Engineered in Eden Prairie, FakeTV may be just what absent homeowners need to convince would-be burglars to look elsewhere
By John Molene
If the crime-fighting cartoon family from “The Incredibles,” can defeat the bad guys, so too, can his latest product, reckons Eden Prairie businessman Rein Teder.
Teder, president of Opto-Electronic Design Inc. of Eden Prairie, thinks his “FakeTV” is just the ticket to take a bite out of burglaries.
There were a reported 146 residential burglaries in Eden Prairie in 2006 and 144 in 2007. If his new device could prevent just a few of those burglaries in 2009, Teder will be very pleased.
“There’s no tell-tale signs,” said Teder. “I can’t tell the difference from outside the home whether it’s real or FakeTV.”
Looking like you’re home, even when you’re not, can reduce the chances of your home being burgled.
One of several points noted on the Eden Prairie Police Department’s Web site on ways to prevent home burglaries is to “create the illusion that you are home by using timers on lights, radios and TV’s. Making your residence appear occupied, even when no one is home, will deter criminals.”
Homeowners have been using light timers to try and fool burglars for years. This product takes that approach a sophisticated step further.
Fake TV aims to fool the burglars by simulating the light output of a television, making it look like someone is home watching TV. A built-in computer controls superbright LEDs to produce light of varying intensity and color that lights up a room just like a real television does. The light effects of real television programming – scene changes, camera pans, fades, flicks, swells, on-screen motion and more – are all faithfully simulated by a FakeTV, according to a news release.
FakeTV was conceived by California author and inventor Blaine Readler.
“My wife and I were going out for the evening, and I decided to leave the TV on so that it looked like somebody was still at home,” Readler said. “I commented that it was a shame to waste all that electricity, when the burglars couldn’t even see the picture itself, just the reflection off the wall. That evening, my mind kept coming back to this. There had to be a cheap way to simulate a television as seen from outside.”
Readler approached Eden Prairie company Opto-Electronic Design Inc., experts in optics and in high-volume manufacturing, to refine his idea.
“He gets all the credit for the basic idea,” said Teder.
But the prototype model Readler had created would have sold for $1,000. Teder’s re-engineered version hit the market in April for just $39.99.
“That was the cost target we had to meet,” said Teder. “And when computers get really cheap, they get harder to program.”
Opto-Electronic engineers studied that flickering glow in detail, gathering data with sophisticated instruments about the exact nature of the intensity and color variations emanating from a real television.
They found that news programs, for example, are more static than dramas and commercials more dynamic. A sequence of outdoor water scenes may have a bluish cast, a game show set might be reddish, while an animated sequence might explode with color. Engineers designed special equipment, and wrote computer programs to simulate all of these effects.
In testing, subjects were unable to tell the difference between the prototype television simulator and the real thing.
The FakeTVs are by Opto-Electronic Design’s manufacturing partner, Xenso, a Malaysia based company.
“We’ve sold about 1,700,” said Teder,” which is way ahead of projection.”
Most Fake TVs have been sold by word of month, he added. “If you Google ‘Fake TV,’ you get 87,000 hits. The interest is really growing.”
“That’s the scary part,” Teder added. “Who knows how many we’re going to be selling six months from now. I know we’re not ready for an order of 50,000 yet. But I see a mass appeal. People can get one for their home, their lake places, their second homes. And we have found they really work well for older, vulnerable people. I know one lady who leaves it on in another room, even when she’s home.
“You leave ’em guessing,’ he added. “The impression it makes is all out of proportion.”
The effect of the resulting product is uncanny, Teder said. The pulse, dance and subtle changing colors are identifiable as coming from a television, even though they are not.
This makes FakeTV a remarkably effective burglar deterrent because, unlike a static light on a timer, it looks “alive.” Modern televisions turn on with buttons, so it is not possible to put most on a timer.
The devices consist mainly of a small computer, some circuits and super bright LEDs. They plug into an outlet and use less power than a night light.
FakeTV has been available through several Internet resellers since April, and carries a suggested retail price of $49. FakeTV is a trademark of Opto-Electronic Design Inc., and patents are pending on the product. For more information visit www.faketv.com or call 1-888-621-5800.
Prior to the development of FakeTV, Opto-Electronic Design has been know as an automotive technology company, focused on sensing and control, and has been in business since 1998.
“Our core competency is in solving particularly intractable engineering problems,” Teder said. “We emphasize understanding the underlying mathematics of physical processes, and utilizing the latest available technology and research development.”