By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • Construction • Design • General Information • Home Entertainment • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • WiFi 0 Comments

Looking For The Best Electronics Installation Professionals In The South East Of England? They’re On This List

installation engineer, fibre optic, flat screen, satellite dish, aerial, security, CCTV, burglar alarmInstalling home entertainment and Smart Home Technology, including flat screen TVs, wireless burglar alarm systems, Smart CCTV cameras, aerials and satellite dishes isn’t a job for just any old handyman. For a reliable installation carried out by expert professionals it’s best to call in specialised tradesmen who carry regulatory body membership, insurance, who offer warranties and also guarantee their work and the products they use.

Before you agree to allow workmen to carry out work installing TV receivers, cables, security cameras and alarms, as yourself, and them these questions:

Is this company qualified?

Anybody installing Smart Home Automation devices should be a CEDIA member. CEDIA are the Smart Home trade association so you can rest assured that if your installer is a member they will hold all the necessary certification required.

Companies who carry out other home entertainment installations, such as flat screen TV installations and putting aerials or satellite dishes on the roof don’t need to be members of a trade body, but should carry insurance to protect themselves, and you, in case of any accidents during the installation, or as a consequence of the work they undertook. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • Design • Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Security • • 0 Comments

Thinking of Boosting Your Home Security With CCTV Cameras? Here’s What You Need To Know

CCTV camera, smart CCTVCCTV cameras have been shown to be a fantastic deterrent against opportunist burglars targeting homes in Britain and abroad, making them one of the most popular options for many people boosting their home security.

When burglars plan a break-in it’s not usually well thought out with floor plans and circuit diagrams like the movies would have us believe. In many cases the planning aspect is simply looking a the property and thinking “is it worth me climbing in that window or putting in that door?” and if you own nice things and you don’t have obvious crime prevention devices, the answer is going to be “yes”!

Once inside your property the burglar will generally not spend more than 15 minutes collecting your possessions, putting them all in a sheet, and dragging them away. Opportunistic burglars don’t like to carry any tools or bags with them as they look suspicious, and ‘going equipped’ shows intent and carries a longer sentence in the event of a conviction. Once they have your valuables outside your house they’ll leave them somewhere secluded until they can return to collect them unless they live so nearby that they can get them home safely. If you have a car in the drive and leave your keys where they can be found, then that’s a different story. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • General Information • Home Security • • 0 Comments

Smart Home Security Is A High Growth Sector, What’s In It For You?

burglar alarms, cctv systems, home security, security feature, security,Smart home security is becoming one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the Smart Home Technology sphere. It’s simple to install, easy to use, and is incredibly cheap compared to other home security systems.

Home security has always been a fine balancing act between effectiveness and access. Nobody wants to live in a house with security screens over the windows, steel doors and barbed wire fences surrounding the property, but neither does anyone want a house which anyone can simply walk into, notwithstanding the aesthetic.

And so a compromise has to be met. Of course reasonable precautions are quite sufficient for most of us. Sturdy doors and frames, toughened double glazing which not only keeps intruders out but keeps the heat in at wintertime keep us, our property and possessions safe. So where does Smart home security come in?

Smart home security systems become desirable for homeowners who embrace technology and prefer to boost their home security without compromising on style and aesthetic. Steel security grilles might tell a burglar “you’ve not getting in here today” but a Smart CCTV camera will send the message “you can try, but the police will be on their way and we’ll have HD footage of every move you make”. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • Do It Yourself • Energy Saving • General Information • Home Security • Older People • WiFi • • 0 Comments

Is Your Smart Home Really Smart Without Sensors To Tell It What’s Going On?

If you’re a recent convert to Smart Home automation you may be starting to think “well this isn’t all that smart at all, is it? I still have to tell Alexa everything I’m doing before she’ll help me with anything!” and you’d be right. But only because you’ve got Alexa’s ears set up, without sensors’ she’s got no eyes.

A truly Smart home system relies on sensors to be able to work efficiently. Sensors feed data back to the Home Hub enabling it to make decisions and obey commands which would have been set up in order to make the Smart Home system integrated and intelligent.

There are a wide range of sensors which will serve various different purposes, from fire and smoke detectors to thermostats and motion sensors which will tell your hub not only when you enter a room, but when an intruder breaks into your home. Making use of these sensors as part of the everyday home hub utility will vastly improve the intelligence of the system since you won’t have to tell it directly what you want to happen, and make you safer since you will be able to rely on your home hub to react to changes such as movement, smoke, fire, or gas and water leaks. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • Design • Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Entertainment • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • • • 0 Comments

Light Bulbs Featuring Motion Detection, Speakers, And More!

GE LED+ LightingWhat if you want Smart lighting, but don’t want lighting attached to your Smart hub?

There could be any number of reasons why you want the advantages of Smart lighting but would prefer not to attach your lights to your home hub. Security is one issue. It has been found that in the past some manufacturers were not adding sufficient security to Smart bulbs, which left a huge hole in people’s security. You may want to keep your Smart Home hub sleeker, adding only the most necessary items to your portfolio of apps, but still with to take advantage of energy saving lights with offer more than just on, off or dimmed. Or you may not even have a Smart Home, but you like the idea of lightbulbs which have several functions.

If that’s the case then GE, Philips, Feit and Ecosmart have a range of LED+ lightbulbs which are intelligent enough to install into your home without needing to be added to your home hub.

What Do They Have To Offer?

Specialised LED bulbs are a relatively new addition to the market and offer several features and benefits which up until now had only been available through specialist retailers or via Smart Home technology. These features include:

Motion sensors

Bluetooth speakers

Colour control

Battery assistance and backup

‘Dusk to Dawn’ outdoor lighting Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • General Information • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • • 0 Comments

Briant Security Systems

Briant Security Systems are here to help you keep your home & business a safe, comfortable place to live or work.

As part of Briant Communications, our engineers and installers have accrued many years’ experience fitting a range of electronic and entertainment systems throughout the south east of England, and those electronics often included CCTV, intruder alarms and fire safety equipment.

Briant Security Systems primarily take advantage of the latest Smart Home technology in order to be able to give you an easier to manage, controllable, integrated home security system which is far superior to the traditional ‘box on the wall’ deterrent we’re currently used to seeing. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • Design • Do It Yourself • General Information • Tips and Tricks • • • • 0 Comments

Take Everything A Smart Home Provides To Work

Modern meeting roof with large television, webcam and meeting table and chairs.Is your company jumping aboard the Smart revolution and giving you Alexa and Google Smart Home Assistant on your desk?

If you’re like me and need a quiet office in order to work you probably won’t appreciate the addition of a Smart Assistant right off, but they do have their advantages. However, they take commitment. Reading the installation ‘managing devices’ instructions for Alexa for Business would make a sensible person run away screaming, but I guess that’s what IT support are for.

However, if you survive that, the advantages of having an assistant there on your desk are many.

One of the most common uses for a Smart Assistant in our office is spelling. Rather than taking a stab in word and right-clicking when it comes up with a red line, we have people yelling things such as “Alexa, spell bureaucracy!” across the room. And as if to point out the fault of relying on Word to pick up your slack, it suggested ‘plutocracy’ when I tried and failed to spell bureaucracy. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • General Information • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • WiFi • • 0 Comments

Your Business Best Practise For Data Security

Meeting room and table with chairs facing a large television and webcamBusiness security is so much more than just fitting security shutters to the windows and a sturdy lock on the door. Of course keeping unwanted visitors out, protecting premises against vandalism and graffiti are all important considerations, however, there’s much more to consider than a comprehensive CCTV system and functioning burglar alarm. We’re talking data security.

The risks business face are so much more than simply premises and inventory. Everyone who comes through the doors, staff, customers, and visitors have to be protected as does all the company’s sensitive data. Security screens and alarms keep burglars out, staff and security keep visitors safe from harm and also protect property, but what about data? Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • General Information • Home Security • Tips and Tricks • WiFi 0 Comments

What You Need To Know About Fraud And Cyber Security In Summer

girl phone beach internet accessIt’s been a long time coming but the summer is here again and for thousands of us that means a fortnight in the sun, or, for the less lucky, few days in a rainy caravan park or unsanitary holiday camp.

But from the very best to the outstandingly mediocre, there’s something which all holiday destinations have in common: free wifi.

Who doesn’t love free wifi? You can keep up with you email, if you have a smart home you can keep tabs on what’s happening indoors and out, and you can look up all the local excursions, places of interest, restaurant and tourist attraction reviews.

All Fine And Dandy, Or So It Seems

The first rule of the hospitality industry is ‘anticipate a guest’s needs and fulfil them before they realise that’s what they want’ and for all of us now these days that means having wifi you can connect to without the hassle of finding the right network or faffing with passwords. But that in itself is problematic. Read more

By Dan Cash Business Security • CCTV • Do It Yourself • General Information • Home Security • • • 0 Comments

46% Of A Burglar Alarm Not Switched On When The Burglars Came Back

burglar alarms, cctv systemsWhat’s The Point Of Having A Burglar Alarm If It’s Not Switched On?

Almost half of homeowners who have security systems fitted admitted that they were switched off when their homes were broken into. A poorly set up and calibrated burglar alarm could well go off when it’s not wanted, leading to disturbing your neighbours, upsetting your sleep, and becoming a public nuisance if it happens a lot. But switching it off isn’t the answer.

It may be that people have visible alarm units on their walls and a sticker in the window and rely on this deterrent to keep the intruders away. But studies show that dummy burglar alarms, and those which aren’t switched on every time the house is left empty, or the residents are asleep, are ineffective at keeping burglars at bay compared with an active alarm system.

And while it’s reassuring to think that burglaries only happen in affluent areas or in shops in the middle of the night, statistics don’t support this at all. In fact 2/3 burglaries take place in residential properties and they’re not as random as might seem. Most burglars live within a 2 mile radius of their victims and know the area, your neighbour’s habits and even your own patterns of behaviour. That’s not to say you’re being actively stalked, but a professional housebreaker will have a number of target properties on their mind and will watch the street to see who leaves when, and if anyone returns during the day. They’ll watch for the post too, to ensure they’re not making a get-away just as they try to deliver your gas bill. Read more