$35 for home security
Webcams have certainly evolved from the last time I bought one!
I got a Creative Instant webcam for about $35 at Circuit City yesterday. The resolution is just standard 320*200 video but now they have a great software feature - motion detection.
Setup motion detection alerts - sound alerts and/or an email address. Just position your camera towards any part of your home you want to monitor, and switch on the motion detection feature. When the camera detects motion, it takes a snapshot (can also take video) and emails it to any email address you specify (or uploads to a site). Heck, you can also set it to start broadcasting on yahoo messenger! Nifty!
It also has a remote monitoring feature where the cam uploads pictures taken at a set interval to a specified site.
At this low price, and with broadband becoming dirt cheap back in Delhi, just hookup your system to a good power backup and set up one of these security features with the webcam to have a much increased sense of security (not prevention of course). One thing that'd be really helpful though - an auto system bootup feature that restarts the system (everything - windows, the camera with security on and the internet line reset) in case of outages.
The Creative Instant is just a low end webcam - there are higher-end cameras (e.g. from Panasonic) that really function as security CCTVs - e.g. 360 degree views.
~
I got a Creative Instant webcam for about $35 at Circuit City yesterday. The resolution is just standard 320*200 video but now they have a great software feature - motion detection.
Setup motion detection alerts - sound alerts and/or an email address. Just position your camera towards any part of your home you want to monitor, and switch on the motion detection feature. When the camera detects motion, it takes a snapshot (can also take video) and emails it to any email address you specify (or uploads to a site). Heck, you can also set it to start broadcasting on yahoo messenger! Nifty!
It also has a remote monitoring feature where the cam uploads pictures taken at a set interval to a specified site.
At this low price, and with broadband becoming dirt cheap back in Delhi, just hookup your system to a good power backup and set up one of these security features with the webcam to have a much increased sense of security (not prevention of course). One thing that'd be really helpful though - an auto system bootup feature that restarts the system (everything - windows, the camera with security on and the internet line reset) in case of outages.
The Creative Instant is just a low end webcam - there are higher-end cameras (e.g. from Panasonic) that really function as security CCTVs - e.g. 360 degree views.
~
Labels: hardware
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