New Apps Give More Control Lately, it seems that there has been an incredible proliferation of smartphones and tablet computers. Everywhere I go, I see more and more people using them. With my new Android phone in hand and my iPad by my side, I have found that the power contained in these mobile devices is pretty […]
Video Surveillance
Video in the Cloud
The Future of Cloud Security Cloud has become quite the buzzword when it comes to applications. Let’s do this in the cloud; let’s do that in the cloud. There have been some real success stories when it comes to hosted applications which are those applications that reside in the cloud. Salesforce.com is one that immediately […]
Pictures of Suspect in Rash of Car Burglaries
High-Quality Video Surveillance Systems Become More Affordable and Effective The bad guys are at it again. This time, there has been a rash of car burglaries in Gwinnett County. The police are saying that they have linked 21 burglaries to one person and they are now trying to find him. This is the link to […]
Take Care of Your Security Systems
How to Ensure Your Security Systems Remain in Working Order Welcome to 2013! Since we have entered a new year, it is a good time to evaluate your plans for maintaining your security systems. As with any electronic systems, security systems need care and attention to stay in good working order. Here are some questions […]
9 Billion Dollars Lost to Return Fraud Every Year
How Video Security Systems Capture Return Fraud Crimes Wow, the National Retail Federation reported that 9 billion dollars are lost to return fraud every year by retailers. What is return fraud? According to a recent article in the online version of USA Today, return fraud is defined as “a crime where people exchange stolen goods […]
City of Atlanta to Add Surveillance Cameras
Atlanta Approves Multi-Million Dollar Security Upgrades As reported this week by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the City Council for the City of Atlanta voted to spend $2.25 million to expand its video surveillance presence in the city. City of Atlanta officials are pointing to the existing video surveillance infrastructure as one reason that crime in […]
Getting Your Video While On the Go
Tools Make Remote Video Viewing Easier Video surveillance cameras are widely deployed in many homes and businesses. In fact, this article from Popular Mechanics magazine states that “there are an estimated 30 million surveillance cameras now deployed in the United States shooting 4 billion hours of footage a week.” But, we often encounter users and […]
Public Cameras Vandalized
Public Camera Vandalization on the Rise It seems that there is a growing problem of public camera vandalism. There have been two recent instances in the news where public video surveillance systems were damaged. The first happened right here in metro Atlanta and was reported by the AJC: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/wire-thefts-disable-all-ga-400-traffic-cameras/nR5Rj/ The most recent incident happened in Maryland […]
Surprise in San Jose
San Jose Passes New Alarm Response Ordinance The residents of San Jose, California got surprised recently by the passage of a new alarm response ordinance. According to this article in the San Jose Mercury News from January, 2012, the San Jose police department has decided not to respond to any security system signals unless there […]
Office Creepers Still at Work
Protect Yourself Against Office Creepers Have you herd of the term “Office Creeper?” If not, the definition can be found on this Word Spy web page. Essentially, an Office Creeper is someone who sneaks into an office building during regular work hours to steal personal property from offices in that building. In case you are […]