FakeTV |
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Have you ever walked along a street at night and noticed those houses with
televisions on? You hardly ever see the TV itself. Instead, you intuitively
recognize the reflected combined light shining on an interior wall or on a
window shade. The seemingly random mix of pulsing, fading, multi-colored light is immediately and uniquely identifiable.
Your next unconscious impression is that someone is obviously at home. More
than lights left on, or a car in the driveway, this animated flicker
equates to occupants. The idea behind my FakeTV invention is to accurately
simulate the television effect with a small device that uses practically no
power and that can easily be placed so that the effect is prominently seen
from the street.
The US Patent Office has finally awarded my patents (two!) for the FakeTV. The process took over three years, and I picked up a co-inventor along the way (Rein Teder, the President of Hydreon). I believe that the most successful inventions are those that derive from original need -- Frank Zapa's band, and all that. The idea for the FakeTV (originally called a TV simulator) arose from idle musing as my wife and I prepared to go out for the evening. I decided to leave the TV on so as to look as though someone was still at home. I commented that it was a shame to waste all that electricity when the burglars couldn't even see the TV picture itself, just the reflection off the wall.
A small computer in the FakeTV controls the intensities of different colored
super-bright LEDs to mimic the "melded" light of a television. This device
is small enough to hold in the palm of your hand, but projects the same
quantity of light as a 27" television.
So, now you can finally secure your home from the flood of terrorists that
will soon be pouring into the country as we pull out of Iraq by buying a
FakeTV. You can buy one (or three) from a variety of on-line
stores, or direct from the manufacturer:
FakeTV from the manufacturer
But, remember: if your neighbors all have one and you don't, well guess whose
house all the burglars are going to be heading for? They'll be tripping over
each other trying to get through your windows.
Just contemplate that image a moment.
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