Technology is changing how we live in countless ways – but it is also changing the way we protect our homes. This is not really surprising, given that so many of us have so little faith in the security stalwarts of the past.
Did you know for example, that according to a recent survey, seven out of ten of us only turn our burglar alarms on when we are going away for more than one night. During the day when we’re at work, at night when we sleep, we don’t even bother.
So are there more user friendly, more high tech ways to protect our homes? Well, yes, luckily there are – and here are a few of the best of them.
Video Entry Systems
This is just a fancy way of saying a doorbell with a camera! But these new products can be very effective at protecting your home.
Do you know one of the ways that burglars try to tell if you are home or not? They just ring the front doorbell, as simple as that! If you answer, they pretend they have the wrong home. If you don’t answer however…
A video doorbell contains a camera that is activated when the normal doorbell button is pushed. Linked to your phone, the doorbell contacts you immediately, and you have a real time video connection to the front door. You can also interact with the caller, speaking to them through the camera and letting them know that they are being recorded.
CCTV
Once the vanguard of modern high security tech, CCTV has, in practical use, been found wanting. The main complaint with CCTV as a security system is that it is purely passive. By that, we mean that it offers no proactive protection such as an alarm system, which can react to an intruder by sounding a loud noise and scaring them off. CCTV, at best, will record images of the burglars as they ransack your home. Helpful for evidence gathering, but lousy for protecting your home.
This is changing with the next generation of CCTV systems however. Connected to monitoring services such as RE:SURE, these cameras are triggered by movement, and once activated, they supply a live feed to a central monitoring centre. From here, operators can track intruders on your property, notifying them through sound systems they are being observed and the police are on their way. It is the ultimate high tech watchdog.
Fingerprint Scanners
Yes, whilst right now it may seem the very height of Science Fiction, many experts believe that fingerprint scanners could soon become Science Fact. Frankly, there are a number of benefits to a keyless entry system too.
The first is right there in that phrase – keyless. This means no keys to lose, no keys to be stolen from you and no big jingly collection of metal to haul around with you every day.
Secondly, it is already very safe technology. Major tech firms like Apple and Samsung are already using fingerprint technology on their products and as they perfect it, it’s only going to be even better by the time we are putting it on our front doors.
Smart Fire Alarm Systems
It’s not just burglars that you need to protect your home from – fire can also devastate your house with little or no warning. That is of course, unless you have a smoke alarm – but even these excellent devices are only really effective if you are at home during a fire.
Smart fire alarms can be set up to notify the Fire & Rescue services, protecting your home when you are away. At the very highest spec they can also be integrated into your home’s electrics and the windows and doors. This means that in the event of a fire, the system can highlight escape routes away from the fire itself, as well as automatically unlocking all windows and doors to provide a quick exit.