Kaba Simplex Pushbutton Mechanical Lock Class Action Lawsuit

Breaking News.

Reports coming in about a possible class action lawsuit against Kaba-Ilco, regarding a fault with their most well known product line, the Simplex Mechanical Access Control Devices.

I have personally sold, serviced and installed Kaba-Ilco Simplex products for over 25 years in this country and overseas. I happened to work for the Australian distributor in the early 1990's and frequently was honoring warranty claims on faulty parts, to which the company would replace and/or repair parts at their borne costs.

While I suggest that any class action lawsuit of this kind would best be fully researched prior to being actioned, I think the manufacturer would make it their priority to rectify faults in their product line with haste.

The details of the claim are in the source below.

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UPDATE January 28, 2011: New information including video evidence (from a respected watchdog) has surfaced, showing the fault. I will not post a link here, for security reasons, but it is easily found online at www.thesidebar.org website.

Facecrook - Crimes Associated With Social Networking Sites Increases 7000%

Burglars are a crafty lot aren't they? It is becoming ever more apparent that Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites may be indirectly responsible for a spike in crime, that is unprecedented.

As the holiday season approaches, we all need to be much more vigilant in our approaches to personal and physical security.

According to an article in The Daily Mail in Great Britain...

"A Daily Mail investigation revealed this week that over the past three years, numbers of crimes associated with the networking site have increased by as much as 7,000 per cent in some areas — including cases of murder, rape, paedophilia, bullying, assault and burglary."

Police, insurance companies and IT security experts are so concerned that they have issued urgent warnings to users to be more vigilant about the personal information they post on the web. But all the evidence ­suggests that while the public isn’t growing any more internet savvy, the criminals are.

In spite of the warnings, Facebook users continue to tell their ‘friends’ when they are going on holiday; what the address of their party is; when their birthday is; what expensive items they have bought for their homes; and just how sexy they look in that new outfit.

Facebook has become a very popular method to inform friends (and enemies) of your movements. Criminals have been seen to exploit these mediums to gather intel on the movements of their victims.

When you post your status on Facebook, how sure are you that your network of friends are reliable and trustworthy?

In most cases, I suggest friend can be trusted, but remember that it takes just one loose lip to sink a ship.

In the source below, the article explains about some disturbing incidents of crime that have been attributed to status updates on Facebook.

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Pneumatic Pocket Door - Star Trek Style

It's no secret that I have a fascination for pocket doors and systems designed to efficiently lock them.

I have been selling a pocket door lock for about 12 months now that is meeting and exceeding demands from discerning buyers.

An enterprising fellow has created his own version of an automatic sliding pocket door that is really well built and fully functional. The above video is his explanation of what it does. It is really simple and requires parts that can be purchased at the hardware store, so cost is relatively inexpensive. Perhaps the Star Trek era is coming even closer to reality.

I suggest visiting the authors site in the source below for more knowledge and installation steps.

What do you think? Is this something you could perceive in your abode?

The era of door knobs and hinges, I suggest is on the decline.

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Google Adwords 10

Google Adwords is celebrating it's 10th birthday, with a video I just wish the product worked.

Cool advertising idea, but!

Beach Keys

An interesting piece of information has surfaced as to motor vehicle dealers possibly misleading potential car buyers.

Many cars today are equipped with factory installed security features requiring the use of transponder or "chip" keys.

These keys usually have a plastic outer shell/head with a transponder or chip embedded within, programmed to be recognized by the vehicle's onboard computer system. When inserted into the ignition, the correct key is then authorized to start the engine.

Apparently, there are reported cases of customers asking the salespeople if their new car comes with 2 keys, to which the answer is "yes". But apparently the dealers are providing the second key or spare, without the plastic head or embedded pre-programmed chip. This key is known as a Beach Key.

The customer rarely tries the second key and finds out later on (after losing or misplacing the first key) that the spare, which is often a metal only copy, will not actually start the vehicle.

This requires the customer to call an automotive locksmith. Originating a key to a vehicle of this type is an expensive endeavour, that many customers tend to have a rude awakening about.

I suggest that you immediately check the correct operation of all vehicle keys prior to leaving the showroom or car yard.

Kwikset Smart Key - Making Keys

Kwikset Smartkey Locks have been on the market a few years now. Many of these locks have been purchased at the big box hardware stores, without any clue as to the procedure for replacing lost keys.

The lock is able to rekeyed but it is fundamental to have at least one working key.

The use of the above pictured reset tool is required to make a key when all existing keys have been lost.

First, the door it is fitted to needs to be unlocked. The lock must be dismantled and the cylinder removed.

The cylinder is then inserted correctly into the cradle and the actuator turned to the reset position. Insert a new precut key and rekey to same.

Remove cylinder and replace in lock.

In future, you can still rekey this lock provided you have at least one working key.

See also Kwikset Smartkey Fault

Schlage Securekey Problems

Baldwin To Use Kwikset

Schlage Securekey Fault

Kwikset Smartkey Problems

Schlage Securekey Bumped

Locking Product Deficiencies

There are many manufacturers of locks and locking systems. It can be a daunting task, sifting through the mountains of information about product quality and effectiveness, to guide the decision making process.

The Sidebar .org is a site that offers unbiased information and results of independent tests conducted on many security products. The information contained there can help to guide a prospective buyer of security products as to independent, field tested scenarios for some of the modern security products available.

The following products were recently tested by this organisation for quality and effectiveness.

KWIKSET SMARTKEY
BIOLOCK 333 FINGERPRINT LOCK
KABA SAFLOK IN-SYNC RFID LOCK
AMSEC ES1014 ELECTRONIC SAFE

ILOQ C10S ELECTROMECHANICAL LOCK

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State Farm Insurance - Opinion On Best Door Locks

I read with interest an article (in the website listed in the source below), offering an opinion about the quality of various types of door locks and systems that enable better security in residential applications.

From the site...

Door Locks From a Burglar's Perspective

Burglars prefer to break into a home through a door because it is quick and easy.

A good quality lock is a deterrent. When intruders are interviewed about the selection of a target, many say seeing quality deadbolt locks will cause them to move on to another house.

A burglar can enter the home through a door using several methods:

• The door can be left unlocked.
• Doors can be kicked in.
• Door locks can be picked.
• Door locks can be hammered until they fall off.