Thieves seem to be everywhere nowadays, and it seems that no sooner have you cottoned onto their latest tricks, they’ve come up with a new way of getting their hands on your valuable goods. Fortunately, new inventions crop up every day to help us combat the best efforts of those with dishonest intentions. Here are five firm favorites!
Must Have Security Gadgets
The Cyclehoop
Bike theft is one of the most common practices of crooks, and many of us have been affected by it, either directly or indirectly. Over the past five years, Anthony Lau has been working on his product, the Cyclehoop, and extending its reach across the country.
A victim of bike theft himself, Anthony invented the Cyclehoop in response to a design competition, calling for a fresh approach to keeping bikes safe.
The steel ring and bar can be attached to posts and it prevents thieves from lifting bikes up and over lower signs in order to make away with them. The invention comes in a vast array of designs, and the Cyclehoop or Bike hoop is becoming a regular sight in busy cities across England.
Electronic lockers
Forget fiddling around for a pound coin to secure your locker (which you inevitably forget to retrieve when you’re finished), the future of storing your valuables is in electronic lockers. They’re being implemented in schools, hospitals, sports centers and many other busy buildings to provide secure storage for people’s goods that is operated from a straightforward control panel, usually with a PIN.
These keyless inventions are a low-cost security option for organizations that need to protect items of value in busy, working environments.
Virtual fences
Protect your home with an invisible force field! Virtual fences work by installing sensor cables underground around your property that synchronize with CCTV cameras and alert you when an intruder crosses onto your land.
The really nifty part is that the system can be set up to send alerts to your mobile phone when you’re away from home. The downside? It’s pretty costly to install, due to the fact that it’s so advanced and requires significant effort to set up.
A memory switch
Another (slightly less expensive) one for unbeatable home security is the memory switch. This fab invention charts the patterns of when you turn lights in your home on and off, so that it can be set up to mimic the patterns when you’re away.
The lights on your home will go on and off randomly, giving the impression that someone’s always at home. Definitely a good burglar deterrent!
Theft recovery microchips
These tiny theft recovery microchips are so small that they can be tucked neatly away on pretty much anything that you couldn’t bear to lose.
Attach it inside the body of your priceless guitar, embed it into your smartphone cover or fasten it to your wallet, and you’ll be able to track the item using radio frequency identification. The gadget equivalent of inscribing your name on everything you hold dear, these handy little chips can be registered to a proprietary global database so that you can prove the stolen item definitely belongs to you when it’s retrieved.
Hopefully one day, we’ll be able to wipe out theft altogether, as massive a task as that may seem. As the above shows, things are certainly moving in the right direction!
Written by James Sheehan, a blogger with legal experience and gadget lover.
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