Beyond Door Thousand! Cell Phone Door Unlocker

In the first instalment of our series on how your door will look in a thousand years (if it hasn’t been long frozen in a nuclear winter, rotted away to nothing or been thrown in the rubbish tip out in space), we have found a door lock which can be opened using a cell phone. However, this technology doesn’t come with those expected limitations – sure, you might be thinking, I can use my cell phone to open the door from a couple of metres away, when I could just as easily walk over there and save myself the several hundred dollars it will cost to make a mobile phone call in a thousand years … well, actually you can use your phone to open the door if your partner has locked their keys inside and you are at work – you can use it to unlock the door for workmen or real estate agents, and lock it again after them, and you can also use it to open the door for visitors that you may be running late for. Basically, if you have phone reception, you can use this door lock.

One of the most exciting features is the ability to combine the unlocking capabilities with a traditional door intercom, so that you can actually speak to the people that are coming in and out of your house: ”There’s biscuits in the tin on the bench, and tea and coffee next to that – make yourself at home”, you might say, or perhaps ”You dolt! Stop forgetting your blo**dy keys! I’ll leave you out there next time!”.

This gadget is known as the GSM doorbell, and it currently costs around €450. This is for the doorbell alone – if you want to set yourself up for two-way chat, you can get a DIY installation kit for €659. Then if you want someone to make sense of the plans for you and hook up the wiring while you sit back sipping Flaming Moes, you’ll have to research electrician prices in your area!