Keeping yourself safe today can seem like a daunting prospect, one I've been thinking about a lot lately. My daughter lives in downtown Orlando, no more than two miles from the Pulse nightclub. And she's a bartender at a different club. While little can protect you from something as unexpected as that, there are plenty of methods and devices to help keep you safe in general. Here are a few of the most effective methods, old and new.
Keeping Your Home Safe
Several new products on the market exist solely to identify and record visitors, and send you alerts to your phone.
Netamo Welcome is an inside camera with facial recognition software. When someone enters your home, the device recognizes your family and sends you an alert if it's a stranger. You can access the camera from your computer or any kind of mobile to see what's going on. You can choose to disable notifications and recordings for individuals, and the camera is motion sensitive, so it won't record hours of...nothing. The device will even alert you and record a video if an alarm sounds, like a fire or security alarm.
Ring is a smart doorbell with a built-in HD camera with night vision. When someone rings your doorbell, you can see, hear, and speak to visitors from anywhere. You can even keep an eye on your yard and immediate neighborhood.
Even with today's technology, nothing beats low tech home security. Make sure your door and window locks work - and that they are engaged, even upstairs. Make sure your sliding glass doors are safe and secure; they are notorious entry points.
Keeping Yourself Safe
One of my favorite high-tech products is Wearsafe. It's a personal safety device with an interesting twist. You attach a tiny tag to your clothes, and if you see a situation that looks like trouble - say a person following you, a threatening encounter, or a car accident - you push the button and send streaming audio to a group of friends. They'll know where you are and be pulled into a chat, so they can evaluate the situation and alert the police or call for an ambulance if appropriate.
Keeping Your Stuff Safe
Shipping just in time for Christmas, iKon tags are useful little Bluetooth-enabled gadgets you can attach to anything you don't want to lose - even your pets. It features a geo fencing option to remind you if you tend to forget things like your keys, and a long list of features you won't find on competitor devices.
Home and personal safety is not a given these days. Violent crime has been trending down since the 70s, but that doesn't really make us feel more safe, does it? Good thing we have amazing technology and some good old-fashioned common sense to help keep us out of harm's way.