FakeTV Uses Advanced Optics to Thwart Thieves

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- It may sometimes seem like the
program content on your television is utterly mindless, but it turns out to be
devilishly difficult to counterfeit it. A new burglar deterrent device,
FakeTV, does just that: FakeTV produces exactly the same sort of light your
television does. The idea is that when a burglar sees the light from an
operating television shining through the curtains, he probably thinks that
somebody is home and that he should move on to an easier mark. For the trick
to work, and to leave no telltale signs that might tip off the crook, FakeTV
has to be a near-perfect imitation of a real television.

FakeTV was invented by author, engineer, and inventor Blaine Readler. One
evening when Blaine was leaving the house, he turned the television on to keep
the burglars at bay. It occurred to him that all the would-be thief would see
was the light the television cast through the curtains, and that most of the
energy that went into making the picture was wasted. He set out to make a
device that made just the light, not the picture. Blaine worked with the
optics experts at Opto-Electronic Design, Inc. to measure exactly what sort of
light real television programming produces. Romantic comedies, for example,
are brighter but more static than action-adventure dramas. News programs tend
to be monochromatic, and animated features are colorful and dynamic.
Commercials explode with color and intensity changes. Blaine and the team
programmed a computer to control super-bright LED's to produce exactly the
sort of light produced by all of these genres.

FakeTV, the product that resulted from all of this effort, is about the size
of coffee cup, and costs under $40. A built-in light sensor and timer turns
FakeTV on at each dusk to run for either four or seven hours. True to Blaine's
green objective, FakeTV consumes about one percent of the power of an
operating television. Most important, viewed from outside the home, FakeTV is
essentially indistinguishable from the real thing. FakeTV is effective burglar
repellent because when you see a light from an operating television, you
usually simply assume someone is watching it. Burglars usually make the same
assumption. FakeTV is a trademark of Opto-Electronic Design, Inc., and the
device is protected by issued and pending patents. For more information, visit
http://www.faketv.com or call 1-888-621-5800.

For high resolution images, visit http://www.faketv.com/pressrelease

Contact:

Rein Teder
President
Opto-Electronic Design, Inc.
888-621-5800
info@faketv.com

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit
http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Opto-Electronic Design, Inc.

Rein Teder, President of Opto-Electronic Design, Inc., +1-888-621-5800,
info@faketv.com