DIY Friday: Surveillance System
Sure, you can put together your own home surveillance system using webcams and the Internet. Dedicated IP cameras help, but is there a cheaper way to put it all together? And why is it so complicated?
Enter Ugolog (featured on VentureBeat), a very simple service:
Without requiring you to buy or install any software or hardware other than simple web cameras, Ugolog lets you keep an eye on any place you want from the comfort of your own computer. The footage captured by the cameras (and any brand or make will work) is channeled directly to Ugolog’s servers, allowing you to watch the recordings from anywhere, anytime with any browser.
This type of easy, more casual surveillance clearly has many applications — many of them not as nefarious as one would think. You can check in on your pets while you’re on vacation, on your sleeping baby from another room. You can survey your home if you’re on vacation, or make sure your employees are hard at work when you’re out of the office.
CNET did a piece on these solution, and Ugolog got good reviews there, too. If you get burglarized, you know you’re PC/Mac/laptop may vanish. So will your recorded video of the perpetrator, so having it stored on a remote server is probably a good idea.
Or get creative, as these students at UT Austin did with a remote control tank…
