| Most automatic garage door openers come with, and | | | | technology for the Blackberry line of smartphones. In |
| can communicate with, a set number of remote | | | | 2009, Unify4Life had created and was selling |
| controls. Many people now carry multiple remote | | | | applications to turn a smartphone into a remote |
| controls with them that open everything from the | | | | control for everything in a person's life. Bluetooth |
| garage to the car. Then there is the problem of | | | | enabled smartphones lend themselves well to this |
| leaving the garage remote in one vehicle while out in | | | | application because many of them feature touch |
| another vehicle. Automatic remotes and door | | | | screens that can be easily changed to mimic any kind |
| openers should simplify life, not add to the amount of | | | | of traditional remote control necessary. |
| stuff that needs to be kept up with. Technology | | | | Unify4Life does this with a combination of software |
| hobbyists have found ways to use Bluetooth enabled | | | | applications for the phones, and hardware for the |
| cellular phones, such as Blackberries, to minimize the | | | | devices to be controlled. The hardware converts the |
| hassle of keeping track of garage door opener | | | | devices' inputs so that they can accept input from |
| remotes. Now, the technology is on the way to | | | | the phones via wireless Bluetooth technology. At the |
| becoming easily available to consumers at large. | | | | 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Unify4Life |
| It started years ago when technology hobbyists | | | | unveiled technology called Garage|Shadow, that allows |
| began hacking garage doors and openers to invent | | | | a Blackberry phone to be programmed to operate an |
| new ways of controlling the doors. Home automation | | | | automatic garage door opener. |
| enthusiasts created ways to monitor garage entries, | | | | For about $40, this is a great addition to a garage |
| not only to track whether the doors are open or | | | | entry system. Garage|Shadow works with most |
| closed, but the exact opening height within a couple | | | | automatic door openers and is easily set up by a |
| inches. Sure, this had practical applications, but mostly | | | | homeowner. Most people are better at keeping up |
| they were doing it for the fun sake of because they | | | | with expensive smartphones than with door remotes |
| could. Around the same time, technology hobbyists | | | | and keys-- especially teenagers, so this new |
| created ways to use cellular phones and computers | | | | functional addition to garage entries certainly serves a |
| to automate the opening of interior household doors. | | | | practical purpose. Of course, just because Unify4Life |
| Again, practical and fun. Finally, in 2009, the tech | | | | is mass marketing the technology doesn't mean that |
| company Unify4Life created and began mass | | | | technology and automation hobbyists will stop |
| production of technology that turns any Bluetooth | | | | inventing new, creative additions to garage door |
| enabled device into a garage door opener remote | | | | openers. |
| control. Unify4Life had already developed similar | | | | |