Wi-Fi Security?

A little over a week ago, some jerkwads snuck into my place on Long Island and stole a bunch of stuff. None of my personal belongings was taken, but Kim and Mom had their purses taken and Rob had his wallet stolen. Neighbors found the purses down the block, lying in the road with cash missing but everything else intact. Rob's wallet is still MIA. Of course, the purses were recovered after Kim and Mom had already called all their credit card companies and financial institutions to cancel cards, order replacements and such.

The scary thing about this is that the robbers were in the house while Mom, Kim and Rob slept. Kim heard something upstairs from her bedroom in the basement, but thankfully didn't go upstairs to investigate. I shudder to think what might have happened if she had caught the robbers in the act.

This past weekend, we were all talking about what to do about security. New doors, windows and locks are coming in September, and we're taking precautions to make sure everything is locked up at night from now on. But what else should we do? We talked about getting a home security system, but everyone I know who has one says they're more trouble in "false alarm fees" than they're worth.

During my last visit to CompUSA, I saw that the wireless networking usual suspects are offering home automation systems that I'd like to try out. I'm thinking about getting some cameras and some switches to turn lights on and off. Has anyone tried any of this stuff? Send me your comments if you have any experiences, negative or positive.