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Wireless Home Security – Zynga CEO Beefs up Security After Threats

Posted by Peter M. Rogers at 6:55 pm 1 Response »

May 102012

OK, some of you may be asking, who is Zynga? Well, they are one of the hottest social game developers in the world. Remember last December, when actor Alec Baldwin was kicked off an American Airlines flight at Los Angeles International Airport because he wouldn’t turn off his cell phone? Reportedly he was playing one of the most popular Zynga games – Words with Friends. I know all about this web-based application that resembles Scrabble, since my wife is also addicted. And Zynga has other popular games you may have heard of: FarmVille, CityVille, and Zynga Poker, to name a few. Active monthly users total about 250 million! But the company has been in the news for other reasons, as this recent story indicates.

As expected, Zynga filed today to raise an additional $400 million in a secondary stock offering. One thing that caught my eye was a reference to founder and CEO Mark Pincus under the section of employee benefits:

“In addition, in 2011, due to specific threats relating to the personal security of Mr. Pincus and his family, we provided Mr. Pincus with certain security protection.” Read More »

Wireless Home Security – Beware Summer Door Knockers Selling Home Alarms

Posted by Peter M. Rogers at 9:04 pm No Responses »

May 072012

Each May the Internet starts to light up with complaints about door-to-door alarm salespeople. Since most of these “door knockers” are in still college, and schools are getting out around now, this is when the annual cycle begins. And they knock on millions of doors every summer. Lots of people buy alarm services from these companies: after all, the script is slick and well-rehearsed, and the tactics are designed to get the sale on the spot. But increasingly it’s getting harder for these companies to sign up new customers, because the word is getting out.

Top 10 Lies Exposed

Perhaps my favorite post about door-to-door alarm sales is the one that completely exposes the door knockers for what they are: aggressive, sometimes fraudulent, and not necessarily your best source when you are shopping for peace of mind. Then again, most of the people who buy from door knockers weren’t shopping at all: they just answered the door. And that brings us to the subject of today’s post, which is a recent comment on my blog entry that addresses the door knocker phenomenon – and one company in particular. Read More »

Wireless Home Security – Burglars in PA Responsible for Hundreds of Home Intrusions?

Posted by Peter M. Rogers at 10:46 pm No Responses »

May 042012

It’s not every day a burglar has his bail set a nine million dollars! But that’s just what happened after police busted a ring that may have set a record for the number of burglaries they committed. Here’s the story, from Lower Paxton County, Pennsylvania.

Three men are behind bars after leading police on one of the largest burglary rings in memorable history in Central Pennsylvania. Ed Marsico, Dauphin County District Attorney said, “This was not a group of amateurs, a group of kids breaking in and stealing cases of beer from garages. This was a huge burglary ring, as big a ring as I can remember here in central Pennsylvania in the 20 years I’ve been doing this type of work.” Read More »

Wireless Home Security – Verizon Home Monitoring Reported to Have Serious Bugs

Posted by Peter M. Rogers at 9:05 pm 1 Response »

May 022012

With many of the cable and telecom major players now having entered (or re-entered) the highly competitive world of home security, the big question up until now has been about service: can they actually deliver? After all, some of these companies are notorious for their poor customer satisfaction records. To be honest, those of us who have been protecting US homes and families for decades never considered that these new entrants would offer technology that was unproven, or even non-functional. But for one high-profile company’s offering, that is now exactly what’s in question. And this recent article from CE Pro makes a compelling case that robust and reliable technology should never be taken for granted – especially when your peace of mind is at stake.

Verizon has been rolling out its home automation and monitoring service to FiOS users across the country over the past few months. When Verizon announced the service as an affordable alternative to professionally-installed control and security systems, some CE pros were concerned. We’ve seen off-the-shelf systems come and go over the years, and for the most part they remained a small niche for people who knew what they were doing and were willing to live with a few glitches. However, when consumers buy a system and service plan from a huge company like Verizon, they expect it to work. Read More »

Wireless Home Security – Blog Reader Asks about Alarm Sensor and Cellular Signal Jamming

Posted by Peter M. Rogers at 5:29 pm 4 Responses »

May 012012

One of the joys of blogging is that I get great questions from readers on alarm technology, alarm system design, and other topics. I reply individually to each of them, but it recently occurred to me that these questions and answers would make good reading for those who are getting up to speed on home security. After all, FrontPoint is all about education and transparency – that’s part of the reason we have such great reviews. So here’s an excellent question from a reader, in two parts, along with my response. And yes, I have replied directly to the person who asked!

What is FrontPoint and alarm.com doing to circumvent the use of jammers by burglars? While it is a bit more difficult and expensive to obtain a jammer (as opposed to a pair of wire cutters), one can be had with a little work and a couple hundred dollars. A burglar could enable a jammer prior to entering the premise and prevent: 1. Wireless transmissions between the sensors and the alarm panel, and 2. Cellular (GPRS) transmissions between the alarm panel and alarm.com. The Simon XT apparently has the ability to detect RF jamming from the sensors to the Panel (although I am not exactly sure what it does if it detects such jamming). Read More »