through their investigations and testing of the devices logs (stored in the cloud), determined that the events as dictated in detail, indeed occurred.

Amazon released a statement saying,

"Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like "Alexa." Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a "send message" request. At which point, Alexa said out loud "To whom?" At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, "[contact name], right?" Alexa then interpreted background conversation as "right". As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely."


More troubling however is a report that surfaced recently about hackers from Zheijiang University in China, who discovered a flaw in  voice control products including Siri, Google Assistant, Samsung S Voice and Alexa, naming the attack "The Dolphin Attack" 

The Dolphin Attack has shown that the flaw can allow for malicious action including operating the Smart Lock on your front door or opening web pages to malware sites.

The Dolphin Attack was shown to be effective in exploiting the vulnerabilities in items like smartphones, iPads, Macbooks, Amazon Echo even an Audi Q3 - all up, about 16 devices and 7 systems in total.
The researchers even claimed they were able to alter the GPS navigation on the Audi Q3.

The Dolphin Attack works by sending commands in ultrasonic frequencies that are too high for humans to hear.

Interesting too, I have personally witnessed the effects of activation of the Google Assistant function on my Android Smartphone, when it was plugged into my vehicle hands-free cradle as I was driving while operating the Google Maps function. A segment I was listening to on NPR (National Public Radio) was playing on my vehicle radio and when the reporter mentioned the activation command "Okay Google" or "Hey Google", my phone (which was running the Google Maps app), picked up the command and recognized the sound as another command (by me) and began executing that command.

These revelations are especially troubling today because many consumers are opting for the convenience of IoT (Internet of Things) connected devices, to augment their lives. The security flaws accompanying many of these modern devices could potentially make our homes, our vehicles, our workplaces significantly less secure than bygone times.

Working with your local locksmith to install mechanical or hardwired security products, that are not connected to vulnerable "smart" devices, may be the simple and yet still affordable/competitively priced solution to protecting your family, your workplace even your vehicles.

Most locksmiths around the world, will offer no obligation security appraisals and advice to keep you secure. they are just a phone call or email away. Your family, your colleagues and even your vehicles will likely appreciate your desire to keep them secure and protected.

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How Much Does It Cost To Change Locks

Many enquiries that locksmiths receive, are about the cost to change locks. (UPDATE: Our first cost Increase in six years charges $17.50 per keyhole, nowadays)

Often, clients are meaning to inquire as to just changing the combinations of their existing locks, so they can maintain the same hardware on their doors.

Or when the keys to their house, office or automobile have been misplaced, stolen or even copied unknowingly (suspected), they have the need to re-code their locks.
Also many new home buyers or new tenants want to make sure that previous residents of their property can no longer gain entry.

Locksmiths across the country vary greatly in their fees. There are accepted industry averages published in locksmith publications like The National Locksmith magazine and the Locksmith Ledger magazine annually, but the going rate can vary from around $5.00 per keyhole to as much as $20.00 per keyhole for residential or commercial door locks and from $10.00 to $35.00 for automobile locks. Often this does not include labor for the removal and refitting of locks. (prices determined circa 2012)

Master-keying is another charge that most locksmiths charge slightly higher fees for. Often, specialist products like Medeco or Multlock or Primus or Best or Assa or Abloy or Bilock products can incur significantly increased fees due to the higher cost for the pin or disc tumblers.

Locks210.com charges a standard fee of $17.50 per keyhole to re-key a standard residential or commercial door cylinder sometimes including labor for removal and refitting. Master-keying is $25.00 per keyhole.

We can offer automobile re-keying services but prices are subject to application. There are many and varying brands and manufacturers of automobile lock cylinders, requiring multiple different keying kits. Stocking all possible kits to service all makes and models of foreign and domestic vehicles requires significant amounts of warehousing that directly impacts costs.

If the products are brought to us, we charge the same fees without labor of course.

Most locksmiths will provide the first 2 keys at no charge. For residential or commercial doors (not automotive) we provide the first 3 keys.

As a guide, we charge $29 to attend your site (within 25 miles of our workshop) and $70 for the first hour labor on site, which usually includes up to the first four (4) keyholes rekeyed.

One point to remember, when it comes to selecting the most suitable service professional to complete your project, "if you only want to pay peanuts, expect to get monkeys!"

For an obligation free estimate contact us today on (314)266-1533.

August Lock - Now Operable With Google Home Smart Speaker

News: August Lock, the infamous Smart Lock company recently purchased by Lock and Door Hardware Manufacturing behemoth Assa-Abloy, have just announced the integration of Google Home Smart Speaker to the products functionality.

This integration, allows would-be users of the sensational Google Home Smart Speaker and users of the August Lock Smart Deadbolt actuator, to lock, unlock and determine the locking/unlocking state of their August Lock product.

The integration of many Smart Home products, including door locks, thermostats, even alarm systems to function using a users voice commands, as opposed to the conventional keypad code or mechanical key operated switches, that control many of today's Smart Home products.

The unique look of the Smart Home lock activator, has certainly increased interest and usability of modern day lock activation systems and added a much desired component to home owners, dwellers and office patrons.

This new addition to the August Lock operating system, allows users to add Google Home voice controlled operations to the Smart Home products, fundamentally changing how our homes and controlled security and access products operate.

The source below, explains how to add the functionality to your Google Home product.

It adds desired functionality to the continually expanding range of products that can be integrated with Google Home.

While we still argue that some Smart Home products do not adequately protect your dwelling from unauthorised use, we believe that the use of voice-controlled "switches", should be considered a progressive forward step in modernizing our homes and offices. Arguably, voice controlled products will see the Keyless Market continue to expand and make all our lives simpler.

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