Skip to main content

Portable Smart Cube lets you lock any drawer, unlock it with your phone

When most of us have a friend who gets sick, we’ll send a card, go and visit them, and maybe offer to pick up their groceries or feed their pet. Justin Zastrow, CEO of Smart Armor, invented an entire gadget to help out.

“A buddy of mine that had to take heart medication ended up in hospital,” he told Digital Trends. “I started developing a little locked medicine box for his pills to be stored in, which could be unlocked using a phone. At some point, there was an ‘aha!’ moment and I realized that we should really be building portable locks, where the phone becomes your key.”

Recommended Videos

Jump forward in time, and a neat homemade hack Zastrow built to help out a friend in need has developed into a smart lock that turns any drawer or cupboard into a mini-safe. Called the Smart Cube, the $69-plus gadget is currently raising funds on Indiegogo, where it’s already proven to be a big hit.

“The beauty of the Smart Cube is that you can take it anywhere,” Zastrow said. “It’s portable, has a very simple installation process, and can retrofit into any current situation. Being able to take any cabinet or drawer that you already own and have the ability to lock it is really useful.”

The lock itself is constructed using a fiber-infused ABS polycarbonate blend, which makes it simultaneously lightweight and durable. According to Zastrow, it’s capable of withstanding 100 pounds of force. “We’ve tried smashing it with sledgehammers and it hasn’t broken, so I’m confident saying that it’s a tough unit,” he said.

The mechanism relies on two pieces: the Smart Cube itself and a dongle. When the dongle enters the SmartCube, a locking guillotine slides into the grooves of the dongle, thereby locking it in place. It is then opened using a smartphone app, via Bluetooth. “You can access it with the numeric PIN code, through biometrics, or even set up proximity settings so it automatically unlocks when you’re within five feet of it,” Zastrow said. “Then when you walk away again it locks up again.” Usefully, the lock will even alert you if a cabinet is unlocked or the lock is tampered with.

We’ve not personally had the opportunity to use the Smart Cube just yet, but it’s certainly a neat idea that is evidently having no problem finding a market.

It’s probably the wrong way to speak about smart locks, but when it comes to this particular conundrum, it sounds like Justin Zastrow has cracked it!

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Amazon’s new smart shopping cart lets you skip the checkout lines
Amazon Dash Cart

 

Amazon wants to give the good ol’ shopping cart a 21st-century upgrade. On Tuesday, July 14, the e-commerce giant introduced Dash Cart, a smarter pushcart that lets you skip the traditional cashier line.

Read more
Tineco carpet cleaner at lowest-ever price for Prime Day — here’s how to save more
A man using the Tineco Carpet One Cruiser Smart Carpet Cleaner.

Not all vacuum deals will be able to provide in-depth cleaning for your carpet. You're going to need something more specialized, and we highly recommend the Tineco Carpet One Cruiser. From its original price of $699, it's available from Amazon's Prime Day for its lowest-ever price of $489, but you can get an additional 5% off with the checkout code TIN25PDPR. That means you'll only have to pay $465 for this smart carpet cleaner, for total savings of $234, but you'll need to act fast as we're not sure if the stocks that are up for sale will last until the final minutes of the shopping holiday.

BUY NOW

Read more
Tineco vacuum nearly $300 off for Prime Day — use this code for extra savings
The Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 cordless vacuum cleaner cleaning a spill.

In one of the most attractive vacuum deals that you can shop for Prime Day, Amazon has slashed the Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 to its lowest-ever price of $319 from its sticker price of $599. However, we've got a code for you to be able to get the cordless wet-dry vacuum cleaner with an extra 5% off — just enter TIN25PDPR during the checkout process so that you'll only have to pay $303, for total savings of $296. That's an excellent offer that you wouldn't want to miss, and you better hurry if you want to take advantage of it as it may not remain available until the end of the shopping holiday.

$303 at Amazon

Read more