Published in AustralianIT, May 20 2003

PEST control might not seem the most obvious area to apply high-end technology.

After all, one of the most effective means of getting rid of unwanted mosquitoes and the like is also one of the most basic: swatting them with the nearest substantial object.

As satisfying as this is, it does tend to leave insect guts all over your backyard reading material. This is not a criticism that can be levelled at the increasingly large range of devices that use electronic trickery to encourage festering swarms of bugs to hang out somewhere other than around your BBQ.

They may slightly increase your power bill (the manufacturers claim only a minimal impact), but your copy of The Australian will definitely remain unsullied.

Although they enjoy such ludicrous and varied names as the SonicWeb, the PEST OFFense and the Pest Free, most of these devices work on the same principle.

They emit a high-level electronic frequency that convinces the bugs that they'd be better off flying next door and irritating your neighbours instead. More elaborate models may disperse scents to attract insects before zapping them or trapping them in specially developed insect glue.

Some devices even claim to mimic the human heartbeat as a means of attracting insects to their traps (if mosquitoes really like heartbeats, we can't help wondering why they always bite us on the ankle).

Such systems can be used both indoors and outdoors, but more variations on the latter theme are available.

The indoor systems distribute their annoying frequencies via the existing electrical wiring, changing the overall magnetic field within your walls. The outdoor ones rely purely on their own transmitting power, and thus tend to be somewhat larger.

So, what are the drawbacks, apart from the obvious one of having something that looks like a piece of modern sculpture gone awry close to your veranda?

If you have particularly sensitive hearing, you may be able to hear a high-pitched hum; if you have a pet dog, they certainly will (if the pet dog is the source of the insects, you may consider this a fair punishment). The indoor systems have even been known to kill smaller pets, such as hamsters (again, this may fit with your long-term plans; we're not standing in judgment).

As well, such hi-tech systems offer no easy interface for controlling by an intelligent home system (you know, the one that's managing security and switching your dinner on to reheat and emptying the cat's litter tray once a day and maintaining the cool so the hamster corpses don't decay too fast).

It's not too hard to rig up such a control system on your PC, but, on the whole, life is probably too short. And many are now only available in the US.

It's also important to remember that if you have a serious insect problem, electronic gizmos will only ever provide a partial solution. If you don't change the cat's litter regularly, then pests are going to come by no matter what you do.

And bad pest infestations can even cause your whole electricity system to short, at which point the swat once again starts looking like a good idea.