Apps make iphones monitoring your home
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WORRIED about what your dog is chewing on when you're at work, or whether your home is secure while on vacation? New apps can transform old smartphones into remote security cameras for home monitoring systems.
Presence, which was launched late last month, converts a spare Internet-connected iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch into a free video camera with real-time video and audio streaming, and motion detection and notifications.
"Essentially we give you an inexpensive security system that you can use to monitor your house, or help you watch your kids, cats, elderly relatives or act as a baby or nanny cam," said Gene Wang, chief executive of the People Power company.
Unlike traditional monitoring systems that can be expensive and need technical knowledge to install and use, Wang said Presence is a free do-it-yourself system that can be set up simply by downloading and configuring the app.
To use it consumers install and login to their account on two devices - for example two iPhones. Then they can start the camera within the app on one of the devices and it can be viewed from the app on the other.
Triggers can also be set to record when motion is detected and to send alerts. The app can help to avoid false alarms, according to Wang, because it sends a video clip in an email to the user showing the motion that triggered the alert.
"With these high-end security systems, you have a lot of false positives and then the security company and police come out and it turns out it was your cat knocking over a broom or something like that," Wang said.
He said many people have replaced their old smartphones with new ones and a monitoring system would be a good way to make use of the old devices.
Another app reads electricity meters in real time to show consumers how much they're spending and whether they are going over budget.
Presence, which was launched late last month, converts a spare Internet-connected iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch into a free video camera with real-time video and audio streaming, and motion detection and notifications.
"Essentially we give you an inexpensive security system that you can use to monitor your house, or help you watch your kids, cats, elderly relatives or act as a baby or nanny cam," said Gene Wang, chief executive of the People Power company.
Unlike traditional monitoring systems that can be expensive and need technical knowledge to install and use, Wang said Presence is a free do-it-yourself system that can be set up simply by downloading and configuring the app.
To use it consumers install and login to their account on two devices - for example two iPhones. Then they can start the camera within the app on one of the devices and it can be viewed from the app on the other.
Triggers can also be set to record when motion is detected and to send alerts. The app can help to avoid false alarms, according to Wang, because it sends a video clip in an email to the user showing the motion that triggered the alert.
"With these high-end security systems, you have a lot of false positives and then the security company and police come out and it turns out it was your cat knocking over a broom or something like that," Wang said.
He said many people have replaced their old smartphones with new ones and a monitoring system would be a good way to make use of the old devices.
Another app reads electricity meters in real time to show consumers how much they're spending and whether they are going over budget.
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