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Home Automation in your Security System

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Having a house run like the Jetsons’ is becoming increasingly possible: It’s called home automation. If you’re not familiar with the futuristic cartoon family, the Jetsons, just about everything in their house was automated. Today, we can have the following:
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  • Sensors that make noise when a door or window opens are nothing new, but real-time video surveillance of a home’s interior and exterior, viewed remotely through a smartphone thousands of miles away, is relatively new technology.
  • Controlling the temperature inside the house from anywhere outside using a phone. The smartphone connects with the thermostat’s sensors that detect radio frequency signals.
  • Odorless but deadly, carbon monoxide gas will be detected by a detector—and this has been around for a long time, but what’s relatively new is that the detection will trigger ventilation: a head start for the home’s occupants to scramble outside. Sensors can also alert to possible gas leaks.
  • Recently in the news was the seven children who died in a Brooklyn, NY house fire started by a hot plate. Apparently the house had one smoke detector—in the basement—that nobody on the second floor heard when it went off while they were sleeping. The kids would have likely survived had there been multiple fire detectors to alert the residents.
  • Furthermore, smoke alarms detect smoke before the fire begins and can simultaneously notify a central control center that then contacts the fire department. Seconds count.

Home automation may seem like something that only the rich can afford, but the makers of these systems want to score a big profit, so they develop systems to fit different budgets. Reputable home security companies can offer different packages and give price estimates.

Realize that there exist security scams, including the one in which an employee comes to your house unannounced, wearing a jumpsuit with the name of your security company on it, claiming that your system needs servicing. What he really wants to do is scope your house for vulnerabilities and also find out when you might not be home in the near future—so he could rob the place.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Home Security Has Never Been Easier

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Home is where you look forward to towards the end of a vacation. Home is where you rush to at the end of a work day. Home is where you’d rather be when you are somewhere else. After all, as Dorothy said tapping her ruby red slippers, “there’s no place like home”.

Our homes become a place of comfort unlike any other worldly possession. It’s where all our stuff is, in all the places we put it, in the order (or disorder) we create. It’s where our kids sleep, dog naps and where we eat.

Most people take for granted the feeling of safety and security in their home. They expect it as a given. Like a sense of entitlement.

I’ve always believed this is a mistake.  Because when one takes security for granted, they completely have their guard down. This means they are vulnerable to any whacko who jiggles a doorknob looking for the path of least resistance.

If a person’s home is invaded or burglarized, they quickly lose that sense of security and never feel the same way again. Some people even quickly sell below market value just to get out from what has become a perceived black cloud over their property.

Simply locking your doors is a start and taking control like this doesn’t mean you are “paranoid”. Then taking the next steps and installing a home security system is the smartest thing you can do.

Your home is your castle. And it should be treated as such.

Be proactive with the help of ADT Pulse, a new interactive smart home solution that goes beyond traditional home security to provide a new level of control, accessibility and connection with the home.

Connectivity and interactivity are driving the way people live and manage their homes. ADT Pulse provides customers with anywhere, anytime access to their home via smart phones or personal computers, including an iPhone application to:

• Arm and disarm their home security system.

• Get notified of alarms and selected events via email and text messages as well as video clips.

• View their home through cameras and watch secure real-time video or stored video clips of events from monitored areas of the home.

• Access lights and appliances or set schedules to automate them.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston. Disclosures.