HomeCamera: Use your Webcam for Security

Posted by David | Filed under Hardware, Software, The Web

I’ve always been interested in using my webcam as some kind of security camera, mainly for a laugh to see when my friends enter my room to borrow my stuff, but also more seriously in case someone decides to nick stuff from my room while I’m out. Most systems I’ve seen require the purchase of extra more sensitive cameras and costly software making it completely un viable for me and my student budget!

I recently discovered a website called HomeCamera which you can currently freely sign up to as it is in beta testing and install a small piece of software on your computer. This software is great allowing you to change the resolution of the images you take and the frame rate, as well as use software motion sensing so practically any webcam can use motion sensing from the cheapest to the most expensive.

Once the software is up and running it automatically sends back images or video when motion is detected to the HomeCamera server, which can then be passed onto an email address or mobile phone. It can also create and send 10 second video clips.

Having played and tested the software for a few hours, it seems to work really well and can control up to four cameras on one computer, creating a low cost security system for your home or office within a few minutes.

The great thing about HomeCamera is that it is currently free, and when they do finally go live it will only cost around $15 to use and there will still be a free limited version available.

Overall Verdict: I literally had this software up and running in under 10 minutes, it’s really simple and easy to use and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for some low budget security for their room, home or office without having to buy any extra hardware or software. HomeCamera. 9/10

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Permalink | Comments (1) | Wednesday, 20th Aug 2008

One Response to “HomeCamera: Use your Webcam for Security”

  1. Varun Arora Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

    David,

    Found your blog courtesy of Google Alerts, which notifies me whenever someone writes about us. Thanks for the review… :-)

    Incidentally, you can also access your camera/s on the move through our mobile site, at http://www.homecamera.com/mobile

    I hope you enjoy using the service - do drop me a note if you encounter difficulties.

    Cheers,

    - Varun Arora
    CEO, HomeCamera

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