While on vacation, Vincent Hunter received an alert from his iCam iPhone app: Something had set off the motion detectors in his home. He used the app to access his security cameras, called 911, and helplessly watched a burglary unfold.
The quest to protect ourselves and our property from thieves has given rise to some of the most bizarre and deadly devices ever conceived by man. OObject has compiled 10 burglar alarms that fit neatly in this category with devices that range from a mousetrap alarm that managed to capture a couple of schoolyard criminals “green handed,” to a gramaphone alarm from 1939 that dials a telephone number and plays a message from the record when tripped. Ingenious. [OObject]
A White Plains, NY woman who was the victim of burglary, including her MacBook, used the Back To My Mac screen sharing feature to turn on her webcam and capture images of the unwitting culprits using the computer. As a result, police were able to arrest the thieves and recover most of the stolen goods, which included two laptops, two flat-screen televisions, two iPods, gaming consoles, DVDs and computer games.