Motion Sensor Tells You Someone Is At The Door - iDoorCam

Answering the front door may not necessarily be a problem, but if you work in your pajamas like I do somethings, you really do not want to open the door to someone when you are not dressed appropriately. Hearing the doorbell makes most of us jump up to answer it. But, what if you could sit and relax while answering the front door? Would you be interested in that idea? Or even have the front door tell you someone is there before someone rings the doorbell? That would be something of interest. Now that I have your attention on something that can make your life a little easier, read on. A product to do this looks to be possible in the near future as a new product called iDoorCam prepares to come to market.

The iDoorCam Doorbell is currently an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to fund the manufacturing of the product which will be made in the USA. With a goal of $100,000, they have blown past that as they are over $400,000 as I write this. That means they are going to come to market and deliver a product that I see as ground breaking for what I want. There are other products we have read about in the past, but this one seems to be smaller and blend in better than others.

The iDoorCam is only 2.75 tall and is a circle similar to what you are used to seeing. It is 0.75 inches thick to hold the technology in it at a weight of 1.9 ounces. And in the technology area, it comes with a standard door bell button. In that button is a motion sensor which will recognize that someone is at the door before they ring the bell. There is a camera and a night vision LED included along with the expected speaker and microphone. You will also have an app to use with this, but unfortunately, it is only for the iPhone. But there is going to be an Android version by the end of the year.

All of this is dependent on a WiFi connection from the iDoorCam to your WiFi Router. From there, it will send a signal over the Internet so that your mobile device can be contacted. From there, you can answer the door without leaving your seat. Or you can answer when you are not even home. Now that is the way to provide for security at your door when you are not there.

The installation is pretty simple, but there is one thing that we are disappointed with. You attach the baseplate into the wall, attach 2 wires for the doorbell and then snap the iDoorCam to the base plate. It is that last step that I do not like. If it just snaps on, what is to stop someone from just snapping it off and taking it? They need to correct this before release to make it more secure.

The expected price after the pre-orders is $165. So, if you want to pre-order one for $137, now is the time to do it. The pre-orders are expected to be shipped in October, just a month away. This one looks very promising.

Canary Home Security Device Funds Within Hours

There are many sources for getting funding for a new idea. We have seen KickStarter and Indiegogo as two of the more popular ones out there. And every now and then we see one new product that is so great that funding for it goes off the charts and in the end, it records a huge amount of money. But, we have now seen one that is so popular that it achieves its funding goals, not in a matter of days, but in a matter of hours. And that is what the Canary smart phone security device has managed to accomplish. And this one appeals to a very broad audience because of just how simple it is and the associated reasonable price to join in.

The Canary smart home security device is on Indiegogo and I have been watching it for several hours now. Today is the first day that it has been up and with a goal of $100,000, they have already had contributions of just under $207,000. That is very impressive for a new project. It is all that this can do for you which has attracted all the interest.

It is small in size, measuring only 6 inches tall and three inches across. Installation is a snap as you only have to take it out of the box and get it connected to your WiFi setup. Then you register for an account and you are done. It is up and running at that point.

Purely as a home security device, you use your smart phone to look at what is going on in your home. If the Canary detects movement, it will alert you to that with the free app that you download. At that point, you determine how to respond. You can call the police, a friend or neighbor, etc. You can even kick off a siren to scare them away. And at the same time, you can be recording what is going on in your home. Now that is a great set of features in a simple home security system with the ability to track movement and sound.

As part of those contributors who help fund the Canary project, there is the opportunity to get your own Canary home security system. if you Contribute Now you can get your own white Canary for a contribution of $199. We expect the price to be $249 when this comes to market in the middle of next year. Given the kind of funding it looks like they are going to get, there is no reason why they could not come to market sooner. This is worth taking a look at as a simple way to do home security. And is going to be highly successful as the contributions went up by over $4,000 from when I started writing this. This one is going to easily break the $1 million mark with the 35 days that are left.

SmartThings Provides An Open Home Security System

KickStarter Friday - Opening Connections To Other Products

Home security systems have become very important today. And there are so many different ways that you can protect your home and belongings. The problem with so many of the various home security packages which are available is that they are not open. If you buy a package from a security company, you get their products along with the monthly fees. You cannot add some other product into the mix. Even the ones which leverage mobile technology today are not able to take advantage of other products or apps. And there are a number of different methods used for communication, like ZigBee, Z-Wave and WiFi. And vendors are not going to include multiple methods for communicating with devices.

So, for this weeks KickStarter Friday, we are talking about SmartThings which raised over $1.2 million for their base product. This was done last year and they have shipped product. At the moment, they are working to manufacture more to meet the continuing demand and you can "Reserve Your Spot" for one when they come in which is currently estimated to be in May. The SmartThings hardware unit and the associated software is being worked on to continue to include more and more devices.

If someone's product allows for it to be controlled by a 3rd party, then it can be controlled by SmartThings. There are developers working to add various products and controls to be able to join the SmartThings unit. While this does sound like a fantastic way of doing things, it is going to take a little while longer to create the software connections to other devices. The company is working to make connections to the things in your home and allow for automation of them from a single device. That is a big undertaking and if they are only 50% successful, they will have a great product.

While they sell "things" which are devices you would normally have with a security system, such as door and window monitors, it is the potential to use other devices which do not come from SmartThings. Their SmartApps are designed to let you monitor just about anything that you can reach which has an interface. And with that, they have a large development effort which appears to be operating much in the same way as open source projects. It is these apps which will allow the SmartThings unit to monitor and control so many more items than one would think. It is all dependent on whether those devices will allow for the SmartApps to access their information.

This may be the next be thing for home security and move beyond the limiting packages that you are forced to purchase.

WiFi Cameras Should Be Part Of Your Home Security

With everything that goes on in the world, the need for having a camera to record activities is an important feature for your home security. If your home is being viewed by someone wanting to break in, seeing exterior cameras may be a deterrent to them doing that. Or cameras inside the home can record someone inside the hone who should not be there. You can even be alerted to someone in your home by the recording of information. There have been recent news reports here in Northern California of exterior cameras recording someone coming to a home and stealing the delivered boxes. Having cameras for your home is becoming part of the standard package for home security and is something which should be part of your overall considerations for home security.

While you can run wired cameras, WiFi cameras are far easier to set up and use. It is just a matter of making a connection to them and you are ready to use them. Those of a few years back were limited to connections to the back of a DVR, but the ones of today are using mobile devices to alert you as to activities besides recording the actions. More and more are storing the recordings in the Cloud with added services, so even if someone steals the camera, you still have the images to turn over to the police.

WiFi cameras will leverage your local WiFi router to stream the video, which can be to the web, computer or Cloud. One that is popular is the Samsung SmartCam which has a lot of features at a low price. That includes the ability to detect noise or motion around the camera and then provide notifications to you. Another popular WiFi camera is DropCam which offers a similar set of features and adds night vision to the package as well. The include the streaming video to the web and notification alerts should be the standards you are looking for.

Having a camera for indoor use which these are designed for, still leaves the outside of your home to be covered. You want something which can withstand the weather, such as the Wansview WiFi camera which has notifications and motion detection. The growing market for outside WiFi cameras is growing and it is the feature sets which make these desirable. The Wansview has built in night vision as well which is something that should be expected from all outdoor cameras. There are many other outdoor WiFi cameras on the market and you should research those that you are considering for your home.

With summer approaching and vacation planning, you need to make sure that your home security is where it needs to be. If you need to improve on what you have, WiFi cameras look to be your best bet to cover your home and property. There is no one size fits all for this and you will need to do some research to find cameras that fit your needs. Indoor cameras come in many shapes and sizes while outdoor cameras are less flexible in shapes and design. The key to look for is WiFi enabled cameras that can send you notifications to your phone to alert you along with streaming video which can be viewed remotely.

Electronic Door Viewers Greatly Improve The Door Peephole

Growing up, the front door is the the barrier to the outside world and provides a feeling of security. When someone would knock on the door, my parents would look through the tiny peephole in the door to see who it was and decide whether to open the door. I was too small to look through it because it was towards the top of the door. As I grew older, I could pull up a chair and look through it to see the outside world. But that view was very strange looking. Trying to get a clear picture of who was at the door was not possible. So much has changed in the past 5 years that getting an excellent view of the person outside is now possible.

So, in continuing with gadgets around the home to provide security, we are looking at the old door peephole concept and the numerous improvements which have come about. There are a variety of door viewers which can provide an excellent LCD picture for you to see. And they include a wide angle picture as well. The other big improvement is that they take a picture of what you are looking at and store it on a micro SD card, such as the Digital Door Viewer from Yale shown above. Viewers have improved greatly and the whole family can use them. You press a button and the picture appears, so even the younger members of the family can use an electronic door viewer to see who is at the door.

The pictures being recorded have pretty much become the standard for the door viewers and most come with a 512 MB micro SD card standard. With the 2.5 to 3.5 inch screen sizes being sold today, you get a great picture. The biggest issue with these is the batteries required to power door viewers. It seems that not all door viewers are created equal and some do not get the best battery life. As an example, a generic viewer has people complaining about the battery life in the reviews. Brand names do not seem to have the same complaints, such as the Brinno electronic peephole viewer. Viewers are going to be one of those items which require research on your part.

When you are looking at viewers, be aware that some of the digital viewers do not record pictures of the person at the door and that will obviously impact the price. The added picture taking has more technology with it and raises the price for the electronic door viewer. Some viewers have an associated door bell with them, so that when someone rings the bell, it will take their picture. There are so many features associated with the electronic door viewers that you are going to have to determine which one fits your needs. The best feature of all for these is that from the outside of the door, you cannot tell that there is an electronic viewer which can take a picture.

Lockitron - Remotely Lock Your Door When You Forget

If you are like many in the technology world, you sometimes have to rush out of the house to get to work because of some emergency. And with the rush to get out of the house, how many times have you wondered if you locked your door or not. That is a nagging feeling and one that stays with you until you get home. Since there are other products on the market for turning lights on and off when you are not home, why not one which will let you lock or unlock your front door remotely? This is the week where we are providing gadgets to help around the home while providing you with security. And with that, we have found something new to let you lock or unlock your deadbolt with your smartphone.

Coming this summer, Lockitron will be shipping to provide you with an electronic security device. Listed at $179, you can pre-order one now and be part of the first group to receive your own Lockitron. This is such a simple concept to provide you with the peace of mind to know that you have locked your door. I have left home a number of times only to return a few minutes later to make sure that I locked the front door. With the Lockitron, I would no longer have to wonder. While it can do much more than just this single feature, for me, this is the reason I would go out and buy one.

When the Lockitron arrives, it will have the both Android and iOS apps to provide you with the ability to check the status of the deadbolt lock. With the app, you can lock or unlock the deadbolt with ease. If you need to let someone into your home while you are at work, you can to that with the WiFi enabled Lockitron. While the plans to include WiFi into this security device are underway, there will be no visible interface for the device to set things up. The built in WiFi device can be configured with the Lockitron app on your phone. You place your smart phone near the device and enter the provided user name and password. Then press Send and it syncs things up for you in a matter of seconds.

Since this is technology, it requires power which is provided by 2 AA batteries. And they claim that this will power the Lockitron for more than a year. This looks like a great device to have and is very simple to use. It can even alert you when the door is unlocked which is a great feature. And there is even more to this. They are going to include Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities so that the Lockitron knows when you are approaching with your smart phone and automatically unlock the deadbolt for you. All of this is coming and will be easily installed. Take a look at the video to see just how great this product is.

DoorBot - Answer Your Door When You Are Not There

In today's world, many of us are concerned about security and where we live is just another of those areas of wanting security. If you own your own home, the concerns of protecting your home is one that is always there. If you are not at home, how do you address security concerns for people looking for a home where there is no one there. I have seen reports here on the West Coast where people ring door bells to see if someone is home and if no one answers, they often return a few hours later trying to break in. So, what if you could make it look like you are at one when you actually are not. There is technology which will do exactly that by letting you answer the door via a camera and speaker to make it appear like you are at home.

The DoorBot Smart Doorbell has recently received funding via Christy Street and is preparing to come to market by July this year. And the concept is very simple to install for anyone. Requiring 4 screws to attach it, it is powered by 4 AA batteries which are supposed to last up to a year. And there are no wires to run as with the current door bell on your home. With a camera, microphone and speaker, you have all the parts you need to help protect your home.

When someone comes to your door and rings the bell, you are notified on your mobile device via the DoorBot app which you can download for iOS or Android. This is via the WiFi in your home which then sends the information to your mobile device. You are then able to see who is at your front door via the adjustable camera. The angle of the camera is set by you when you install the DoorBot. With a view of the person at the door, you are able to communicate with them as to what it is they want. As far as the person at the door is concerned, you are at home talking to them. And the person at the door cannot see you, but only hear you and assume that you are at home. You can be miles away or hundreds of miles away, but it creates the illusion that you are at home.

The one drawback to this is the label on the DoorBot. It makes it very obvious so someone that you are using the DoorBot and those who looking to burglarize your home are going to know about the devices. While this is a very simple model to install, it may not be the best one for you. If you want something simple to install, this is the one to get.

iSmartAlarm - Personal Home Security System

We all hear about how someone had their home broken into and things stolen of value. Or that may have happened to you. One of the options for people is to pay for a service which will monitor your home for you and in the event of someone breaking in, contact the police. But that does come with a cost on a monthly basis and comes with the knowledge that the police will be contacted. But what if you want something less costly?

The iSmartAlarm may be exactly what you are looking for as a way to monitor what is going on in your residence with alerts sent to your iPhone. This is currently an Indiegogo Funding Campaign. And it comes with a variety of components which you can purchase all together or individually for your use. Individual pieces will be available in May for those interested in expanding what they currently have.

There are various parts of the iSmartAlarm which you can purchase individually or as a package. The central unit to this is the CubeOne which has all the intelligence included in it, including a wireless router for communication to you and the various parts. Other parts to this include motion detectors for movement in the residence, contact sensors to detect a window or door being opened and even a camera (iCamera) which can take pictures. When an event is triggered for any of these sensors, it will send an alert to your iPhone. You can then control the camera through your iPhone to see what is going on. It then becomes up to you to decide what to do about it. There is no monitoring service with monthly costs. You become the monitoring service.

With traditional home security systems, you have a company which comes in to install all the pieces for you. But with the iSmartAlarm system, you can install it yourself as there are no wires to run because of the built in WiFi. All the parts communicate with the central CubeOne over the air, which is far different from the systems of today.

You can still participate in the the funding campaign and place a pre-order for iSmartAlarm at various levels to receive the early shipments which are planned for April 2013. Prices start at $79 for those who participate in the Early Bird funding and will be much more when they come to market. As of the moment, this is planned around iOS for communications to your smart phone, but there is work being done for an Android version of iSmartAlarm and should be released some time this year.