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Sony Tries Crowdfunding (Again) for Qrio Smart Lock

 & David Murphy Freelancer

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If at first you succeed, try crowdfunding again.

At least, that appears to be Sony's motto at the moment. Fresh off its success with crowdfunding its to-be-launched e-ink the Fes Watch, the company is back to generate more support for a new device, the Qrio Smart Lock.

As of press time, Sony had already blown past its fundraising goals—again—raising more than $20,000 in a crowdfunding campaign whose initial target was about $13,000. Early backers can pre-purchase the smart lock for about $95. If you want to buy two, the price jumps up to $190, but there are plenty of these two-packs still available.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony is hoping to get 1,500 orders for the device in total via this crowdfunding campaign; it currently has just over 200. That's a bit under Sony's target but, again, the project is fully funded at this point (and then some).

Qrio Smart LockThe smart lock is, as you might expect, pretty similar to how most other smart locks work. Install it, and you'll be able to lock and unlock your door using your smartphone. On Sony's iteration, you'll also be able to share an encrypted key with others via your smartphone—messaging them through Facebook, for example.

Of course, that brings up about 100 different security concerns. And we don't have the answers just yet, especially considering Sony's descriptions and videos are in Japanese. It also doesn't help that Sony isn't exactly the most trusted name right now as far as "security" goes, given all the issues that Sony Pictures has been having with its computer systems as of late.

Details about release dates and availability have also not yet been revealed.

For more, see PCMag's review of the August Smart Lock.

About Our Expert

David Murphy

David Murphy

Freelancer

David Murphy got his first real taste of technology journalism when he arrived at PC Magazine as an intern in 2005. A three-month gig turned to six months, six months turned to occasional freelance assignments, and he later rejoined his tech-loving, mostly New York-based friends as one of PCMag.com's news contributors. For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

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