Use of Technology Archives

Face Recognition and other Technologies for Disease Mitigation

Posted on November 9, 2020November 9, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Review of the Technologies that Help in a Pandemic

So is face recognition good or bad? Does it invade our privacy, or does it make us more secure? Facial recognition has had a difficult time in the market. When it was first introduced, it was a promising technology, but it was costly. Over the last few years, the price has become more reasonable, yet this biometric technology faced many challenges. There were concerns of reliability, and more recently, it was attacked for impinging on our privacy.

How Technology Helps Hospitals

Posted on April 13, 2020April 17, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

How IP Camera Systems and Door Access Help With Infectious Disease Control

The current health crisis has placed a significant strain on all hospital resources. Besides the problem of medical supplies and protective equipment, they have been struggling with finding rooms for all the new infectious patients. The hospitals have been creating inventive solutions to meet these challenges.

IP surveillance, intercoms, and door access control have been used to control how people move through all areas of hospitals. This article describes how technology is being used to help hospitals and other healthcare organizations meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keep Calm and Plan Ahead

Posted on March 18, 2020April 8, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Despite the challenges caused by COVID-19, Kintronics continues to respond to all the needs of our customers. Most of our staff are working remotely to ensure that we continue to provide the best information, advice, and IP security products. In light of this situation, we offer some suggestions that may make this all a bit easier.

Take a Deep Breath

The tension caused by challenging times can cause many health problems. I know that my lower back has been hurting for the last few weeks. Tension! According to some people, anxiety is more dangerous than a virus. I don’t know if this is true or not, but we certainly need to relax. Let’s take a deep breath. Focus on your breathing. As you slowly breathe in and out, try to relax those tense muscles. Things will get better. It just takes time.

In a message from Nathan O. Hatch from Wake Forest University, “We at Wake Forest all have seen our day-to-day reality turned topsy-turvy. The normal patterns of life have been rudely upended as we face the reality of COVID-19 and its implications for our own health and that of our families and communities.”

Panic Buttons and Other Security Systems for Schools

Posted on December 5, 2019April 18, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Active Shooter Emergencies

Active shooter situations have become a significant security issue. Many articles have been written about this. Solutions range from increased technology, active shooter drills in schools, and of course, gun control. Ann Hampton Callaway even wrote a song, Thoughts and Prayers.

A recent article, Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could, was published November 27, 2019, in NPR news. It discussed the issues with active shooter drills. The article suggested that it was much better to provide threat assessment as a proactive approach to safety in schools. The objective would be to “identify students who are doing concerning behavior or may be in distress and getting them the help they need before they even resort to violence as an option.”

As a technology company, all we can do is suggest technology that can be used to prevent, control, and manage active shooter situations.

Security devices such as IP cameras, paging systems, metal detectors, door access control, and panic buttons can be used to help control emergency situations. This article provides a summary of the safety and security systems.

History of Kintronics

Posted on June 20, 2017March 31, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Kintronics is Forty!

Kintronics was founded May, 1977. The Kintronics history is one of change. Over the years, we constantly reinvented ourselves to assure that we were providing the right technology products to the market.

About Kintronics concept — Kintronics Security Technology

In the beginning, we were a small regional distributor providing electronic components such as relays, power supplies, and monitors. In 1989 we hired a more technical staff, and our business model changed. We started selling complete systems such as CD-ROM drives and CD-recorders to schools and libraries. We provided a high level of technical support, and service. As technology changed, so did the products we offered. The CD-ROM drives became network attached CD-ROM servers, and in 1990 we added optical disc libraries from Panasonic that automated archiving of computer data.

The History of Video Surveillance

Posted on July 20, 2016June 1, 2020 by Bob Mesnik

Evolution from Closed Circuit TV to Ubiquitous IP Camera Surveillance

By Bob Mesnik

From the early beginnings of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), it was somewhat controversial. It was designed to increase our security and safety, but does it threaten our privacy? How has video surveillance changed over the years? This article reviews the history of surveillance and how it has evolved into a technology that has become part of our lives.

History

Video surveillance is not new; it has been around for quite a while. One of the first recorded application for closed circuit television system (CCTV) was back in 1942. It was used to view the launch of V2 rockets in Germany.

In the US, commercial surveillance applications began around 1947. In 1957 a number of companies such as General Precision Labs (GPL division), provided CCTV camera systems for education, medical and industrial applications.

An IP Prescription for Hospitals

Posted on April 18, 2016March 22, 2020 by Virginia Fair

How IP Camera Systems and IP Access Control Systems Increase Safety in Hospitals

By Virginia Fair

The following appeared on NBCLA.com, the website of the Los Angeles NBC affiliate station.

“A man who allegedly dressed as a nurse to fool security personnel was arrested for stealing medical supplies from a Fountain Valley Hospital, police announced Monday. The suspect is accused of stealing from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital three separate times since May.”

Fountain Valley Regional Hospital is not alone. According to the 2012 Crime and Security Trends Survey, underwritten by the Foundation of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS), the crime rate of hospitals rose by close to 37 percent in just two years, from slightly less than 15,000 in 2010 to over 20,500 in 2012. This increase occurred in all crime categories: larceny, theft, simple assault, vandalism, rape and sexual assault. The highest-ever number of homicides occurred, as well, with 8 reported by responding hospitals.

Challenging Real Time Applications for IP Cameras

Posted on March 12, 2016March 22, 2020 by Virginia Fair

Interview with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services About IP Camera with WDR

by Virginia Fair

In our thirty years of being, Kintronics has had the pleasure of doing business with the armed forces, the education sector, library systems, and businesses of every stripe and niche, not to mention quite a few enterprising individuals intent on monitoring such natural phenomena as:

salmon swimming upstream
seals in underground caves
eagles nesting in trees
Hawks perched in New York City’s famed Washington Square.

However, we rarely get a chance to see any of our IP cameras in action once they leave Kintronics. That was, until we had the pleasure of doing business with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services. He’d consulted with Keaton Baker, one of our sales engineers, in February, for suggestions about a camera that would help him overcome lighting problems he was encountering in monitoring his warehouse out in Iowa. Keaton recommended an IQ862, a camera with Wide Dynamic Range.

Let the Recorder Beware

Posted on March 1, 2016March 22, 2020 by Virginia Fair

You can record audio and video but be careful of the law.=

by Virginia Fair

These premises are under video surveillance.
Convenience stores post this no nonsense warning at their front doors. Banks who display a height chart at their exit door are indirectly issuing the same warning.

This conversation may be recorded for training purposes.
Most if not all companies and utilities issue this warning before connecting a customer to a representative.

IP camera surveillance is a given these days. In most cases the camera warnings are intended to warn the “bad guys”, and the recording notice is for “the rest of us.” The majority of people take these messages as givens and the concept rarely registers.

How Surge Protectors Work

Posted on February 28, 2016March 22, 2020 by Virginia Fair

Ligtning’s Thief, by Virginia Fair

Once upon a time a major university installed IP cameras throughout its campus in reaction to a wave of violence perpetrated against female students. All went well until a passing thunderstorm brought a lightning strike which just happened to hit an IP camera mounted on the parapet of a dorm. Of course the camera was destroyed, but have you ever heard the phrase “greased lightning”? It’s a very descriptive term for within seconds, the surge created by the lightning traveled through the IP camera system, and the network destroying both the server and the switch, creating havoc right down to the network cards in students’ laptops at the end of the cable runs.