When a meteorite struck Russia last week, many of the images were captured on dashboard cameras, which are popular there.
In the United States, police have been using the technology to record evidence at traffic stops for years, but not it's catching on with the masses.
Ilan Jacobs, the owner of Sherlock Surveillance, says people want to know where their car has been even if they aren't driving it.
Anthony Martinez, the owner of the sound factory, says the biggest reason right now people are buying the cameras is to record traffic accidents. "To record what they see, crazy drivers on the road, just things they witness and want to share with other people," Martinez said.
A quick YouTube search brings up thousands of clips from dashcams capturing everything from crashes to drivers behaving badly.
"As the price tag comes down, the availability gets greater. I think we are going to see a lot of this," said Martinez.
Technology experts say clients want the cameras for security and surveillance.
"I’ve gotten calls of spouses wanting to know where their partner is, parents wanting to know where their teenager is and employers wanting to know where their employees are," said Jacobs.
And even more popular than car cameras are home surveillance cameras. The Sound Factory reports a 75-percent increase in sales from last year.
"It has risen in great proportion right now," Martinez said. "A lot of people are interested and buying closed circuit televisions with digital recorders for their homes, not just the one or two camera set ups. We’ve done 12 to 15 cameras in homes."
Most Bay Area security experts tell us they can barely keep up with the demand for home security systems and they say the reason behind this is simple.
"There are many more break ins, there are many more robberies.Unfortunately criminals are becoming pretty brave," Jacobs said.
