Unlock Your Front Door Geek-Style

This has to be the geekiest thing I’ve ever written about. I’m a geek by any standard, but even this is a bit over the edge for me. But, the geek in me thinks it is so uber-cool that I can’t resist writing about it. Get ready to meet the gadget that will trump all other gadgets.

Steve Hoefer is just a regular guy who built something cool with some spare parts he found in his lab. Long story short, because of this he has received thousands of hits to his blog and a half million hits on YouTube in the past ten days.

What’s all the fuss about? His ‘secret knock detecting door lock’.

How does it work? This device gets suction cupped to your door and when you knock on the door using the secret sequence, the deadbolt automatically unlocks. Yep, it’s that simple and that genius.

I would have loved one of these for my play house in the backyard when I was six. I can envision it now, only club members with the secret knock would be allowed in.

Of course, the downfall to having a lock system like this is that if you live in an apartment building, your nosey neighbors could memorize the knock pattern. It’s a good thing this device can be reprogrammed very easily.

I’ve read where some people have suggested using a timestamp or a series of one time knocks to get around this, but I know, to ponder that is to jump off the deep end of geekness. Steve suggests on his blog to “…scream while knocking. No one will overhear the knock over the racket you’re making.”

As a woman, I cannot close this post without saying that this device is a bit ugly. It’s cool, no doubt, but it really leaves much to be desired in terms of aesthetics. May I suggest painting this thing or something? It looks like a PVC pipe bomb in its current form.

You can learn more about Steve Hoefer and his fabulous invention here: http://grathio.com/2009/11/secret-knock-detecting-door-lock.html

Like most wonderfully creative geeks, Steve just made this for fun, not to sell. Unfortunately, these are not being mass produced and there are not any for sale. That’s okay, it’s an inspiration either way!