Clearwater, Florida. (PRWEB) November 06, 2014

Sandbox, Inc., launched via a campaign on Indiegogo 10 days ago, has surpassed its 60-day goal in the first week, signing up over 200 families in 15 countries.

Home security products have traditionally included old-fashioned door and window intrusion devices, touch pads, frosted-glass motion sensors, sirens and expensive monitoring services. They come with cumbersome paperwork, high upfront costs, disruptive installation procedures, and punitive 3-5 year contracts. At over $40/month for the most basic and limited-feature service, families pay $500 per year, or $1,500-$2,500 over the contract period. Adding video can significantly increase the paperwork, upfront costs, and installation process and double the monthly fees. SandboxHome redefines all of this.

The SandboxHome is an all-wireless product that a family can install in 15 minutes. It is considerably more complete and full-featured than other options available today, and includes:

Whenever motion or intrusion is sensed by SandboxHome, customers instantly receive text, sound, photo and video alerts on their smartphones, tablets, or computers. Compact wireless intrusion sensors guard the homes doors and windows. Wireless HD security cameras can be easily set up in any room, and moved at will. And SandboxHomes signature wireless smart doorbell allows users to hear the chime, see and interact with whoever is at the door. Users have instant access to camera and smart doorbell video, audio and sensor data from anywhere in the world using SandboxHomes iOS, Android and Windows apps. It includes a plethora of smart features including the ability for users to set up motion thresholds, so their sensors dont go off whenever a pet moves across the room. SandboxHome is configurable to a familys unique requirements. It includes tools for users to store motion-activated video and sound clips on their computers or cloud storage accounts.

SandboxHome has advanced computing, WiFi, networking, video and audio encoding, motion sensing, battery, encryption and related technologies packed into a compact device.

Sandboxs founder, Mike Reddy said, Families want and need basic, affordable security in their homes. They want to be alerted instantly to whats happening wherever they may be and whatever they may be doing. At work, in the car, at a restaurant or even out of town. And video is a must-have for a family security solution to be effective and actionable. SandboxHome provides all of these.

Mike Reddy continued, Perhaps the SandboxHomes most compelling aspect is its price. At a planned retail price of $499, and discounted by up to 40% for advance orders during our launch campaign on Indiegogo, this is truly a family security product. When you compare the complete $375 SandboxHome family security solution to traditional services that provide way less and cost way more, or to standalone security cameras such as the Dropcam which cost $200 each, you can see why SandboxHome is so appealing. With SandboxHome, the family owns the attractive system and has no further monthly fees. If the family chooses to sign up for 24/7 professional monitoring, the fee for that optional service is $5 per month, with no contracts, paperwork or long term commitments.

Sandbox is currently taking pre-orders on Indiegogo for delivery of the SandboxHome in March 2015. The prices for advance orders placed during SandboxHomes introductory launch are at discounts of up to 50% from the retail prices at which the products are expected to be available on Amazon and in specialty electronics and home improvement stores worldwide after March.

For further information, and to pre-order SandboxHome for March delivery, please visit: http://www.sandbox-home.com. Reporters and feature editors requiring further information or images, please contact us at: info@(at)sandbox-home(dot)com.

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Sandbox Introduces Advanced, Full-Featured, All-Wireless Security Product Designed Specifically for Families

Crave Giveaway ArcSoft Simplicam Wi-Fi Home Security Camera
Crave Giveaway ArcSoft Simplicam Wi-Fi Home Security Camera Want to know what #39;s going on at home while you #39;re away? Win a Wi-Fi camera that streams live vide...

By: Point Technology

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Crave Giveaway ArcSoft Simplicam Wi-Fi Home Security Camera - Video

Security Camera NVR Q-See QT848-2 8-Channel Home Security
Best Security Camera Systems- Q-See QT848-2 8-Channel Digital POE Solution NVR with Pre-Installed 2TB Hard Drive (Black) Visit... http://Q-see.camerasecurityreviews.com or http://camerasecurity...

By: Camerasecurityreviews.com

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Security Camera NVR Q-See QT848-2 8-Channel Home Security - Video

The Arlo Home Security Camera is a palm-size battery-operated wireless camera. Dong Ngo

Netgear has just announced an addition to the home security space -- the $350 Arlo Smart Home Security Camera Kit, available January 2015 on Arlo.com and later in Q1 2015 in the UK and Australia. (No international pricing information is available yet, but the US price converts to 220 or AU$410; final prices are likely to vary quite a bit.)

Although pricey -- you have to buy the entire kit before adding any stand-alone Arlo hardware, similar to Philips' Hue and Hue Lux starter packs -- the Arlo kit does include two cameras and a hub. And its unique features promise to bring something new to DIY home security.

Unlike other DIY home security cameras we've covered, the Arlo cameras are battery-powered, claim to deliver 720p image quality (although you'll be able to adjust the resolution down, as needed), are rated for both indoor and outdoor use and offer 24/7 live streaming. That makes these little cameras, which are "smaller than a bar of soap," according to Netgear, pretty darn intriguing.

You get 200MB of Netgear-provided cloud storage free with each Arlo kit. To make that possible and to preserve battery life, Arlo uses very high video compression and transmits data to the hub at the speed of 1.5Mbps, the upload speed of most home residential Internet connections. During a Netgear demo event for Arlo, the video quality looked quite good.

The hub itself connects to an existing home network via an Ethernet connection. It also comes with two USB ports but currently there's no option to store recorded video locally. Each hub supports up to 15 Arlo cameras and uses a customized low-power version of the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard with a top speed of just 6Mbps. The Wi-Fi range, however, remains the same, at up to 150 feet.

The Arlo Home Security Camera Kit includes two cameras and one hub. Dong Ngo

The indoor-only Homeboy camera I recently reviewed has a rechargeable battery that's supposed to last for three months on a single charge. To achieve this long-battery-life feat, the team employed its own low-power Wi-Fi tech, a meager 640x480-pixel resolution and did away with live-steaming capabilities altogether.

Given that, it's pretty surprising that Netgear claims its Arlo cameras can last for up to 6 months. The camera does host up to 4 CR123 batteries (regular and rechargeable ) though it only needs two to operate. Netgear bases its battery life claims around the idea that you will only view the camera for about 4 minutes a day. Obviously the battery life will go down with longer usage.

In addition to these features, Netgear's new security kit comes with a Web app, a free mobile app for Android, iOS and Kindle users and 200MB of free cloud video storage. This gives you the opportunity to view live streaming and recorded video clips, receive alerts and change your settings. You can enable email and app alerts, arm and disarm each camera's motion sensors and view up to four cameras at a time -- additional cameras are available for $170 (110, AU$200) a pop.

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Netgear's new 720p security cameras can handle the elements

Form Devices

2014 has seen a veritable glut of security-minded gadgets on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, all of them looking to add some sort of sensor tech into your living room. One of the latest examples is Point, an app-enabled smoke detector with additional sensors capable of monitoring things like temperature spikes, humidity levels, and unusual noises.

Point's low-key design promises "a softer take on home security," and at a Kickstarter price of $79 (50, AU$92, converted roughly), it costs considerably less than competing all-in-one sensor units like Piper or Canary. The obvious tradeoff is that you aren't getting a built-in camera -- though Point's team paints this as a positive, claiming that surveillance devices ultimately compromise the sort of relaxed atmosphere you want when you're at home.

Form Devices

The camera-less design puts Point more in line with devices like the Quirky Spotter and Nest Protect, neither of which seem adequate as standalone security gadgets, and don't market themselves as such. To set itself apart, Point promises a robust smartphone app with fully customizable alerts. Along with the usual push notifications, Point can sound an alarm during an emergency, or glow a specific color to provide a more subtle alert when it detects something like cigarette smoke, or a TV turned up too loud late at night.

In addition, Point is promising IFTTT compatibility, which should open the door for useful integrations with other smart home devices, including Philips Hue LEDs, Belkin WeMo Switches, and SmartThings. For what it's worth, Point's also claiming to work with Lockitron to offer remote control over your deadbolt -- though most of that gadget's initial backers still haven't received their devices.

Form Devices

With so many new security options out there, it'll be interesting to see whether or not Point's approach can pull away from the pack. As of writing this, the Kickstarter campaign looks to be well on its way to a successful finish, but we'll reserve final judgment of the product's merits until at least July 2015, when units are expected to begin shipping out.

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Subtle home security from a single Point

Cocoon

There are plenty of microphone-equipped DIY security cameras, but only some actively listen for ambient noise and alert you when it's detected -- and even fewer are equipped with specialty sound sensors.

But Cocoon, a cute little home security camera that recently kicked off an Indiegogo campaign, has a feature called "Subsound Technology."

Basically, this is Cocoon's way of saying that it can pick up on infrasound -- sound so low in frequency that the human ear can't typically hear it. This level of audio detection can travel beyond physical sound barriers so Cocoon can supposedly sniff out something fishy even if it's in a different room or more impressively, on another floor. That also means that you might not need multiple Cocoons (even in a larger home), since it's designed to cover more ground than a traditional sound sensor.

Think of Cocoon as a guard dog (dogs are known for their ability to hear ultrasound, or sound frequencies above 20,000 Hz, while infrasound is below 20 Hz but you get the idea); one that can send you a push notification and an email whenever something seems amiss. And of course, it can also detect run-of-the-mill sound frequencies too.

Cocoon

So how does Cocoon limit its superhuman hearing to true security threats? Supposedly, it takes those ambient sounds from your environment and notes their custom audio signature. Similar to a fingerprint, these sound signatures allow Cocoon to differentiate between, say, a door opening when you aren't home and wind turbines near your property.

This "built-in machine learning" is designed to adapt to your routine and zero in on anything that falls outside of the norm. That's definitely intriguing, but even the most predictable schedule gets off track sometimes. It's a good thing that Cocoon relies on geofencing to know whether you're home or not -- that way you know that it won't be triggering the alarm when you call in sick, forget something and run back home mid-day or otherwise deviate from your regular routine.

This Wi-Fi-enabled device can do a lot more that listen, though. The camera has a wide angle, night vision and an HD resolution, and it's also outfitted with a siren, a speaker, a motion sensor and a temperature sensor.

Cocoon's recently-launched Indiegogo campaign is already closing in on its $100,000 funding goal. The first two contribution levels that get you a Cocoon unit -- $179 and $249 -- sold out fast, but you can still snag one for $299 (converted, that's about 187 or AU$348). Units ship to the US, the UK and Europe for free, but a fee applies for shipping elsewhere. Cocoons are scheduled to reach backers by the end of 2015.

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One Cocoon can keep your whole house safe

Image: Mashable Composite

By Emily Siegel2014-11-05 16:10:50 UTC

When planning a vacation, our minds fill with images of sandy beaches and rain-drizzled, cobblestone European streets not of the look on our miniature schnauzers face when he realizes the house is being burgled.

With more than two million homes burgled in the United States each year, its important to protect yourself from incursions especially during times your house is left unattended. Below is a list of the top tips and tricks to ward off criminals, so that your travels go off without a hitch.

Its important to keep tabs on your home, even when traveling to the far reaches of the world. The easiest way to do so is by installing security cameras. Most modern cameras are equipped with night vision and motion sensors, and can be synced with your mobile device or tablet.

The other way to check in on your house is to either ask a friend to do so or to program your computers built-in webcam to act as a security camera. There are several apps on the market that enable users to access their web camera from afar so that you wont miss anything at your home.

It's important to consider that simple surveillance may not be enough in the event of a break-in it's one thing to watch your home being raided, and another to ensure that swift action is taken in a worst-case-scenario situation. There really is no comparison to installing a professional security system to keep an eye on your home. Watching the place yourself can be time-consuming and can detract from your vacation. It also doesn't allow for quick reactions should you notice anything amiss. Consider a professional home monitoring system, and let the experts take care of any home security breaches in the event of an incident.

An abandoned home makes for an obvious target, so do your best to make it look like someone is at home. There are several ways to keep up the facade: Have your mail stopped, keep up with the yard work and shovel the snow. Have a neighbor park their cars in your driveway. You can also ask someone to take your garbage bins out on collection day no one needs to know that they're empty.

Another obvious trick is to automate specific electronics in your home, such as programming your lights or a stereo to switch on a certain time. The flurry of activity will make your house looked lived in. A low-cost, energy efficient way of doing this is with a push light. Switch on the battery-powered light before you leave, and let it glow throughout the duration of your trip. Smart plugs also offer the ability to control your lamps remotely.

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5 home security tips for frequent travelers

By Neil J. Rubenking

Got antivirus? If not, stop reading this article and go install an antivirus utility. There are plenty to choose from, and some, like Avast Free Antivirus 2015, are completely free. With this edition, Avast adds a network protection scan that finds any problems with your home router's security. I'm a big fan of this network scan, but the product's central antivirus protection is just average.

The user interface hasn't changed much since last year. Oh, the colors are slightly different, but it still features four big panels for fast access to your favorite security components and a line of buttons down the left side to access everything else.

Out of the box, the four quick-access panels link to Browser Cleanup, Home Network Security, Software Update, and SecureLine VPN. A menu link in each panel lets you change that panel's association to any of 13 security components. I would recommend swapping in one of the system-scan choices.

Scan Choices In addition to the expected scan for malware, Avast offers three other security-related scans. It can check your installed programs for missing security patches, analyze your router's settings to flag security problems, and check for performance issues. Clicking Smart Scan runs all four scans in sequence. That's handy! I'll go into more detail about the additional scans later on.

A full scan of my standard test system took 32 minutes, just a little above the current average of 27 minutes. With some products, a repeat scan runs extremely quickly. Trend Micro Antivirus+ 2015, for example, managed a second scan in less than a minute. Avast's repeat scan still took 23 minutes, but that's some improvement.

Real-time Protection For some antivirus products, the minimal file access that occurs when Windows Explorer displays the filename is sufficient to trigger real-time protection. Avast waits until just before a program executes to run a real-time scan. In testing, it wiped out almost 80 percent of my malware samples immediately on launch.

Avast detected most of the remaining samples at some point as they attempted to install and run. In a couple of cases, it activated a powerful analysis tool called DeepScan. Avast also invoked DeepScan to make sure that a couple of my malware-testing programs weren't themselves malicious.

In one case, fortunately the last sample I tested, Avast requested a boot time scan for complete cleanup. That scan took almost an hour, and required my attention every so often to make decisions about the disposition of particular malware traces. You can launch a boot time scan at will, if you suspect the regular scan has missed something.

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Avast Free Antivirus 2015

TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - Experts say homeowners may accidentally be making their homes more inviting to thieves. So we turned to a former burglar to find out how to thief proof your home.

From landscaping to lighting, wooden doors to window blinds, the choices you make at home could mean the difference between a thief targeting your house -- or skipping it altogether.

"I'm always concerned about crime," said Porsche Stevens.

Andre Guy-Reed spent years living a life of crime, but now he is out to help others.

After looking at Stevens' house he had plenty of concerns. He points out windows without bars, a fence blocking the view of the backyard and a lack of dead bolts as major concerns.

"You can take a butter knife and get in with that right there," says Guy-Reed while looking at a lock on Stevens' door.

He says, exterior doors should have a cylinder lock as well as a deadbolt. Also, make sure your doors are solid not hollow.

For added protection, install a metal screen door or hurricane door with break-proof glass. Pastor Guy also points to proper lighting and landscaping.

"You would put a motion light with something that makes noise," said Guy-Reed.

In flower beds, choose wood chip mulch or gravel that makes noise when it's stepped on. Plant bushes beneath windows but keep them trimmed.

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Ex-burglar shares home security tips to thief-proof your house

Whats better, dispatching the cops after a burglar breaks into your home? Or convincing the criminal that your place just isnt a desirable target? The BeOn Burglar Deterrent promises to do the latter in a minimally intrusive way.

Like a Nest thermostat, BeOns smart LED light bulbs will quietly learn your patterns. When you leave the house, use a smartphone app to set the bulbs to away mode, and theyll automatically turn on following similar patterns (although each day will be somewhat unique). If someone rings the doorbell while youre away, the bulbs will automatically turn on in a sequence that suggests youre walking from another part of the house toward the door. In either situation, a burglar casing your home will get the impression that the house is occupied and will likely beat a hasty retreat.

BeOn launched a Kickstarter campaign today to bring its product to market. The company expects to deliver its bulbs to backers in April 2015 if it can raise $100,000 by December 19. Yeah, we get tired of these crowd-funding campaigns, too. We do our best to cover only the most compelling projects, and this one fits that description.

The yellow part of the bulb is a plug-in module. This design allows BeOn to develop new modules with different functions, so you can add features without throwing away the rest of the bulb.

We think people want products that solve problems, versus investing in platforms, BeOn CEO Alexei Erchak told me during a quick demo last week. We wanted to approach home security the way the experts do, in layers. But we didnt want to be just another video camera, or a motion sensor, or an alarm. Once an alarm sounds, the break-in has already happened; the emotional trauma is already there. The best home security starts before the break-in. So we embraced an unloved spacethe security deterrent.

Erchak said his team also wanted to avoid over-reliance on the smartphone. BeOn has an app, but the only thing he thinks youll use it for is to put the light bulbs into away mode. The app, still in development, might also have an optional reminder that alerts you to arm the lights once youre out of Bluetooth range, but Erchak didnt seem to like the idea. We want to get away from the phone as much as possible, he said.

BeOn bulbs operate just like normal incandescent light bulbs, but theyre outfitted with a Bluetooth Low Energy module; a microphone that listens for your doorbell, your smoke detector, and your carbon-monoxide alarm; and a battery backup that can turn the light on even in the absence of AC power.

The smoke detector/CO alarm use case could be a lifesaver if youre home when a fire breaks out or your gas appliances malfunction, turning on lights to guide you out of the house to safety (something the otherwise-excellent Leeo Smart Alert Nightlight can't do).

The battery backup is both a safety feature and a crime deterrent. A burglar faced with a neighborhood of darkened homes would never pick the one thats all lit up.

BeOn bulbs are available in two configurations: Standard (they look just like a normal incandescent bulb) and Recessed (these look more like floodlights and are designed to be installed in ceiling cans).

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BeOn Burglar Deterrent uses smart LED light bulbs to deter home break-ins