May 7, 2007
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Your cell phone can make calls, send text messages, and probably even take a picture.
But can your phone keep your home and family safe?

Carl Switzer just had to tap a few buttons on his PDA-style cell phone, and an impressive image came to life on the screen.

"That's gotta be my niece playing with the camera," he said. The phone showed a live look inside his living room.
But at the time, Switzer was at work inside Radio Shack at the Avenues Mall.

"You can watch your pets if you're away from home. You can watch and see if somebody's coming in and robbing
your house, even when you're not home," Switzer said.

When Switzer started selling a pair of new security tools at Radio Shack, he knew he needed one. One system, the
Motorola Homesight, and another from Lukwerks watch your home when you're not home.

"As soon as somebody comes into your house, a light is turned on -- it'll detect that motion, it'll send you a text
message on your phone," Switzer explained.

Then, if your phone or PDA can view streaming video, you can pop up a live feed from one of several cameras.
Whether it's a false alarm or major emergency, you see it in seconds.

"If somebody comes into your home that's not supposed to be there, you can check [and] you can call the police
if you need to," Switzer said.

If your phone's not new enough to handle the video signal, you can still get a text message and view the live video
through a secure website. And everything that happens -- even if you're not watching -- is recorded as a computer
file that you can hand over to police.

"Say you have a nanny come in and watch your kids," Switzer gave as an example. "You want to make sure they're
safe, of course. You just turn on your Lukwerks or Motorola Homesight and you can actually watch everything that's
going on in your home."

They're two new tools that are answering the call to protect your house when no one's home -- and when the most
important people are home.

The system from Lukwerks costs about $250, and then gives you free text messages and video for life. The other
system -- the Homesight -- costs about $100. After that, you'll pay an access fee of around $100 a year to get
the text messages and video.

Click here to watch the video: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/player.aspx?aid=99069&bw