What’s that, you might ask. Well, it is a device which are acts like someone is watching the TV. You know, when you go home at night and you see about your flats or houses those flashing lights here and there with shadows and movements on the wall? Yes, that’s exactly what it does. It emulates people watching an actual TV but without the TV. It’s main purpose is to scare thieves away. So if you are out of your house, you can switch on the TV or just use this emulator and pretend that there are people in the house watching TV. The idea is that if burglars think that there are people in the house, they will most likely not rob it. They will choose an easier target, like your neighbour’s house which has nobody in it.

The FakeTV is actually a strobe that flashes out beams of light on the walls and will mimic what you see outside from people’s houses when they are watching TV. It produces the effects of “scene changes, fades, swells, flicks, on-screen motion and colour changes”. However, it does not produce any sound effects. So if you are living in a country where houses are so close and the doorway is very near the window, you could have a problem if there are slightly smarter burglars aiming for your house. but not all burglars are smart and most will not risk having people in the house when there are so many other tempting targets out there. And when we are talking about Singapore, the entire house board flats is a very tempting target. The trick is not to be as silent as possible and not to attract any attention since there are a lot of residents living in an housing board flat, thus a lot of witnesses as well.

From what I see, the price isn’t very cheap. It cost about US$49 and the idea of just flashing strobes costing that much is kind of a letdown. I mean it isn’t really an high tech equipment and all it does is produce different types of light. In fact, just switching on the living room light and the radio should be just as effective as using this strobe. Burglars will not dare enter a fully lit house with music in the background. A good idea but just too expensive for practical usage. If you are into such gadgets and you are a bit paranoid, then by all means, go ahead and buy it. Maybe if you are living in an private residential area, you can consider this. But if you are thinking of buying this for real practical purposes, then you should reconsider.